My Plan to Reform College Athletics: Take the Student out of Student-Athlete

Each season we deal with scandals that damage schools, programs and
fan bases yet not the violators themselves. When the NCAA levies
penalties against Ohio State for its past violations, the culprits
won’t suffer. Some are facing a meager five-game suspension while
others have left the program completely. The NCAA wants rules and
regulations in place to try to maintain an equal playing field but we
know college athletics are not equal. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have
created cash cow conferences now that give them an advantage over
others. While the FBS schools have a significant advantage in
revenue and prestige over the “non-automatic qualifiers."

And then don’t forget the poor, literally poor, FCS schools that must
travel and get crushed by an FBS school just for the payday to support
their other athletic programs.

We have the cheating scandals now every year and I’ve had enough. I
agree with the NCAA enforcing its rules but I think those rules are
ridiculous. Not allowing student-athletes to seek gainful employment
is unfair. It could open the door to more rules violations but
student-athletes should have the chance to earn income while enrolled
at school like every other student. Also, for many student-athletes,
the student part is secondary. We get academic fraud and cheating
scandals for programs on a regular basis as well. They are at
school to try to become a professional athlete as the graduation rates
show for so many programs.

I have a simple solution to these problems and the end of the NCAA’s
ludicrous system. Simply remove the “student” from student-athlete.

Here’s my plan to let athletes focus on their athletics and only
academics if they want. First let’s do away with the NCAA and create
a new board of governors for collegiate athletics. This isn’t just
for football or basketball; it can be applied across all collegiate
athletic programs. This board can have formers coaches, players and
collegiate administrators. People I’d like to see on the board are
Bob Knight, Jay Bilas and Bobby Bowden.

Next, schools would set up the programs like a business where they
would have a budget with which to operate. Conferences would
determine the salary caps per sport and players could be signed to
contracts varying in length from 1-5 years. This could add balance to
conferences as five-star recruits may decide to go to a school who can
offer them a better contract instead of the instant chance of winning.
Each conference has their own market share and audience and can
tailor their product to it with the option of participating in the
national organization’s championship tournaments. Some conference
realignment would need to take place and I will outline that now as
well. For football, we have eight 12-team conferences.

In football, this will lead us to a playoff and keep bowls but have
fewer of them. The champion of each league will advance to the
playoff which will begin with a bowl and then lead to a national
semi-final and final to determine one true national champion. We’ll
have 18 other bowls so only 36 schools head to the postseason.

Here is my conference realignment plan. The ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and
SEC remain intact. These conferences will change:
Big XII – TCU and SMU are added and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State move
to the North Division.
Big East – Add Notre Dame, Army, Navy and TCU (already planning to
move to the league)
Western Athletic Conference (WAC) – Boise State, San Diego State , BYU and UNLV
Mid-12 (new conference) – Houston, Memphis, Colorado State, Air Force,
Wyoming, UAB, Central Florida, Southern Mississippi, East Carolina,
Marshall, Tulsa and Rice.

Allowing most conferences to stay as is, we allow rivalries to
continue and TV contracts to remain in place. This won’t have as
great an impact on established revenue streams from outside sources
for all programs. We did create a new conference to combine teams
while others are being eliminated from “big time” college football.

Eliminating the student from student-athlete will allow players to
focus more on their desired career. If an athlete wants to focus 100%
on playing football and making it to the NFL then he can do that. If
he wants to play football and progress towards a degree, he can do
that as well. He would be paid a minimum of tuition for the school he
will play for. He would be free to earn income from outside sources
then according to school/conference policies.

Allowing these students to earn more than their scholarship can help
all involved. School won’t need to worry as much about NCAA
compliance. Players won’t have to waste time and class space on
academics when they have no intention of completing a degree program.
For those who do, they can enroll in class and use their pay to cover
the costs.

Will relaxing restrictions on coaches, players and administrators,
make them obey and keep from pushing the limits?

No not at all.

However, instead of punishing those who haven’t done anything wrong
and not making them bowl eligible or other penalties, schools now
found guilty of violations will be fined. The minimum fine for a
violation will be $500,000 with most $1 million or more. This will
get the attention of all involved and make sure they’re more diligent
in following the new, fewer guidelines for college athletics.

Hopefully this can at least get some discussion going on reforming
college athletics and the decision-makers can have ideas on improving
a system that appears broken.

This article also appears at http://machorhino.com/?p=17560.  Feel free to share your thoughts below in the comments or email me at [e-mail].