College Football: How to Clean Up a Dirty Sport

Improper Benefits

We’ve heard this phrase a million times. It’s just a fancy way of saying someone received something they weren’t supposed to. It could be anything from a golf cart ride to $1,000 for selling a jersey to $200,000 for selling your son to a university (allegedly).                 

The question isn’t why the players do it. They want the money. It’s that simple. The real question is, why can’t NCAA officials, coaches and compliance officers stop this from happening? I’ll tell you why. They can’t punish the athletes effectively.

Sure they can suspend them and take away their trophies, but this doesn’t do any real harm to them. For the most part, they are only there three years and after that, they are in the NFL making big money and the whole incident will be just a spec in the rear view mirror of their Lamborghini. Meanwhile, coaches and players who had nothing to do with the incident are left with scholarship reductions and bowl bans.

Anyone see the flaw in that?

When I was in middle school, I made the mistake of thinking that my teachers could only do so much to me.  Sure they could give me detention or extra homework, but that really didn’t scare me. I was right in theory, but I found out the hard way that they can do something much scarier than give you extra homework or detention.

They could call my mother.

The last thing any kid wants is to have his mother called at work. It’s one thing getting punished at school, but when a parent gets involved, your weekend is at stake. I didn’t want to be grounded on the weekend. Those were the only days I got to relax and have fun.

As you probably guessed, I stopped the shenanigans at school because I knew something greater was at stake.

Why am I telling you this story?

Because this simple story of a kid getting punished is the outline of stopping pay for play and other improper benefits.

Let’s take a look at this story again. This is a very simple scenario. You have an authority figure in the teacher who needs help disciplining an unruly culprit because they can only do so much. So that authority figure calls an even higher figure of authority that has more influence and control over the unruly culprit. The unruly culprit obeys the higher authority figure because they have more at stake if they are punished by them.

Now let’s take a look at how this would play out in college football.  

The teacher would be the NCAA and the student would be the athlete. The NCAA can only do so much to the athlete. They can suspend them but in the long run, that player will still be in the NFL making money. Meanwhile, their former school loses scholarships and has to forfeit games. But what if the NCAA could call in an even higher authority who could contribute a more effective punishment?

That higher authority is the NFL.

Most of these athletes didn’t grow up wanting to play college football. They grew up dreaming of playing in the NFL. They dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl. And, most importantly, they dreamed of NFL money.

I am not doubting any player’s love of the game of football, but let’s be real. They want the cash. They want the big mansions, fast cars, supermodel wives and maybe a few mistresses on the side. 

The NFL has the power to hit these guys where it hurts. They could bestow a punishment so harsh on the players that death row inmates wouldn’t envy it. 

That punishment is an NFL ban.

What if the NFL started banning players for taking improper benefits? Of course the ban wouldn’t be for a lifetime but long enough so the players would get the idea that taking money in college means losing money in the future.

This is the only thing that would deter athletes from receiving improper benefits. If their NFL future is at stake, they are going to think twice before taking those free meals or that ridiculously low priced car.

This may sound over the top, but if this is what it takes to clean up college football, then it has to be done.