Part II: Exploring Solutions for the NCAA
By Matt Hamm
Last time I looked at a few simple, easy to install, easy to monitor processes that the NCAA needs to utilize to make things better and less corrupt. Today I want to focus on a larger, more complex solution that could, if done correctly, benefit student athletes, Universities, the NCAA and even professional sports.
No matter which side of the fence your on in the great, should NCAA athletes get paid debate, your naive if you think it doesn’t happen. So what’s the best way to prevent it? Control it, because your just as naive if you think your going to stop it. I’ve heard some throw out the idea of letting agents into the NCAA. Allow them to grant loans to their future clients and register these loans which would carry heavy in restrictions with the NCAA.
Not bad, but the problem I have with it is the agents creeping into the college game. Most athletes rely on their college coach’s advice on obtaining an agent, interviewing candidates etc. High school graduates aren’t ready for that generally speaking. But I love the idea of a loan, only if it’s done right. And nothing good can come from allowing agents into college sports. Keep them out.
The loan system can work by way of student athlete loans from financial institutions. Put the loans on the books the same way every loan goes on the books. Defer the payments until the athlete graduates from school or goes professional in his sport and begins earning a paycheck.
One of the things that is missed in this debate too often in my view is the fact that most student athletes are not going to move on to professional sports. Therefore, a college scholarship is in fact huge for those that will need the education for their future careers. In the system I’m proposing, the loan program would be reserved for the top players who have the potential to go pro.
The loan’s guarantor, the very University he plays for. One of the worst situations a loan program could create is putting a kid in debt that doesn’t fulfill his potential. The athlete goes pro, he pays back his loan. The player flops in college, the loan is paid by the school after his graduation as part of his scholarship. The eligibility for these loans would then fall on the guarantor. If Roy Williams tells UNC that Marcus Paige is worth backing a loan for, and they are willing to do it, fine, the risk is on them.
Any pay for play program needs a ton of regulation. That’s why funneling the loan through the most regulated industry in the world-banks (I know, I know, banks aren’t exactly clean either, but who else do you suggest makes the loan?) is the only way to go. The maximum amount of the loans is also crucial, I’m not going to pretend to know the exact right number. What I do know is the loans can’t be large enough that the star players are running around with bling everywhere and 20’s on their Escalades. But if it means that a group of star players, for example Kendall Marshall, John Henson, Tyler Zeller and John Henson wanted to lease a car for a few hundred dollars a month and eat better than the typical college kid then fine. The loans shouldn’t pay more than a reasonable part time job would pay any student that had time to work one.
I know a ton of people will either comment on this column or tell me on Twitter than I’m wrong, student-athlete should mean student, blah blah blah. I don’t disagree with any of you, I would have loved a full ride to school. But everyone I knew in college worked a part time job to enjoy “the finer things” in student life.
Besides putting a dent in corruption. The other benefit of this type of program is that some kids would be deterred from leaving school too early. It’s won’t stop many, but you can’t deny, going from an average dorm room with no car and lint in your pocket. To a decent apartment, an okay car and few bucks in your pocket and quality food in your stomach everyday. Some may not feel the urge to flee campus life so quickly.
Is this the perfect solution to the NCAAs problems? No it’s not. Are the details all in order? Nope, the point here wasn’t to write a legal paper about the rights of the athletes and the institutions responsibilities and again, blah, blah or blah. The point here is give the kids a little bit of money, in a few cases, the University will have to pay the loan back. Drop in a bucket compared to the billions taken in each year from college sports. Sadly it seems the NCAA isn’t going to come to its senses and be proactive with a program like this. Like the football bowl series, common sense hasn’t been an option.
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