NCAA: The IRS of organized sport

First appeared on July 27th, 2010
in The Lebanon Reporter

With the revelation that Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush took money while playing football at USC a whole new debate has surfaced on the sports landscape. Well, perhaps “reared its ugly head again” is the more applicable cliché. Allegations that Florida’s Maurkice Pouncey took money from a sports agent as well suddenly have fans, coaches and sportswriters alike calling for change. Well at least the sportswriters are.


In the past we have seen the NCAA hammer schools with suspensions, forfeitures and lost scholarships. Schools in turn have responded by falling over themselves apologetically before firing coaches and athletic directors. What we rarely see are the “student athletes” themselves being held accountable.

Nowhere before has the “one bad apple” theory fit more appropriately than in this scenario. There are literally thousands of Division One student athletes who are actually trading college sports for the chance to prepare themselves for a career outside of athletics. I understand this because I watch the Big Ten network and they keep the same NCAA commercial on a constant loop.

Unfortunately all it takes is one Reggie Bush, one scumball agent, one Kelvin Sampson and the entire system takes a hit. Unfortunately with hundreds of schools offering dozens of sports the numbers of student athletes totals in the thousands. In other words, this is likely a lion too big for anybody to tame. Even somebody with a solid track record for efficiency like the U.S. Government probably couldn’t help. Major college sports is King Kong on the Empire State building and the NCAA is an ant with a bullhorn trying to talk him down.

The bottom line is if coaches are worth millions to universities and the games generate millions more for networks perhaps the word “amateur” needs to be reevaluated. In the meantime we need to look at a way to dim the luster of the money agents wield. With recruiting extending all the way down to the junior high levels these days it would make sense for the NBA and NFL to become more involved before we witness the disgusting sight of agents leaching themselves to pregnant mothers.

Somebody, the President of the NCAA, retired Admiral Thad Allen or USC great Pete Carroll (OK, so maybe not Pete Carroll), needs to get the NFL and NBA on the same page to ensure players, along with institutions and coaches, are held accountable when things like this happen. By fining or suspending those players who have transitioned from college to the professional ranks before allegations break, you might be able to make them reconsider taking gifts from agents in the first place.

As for the agents themselves, there are several ways to deal with them. Few of which are legal. I suggest ritual sacrifice or a Mexican firing squad. And yes they still exist, my uncle’s in one.

I suppose the argument could be made that this is all simply a sign of how backward we are as a society. One need look no further than the Nobel committee recognizing three guys for studying the structure of Ribosomes when clearly there are more deserving people in the world; like the guy who invented DVR for example.

So what do we really have here? Another embarrassing moment. Another reason for the big time programs to reevaluate the ways they cheat. Another month or so of everyone trotting their high horses out to politic for the preservation of the purity of college sports. All the while proposing no solutions and changing absolutely nothing. The good news is the college football season will be here before you know it.