his players to force his way into the head coaching position — & thereby circumvent the hiring process?

Yeah, I would call that in & of itself "small-minded." That there were equally small accusations of religious bias & racism put forth against the AD & admins when Maile's attempt to circumvent the hiring process failed — that shouldn't surprise us at all.

The whole thing seemed like a pretty easy read-between-the-lines event to me. As I said, Maile struck me as a "rascal" in the whole affair. Why couldn't he simply submit his name for the HC consideration & be satisfied that the remaining players indeed gave him their endorsement?