Shouldn't the NC2A pay "student athletes"

[Zach]

NCAA eligibility. See my previous post for examples.

Outside of college eligibility, amateur status is pointless.

How many basketball and football scholarship students actually make it all 4 years and make it to the professional level?

The NCAA is basically the pimp in collegiate athletics.


If my kids ever look they have have potential to become some sort of college superstar, I'll figure out if you can trademark them in anyway possible to reap the profits away from the NCAA.

 

[1_pointer]

I don't disagree as to it's worth. That said, for at least two sports it's the best way to make it to the pros if one is so inclined and talented. If my kids are good enough to play major college sports (or a full scholarship for anything at any level), I'll just be happy they are getting school paid for. Profits be damned, I'll just work on figuring out how to get to as many of their games as possible.

 

[SFC B]

Here is what I saw in college. I was going to walk on to the track and field program at Ball State to throw javelin. Not many scholarships in track to begin with and I wasn't a superstar by any means. I talked to the caoch and was told a few things that made it impossible for me. First I had to schedule all of my classes in a manner prescribed by the AthDept. This would have meant at least an extra year of school to complete my degree and would have made the academic scholarship I had that paid for tuition almost useless. Next I was told that I would probably not be given even a SHOT until the second year with the program and that was IF I made all mandatory and "encouraged" training, weightlifting, off season clinics etc without any support. Finally, after all of that, I could hope for a partial scholarship maybe. No go for me. I lived in the honors dorm my freshman year and my next door neighbor was a defensive lineman. I learned REALLY quickly what a good decision I had made. EVERYTHING about his life was ruled by the football program. When and what he ate, if he could work at all (even off season), his class schedule, what holidays he could spend with his family, when he had any leisure time etc. This being said, he was no star...not even a starter....but he was on scholarship and they OWNED him ( much like the Army owns me ) and a HUGE amount of his time. I relate this stuff because I believe a few things about most colleges/universities, especially in relation to athletes.
1. If one believes that these institutions care in any way about the athletes they are incredibly naive. At the very least these young folks are owed full medical coverage.
2. Universities and academics portray themselves as "keepers of knowledge" and "towers of ethical behavior" when, in fact they are WHORES. Here is an example....While in grad school we had several students busted in a cheating/work sharing ring. One of them was the wife of a very..VERY..wealthy local executive with an Insurance company. She was not formally expelled but told she had to reapply after a lengthy (I believe 2 year) hiatus. She did and was reinstated. As if that wasn't bad enough, her husband soon died in an accident. With the school in the midst of a fundraising campaign for a new building she offered up several million and they...NAMED THE BUILDING AFTER HIM, even though he had no other affiliation with the school at all.
3. While I won't say that I have the answer, I will say that expecting an athlete (especially a star) to live in an apartment with 3 or 4 other guys and eat ramen noodles while his head coach pulls down a few mil a year is pretty crappy. Especially when you look at the advertising/endorsement end. There is no reason a kid couldn't do that. Put ANY coach with scrubs and he is a nobody REALLY qucikly. These kids work and sacrifice large portions of their lives to degrees much greater than the sum of tuition, R/B and fees and are the reasons folks fill the seats. It is plain and simple exploitation.
4. Finally, the NCAA is no more than a profit clearing house for universities. They DO NOT have the interest of the athletes (or any student) as their first concern. It is simply about making money for their members and doing what they want.

Sorry for the rant but I have a real problem with the hypocrisy of the entire system.

 

[roadhunter]

At the end of the day nobody is forcing these kids to go play college ball. If providing a free education is not worth the trouble, they are welcome to pay or in some cases borrow like the rest of us.

IMO is just opens a can of worms. If we pay football players and basketball players do we have to pay other non revenue sports? Women's sports? Just FBS schools? FCS? D II? Really there are only a handful of schools who can afford to pay these kids. Most mid major FBS, FCS, and D II programs can's afford to do anything like this. This is the same group of schools who are talking about breaking away from FBS and having a "big boy" football league, primarily power conference schools from the SEC, ACC, PAC, B1G, and Big 12. Outside of that there are really only a handful of schools who can afford this such as BYU, UConn, Cinci, etc...

Yes there are some kids who generate tons of income for their school, Johnny Football is a good example. For every one of those there are thousands of kids who dont' generate income. Trying to decide which kids deserve to get paid and which ones don't is nothing but trouble.

I do however think that some long term medical care, especially for serious injuries, should be looked at.

I also think that allowing these kids to work jobs outside of school is a huge problem. There are so many boosters who will pay these kids excessive amounts and in some cases not even make them work which causes additional issues. Not sure how to fix this. One option discussed was letting the schools employ the kids. That might work.

When you hear some of these stories with kids who have all kinds of problems at home it really tugs at your heart. You want to pay them so they can do things to help their family. OTOH you dont' want to pay them so they can buy more weed, lap dances, hookers, beer, chrome rims, jewelry, etc... and get in trouble.