BYU Football: Karl Benson's Hypocrisy Should End Conference Exit Fees

In the tumultuous summer of 2010 the hypocrisy of conferences forcing their own members—past and present—to pay exit fees whenever a better conference deal comes along should be the most pressing issue, not who's leaving and who's joining.

The current candidate for the biggest hypocrite in college football is Karl Benson, WAC Commissioner, who has the nerve to use the media to beat up Fresno State and Nevada with an exit fee concocted just last week that wasn't even signed by all the parties.

Meanwhile, Mr. Two-Faced Benson has been busy luring Brigham Young, the Mormon college no one seems to want, into a Notre Dame/Big East type deal, the Mountain West be damned.

Mr. Benson, karma is a bitch, isn't it?

If Benson would have done any investigating he would have discovered how unpopular the ND deal is with the Big East football coaches.

John Marinatto and his Providence/Seton Hall/St. John's mafia love the deal. Of course it disadvantages the eight football playing members of the league.

Instead of downgrading former or would-be former members with an avalanche of shame, maybe commissioners like Benson should spend their time promoting their own conferences and providing the best deals for them.

Maybe the guy who should be on the chopping block here is Benson. I mean how inept does a conference commissioner need to be to allow his conference to shrink down to six teams?

Benson and his legal counsel may expect payment in 60 days. Good luck with that, Mr. Benson.  When sixty days turns into sixty months it may become clear to you that the money just isn't coming.

Benson will have the same revelation Dan Beebe is about to experience when the shrunken Big 12 receives exit fees from Nebraska and Colorado that are a pittance.

And to think the shunned five of Kansas State, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State, and Baylor were planning to donate their take of the exit fees to Texas, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma—laughable because there isn't going to be much to split up.

Now is the time for universities to litigate exit fees as far as the Supreme Court and have them declared null, void, and unconstitutional.

A word of caution to college football conference commissioners: Be honest, consistent, and avoid back room deals, you know, like luring Brigham Young from the MWC and making threats (Texas) to Nebraska and Colorado when they voice displeasure with the Texas-take-all ponzi scheme.

If you work on improving your conference instead of sneaking around the trash in the back, you and your league will be much better off.