I think there are some differences here.
First, there is a difference between HIRING a guy vs. supporting or disagreeing with everything he does. Hiring a guy is not a blanket endorsement of his actions, unless he promised to reject all reasonable offers and destroy the conference.
Second, when it comes to the actions of the conference, it depends on what the commissioner was responsible for and what the presidents are responsible for. For instance, if the Pac 12 membership vote for Texas failed because of a couple of presidents, then they should be blamed.
So let's use some common sense here. I'm mad at Jim Phillips and his predecessor for not having the vision and leadership to herd 15 university president cats towards a better future. You can't expect university presidents to be athletic visionaries. But you can **** sure demand better of a conference commissioner.
And I think that an accurate assessment of Phillips' leadership would be to look back at his time at Northwestern, and what is happening today. Not for a SECOND do I believe that he was completely oblivious to what was happening on his watch. And I think he applies the same standards of laziness to his job as ACC commissioner.