As a former college basketball player, a college coach at the D1 level, and a fan for over 70 years I think collegiate sports is headed for the abyss. It is because of my fondness for college sports and because I have some experience and knowledge about how it works, I am concerned about the future or lack thereof. Put simply, in this current state, college sports is unstainable. Here are some of the reasons I feel the way I do.

First, let me state for the record that the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) in college sports is long overdue. I played in the 1960s when D1 athletes could not work or earn money. We were “awarded” an athletic scholarship which paid for books, fees, tuition, and board. We were given 15 bucks a MONTH for laundry. The NCAA hierarchy was getting rich and we were getting a “free” education. I am appreciative of my basketball scholarship, which allowed me to get a college degree, but it was not “free”. We practiced 2 or 3 hours everyday during the season unless we had a game. There were very few days off. During the “off-season” we played and worked out 2 or 3 days a week. We often got home from road games at 1 or 2 in the morning. It was our job. The poorest kids on campus were often the athletes. Thousands of students and fans came to the games to watch these athletes perform. Many of these athletes did not have enough money to take a date out after the game. I have had players that I would “help” get home for Christmas because they could not afford a plane ticket. Everyone was making money off the athletes. There weren’t any coaches that I knew making a lot of money like some of the coaches in college today that make 8 or 10 million dollars a year. I am not against college coaches making money but I do think that some coaches get paid an absurd amount for coaching in college. The NCAA philosophy for years has been to legislate ALL the things a program CAN NOT do rather than help the athletic programs perform better with fewer restrictions and “red tape”. The athletes were last when it came to receiving compensation.

Now that I have pointed out some of the issues that college athletes had to deal with in the past, I want to focus on the insanity that is going on in intercollegiate sports today. We have gone from one extreme to another, and this one is not sustainable or practical. I honestly do not think the NCAA knows how to deal with the current dilemma, and it is a dilemma. Actually, I do not think the NCAA will be the governing body for collegiate sports in five years. Schools are forming mega-conferences and the way things are moving I think there will be 3 or 4 conferences in the entire country. They will control TV rights and control the money that is pouring into these conferences. Control the money control the landscape. Sadly for me, schools like Middle Tennessee State University, my alma mater will never have a chance to compete for a national championship. The “mid-majors” will not have the resources to compete with the “blue bloods” for the elite athlete. But even more discouraging, schools like MTSU will become “farm systems” for these national programs in the SEC or Big Ten. For example, MTSU could recruit a good, athletic 6’5″ small forward that is not good enough to play in the SEC right out of high school. The coaches pour their time and energy into the player. He gets into a weight program, improves his eating habits, develops his skills, and grows 2 inches. He becomes a standout in the conference as a sophomore, and now the SEC schools are recruiting him. Oh, and MTSU was giving him 300 bucks a month, which he thought was great, until the “big boys” came in and offered him 3,000 dollars a month. I don’t blame the athlete for taking the money and leaving. It has been too long in coming but as they say “the rich just get richer”. There will be two categories in college sports, the haves and the left out. Some fans of the elite schools may think that they are immune from a situation like this but just this past year there were over 1,800 D1 players that transferred. Not all of them left mid-majors to go to an “elite” program. (NIL is not the only issue facing collegiate sports and I will address the PORTAL in another post.) As far as the NIL there are a few major issues that HAVE to be dealt with before it is too late. 1) where is the money coming from, control the money control the situation 2) where is the money going, players, coach, school 3) does everyone on scholarship get money and how much, does the quarterback need to drive around campus in a Lamborghini 4) are there performance and contractual agreements 5) does the monetary value of the coach go down, does a recruit come to your school because of the academic standing of the school, the league, the coach, or is always come down to the Benjamins (I recently had a conversation with a huge Alabama football fan. He said that the Bama fans were happy with the new hire but a little concerned about how good a recruiter he was. I ask him if Alabama football had money, he looked at me like I was from another planet. My point, if you have money it really doesn’t matter if the coach can recruit. Show them the money! Coaching does make a difference but “its about the Jimmys and the Joes not the Xs and Os”. Finally, how much can you pay the athletes and still afford the non-money making sports. I recently heard Adam Silver, commissioner of the NBA, say they are looking at abandoning Ignite from the G League because of NIL. There is no such thing as the student-athlete in the present environment. Neither is there loyalty, commitment, allegiance to school or coach. One of the things that set college sports apart from professional sports was where the limelight was focused. In college the coach gets the limelight, and in the pros its on the players. That is changing, the one who has the money has the hammer.

NIL is not bad. But like anything else that operates without rules, regulations, and parameters it is a ticking time bomb.