NIL is the law of land, both as passed by the California legislature and signed into law by the governor (ie Knowlton's ultimate boss) and as strongly endorsed by the United States Supreme Court in a rare unanimous decision (with indications of going much further and likely pushing for pay for play) and now included in NCAA rules.
Knowlton has made it clear he is for doing it "the right way" (strict amateurism) and is pushing back against pay for play and is trying to force Cal to adhere to the narrowest, most literal, narrow definition of NIL, as the NCAA has set forth but cannot even enforce. That is probably why he eliminated Pasternak early.
Under the circumstances we are very lucky we ended up with Madsen and we have Sebasta and the California Legends to support him.
Knowlton sucks. He has to go.