The Golden Rule in the Bible is a passage about forgiveness and hope. The Golden Rule in the Southeastern Conference is a little different.

When it comes to poaching season in the SEC, the motto is “do unto others what was done to undo you.”

Or something like that. We’re going to check with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey down on Sesame Street before putting it on T-shirts. Sankey, the Godfather of poaching, will never be topped after taking Texas and Oklahoma from the Big 12. Some of these teams sure are trying, though.

In the Bible, the point of the Golden Rule is to remind people that being nice to each other goes a long way. The point of the SEC’s Golden Rule is that sticking your rival in the back and twisting the knife is not only encouraged, but possibly rewarded with the best transfers in the country.

The only other rule in the SEC is that there are no other rules.

Thievery has been the theme for the past few days. Don’t leave your Stanley cup alone for one minute, that’s all I’m saying. It will be gone and then your status at the gym will never recover. Poaching SZN doesn’t care about your feelings. It only cares about prolonging the desperate thirst of rivals.

Nick Saban retired last week and it set off a chain reaction of SEC shenanigans.

Texas pilfered Alabama Iron Bowl hero Isaiah Bond and then Georgia robbed Alabama of well-liked secondary coach Travaris Robinson. On Monday night, Alabama’s reaction to the corporate raiders was an unprecedented flex of power that adds a new element of chaos to college football.

As if we needed anymore.

Desperate for a defensive coordinator, Alabama hired South Alabama’s head coach to fill the position. Yes, the head coach. Not an assistant. The head coach.

South Alabama coach Kane Wommack, who has done an excellent job in Mobile as head coach of the Jaguars, is now giving himself a demotion to work at Alabama with new Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.

Tough luck, Jags.

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Wommack worked with DeBoer at Indiana and now they’ll be reunited in Tuscaloosa. It’s not exactly a feel-good story, though. Don’t get me wrong. It’s great for Alabama, and hopefully DeBoer can keep the Crimson Tide’s defense together, but let’s not ignore the fact that South Alabama is now without a head coach at the worst possible time.

By NCAA rules, a head coach leaving for another job triggers a 30-day window for players to transfer. That window at South Alabama now overlaps with National Signing Day (Feb.7).

Alabama’s sucker punch of South Alabama cheapens the entire Sun Belt Conference. Hopefully Wommack’s decision to leave Mobile for a coordinator position in the SEC doesn’t start a trend.

There is a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots of college football, and Alabama hiring away a head coach from a successful Group of 5 team increases the divide. It reminds me of the time that Bobby Petrino got the job at Louisville and hired UAB head coach Garrick McGee to be the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator. That was ugly stuff, and we all know how it ended.

McGee left UAB before the 2014 season. The Blazers then played one more season before UAB president Ray Watts killed the football team.

I’m not saying that South Alabama football just received a death sentence, but it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to give Bill Clark a call and see if he’s ready to coach again.

Wommack’s move to Alabama was a counterbalance to Georgia hiring away Alabama defensive assistant Travaris Robinson. Wommack’s first order of business is calling Alabama’s best players and convincing them that life would not be better as a Bulldog.

I thought maybe Auburn could lure Robinson home after Saban retired, but no one poaches Alabama’s coaching staff better than Georgia. It started with Kirby Smart, who then wasted no time taking Alabama strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran. Cochran is now Georgia’s special teams coordinator and Robinson is the Bulldogs’ new co-defensive coordinator.

Between Georgia and Texas, it’s tough to pick a poaching king. What happened to school pride? Perhaps that’s a naive question, but it apparently still appeals to some players. Here’s the message from Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker via Alabama NIL Collective Yea Alabama.

“Give it to the spring and think about your legacy,” Booker said. “Me being here so far, I have a great legacy. I’ve been blessed enough to be playing since my freshman year, started last year, and now to be considered a leader on the team in a time of transition like this, that’s my legacy. And I don’t think a dollar amount could buy my legacy away from me.”

The new defensive coordinator at Alabama no doubt agrees. The SEC’s Golden Rule is more like a loose guideline than a literal interpretation.

Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the most controversial sports book ever written, “We Want Bama”. It’s a love story about wild times, togetherness and rum.