Willie Taggart Says CFB Players Should Be Paid, Money Placed 'In a Trust'

When it comes to paying college football players, Florida State head coach Willie Taggart is all for it...under one condition.

The 41-year-old gave his solution to the controversial subject Tuesday, per college football insider Brett McMurphy: "Should they get paid? Sure. But it should be put in a trust fund."

Taggart left the Oregon Ducks for Florida State in December after the Seminoles offered him a six-year, $30 million deal.

Paying players has been a hot topic in recent years, with some arguing scholarships are enough of a payment, while others are pointing out how much money the student-athletes bring to the NCAA. A financial statement released in March revealed the NCAA brought in almost $1.1 billion in revenue in 2017.

Not only is the organization profiting off the players, but the coaches are also.

Along with Taggart's $5 million annual salary, the Tallahassee Democrat's Wayne E. McGahee III noted he has bonuses tied to his student-athletes' success, both on the field and in the classroom. From winning conference titles to winning the national championship to achieving certain APR (academic progress rate) numbers, the coach has additional hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line.

Taggart is on board with paying the players—but he wants to incentivize academics, as the student-athletes could only access the proposed trust fund upon graduation.

He expanded upon his idea, via Warchant.com's Ira Schoffel: 

"We need to think about helping them when they get out of college. Not while they're in college. We're taking care of them. They've been taken care of all their life. Once they get out of school, nobody takes care of them. That's when most of the kids get themselves in trouble.

"I think we all know that and see that, but I guess that's too easy to do. To me, that's the right thing to do. ... Everybody's talking about pay, pay, pay. Nobody's talking about graduate anymore."

Of course, having student-athletes graduate reflects well on coaches, both in terms of reputation and bank account. 

The counterargument is many of the players who are helping bring in the big bucks will choose to leave school before graduating, thus keeping that trust fund out of reach. Even though they would go on to make money professionally, those players would have helped make the coach and the NCAA money but not have benefitted financially. 

Taggart's proposal is just the latest idea when it comes to paying players. Until the matter is resolved, expect more to be floated out there.