Although the conference allegedly was not caught off guard this past week, I was not expecting the latest announcement regarding University of Notre Dame’s departure from the conference. I had believed that the dust had settled from the announcements, departures, additions, and settlements of earlier this year. At first the Notre Dame announcement caught me off guard but then again, after watching the ESPN “show” surrounding this major “breaking news” event, clearly this is further evidence that universities and conferences act less in the best interests of the student athlete, and more in the interest of the coffers of the institutions. Left in the dust are respect for student-athletes, coaches, parents and tradition. Notre Dame’s move to the ACC interestingly happened quickly on the heels of what appeared to be apparent hits to the storied programs of UNC (transcript scandal) and Duke (lawsuit filed against 201o’s Lance Thomas, member of Duke’s championship basketball team, for allegedly receiving benefits–credit for a $100k jewelry purchase that season–that other students would not be offered. In the coverage of Notre Dame’s defection from the Big East to the ACC, there was no mention of either matter. As if they didn’t matter. As if rules don’t matter, tradition doesn’t matter and relationships and allegiances don’t matter. In my opinion, these are poor lessons for educational institutions to teach students, and student-athletes.