INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO GIVE UP MY HYPOTHESIS. You must remember this.

Suppose beer 'n circus isn't an aberration, it's the mission?

Now comes a Washington Post column (via University Diaries) where the penny is about to drop.

Yet, there is no sense that Tennessee officials were disappointed in [football coach Lane] Kiffin; rather, they were devastated to lose him [to the University of Spoiled Children, where alumni have success at flouting the law]. They should have known what they were getting into from the terms of his six-year contract: Had the school decided to fire Kiffin, it would have had to pay him $7.5 million under a buyout clause, yet for breaking his contract, Kiffin will owe the university just $800,000, which he can pay in installments over 36 months. Either Athletic Director Mike Hamilton can't read, or he took a huge gamble on Kiffin, and lost.

The columnist doesn't yet see the obvious.

The trouble is that too many administrators are unwilling to do the hard work of controlling their costs, and their impulses. Hiring Kiffin is an attempt at an easy fix. It's a lot easier than taking the time for a real coaching search, and hiring someone less illustrious who is willing to build slowly, and the right way. Especially if an athletic director is in fear of falling behind in recruiting wars, and their potential effect on the BCS bottom line.

My supposition looks better all the time.