As lawsuits grow, college coaches look no cleaner than the players they criticize

If there's ever been a period to argue that college athletics are broken, it's with the events we've seen unfold over the past several months. On the College Football side, we have a massive legal battle going on between Darian Mensah and Duke over his attempt to enter the Transfer Portal while under contract. College basketball has seen players who moved on to the G-League returning to the college level despite the professional experience.

In both sports, everyone is calling foul, blaming the players and the NIL factor for being the biggest issue. While this is in a way on the players, the coaches deserve just as much, if not more blame, for the flaws in both sports.

Coaches cry foul while exploiting the rules

Duke is in a lawsuit with Darian Mensah, as they signed him to a two-year deal last offseason, which is only going to drag this transfer cycle out. Part of the case is the fact that Duke believes their quarterback was tampered with, citing sports media reporters sharing Mensah's Miami deal before he even called Manny Diaz.

When coaches complain that the sport is broken and that everything needs to change, they need to realize they're just as much of a problem, if not more of a problem. If coaches want these contracts to mean something, they shouldn't go around trying to get players to break their deals, even if the player could help take a team over the top.

The coaches could easily decide that they're the best way to shape the sport by refusing to interfere with existing contracts. Instead, every coach will do what's best for them while they'll also cry foul the moment this goes against them.

Earlier in the college basketball season, programs started to add former G-League players and NBA Draft Picks to their rosters. The latest example was Alabama adding former center Charles Bediako who's signed 3 different contracts since leaving Tuscaloosa.

Earlier this season, Alabama assistant Preston Murphy posted a video making fun of the trend, and now they're the latest to engage in it.

While coaches are the first to complain about the flaws in the system, they're also the first to exploit the rules. Coaches complain about the player movement, the money players are paid, and how teams are tampering, but the vast majority of these issues all stem from the way coaches are willing to bend the rules to benefit themselves.

It's become clear that the NCAA can't win in court and that these court cases all take far too long to resolve. The best path for these coaches to get the changes they want is by banding together and playing by the rules everyone likes, but it'll never happen, as each of these coaches will cry foul until they can exploit the rules themselves.