NCAA, NFL and other officials working to slow the unscrupulous activities of "rogue" agents in football are close to handing down recommendations that would really make a difference, according to NCAA official, Rachel Newman Baker.
College football coaches are asking the NFL players association and state attorney generals to hit wayward agents with tougher penalties.
In recent months, NCAA investigations and player suspensions and dismissals have touched major college football programs. Top North Carolina player, Marvin Austin, was dismissed from the team for his dealings with an agent.
College players who deal with smooth-talking agents not only put their college careers in jeopardy, but also the good standing of the team and school they play for, and do the agents really care? Ultimately all they want is the student-athlete's name on their dotted line.
The athlete wants the money the agent can provide and the agent wants to negotiate said athlete's professional contract - for a sizable fee. Agents do provide a service to athletes. In many cases the athlete may earn a college degree while playing Saturday gladiator for Goober U. Sadly, all too often Goober U. did not prepare the athlete to earn gainful employment outside of his sport. You're done playing. Here is your mickey mouse Goober degree - bye!
One would guess that professional sport contracts are pretty complicated, and a good lawyer/agent does provide guidance and some protection for the athlete - for a handsome fee. Thus professional sport salaries have become obscene. The higher the salary, the higher the agent's percentage of that salary.
One would see why an agent would want to get a contract with a sure-fire-to-make-it pro athlete as early as possible. There is money to be made so why not slip the athlete some up-front funds in order to get his name on the dotted line? A really big-timer would be worth the risk.
The powers that be should make it very painful for the agent who works outside the guidelines. At the very least, the NFL should suspend all dealings with an agent who has caused an athlete to lose college eligibility.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Ivy League, Part 3
At present the six power conferences and television pretty much control college football. Even though not all schools in these conferences are operating in the black, all of the biggest budgets are here. This means some programs can be extravagant if not down right arrogant. If the present trend continues, where will it all end?
What if some sort of common sense was forced upon everyone? For instance, what if each FBS program was reduced to 65 or 70 football scholarships instead of the present 85? Eighty-five scholarships represent four offensive and four defensive teams per squad as an example. Or three deep at each position and 19 redshirts. Is that much depth really necessary?
What if all Division I programs (FBS and FCS) were allowed 70 scholarships? The Ohio State-Michigan game will still draw over 100,000 and a national television audience and schools will save 15 scholarships, which could be a considerable saving. Or give those 15 scholarships to say, softball or baseball.
This would mean that Appalachian State has as many scholarships as Michigan. Whoa! Michigan sure isn’t for that simply because they are Michigan, even though Appalachian State (63 scholarships) defeated the Big Blue in the Big House in 2008. Villanova has as many as the University of Pittsburg. Whoa! The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has the same as UT Knoxville. That will never happen.
But what if every school in DI had a 70 scholarship limit, it is still a level playing field. If everyone has the same, then no one has an advantage. Funding tuition, room and board, tutoring services, books and materials, and other support services requires a lot less for 70 athletes than 85. And it will not make a difference to those 100,000 spectators mentioned above.
The budget for athletics at Ivy League schools is a part of the overall operating budget of each school. There are no separate athletic “corporations” like those that operate at most of the power conference schools. Funding Ivy programs does not require tens of millions in athletic-related revenue. Ivy League athletics is for the students who are interested in competing and operates as an educational program of the school. Team members are real student-athletes, taking real courses, earning real degrees.
There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, but there is need-based financial aid. A bright, but poor (I think the politically correct term is economically disadvantaged) student from Tennessee can qualify for full tuition at Yale. Theoretically Yale could have 100 football players receiving financial aid. But if an athlete’s parents are wealthy, they pay the full tuition. Why wouldn’t this work for everyone? Think of the money to be saved by schools struggling to build or maintain competitive programs.
What if some sort of common sense was forced upon everyone? For instance, what if each FBS program was reduced to 65 or 70 football scholarships instead of the present 85? Eighty-five scholarships represent four offensive and four defensive teams per squad as an example. Or three deep at each position and 19 redshirts. Is that much depth really necessary?
What if all Division I programs (FBS and FCS) were allowed 70 scholarships? The Ohio State-Michigan game will still draw over 100,000 and a national television audience and schools will save 15 scholarships, which could be a considerable saving. Or give those 15 scholarships to say, softball or baseball.
This would mean that Appalachian State has as many scholarships as Michigan. Whoa! Michigan sure isn’t for that simply because they are Michigan, even though Appalachian State (63 scholarships) defeated the Big Blue in the Big House in 2008. Villanova has as many as the University of Pittsburg. Whoa! The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has the same as UT Knoxville. That will never happen.
But what if every school in DI had a 70 scholarship limit, it is still a level playing field. If everyone has the same, then no one has an advantage. Funding tuition, room and board, tutoring services, books and materials, and other support services requires a lot less for 70 athletes than 85. And it will not make a difference to those 100,000 spectators mentioned above.
The budget for athletics at Ivy League schools is a part of the overall operating budget of each school. There are no separate athletic “corporations” like those that operate at most of the power conference schools. Funding Ivy programs does not require tens of millions in athletic-related revenue. Ivy League athletics is for the students who are interested in competing and operates as an educational program of the school. Team members are real student-athletes, taking real courses, earning real degrees.
There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, but there is need-based financial aid. A bright, but poor (I think the politically correct term is economically disadvantaged) student from Tennessee can qualify for full tuition at Yale. Theoretically Yale could have 100 football players receiving financial aid. But if an athlete’s parents are wealthy, they pay the full tuition. Why wouldn’t this work for everyone? Think of the money to be saved by schools struggling to build or maintain competitive programs.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Oh my gosh. My friend Bob Lee has really done it this time.
He calls it like we all see it:
Players From Mars - Fans From Venus
With everyone lathered up over sports agents and athletes, this is an appropriate time to bring up some serious ponderables. Today’s title comes from a psycho-babble book about men & women being different.....
SEC FB coaches like Saban and Miles and Spurrier are trashing "sports agents" as sleazy pimps. Isn't that like Kim Jong Il telling us Hugo Chavez is a bed-wetter?
Enjoy the entire thought. You just have to read this.
Players From Mars - Fans From Venus
With everyone lathered up over sports agents and athletes, this is an appropriate time to bring up some serious ponderables. Today’s title comes from a psycho-babble book about men & women being different.....
SEC FB coaches like Saban and Miles and Spurrier are trashing "sports agents" as sleazy pimps. Isn't that like Kim Jong Il telling us Hugo Chavez is a bed-wetter?
Enjoy the entire thought. You just have to read this.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The Ivy Way, Part 2
Presently the United States is suffering a recession. People are out of work. Folks are losing their houses to foreclosure, da, da,da. Some college programs are cash rich and some are struggling.
According to Forbes Magazine, in 2005 there were 10 college football teams raked in at least $45 million in revenues--among them, the University of Notre Dame, University of Georgia, Ohio State and Auburn University--compared to none the previous five years. Forbes Magazine
In 2007–08 according to a study by The Orlando Sentinel, there were six college football programs with over $90 million in football revenue and nine more with revenues of over $80 million. If you care, Louisiana-Monroe had the smallest income at $7.8 million.
So is college football all about the money or what? In order to sustain and surpass such profits, schools will have to raise ticket and concession prices, demand heftier donations for the privilege of purchasing season tickets, and garner more lucrative corporate sponsorships, among other yet devised means.
To keep up with their conference and national foes, new facilities will need to be built and present ones renovated. For example, there is a lot of profit in building and selling luxury suites at stadiums. Recruiting budgets will certainly need to be increased as recruiting bases get larger and coaches’ salaries will zoom. All will require larger and larger budgets and the income to support such budgets.
Why? To what purpose does the athletic arms war contribute to a university, its mission and its goals? At many of these schools barely one-half of their Saturday gladiators even graduate.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
2010 FCS Preseason Poll
1. Montana
2. Appalachian State
3. William & Mary
4. Villanova
5. South Carolina State
6. Southern Illinois
7. Elon
8. Richmond
9. New Hampshire
10. South Dakota State
11. Delaware
Villanova won it all in 2009, but doesn't have the talent to repeat.
Montana can never be counted out any year.
William & Mary could be in the title game.
Appalacian State will see what life is like witout Armanti Edwards.
The title game has been moved from Chattanooga to Frisco, Texas, and will have to compete with the Cotton Bowl. Too bad for the FCS. No team within 600 miles will be in the championship game.
2. Appalachian State
3. William & Mary
4. Villanova
5. South Carolina State
6. Southern Illinois
7. Elon
8. Richmond
9. New Hampshire
10. South Dakota State
11. Delaware
Villanova won it all in 2009, but doesn't have the talent to repeat.
Montana can never be counted out any year.
William & Mary could be in the title game.
Appalacian State will see what life is like witout Armanti Edwards.
The title game has been moved from Chattanooga to Frisco, Texas, and will have to compete with the Cotton Bowl. Too bad for the FCS. No team within 600 miles will be in the championship game.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Ivy League Concept
The Ivy League members are: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. The Ivy League competes in the NCAA Division 1 in all sports. Football competes in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), once known as I-AA.
Before the advent of athlete scholarships at most present day football-playing schools, the Ivy League won more than 40 recognized national football championships. Princeton won 24 and Yale, 19.
The league sponsors more sports and more teams than any conference in the country, 33 men’s and women’s sports and an average of 35 varsity teams at each school. There are no athletic scholarships at Ivy League schools.
“Athletes shall be admitted as students and awarded financial aid only on the basis of the same academic standards and economic need as are applied to all other students”. Wikipedia.com
Since 2002, the Ivy League…
- Produced 47 NCAA individual national champions.
- Amassed nearly 100 student-athletes per year earning All-American honors
- Totaled 136 Academic All-Americans
- Had 223 competitors at the five Olympic Games (2000 – 2010), collecting 91 metals, including six gold.
“This successful competition in Division I national athletics is achieved by approaching athletics as a key part of the student's regular undergraduate experience: with rigorous academic standards, the nation's highest four-year graduation rates (the same as those for non-athletes), and without athletics scholarships. Ivy athletic programs receive multi-million-dollar institutional support as part of each institution’s overall academic programs, independent of win-loss or competitive records and together with extensive programs of intramural and recreational athletics.” IvyLeaguesports.com
Athletics is funded through the general school budget, not athletics receipts. Harvard will have a football program regardless of gate receipts or television revenue. Athletics is one part of the total academic program. Isn’t this the way college athletics programs should be managed?
Of course there are no 80- or 90- or 100,000 seat stadiums in the Ivy League. You will not see an IL school in a bowl game. (The Ivy League presidents forbid post season play in football). There are no $2 million coaches in the Ivy either. But every athlete is a real student-athlete. Every athlete is in the same admissions pool as every other student. Every athlete takes real courses and is on track to graduate.
Why would this same philosophy not work at, say, an SEC school? Because many athletes at SEC schools do not have to meet the same admissions standards as non-athlete students. Are there students at SEC or Big 12 or ACC schools who are academically prepared for college? Students who will never graduate? The Ivy League has a graduation rate of over 90%, compared to some SEC schools who graduate (within five years) only 50% of their athletes. Yet everyFootball Bowl Subdivision () FBS school spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to support tutoring programs for athletes. Is this to help them graduate or just to stay eligible?
One can say that we are not comparing apples to apples. The Ivy League schools have a different philosophy than other schools, especially the large public universities. This is a fair assessment. But let’s do a little “out-of-the-box” thinking for a few paragraphs.
END of PART 1
Before the advent of athlete scholarships at most present day football-playing schools, the Ivy League won more than 40 recognized national football championships. Princeton won 24 and Yale, 19.
The league sponsors more sports and more teams than any conference in the country, 33 men’s and women’s sports and an average of 35 varsity teams at each school. There are no athletic scholarships at Ivy League schools.
“Athletes shall be admitted as students and awarded financial aid only on the basis of the same academic standards and economic need as are applied to all other students”. Wikipedia.com
Since 2002, the Ivy League…
- Produced 47 NCAA individual national champions.
- Amassed nearly 100 student-athletes per year earning All-American honors
- Totaled 136 Academic All-Americans
- Had 223 competitors at the five Olympic Games (2000 – 2010), collecting 91 metals, including six gold.
“This successful competition in Division I national athletics is achieved by approaching athletics as a key part of the student's regular undergraduate experience: with rigorous academic standards, the nation's highest four-year graduation rates (the same as those for non-athletes), and without athletics scholarships. Ivy athletic programs receive multi-million-dollar institutional support as part of each institution’s overall academic programs, independent of win-loss or competitive records and together with extensive programs of intramural and recreational athletics.” IvyLeaguesports.com
Athletics is funded through the general school budget, not athletics receipts. Harvard will have a football program regardless of gate receipts or television revenue. Athletics is one part of the total academic program. Isn’t this the way college athletics programs should be managed?
Of course there are no 80- or 90- or 100,000 seat stadiums in the Ivy League. You will not see an IL school in a bowl game. (The Ivy League presidents forbid post season play in football). There are no $2 million coaches in the Ivy either. But every athlete is a real student-athlete. Every athlete is in the same admissions pool as every other student. Every athlete takes real courses and is on track to graduate.
Why would this same philosophy not work at, say, an SEC school? Because many athletes at SEC schools do not have to meet the same admissions standards as non-athlete students. Are there students at SEC or Big 12 or ACC schools who are academically prepared for college? Students who will never graduate? The Ivy League has a graduation rate of over 90%, compared to some SEC schools who graduate (within five years) only 50% of their athletes. Yet everyFootball Bowl Subdivision () FBS school spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to support tutoring programs for athletes. Is this to help them graduate or just to stay eligible?
One can say that we are not comparing apples to apples. The Ivy League schools have a different philosophy than other schools, especially the large public universities. This is a fair assessment. But let’s do a little “out-of-the-box” thinking for a few paragraphs.
END of PART 1
Happy 4th ... maybe
Hope no one lost any fingers lighting fireworks. My neighborhood was a fireworks war zone from about 9:30 pm until midnight. My poor dog barked himself hoarse.
Every year we are reminded of the wisdom of our founding fathers. A government for the people and by the people was unheard of in the 18th century. The US Constitution has stood the test of time. Now we take our country and our freedoms too much for granted.
We always felt reasonably safe through wars, the Great Depression, desegregation, and a multitude of other fears and threats. We knew that our present leaders were just as wise as the Ben Franklins and George Washingtons of the past. We looked on them as intelligent men and women who possessed integrity and were willing to give up a normal comfortable life to be "public servents". Oh my. The time has come to maybe be a little fearful of a government structure that has become too huge, with far too many dishonest hands in the common barrel. Men and women who have no fear of God as did the founding fathers.
Guess maybe we have become too smart, too saavy for a God of the ages. We have highly educated, very intelligent, honest men and women to run the government. Why should I be afraid. If they can't solve the problems, our computers will eventually do it. More... maybe.
Every year we are reminded of the wisdom of our founding fathers. A government for the people and by the people was unheard of in the 18th century. The US Constitution has stood the test of time. Now we take our country and our freedoms too much for granted.
We always felt reasonably safe through wars, the Great Depression, desegregation, and a multitude of other fears and threats. We knew that our present leaders were just as wise as the Ben Franklins and George Washingtons of the past. We looked on them as intelligent men and women who possessed integrity and were willing to give up a normal comfortable life to be "public servents". Oh my. The time has come to maybe be a little fearful of a government structure that has become too huge, with far too many dishonest hands in the common barrel. Men and women who have no fear of God as did the founding fathers.
Guess maybe we have become too smart, too saavy for a God of the ages. We have highly educated, very intelligent, honest men and women to run the government. Why should I be afraid. If they can't solve the problems, our computers will eventually do it. More... maybe.
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