Sunday, August 7, 2011

August 7, 2011

As Fall Camp is officially underway lots to digest in the world of College Football...

THE HOT LIST:

1) Should Athletes be paid?
2) What major rules in College Football Recruiting need to change?
3) Closing thoughts

1) What has become a very hot button topic in the past few weeks continues to build up steam now. Ever since the Big 10 and SEC Commissioners came out in their annual media days and expressed the interest of looking into balancing the full cost of education for their student athletes...the idea is starting to build up with supporters...Am I against kids getting a little bit of spending cash to go get a pizza, attend a movie, or take out the spouses on the weekends...NO...but at what cost does the NCAA distance itself from the NFL or other professional entities? The real answer is that its always easier to say that we can pay our student athletes, but with Title IX, I find that to be very difficult to do...How would you pay the third string QB who hasn't seen the field in three years against the latter of the guy that has lead you to three conference titles...Those would argue that the prize QB starter should get more...this could ultimately create a rift in the locker room that Coaches would not be a big fan of. Notice how we only really have this discussion with College Football and not any other sports...

I don't see women's athletics voicing their displeasure to the NCAA about not getting money...I don't.

In reality the new NCAA President Mark Emmert has begun to voice that as long as he's the president. That doesn't bode well for the supporters of paying their college football players. In reality if you were to allow conference to distribute funds to allow universities to pay their student athletes you'll see the gap of the major conferences and the little guys continue to get bigger...I'm not a fan of that...nor would I would support that. I'm in favor of equality...student athletes need to be reminded why there are at college...to get an education...whether or not you believe that statement...in time...you will...

2) There is a very very major problem with agents, runners, 7 on 7 coaches, and other entities that are exploiting kids. Yes, kids. High schoolers aren't adults, they are someone's child...looking to find the school that will unlock the potential that they know they have. Its become such a huge problem that almost every major university is now finding themselves in the hot seat about their practices on how they recruit players. Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, LSU, North Carolina, are just a handful of universities that we know about the wrong doings with agents and these student athletes receiving extra benefits in some way. I'm not saying that the NCAA will have any leverage to convince universities to stop this practice...but you can see that the NCAA is starting to crack down on this practice...

However there has to be major major change...The problem is only getting worse...
Presidents and Athletic Directors have to make a stand against this and work with the NCAA on cleaning up the recruiting practices and make these people think twice about putting athletes in situations that would compromise their eligibility...

Change is coming...

3) As you can see the system we have in place isn't anywhere close to being perfect but change is needed and coming...I support the need to clean up recruiting practices but still stand firm that the NCAA can't allow student athletes to be paid for playing college sports. Remember you go to school to get a college degree that will pay dividends to you throughout your entire life...only a handful of kids will reap the benefits of being a pro football player...but what happens to their lives when they are seriously injured and have to stop playing the game....the answer is simply...sure would be very nice to have the degree to fall back on that that remains the trump card that the NCAA always will have...

Change is imminent to continue to take the game to new heights...for now we can sit...debate...discuss...and remain hopeful that the administrators we have in place are looking out for the best in College Athletics and Student Athletes....at least I feel confident that Nebraska has those people in place...might not be the case at other institutions...