Dan Wolken

USA TODAY Sports

USC athletics director Pat Haden should resign from the College Football Playoff selection committee, and he should do it today. If he refuses, CFP executive director Bill Hancock should nudge him in that direction. And if Hancock doesn't want to go down that road, the 10 commissioners of the Football Bowl Subdivision conferences should intervene and demand a change.

What Haden did Saturday in the third quarter of USC's 13-10 victory against Stanford was unacceptable — unacceptable for any athletics director, but particularly one who will represent the Pac 12 on the CFP selection committee.

It all started when USC linebacker Hayes Pullard was ejected for a hit on Stanford's Ty Montgomery during a kickoff return. Whether the penalty was warranted or not — and Pullard, for the record, pretty clearly led with the helmet — it was shocking to see things get so out of sorts on the USC sideline that suddenly Haden popped up in the middle of the scrum, angrily going nose-to-nose with the officials.

Haden told USA TODAY Sports' Paul Myerberg immediately after the game that he had not gone to the field to argue the targeting call, but was seeking clarification on a warning that USC coach Steve Sarkisian received for Sarkisian's position on the sideline. He said he received a text from a USC staff member to come down to the field.

"I wasn't sure what play (the USC coaches) were concerned about," Haden said. "It was for the delay of game on the kickoff. (The officials) warned (Sarkisian) about being out of the box. They know what they are doing. I didn't really add anything to the conversation. I just listened. Everything worked out fine."

But have you ever seen an athletics director talk to a referee during a game, much less argue with one? That isn't merely bad form; it is simply not done.

And frankly, it was embarrassing for both Haden and the CFP selection committee.

The 13 people selected to pick the participants in college football's first playoff were done so because of their integrity, their ability to be impartial and their level-headedness in a high-pressure job with tremendous public scrutiny.

An athletics director running down to argue penalties and making a spectacle of himself on national television does not exactly scream impartiality and level-headedness.

Athletics directors are supposed to be out of sight, out of mind during games. Some are more demonstrative than others. But they all know they have to keep their control.

Haden lost it, and it would be bad enough if this incident was just about Haden and USC. He could apologize and move on, and few would remember it happened on a random Saturday in September. Problem is, it's about all of college football now.

The committee has to be above reproach. This wasn't above anything; it was Haden getting into the muck and involving himself in a situation that wasn't his business. ​

Shortly after the incident, Haden did an interview with ABC and tried to explain that Sarkisian wanted him to come down to the field.

That's odd, but whatever. The problem came when Haden talked to officials. At that point, he should have walked away.

"It's been a really frustrating quarter," Haden told ABC.

Sorry Pat, but that doesn't justify what the nation saw. You lost your cool, and now you should lose your place on the selection committee.

Hancock responded to an email that he had not seen the sideline engagement and thus could not comment.