From the Houston Chronicle...
www.houstonchronicle.com
College sports is on fire.
The NCAA is more helpless and out of touch than ever.
And this is all going to get a lot worse before it finally gets better.
Another way of capturing the unprecedented chaos affecting Power Five programs, national champions, billionaires, small schools, university presidents and athletic directors, “student-athletes” and average fans across America?
It’s (bleeped) up.
Those were a few of the first words I heard this week during another conversation with an interested party in the middle of this crazy new world order.
Here’s a sampling of recent national headlines hinting at the real-time drama that could lead to the end of the NCAA as we know it — and create a new college sports world where the haves are rarely forced to deal with all the have nots.
Asked about the mounting impact of NIL, University of Houston men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson said he didn’t know how things can move forward without directives.
“I don’t know enough about it,” Sampson said during the recent NCAA Tournament. “Dana Holgorsen, our football coach, he and I and Kellen (Sampson), our associate head coach, Dana’s associate head coach and Chris Pezman, our athletic director, we met about: What are we going to do? What are the parameters? What do we need? I think everybody is looking at what everybody else is doing, because I don’t know what to do.”
Maybe you’re already tired of constantly hearing about name, image and likeness. Maybe you have an extra $100 million idly sitting around and want to try your hand at publicly funding a Top-25 team next season.
Either way, this soon-to-be-defining moment is bigger than NIL, the transfer portal that never ends, and the pros/cons of finally paying college athletes above the table.
That’s partly why SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff were in Washington, D.C., this week, lobbying both sides of the political aisle at the same time that real-world issues (war, inflation, Roe v. Wade) dominated nonsports headlines.
“I appreciate today’s opportunity for conversation and dialogue with members of Congress,” Sankey said in a statement. “As we have observed activity emerge that is very different from original ideas around name, image and likeness, it is important we continue to pursue a national NIL structure to support the thousands of opportunities made available for young people through intercollegiate athletics programs across the country.”
That was a professional way of saying that college sports is on fire and the NCAA no longer has the power to put the fire out or tell schools/athletes/boosters how to carry water.
“Based on my conversations with lawyers, trying to put this all in some clean little box is going to be difficult,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “The only way this is going to get cleaned up is with some federal legislation.”
That will take time, national and regional debates, and more time. In the meantime, whatever remains of the “purity” in college sports is in flames.
MLB has spent more than 100 years improving, adapting and fine-tuning its financial system. There are rules, rules and more rules. The recent bitter lockout, which almost erased real games from the 162-game schedule, was the latest reminder that finding economic middle ground that creates the most level playing field possible is never an easy battle.
The NFL raked in $12 billion in 2020 during a down year heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and runs off a sharper financial system than MLB.
Imagine if the NCAA didn’t have a locked-in system governing payments to young athletes who can easily bounce from school to school, just like overpaid coaches.
Imagine if the NCAA was forcing conferences and universities to fend for themselves in this new absurdly wild west, while state law varied and kept changing across the country.
Imagine if Congress refused to get involved until the major conferences came up with a united plan.
Picture a collegiate world where a sophomore guard averaging 15.3 points on a team that was blown out in the Elite Eight threatens to transfer unless he is paid more money.
It’s all easy to envision because that’s the reality right now.
Should college players be paid?
Yes. Especially with universities, programs, coaches, conferences, the NCAA and more making hundreds of millions off their collective sweat every year.
Should there be a system in place to govern and regulate everything?
That’s usually how things work, even in a free-market and capitalistic society in 2022.
“There’s no rules, no guidance, no nothing,” Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN in April. “It’s out of control. It’s not sustainable. It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end. There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things.”
With back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, Sampson has exceled at recruiting and developing young men who are overlooked by college basketball’s legacy programs. NIL hasn’t been a huge issue for his Cougars — yet.
“I’m sure it will,” Sampson said. “The unknown part is the future. What’s that going to look like? Between the transfer portal and NIL, all those things are things that are program builders. I’ve always thought of myself as a program builder, and there’s a lot of great ones out there. It’s like everything’s set up to be anti-program building because it’s hard to build in cement now. Everything is almost in sand.”
NCAA president Mark Emmert is set to step down from his lofty position.
Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams have stopped coaching in the last 13 months.
Random coincidence or an inside glimpse at how exhausting this era has become?
Maybe you don’t want to hear about the dirt of college politics and only care about your chosen football team winning 11 contests and a bowl game next season.
Just wait until your school can’t financially compete with the big, rich programs annually dominating the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament. Or your team loses its quarterback because a lesser school in a more NIL-friendly state was able to promise a sophomore more free money.
Smith: College sports are out of control with no end in sight
The fallout from the name, image and likeness legislation has turned big-time college...
www.houstonchronicle.com
College sports is on fire.
The NCAA is more helpless and out of touch than ever.
And this is all going to get a lot worse before it finally gets better.
Another way of capturing the unprecedented chaos affecting Power Five programs, national champions, billionaires, small schools, university presidents and athletic directors, “student-athletes” and average fans across America?
It’s (bleeped) up.
Those were a few of the first words I heard this week during another conversation with an interested party in the middle of this crazy new world order.
Here’s a sampling of recent national headlines hinting at the real-time drama that could lead to the end of the NCAA as we know it — and create a new college sports world where the haves are rarely forced to deal with all the have nots.
Asked about the mounting impact of NIL, University of Houston men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson said he didn’t know how things can move forward without directives.
“I don’t know enough about it,” Sampson said during the recent NCAA Tournament. “Dana Holgorsen, our football coach, he and I and Kellen (Sampson), our associate head coach, Dana’s associate head coach and Chris Pezman, our athletic director, we met about: What are we going to do? What are the parameters? What do we need? I think everybody is looking at what everybody else is doing, because I don’t know what to do.”
Maybe you’re already tired of constantly hearing about name, image and likeness. Maybe you have an extra $100 million idly sitting around and want to try your hand at publicly funding a Top-25 team next season.
Either way, this soon-to-be-defining moment is bigger than NIL, the transfer portal that never ends, and the pros/cons of finally paying college athletes above the table.
That’s partly why SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Pac-12 commissioner George Kliavkoff were in Washington, D.C., this week, lobbying both sides of the political aisle at the same time that real-world issues (war, inflation, Roe v. Wade) dominated nonsports headlines.
“I appreciate today’s opportunity for conversation and dialogue with members of Congress,” Sankey said in a statement. “As we have observed activity emerge that is very different from original ideas around name, image and likeness, it is important we continue to pursue a national NIL structure to support the thousands of opportunities made available for young people through intercollegiate athletics programs across the country.”
That was a professional way of saying that college sports is on fire and the NCAA no longer has the power to put the fire out or tell schools/athletes/boosters how to carry water.
“Based on my conversations with lawyers, trying to put this all in some clean little box is going to be difficult,” said Todd Berry, executive director of the American Football Coaches Association. “The only way this is going to get cleaned up is with some federal legislation.”
That will take time, national and regional debates, and more time. In the meantime, whatever remains of the “purity” in college sports is in flames.
MLB has spent more than 100 years improving, adapting and fine-tuning its financial system. There are rules, rules and more rules. The recent bitter lockout, which almost erased real games from the 162-game schedule, was the latest reminder that finding economic middle ground that creates the most level playing field possible is never an easy battle.
The NFL raked in $12 billion in 2020 during a down year heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and runs off a sharper financial system than MLB.
Imagine if the NCAA didn’t have a locked-in system governing payments to young athletes who can easily bounce from school to school, just like overpaid coaches.
Imagine if the NCAA was forcing conferences and universities to fend for themselves in this new absurdly wild west, while state law varied and kept changing across the country.
Imagine if Congress refused to get involved until the major conferences came up with a united plan.
Picture a collegiate world where a sophomore guard averaging 15.3 points on a team that was blown out in the Elite Eight threatens to transfer unless he is paid more money.
It’s all easy to envision because that’s the reality right now.
Should college players be paid?
Yes. Especially with universities, programs, coaches, conferences, the NCAA and more making hundreds of millions off their collective sweat every year.
Should there be a system in place to govern and regulate everything?
That’s usually how things work, even in a free-market and capitalistic society in 2022.
“There’s no rules, no guidance, no nothing,” Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney told ESPN in April. “It’s out of control. It’s not sustainable. It’s an absolute mess and a train wreck, and the kids are going to be the ones who suffer in the end. There are going to be a lot of kids that end up with no degrees and make decisions based on the wrong things.”
With back-to-back Elite Eight appearances, Sampson has exceled at recruiting and developing young men who are overlooked by college basketball’s legacy programs. NIL hasn’t been a huge issue for his Cougars — yet.
“I’m sure it will,” Sampson said. “The unknown part is the future. What’s that going to look like? Between the transfer portal and NIL, all those things are things that are program builders. I’ve always thought of myself as a program builder, and there’s a lot of great ones out there. It’s like everything’s set up to be anti-program building because it’s hard to build in cement now. Everything is almost in sand.”
NCAA president Mark Emmert is set to step down from his lofty position.
Jay Wright, Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams have stopped coaching in the last 13 months.
Random coincidence or an inside glimpse at how exhausting this era has become?
Maybe you don’t want to hear about the dirt of college politics and only care about your chosen football team winning 11 contests and a bowl game next season.
Just wait until your school can’t financially compete with the big, rich programs annually dominating the College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament. Or your team loses its quarterback because a lesser school in a more NIL-friendly state was able to promise a sophomore more free money.
