College Football 2012: NCAA Should Allow Players to Receive Agent Loans

Tuesday Sports Illustrated gave us an excerpt from Josh Luchs's new book; ILLEGAL PROCEDURE: A Sports Agent Comes Clean on the Dirty Business of College Football. In this portion of the former agent's book, Luchs outlines his detailed plan to pay players through agents and ultimately remove so much of the red tape and shady nature of the business.

Andy Staples of SI is all over it in his response. He look at the policy as a way to stave off the revenue-sharing ideas and keep NCAA mission largely intact.

In short, the entire plan makes actual sense. It was written by a guy who understands the inner workings of the agent side of things. Staples, one of the guys who just gets it, can understand the positives of the plan. Personally, I love it.

What all of this means is that the NCAA will never do what it should do: adopt the plan.

This is the first plan that takes care of a lot of the issues raised with regard to paying players. First and foremost is its Title IX component, something that is near and dear to my heart. It does not put the onus on the schools to pay out-of-pocket equally for their big-money male athletes and their non-revenue female athletes.

Much like the "worth" of a college athlete is determined by the respective league or pro organization that he or she will move on to, this plan falls in line with that thinking. If an agent wishes to invest in a future WNBA or WPS athlete, they pay her what they see fit. On the male side, the same goes for the future PGA golfer or Olympic athlete.

Agents are paying to get in on the ground floor with everyone. Under this plan, it's open season on potential.

The beauty in Luchs's plan is not just the putting of cash into the players' pockets in whichever sport in which they succeed. Rather, the beauty is in the transparency of his plan. The transparency alone is what makes this plan right for the NCAA.

This shroud of secrecy that surrounds agents, players and runners is something that most fans and the NCAA do not have a proper understanding of or access to.

Staples touches on it in his piece. While fans assume things about why a player goes to one school over another, the fact is that the involvement of agents is such an integral part of the process that bringing it out into the open is a positive change for intercollegiate athletics. Getting it out in the open, up on the table instead of under the table, is a step that's needed if "cleaning up" the sport is the goal.

Requiring agents to register means that they can be reviewed at not just the state level, which is slipshod at best, but by the NCAA. That means far fewer runners trying to cozy up to players at the local college bar and far more legitimate meetings, on the record, to discuss a player's potential and why an agent wants to get involved by investing in the kid's future.

Agreements go on the record, papers are signed, legal obligations are established. Situations like Reggie Bush would be safeguarded against a couple of ways:

• Marketing agents like Lloyd Lake would have to get through the NCAA registration.
• Bush would have been legally obligated to pay back the money borrowed because it would all be on the books.

The same goes for North Carolina where multiple agents were making cash loans and giving gifts in an effort to secure players' future commitment through early investments. All of these interactions would be on the up and up; not covertly taking place and not done in hiding from the NCAA and/or coaches.

Transparency is the reason the NCAA needs to look into this deal. The push must be made to stop the negative connotations made with respect to agents. Regulate them and have access to their dealings. Luchs is essentially taking a page from the NCAA baseball advisors book and revamping it to allow money to legally change hands and keep everything on the books.

The plan makes sense, probably too much sense for the NCAA to even consider. It is so wrapped up in pushing the "everything agents is filthy" theme that the thought of legitimizing agents through standards and practices is lost upon them.

The NCAA needs to vilify the agents and players involved with them in order to continue garnering public support for its punishments.

Authorizing these practices and regulating them is a move that helps players in a myriad of ways.

Sadly, the NCAA is too invested in itself to see the forest for the trees.