For perspective, consider Matt Rhule's perspective: The first-year Nebraska head coach owns previous experience at almost every level of football, from no-scholarship NCAA Division III program to scrappy, Group of 5 stints to both Power 5 and NFL head coaching tours prior to landing atop the Cornhuskers 11 months ago.
So when Rhule is asked and gives thoughts on the current college football maelstrom -- the NCAA's ongoing investigation into Michigan's alleged nebulous sign-stealing controversy -- it's worth hearing the views of the 25-year coaching veteran Rhule.
And, goodness, does Rhule have some thoughts and a rather simplistic pitch for solution.
"Yeah, sign-stealing happens every game. There's nothing wrong with teams looking over and trying to steal our signs. There's nothing wrong with us trying to look at their signs," Rhule said. "That's why you should have mics in the helmets, right?
"All these coaches that vote against it every year, it's because they don't want to teach their quarterback."
Rhule cited the pro approach, which allows a single player to wear an in-helmet communication device for speaking with coaches during games -- and wondered aloud how college coaches continue to "vote against" adopting the technology for their game.
"In the NFL, each quarterback goes out there with three play calls because if I see the free safety's foot like that, it might be one-high and I'm going to check to this play," Rhule said. "You get to college and you're watching a game on a Tuesday night, you know, they got the signal and they're just calling plays. That's what makes college football, to me, that's why the score, maybe more points, but it's also why the kids are less prepared.
"That's why there should be, 100 percent should be (headset-to-helmet communication). They could get rid of all the stupid signs on the sidelines, we could get pictures of rock stars and all that stuff, we could just play football the way it was meant to be.
"You go to a high school game, there's technology on the sideline. You go to an NFL game, there's technology on the sideline. You go to the college (game), there's nothing."
Rhule, however, made a point to clarify that he viewed sign-stealing -- again, part and parcel of virtually every college contest -- vastly different than the alleged filming violations that had a network of perpetrators designed to assist Michigan.
"That’s sign-stealing," Rhule said of coaches looking across the field and attempting to discern opposition signals. "I will not carry that over into going and filming someone else’s practices or something like that, or filming someone else’s games. That’s completely something different.
"And I’m not saying that happened, but I think what’s wrong partly in our society right now is we say someone does something against the rules. And sports need rules, right?"
Sports in general, Rhule explained, might have rules that seem ... superfluous, but those are nonetheless the rules.
"Sports need rules to keep competitive balance," Rhule said, "and when someone does something against the rules, we say, ‘Well, should that really even be a rule?’ It is the rule. We don’t get five downs. In-game, stealing of signs, we play against somebody, and I know that person has friends on the next staff, I know if they have our signs, they have them the next week, that’s all part of the game. You have to do what you do. We should absolutely have technology, but if there’s a rule, the rule should be followed.
"I’m not speaking about what’s happening right now because I don’t know what happened, but if that is happening somewhere, it’s completely, completely wrong.”
Does Rhule, whose inaugural Cornhuskers squad hosted Michigan last month in an 45-7 loss, feel the Wolverines might have had an added advantage against his team?
"No one from the Big Ten or the NCAA has asked me anything yet, so I'm not going to probably comment on anything like that," Rhule said. "I would never want to cache to someone else going through a hard time.
"I don't know know anything."