Fixing The NCAA: Starting Right Now

Several thoughts have run through my head this last week or so about the NCAA and it’s struggles to not only remain a real authority figure in college athletics, but to retain it’s relevancy as well. Two things come to mind right off the bat and they both are so simple it should have been done years ago.

First: Get rid of the draft rules that are in place. The new rule should read as follows. Any collegiate athlete at any school in any year of their eligibility can enter their name into any draft they so choose. If they are not drafted, they can return to school at any time, even after the draft has occurred, as long as they have not hired an agent. A Nationally Licensed and sanctioned sports agent. Someone who must adhere to standards set up by the professional sports leagues and other folks who are pertinent to the situation. We do not need more rules for the kids, we need more rules for the adults. Let the kids consult an attorney, which the NCAA must provide on their behalf. The NCAA attorneys can advise the kids on their options and what information they need to know. Who pays for this? The NCAA it is one of the new ways that student athletes are going to be compensated for their efforts as athletes.

Second: Develop expense vouchers for the student athletes. Track every dime they spend. Make them attend a class on it at school as part of readying them for a career in pro sports. Give them food money, give them clothing allowances, give them a reasonable amount of expense money to live as long as they attend class and make their grades. And throw out the “value of a college scholarship” computation. No one cares. What they care about is seeing these kids go to class, do their work, have what they need to have and play college sports. Make parent tickets, costs of travel, and every last expense you can think of legit. But track it all. Don’t make it impermissible to give a kid’s uncle on his mamma’s side a ticket to a game. Make sure he gets the ticket the right way, but track it. Make it public. The key to all of this is to bring it all out in the open. Then you can control it.

Additionally, as I said above, agents need to be federally licensed and sanctioned, and pay into a fund that recompenses schools, families, and others for their misdeeds. You want to clean up the agent community? No problem. Charge an agent 25K a year to be one, and monitor his movements. Who pays for this? The sports leagues and the players associations. Start making these multi millionaires responsible and and chargeable for their actions and you will at the very least get things out into the light of day and give the schools a running start at stemming the tide of corruption that has taken over their day to day functions. It is time to start working smarter, not harder to control this growing nightmare.

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