The issue could have been nixed in the bud last year, but Coach was probably already 90% decided it was his last season and instead of saying "That's my team on the field" for the rest of the year after the USF game, he caved to try to salvage his swan song and go out on a high note.
Watching Saturday nights game and seeing the way some of the QB keepers were going in the first half, I had to turn it off for my own sense of sanity. That little cabal of players need to be encouraged to move on and there is unfortunately going to have to be some form of legislation that is going to have to try to wrangle in the Wild West of the NIL.