I had a professor in college who gave out references to students and made his assignments so easy a middle school kid could do the homework. He never said why but I'm 100% positive he was gaming the reviews sent back so that he'd stay hired on as an instructor while he built up his lesson plans. I think he figured out how to game it pretty quick seeing as the position had like 3 instructors before him whom students universally hated for either being ridiculously strict or lying through their teeth about even knowing what the difference between public and private meant.