Go back to September of 2021. It is less than a year ago, but it feels like four or five years ago, because the time when USC fans doubted the commitment of their administration to college football seems very distant now.

Mike Bohn and Carol Folt earned a lot of trust at USC with their hire of Lincoln Riley, but back in September, who knew what they were going to do? Would they deliver the goods?

An anonymous agent commented on USC’s investment in excellence:

(h/t Chris Vannini and Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic).

We are now seeing Power 5 institutions in the SEC — and other places that are well-financed — asserting themselves and moving toward basically running a professionalized model when it comes to football programs. Like, “We’re willing to spend more than what other schools will ever be able to because we know what the future looks like in college athletics.”

We saw that with Brian Kelly. We saw that with Lincoln Riley. We saw that with Mario Cristobal and Miami.

These schools are able to spend $10 million on a coach, while most NFL coaches are not making anywhere near that money. And they’re putting themselves in that position to have to spend that type of money, knowing full well that in a couple of years, that entire model might flip and you might have to have a revenue share with your student-athletes. You obviously either have to be completely crazy to do it or at the other end of the spectrum fully understanding of, hey, this is going to be a professionalized business in a couple of years and $10 million to have the right coach is a good market rate to lock in right now. Because who knows what things are going to look like in a couple of years?