A paid leave. An interim coach. Lots of talk about investigations and settlements. Hand-wringing. Defensiveness by other coaches who say, "Oh, this doesn't happen everywhere..." followed by stand-ups with players defending their guy.

It seems like a lot of trouble to go to when there's an option that would set a good precedent that might get the attention of coaches, players and recruits everywhere in the world-of-its-own of college football. The option is: Shut down the University of Colorado's football program, and right now.

Defenders would say, oh, there's smoke but so far the multiple accusations of rape and stories of sex and booze parties with recruits and what-all don't constitute a roaring blaze or even a campfire. What about innocent until proven guilty?

But university officials, who sure seemed reluctant to move on the football program and their much-worshiped head coach, Gary Barnett, once charges started flying, could justify such an action by saying, if you're going to clean up after a flood, you have to close the building first. Yes, that will mean some perfectly straight-laced kids will have to go elsewhere to play football, and that's not fair. But, good grief.

The news basically goes like this: Seven women have accused football players or recruits at Colorado of rape since 1997. A company that provides strippers apparently says it did business at Colorado and other schools. Colorado's also been hit with claims that recruits were treated to parties featuring sex and alcohol. Boulder County District Attorney Mary Keenan said so in a sworn statement.

This isn't the first go-'round with scandal for the University of Colorado. An Associated Press report recalled the mid- to late-1980s, when no less a publication than Sports Illustrated did a cover story on the sundry crimes of which players had been accused, including rape. Barnett (currently on paid leave) was an assistant coach then, under a fellow named Bill McCartney.

Is this mess reflective of some of kind of widespread disease in college athletics? Well, maybe not, but you can bet that coaches around the country are pulling the reins a bit and perhaps doubling up the curfew checks. Even the weak-willed NCAA that sets the rules for college sports huffed and puffed and announced a "task force."

Aw, c'mon. More mealy-mouthing. The University of Colorado didn't just get a black eye here, gang. It went 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali.

But given the atmospheric conditions in college sports, no one should be surprised when a violent storm erupts. When you mix big money -- and the infectious greed it seems to spread -- with immature youngsters, single-minded boosters, television glory and the escalating competition among schools too weak to resist the temptations of the flash (flash is intentional there, friends), trouble is awaiting either around the corner or just down the road apiece.

How out of hand are things? Well, consider that on the same day The New York Times was running a story about Colorado's interim head coach, there was a brief news item about Louisiana State University signing its football coach to a contract worth $18.45 million over seven years. The coach, Nick Saban, apparently had been flirting with some professional teams and the school wanted to keep him since he just won the national championship. The Times noted he will be the highest-paid coach in college football.

Somehow, that doesn't seem like the kind of thing LSU will include in applications for federal research grants. I wonder if their athletics director took the same posture so many administrators do when they open the vaults for coaches: Oh, we think salaries are out of hand, but you know, you have to compete...successful sports programs bring us a lot of attention and are good for the school. In fact, they bolster the academic side.

Uh, huh. Yeah, we all know that the fact that it's a football powerhouse is the reason Harvard has the country's largest endowment.

Well, how about this little item, on the same page as the stuff about Colorado's interim coach and LSU's bank-breaking contract. In his column, William C. Rhoden of The Times talked about the success of a West Coast school now at the top in college basketball. He noted that this university "made the wise, and long overdue, decision not to pay outrageous salaries for football and basketball coaches." The university's athletics director, Ted Leland, said other schools might do likewise "because the fact that these coaches that are getting involved in all these inappropriate behaviors are the highest-paid state employee rubs the academic community the wrong way."

Now the curious thing is that this university, though it can't come close to LSU in the the football coach salary rankings, stacks up pretty well in other areas.

Leland's school? Maybe you've heard of it. Stanford.