ok... one of my many beefs about the NCAA.

I agree with many of the regulations that govern recruiting, transfer, needing to go to class etc.

But one thing I don't agree with is this. For example, if you play in Kansas, Georgia, Western Kentucky, UNC etc etc any school where the coach ups and leaves (usually for a much fatter pay check with no restrictions) the coaches come and go as they please.

But if the player (most of whom have the coach as one of the main reasons why they came to that particular school) decides he no longer wants to stay and play for a new coach, there are all sorts of restrictions of where he can go (usually no competing schools) when they can play (sit out one year) and other BS.

So the coach makes the huge million dollar bucks and comes and goes as he pleases. But the player has signed his life away with a contract written in blood.

This is NOT fair!!!!

I agree. If the coach leaves, the players should be able to leave without penalty too.

But.....I can see 2 objections to that that. Coaches could be given deals by the new schools that includes an understanding that he bring a star player or 2 along with him. If that happened it would be like buying players too.

The other problem is that it undermines the idea that they're there as students first, players second. In other words, if you chose to go to say, LSU for the academics, wink you shouldn't be wanting to leave just because there's a new coach.

But Torsten,

You look at Carmelo Anthony, DaJuan Wagner (both one year and out players) and many others who refuse to go to class. and tell me that they're students first and athletes second.

College athletics is big business. and coaches making $2million is really big business.

If the ADs cared so much about their students and their studies, they wouldn't be constantly expanding the amount of games per season.

Let's look at a student athlete who does care about his grades and degree. Do you know how many times he must miss class just to make it to all the games both at home as well as traveling on the road? and for most athletes most matches happen within one semester.

I hear what you're saying about the appearance of "buying players" but you agree that to a great extent, many players are being bought already. right?

Look at Dajuan Wagner. Do you think it's a co-incidence that his father Milt Wagner was hired as an assistant coach at Memphis just before his son decided to sign with Calipari and Memphis?
He had said he wanted to play at Louisville his whole HS career (Milt was a star player at Louisville) and for Pitino. then at the last second the hiring and the signing. You see?

All I'm saying is..... this is one thing we can do for the athletes that's not as stupid as the idea of paying players to play. they are students. College students transfer between schools all the time. why can't players do the same when the person who made all the big promises ducks out on his obligations?

I'm glad to hear you don't like the idea of paying players. Too many ppl are jumping on that bandwagon lately.

You're right, many of them are NOT students who just happen to be athletes; they're players who are often faking the student thing as best they can. That's what I was trying to suggest with my sarcastic wink about choosing LSU for academics.

And yes, some players are already being bought. It should be a stain on the school's reputation. In another thread there were complaints about some players going directly to the NBA, but I wonder if that's really such a bad thing. I'm tired of hearing only a few college players touted incessantly while other good players talents are maligned. Most often, that "talent" disparity is all hype and no fact. Good riddance to all the overrated ones. I don't watch the NBA anyway.

I wish the NCAA would impose serious academic restrictions.... meaning SAT/ACT minimums (like an absolute min of 900 on the SAT - no exceptions), not grades - grades are inflated, nonstandard, and often fixed. Those that don't make it, can go to jr. colleges, minor pro leagues, or the NBA. I wouldn't miss them a bit.

the NY Times just did a piece about this today. Well! I guess great minds think alike.

anyway, here's the link. you may need to register as a NYTimes.com user to see it. I thought about editing it down and printing the relevant parts of the article. But I got blasted for that earlier.

NY Times article

Yeah, but some schools do allow athletes to get out of their scholarship contract or whatever they call it if the coach leaves.

But even so, the player must sit out for one year.

yeah you're right

The bugbear of "paid players" leading to fixed games may not exist.
Unless you're of the opinion that the NHL is not a major sport,
take a look at Major Junior hockey in Canada.

The NCAA considers Major Junior players to be professionals because
teams give the players a monthly stipend of a few hundred dollars.
It's not a large amount, but it gives the players a little spending
and date money to keep them out of trouble and choose their own
entertainment.

Despite the NHL's size and the salaries of NHL teams, there have
been no cases of tampering where a player was illegally given money
on the side. This is significant. It could be because it's hockey,
because it's Canada or because of other reasons, but it's worth
looking at.

I don't know about you, but when a player has enough money to buy
his own CDs or pair of sneakers, I think he'd be less likely to take
it illegally on the side. I'm ashamed to admit as a teen I did
some shoplifting, but once I started working, I stopped; eventually
I anonymously paid back the stores I stole from (except for the
Canadian chain that went bankrupt...).

As for college academic rules, the CIAU (Canadian Intercollgiate
Athletic Union) is a lot harsher than the NCAA: if you're not on
pace to graduate, you don't play. I'll qualify that by saying
Canadian universities don't offer scholarships, but it is also
far easier for people to get student loans than in the US.

IIRC, an American can't get student loans if his/her family makes
anything over US$15000. (Can anyone verify that?) In Canada,
anyone is eligible except for those in the most wealthy families
(the people who don't need loans to begin with).

I'm not saying Canada's perfect and we have all the answers, but
proximity and similar systems and cultures make it worth examining.


Bob Dog

Not true. Student loans are taken by families no matter the household income based upon verifiable financial need.

and you bring up Hockey. But we all know that NCAA Hockey is not the farm club for the NHL as NCAA basketball and football are to the NBA and NFL respectively.

To add a little balance here's a story about one coach who did the right thing and has succeeded because of it.

Oliver Purnell is the new coach of Clemson University and had to make at least one critical decision in his career. He made the right one.

By way of disclaimer, I attended the same high school he did two years later and well remember seeing him play. Though I was a total bookworm who never knew any of the players well, Purnell's character IMO is not misrepresented in this story:


Unfortunately as a Terp I'll be rooting like hell against him.

No hard feelings of course. wink

[ August 10, 2003, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: sportinlife ]

What a terrific column profiling Oliver Purnell's life and career (at least thus far, anyway) -- thanks for posting it sportinlife....I happened to be living in Virginia Beach in the early to mid 90s when Purnell was named head coach at nearby ODU after having spent 10 seasons as an assistant there (and led the Monarchs to three postseason appearances in his four years at his alma mater) and was always impressed by how tremendously positive he came across to the media and the fans along with the classy and professional manner in which he handled a couple of potentially troubling situations involving players....from reading the comments attributed to a number of his former teammates and players (particularly those from 15-20 years ago) it's no wonder he's been successful given the fact that Purnell clearly has so much integrity and has focused his efforts upon "developing people and relationships."

I remember telling a co-worker that Dayton made a smart move when they hired Purnell as head coach away from ODU in 1994 and, as much as it pains me to say it (considering Clemson is still the Gamecocks biggest rival, by far), I think the Tigers made their best coaching hire in a long time by bringing Oliver on board....while it will obviously take a few years to turn the Clemson program around and will be tough for any coach to win there given the enormously high level of competition in the ACC if anyone can bring that school back to respectability on the basketball court it is Purnell -- one need only look at his past track record as proof....I'm just glad that the 'Cocks are in the SEC now and only have to face Clemson twice a year in their annual intrastate rivalry.

I read an interesting column several years ago, I think by Rick Reilly in SI, that suggested that we finally admit what is going on, that college basketball and football are really semi-pro teams and we should act accordingly. He suggested that each Div. 1 team become a semi-pro team, with a connection with the school by giving the players scholarships to that school for the number of years they play for the team, up to 4 years, give a stipend to the players, and the NCAA will have to own up to the situation. Lots of details would have to be worked out, but it was an interesting concept that would take out some (but not all) of the hyprocrisy that we ignore every day with the current system, like "student"-athletes.

Having been in a Div. III program, where I had to go to class, keep up my grades to keep my scholarship, and the coach has no imput on admissions, financial aid, class schedule, etc, I saw where the NCAA used to be, but we all have to admit that football and basketball are big-time business and the only ones who don't benefit financially are the players (at least they aren't supposed to).

I agree something should be done to compensate college athletes for their contribution to a school. Having thier academics paid for is not enough. It's difficult to work out how they could be semi-pro and have the schools maintain their status as academic institutions.
Also the physical demands of football in particular on a developing young body could be damaging if ratcheted up to a pro level. These guys shouldn't be forced to grow up too fast. Whatever is done needs to be nationally consistent and faif to small schools as well.