The NCAA Needs Change We Can Believe In

I write about the teams I am passionate about. From the Atlanta Braves to the Indianapolis Colts I care deeply for my teams.

But the sport I am most passionate about is NCAA football. If you have read any of my work you realize I am one of the most passionate UT Vols fans on this site.

I live in the South. Enough said.

Southerners have a huge reputation for being crazy about their college football teams. Many of us never went to the school for which we cheerl. One favorite team is usually a tradition passed down from generation to generation.

But I’m not writing this to talk about my program or southern programs but all programs—the NCAA as a whole, and not just football.  

What is wrong with the NCAA?

The BCS?

The debate over whether student athletes should be paid?

Illegal recruiting practices?

Players leaving early for professional contracts?

All of the above.

But you know me, I’m all about getting to the root of the problem.   

The root problem with the NCAA is that college presidents and NCAA administrators are trying to run a thriving, multimillion-dollar institution in the modern era the same way it was run in the 1950s.  

The No. 1 example is Notre Dame football.

The Fighting Irish have not been a premiere program since the early '90s. Sure they have had a good season or two since then, but they’ve had nowhere near the success the Irish experienced many years ago.

So why are they allowed to continue to be an independent team with no conference affiliation?  

Money from NBC for exclusive coverage, national prestige, and traditional rivalries are just a few of the reasons Notre Dame gets a free pass.

Most conference commissioners and school presidents still live in the past, when Notre Dame was actually relevant. 

The Rose Bowl is another example of the archaic reasoning of the NCAA.

One reason the NCAA instituted the fifth BCS bowl game is that the Rose Bowl wanted to stick with its Big Ten vs. Pac-10 champions format instead of hosting the national championship.

So the NCAA made sure the Rose Bowl would have its tradition, in addition to hosting the national title game once every four years.  

The school presidents do not want a playoff because it would supposedly cut into class time and finals too much.

That’s ridiculous. Schools are closed for the vast majority of December every year.

The bowls do not want a playoff because they’re afraid they will lose money and tradition.  

The major TV networks do not want a playoff because it might cheapen the regular season and send revenues down, and because only 12 people will tune in to the Humanitarian Bowl instead of the customary 20 they’re used to.

The simple answer for the university presidents is to shorten the season back to 11 games, play the first two rounds of the tournament during Christmas break, play the semifinals on New Year’s Day, and play the finals one week later. That time line doesn’t deviate from the current schedule.

If they’re worried about losing that extra home game, then the top-seeded teams can host the first-round playoff game.  

The simple solution for the bowl representatives is to keep the lower- and middle-tier bowls intact and allow a playoff among the top six or eight teams in the premiere bowl games.

The simple solution for the TV networks is just to cash in on the mass hysteria that a real college football playoff would create.  

My ideas are simple and potentially a lot more lucrative than Ball State vs. Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, one day before the national championship game.

What about players getting paid? I say why didn’t this happen years ago?!  

Look, in 1950 we didn’t have the Internet, video games, or ESPN. We didn’t have any of that until the late '70s. So I can see why that rule was in place then.

But now we have constant media coverage of these athletes.

Now we have Nike, Reebok, and Adidas being worn by the game’s best athletes.  

The schools allow licensing of jerseys with the star player’s number but not their name.

We have exact likenesses of these players on video games, and even online rosters that will fill in their names so you don’t have to do it manually anymore. EA Sports and the NCAA are currently being sued by former Nebraska QB Sam Keller for that very reason!  

Professional athletes get paid lots of money for those likeness endorsements and jersey sales.

These student athletes are much more than regular students. These guys are exceptional, and the universities, shoe companies, and video game makers are making millions off of them.

What about recruiting violations?

Why can’t a coach text-message a player? Why can't coaches utilize social-networking websites to interact with them? This is, after all, the age of information.

I can type any random high-school athlete’s name into a search engine and see the top 10 plays of his career!

The NCAA and university presidents want to stay in the Notre Dame-era.  

They love the “true Rose Bowl tradition."

They love to completely handcuff coaches and recruiters from utilizing the latest advances in technology.

College football rakes in millions of dollars for many of these universities. The sport is astronomically more popular now than it was when Notre Dame was on the game of the week and there were only three channels to choose from.

I’m not saying coaches and players should have no limits and zero restrictions. I don’t think a high school player should go to the highest bidder, a la the actions apparently taken by USC’s Tim Floyd or by Alabama football boosters over the years.

All I am saying is NCAA football should keep up with the times.

Get out of the '50s, '60s, and '70s and realize that pretty soon, when all of the traditionalists are dead and gone, the sport will be of no interest to many in this new techie generation.

This new generation does not care for tradition. It’s all about instant gratification. It’s all about champions and championships.

If you don’t believe that then ask Phillip Fulmer, Lloyd Carr, and Billy Gillispie whether winning championships and what-have-you-done-for-me-lately is the new theme.

The athletic directors get it. The university presidents do not.  

Yet if an athletic director or a coach does not get it, then that same president will fire the person in a heartbeat.

The presidents understand that the game is a lot more pressurized now. They understand what ESPN and the Internet have done for the game in that aspect. But when it comes to real change in the game they just look the other way.

It’s a double standard that’s backed by money, tradition, and collusion with the major bowls and TV networks.

So when will it change?

When people my age take over as university presidents? When Congress makes them?

Will I be alive when it happens? Will my grandchildren be alive when it happens? 

If my grandchildren are not alive when college football starts to make real change, chances are college football will no longer be alive either.

I personally believe change is just around the corner.  

There is a groundswell in Congress about changing the BCS. Our new president is even for a playoff.

This pending lawsuit against EA Sports and the NCAA might get the ball rolling on some payment aspect.   

ESPN was just granted the BCS for 2010 and beyond. We all know about their favorable stance on a playoff.

Maybe all of that is enough to get college football to change.

I hope so.