Here are the conflicting constraints as I see them:
Players should be able to pursue benefits in a free market. Yes, they receive scholarships and small stipends but the reality is they generate more value and are under compensated relative to what they would receive in a free market. We need a free market of some sort.
Not all sports generate equal revenue. A track star isn’t worth a back up PG. Sorry.
Not all schools are equal and adjustments to competition levels should be made with clear flexibility mechanisms to allow programs to flow up or down.
Title IX limits what schools can do with benefits if I understand correctly. And the fact is women’s sports do not generate the same revenue as men’s and therefore do not merit the same benefits. (Notable exceptions excluded)
The NCAA is facing a talent/experience struggle because players are abandoning programs early for the NBA or Europe to get paid. Some players are simply skipping directly to professional teams all-together. Which is a reasonable career decision for a talented player who wants to focus.
The NCAA is useless because they are a conflicted party. If they punish major programs across the board, they risk losing them or they could just flat out ignore them. They are slow, lack control, nuance, and have financial incentives to allow things to go a certain way.
I say we need to bring collegiate sports into the present day reality. It’s not amateur hour anymore. So let me just throw up some ideas and see what you think.
Conferences are an outdated mode. What we need is Series administered by a single governing body that doesn’t care about academics. It just administers sports. The more you pay to students, the higher up in series you go. If you stink, You get kicked down to the lower series. You could divide the some 350 schools or so into series of 50 a piece with specific regions.
Stop the pretense of offering ‘scholarships’ to athletes. They are employees there to play. Offer them a deal to go to school for free during or after their career, but it’s totally irrelevant to their sports career.
Negotiate TV contracts as one whole body the same way the NFL and NBA do.
Lets open ourselves up to ideas and see what sticks. Just because 4 years of eligibility is what we’ve done in the past, that doesn’t mean that’s the best way to do it. Maybe we should increase roster spots. Let’s bring back the idea of A and B teams
While we’re at it we can gut so many other stupid things about college bball. Move to a 24 second shot clock, match NBA refereeing practices. Universal replay review localized in one place and administer referees entirely as one unit not dispersed.
This is a business and it is poorly run.
Oh, and the band. I hate marching band/pep band. The best thing about NBA vs College games, among many things, is that I do not have to endure the marching band playing over the speakers that are playing music I actually want to hear. You got to get the people going! The band doesn’t do that. Kernkraft does that. Darude does that. And recruits love that.
College basketball is going to take a beating… full of corruption as the lovers of money ply their trade. Where there is corruption, there is bias and conspiracy. Anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to themselves.
I have tried to bring this out into the open but now it will be available for all to see. The program at Arizona is only the tip of an iceberg… corruption, bias and conspiracy brought on by those who love money.
Jim H: Right on, G-5 and P-5 and FCS and BCS are a fraud. It is where the rich (P-5) get richer and many (G-5 and indy) are on the outside looking in. The NCAA is a joke. It is controlled by the P-5 cartel, just like BCS (Bowl Cartel Series) before the P-5 scam.
I like the idea of bringing back JV college basketball as it was in the 60’s. Jabbar and Walton both did it and it didn’t hurt their careers. It gave them a year to get a feel for college life before being in the spotlight.
Paying players will only increase the dominance of the bigger schools and leagues breeding more corruption. More colleges will bow out of sports. There will always be corruption and conspiracies. It’s just the nature of some.
We only get to hear about stuff when people are caught AND they decide to make it a news story. People and organizations are getting caught being dishonest all the time and we never hear about it in the news. Also, many people create their own version of what is right and wrong simply to serve their purposes, to get gain and to deceive others. It makes no sense…
I agree that the NCAA is a joke but I completely disagree that colleges should pay athletes to play. If anything the athletes should be the ones who are punished for accepting pay and material items from boosters. If the school has no knowledge of the infractions they should not be punished. I you strip the kids of college eligibility by punishing them for accepting favors then they can pursue professional careers on some level. If the athletes bore the responsibility for breaking the rules I believe you would see less cheating and more of the college jocks who are in no way students pursuing pro careers of some sort without attending college. Of course if the school has knowledge of their athletes doing something against the rules they should also be punished if they don’t report it. If they self report they should not be punished. If a coach is involved he should be fired.
College needs to be for education first and the NCAA should take steps to insure athletes are students first and athletics are extracurricular and one thing they can do is take a stronger stance on academic performance. The GPA minimums need to be raised for athletes or they don’t play period. There needs to be tracking of athletes to be sure they attend class, do their own work, and take their own tests. If they are in college strictly to play ball then they need to go to Europe, or the D league and get paid and skip college altogether.
If the NCAA could do something to insure that the student athlete was indeed a student athlete, with the emphasis on student then you might find that BYU would fare much better if BYU really does have strict academic standards. I would like to see all schools with rosters full of real students like Stanford has and like BYU allegedly has.
College athletics need to get away from being a farm system for the NFL and NBA. There are plenty of lower leagues where athletes can get paid to prepare themselves for the big time. If they want an education then they can get one on their own time if they want to be paid to play. They can always get their degree during the off season of their pro careers whether they are in the NFL, NBA, arena football, D league, or some foreign league.
Personally I am tired of hearing interviews with guys who struggle to put a grammatically correct sentence together and their schools have the gall to claim they are student athletes.
I realize that what I want will never happen but it is the way it should be. Taking another step in the direction of making amateur athletes professionals while they are in college is not a good answer. I will guarantee you that if that happens BYU will become absolutely irrelevant in the big time college sports. Go the other direction and try to clean things up and BYU will be more competitive.
The NCAA doesn’t have to be a joke. They need to quit worrying about kids getting a free meal at the Burger King from a recruiter and focus on the big stuff and returning college athletics to their amateur status. I have heard some coaches say that the NCAA rule book is thicker than the tax code. They need to pair it down and try to elevate colleges as institutions of learning for all students and get rid of universities being farms systems for the pros. The pros would do just fine they got their players from minor professional leagues just like major league baseball does. If a kid is both a great player and good student he will have to make a choice of whether to get paid and pursue his education later or part time while he gets paid or defer getting paid until he graduates. If he can’t cut it academically then he needs to forget college and get paid to play. If he isn’t good enough to get paid to play and can’t succeed as a student then he is going to be in trouble anyway. There are programs in college for marginal students to help them succeed as students but those students shouldn’t be in extracurricular activities until they learn how to be students.
Real long winded I know, but you have something to say then sometimes it takes some space to say it.
I’m guilty too. To be clear, I’m not cool with dishonesty, I want rule changes. Our positions seem opposite, but I see common ground.
We both want a more favorable situation for BYU to where we can succeed
We view the current model of amateurism as a joke.
We both think that when you’re in school, you should focus on academics first
We both hate the one and done nature of the NCAA farm system for the pros and how it messes with the game
We both realize our solutions are pipe dreams
Honestly, I don’t mind your solution. But I think we owe athletes a free market. Based on the money in the 2 major sports, I’m uncomfortable that everyone but the players can negotiate. I understand the money does fund other sports, but I’m less inclined to that. Each sport should have to put itself in the red. That is both unpopular and legally untenable.
I hope that explains why I take my position. I wish more of my money went to players.
To simplify: break up student-athlete. The athlete is an employee who can take classes, like other university employees but performance/participation isn’t mandatory and can be delayed. I have no problem with someone using the university as a way to learn basketball. I love learning, value education, and hate school because it lacked flexibility to allow me to pursue my interests in the way I wanted. If a kid wants to master a sport, so be it. I don’t see it as a lesser pursuit in life than say being a musician.
It would help BYU as it alleviates academic standard problems and we do have money if we care to use it. We can stop the farce and allow students to focus on athletics, which they do elsewhere. It makes it an honest situation. Then if they can’t go pro, they can come back and focus on academics. This lets us retain talent longer. We might not lose Mika. We would be a 3 or 4-year farm system, which is acceptable.
Having said all of that. Going in the opposite direction with your solution is servicable if not perfect.
Per my fishing buddy, Bobby Knight, “I never cheated. I made sure my kids graduated.”
Dropping names is uncool, just wanted everyone to know that Coach knight always made that point to me. Dean Smith was a big cheater. Calipari is the biggest cheater. The NCAA just looks the other way. $$$$ talks, BS walks.
I was dismayed to hear the stories of how our Olympians worked full time, had to mortgage homes to chase dreams and how the US OC takes in $200 million and does not share with Athletes. Shawn White and Linsey Vonn make millions from endorsments but they are the exception…the rest don’t get help until they get the fame.
And then I watched the ice skating…we need to get these folks some help $$ wise…UGGG
The only way to make student athletes to perform in the classroom is to do what the liberals are doing to the 2nd Amendment. Make turning adults to be age 21. If the athletes can’t own a gun then they shouldn’t be allowed in the NBA
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a big Jerry Tarkanian fan, but every time he went to some mid major school and made them a powerhouse the NCAA made sure those schools paid the price for cheating. It happened at Long Beach when he was there in the late 60s and early 70s when he got them in the top ten and it happened at UNLV. Calipari gets both UMass and Memphis to national relevance and both get nailed. He goes to Kentucky and now all of a sudden he is clean. What a joke. If you are a traditional powerhouse from a P5 it takes a lot for the NCAA to do anything. If you are a mid major and there is the slightest whiff of an impropriety they will be knocking on your door in no time.
I remember Jim Wacker, the football coach at TCU got them to where they were good in football in the mid 80s after they were the joke of the old Southwest Conference. Wacker was a devout Christian and swore to do things right. He found out about some of his players taking money from boosters and he self reported to the NCAA and the NCAA gave them the death penalty. What a wonderful piece of crap organization they are and have been for many years.
The NCAA is the one that should be put on probation. And now you know why I don’t speed through small towns…drum roll…They got the sheriff, the judge, and the major all on the same payroll. Just shut your mouth, pay your fine, and get otta town.
I was a huge Tarkanian fan, loved the guy. As far as I was concerned, the good he did helping inner city and less fortunate kids get a chance in life FAR outweighed any of the supposed “illegal” things he did. The fact that he went head to head with that “wonderful piece of crap organization” made him even more admirable.
I remember when Coach C. at Santa Clara one day announce his son was going to UNLV. Also, Lou was supporting an new $5,000 Rolex watch. A gift from Tarkanian.
A lot of coaches and mafia types have legit organizations and some helping the poor and the needy. Helps to stop people from turning them in.
