College football: worry about your athletes
Written by Rob Detjen Tuesday, 02 February 2010 08:00
The college football season ended less than a month ago and there has already been over 20 coaching changes.
What’s the deal? Is it just me or can you not trust a single person‘s word in sports anymore? It may have something to do with my trust issues dating back to Brett Favre’s retiring and un-retiring, then retiring and un-retiring again; or maybe it’s because my USC Trojans lost one of my favorite coaches of all time and hired the one I despise more than Pacman Jones. Oops, I did it again. Another Pacman Jones reference.
It seems that in college football, more than in any other sport, there is no loyalty.
When recruits choose a college football program, they are committing to the coach and a program for four years. When the coach is fired or bails out for greener pastures, it leaves the kids’ future and life in limbo.
A good example of this is what happened at the University of Michigan a couple of years ago. Michigan practically forced Llyod Carr into retirement to hire Rich Rodriguez and his flashy spread offense.
Highly-touted freshman quarterback Ryan Mallet was given the choice to run an offense he had no business running or transferring to another school and sit out a year. Luckily for Mallet, he made the right decision and decided to transfer to the University of Arkansas. With a great sophomore campaign, he has now slotted himself as a top 10 pick when he decides to come out.
Not everyone is as fortunate as Mallet. Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain, who was replaced by Mallet, was a highly ranked quarterback coming out of high school. When things didn’t work out at Arkansas, and a new coach was brought in, he decided to transfer to USC. After sitting out a year he was forced to compete with future first-round pick Mark Sanchez, and just this past year Matt Barkley. Unfortunately for Mustain he had no chance of beating out either one. In four years Mustain went from a future first-round draft pick to a guy who is lucky if he gets drafted at all.
That is why I suggest the NCAA makes a rule change that forces coaches to fulfill their contracts. Too many times have coaches bolted on a contact with a couple of years left for another coaching job. If a coach signs a 10-year, $40 million deal, he should have to live up to that contract. If a coach decides he wants to break his contract and take another job, he should, like a player who transfers, have to sit out a year.
By law, written contracts are enforceable, so why can college football coaches get out so easily? They are already set for life. Most of them are making, at the very least, six-digit salaries.
If the coaches and the NCAA don’t agree on it, then either take out the one-year sit rule or start paying the players. I know these are topics that could be widely debated, could be talked about for hours, and are for another day, but for the sake of this article, I’ll keep it short.
Look at Tim Tebow. He will most likely go down as one of the most beloved football players in college football history. Think about how much money the University of Florida made off of Tebow’s jersey sales. Do you think he saw a penny of that money? Nope, the NCAA forbids student athletes from getting paid.
I know people who disagree with me are going to say “What about the athletes that leave school early for the draft?” That’s different; players that are leaving school early are doing it because they are getting offered the career of their dream. If most of us had an opportunity to stop going to school and work our dream job, I’m sure almost everyone would take it.
It’s time, NCAA, to make some changes. Stop being so worried about how much of a profit you are going to make. Start worrying about your student athletes and their futures. Without student athletes, you wouldn’t have a job.
