On Money and the NCAA

Last week, I wrote a paper on escalating coaching salaries in big time college football and basketball for one of my classes. Now it's no secret I'd like to get into coaching. I don't think I'll ever make it to the highest level of college though. The paper however, made me think about money, today's economy, and where people's priorities are. Money is still a major reason for divorce in this country, right there with irreconcilable differences and infidelity. I won't lie to my two or three readers; it was a mitigating factor in my own divorce proceedings. It has become a dangerous obsession in this country and a major factor why a lot of the world doesn't care for the US. State universities are cutting back and I think they are going to have to justify coaches' salaries. Winning cures all that. Sports fans have to wonder what John Wooden or Paul "Bear" Bryant would be worth today. Even coaches with multiple national championships like Joe Paterno or Mike Krzyzewski aren't the highest paid in their sports. This trend of paying coaches, or players for that matter, based on potential has soiled people on the games. As the economic gap between the participants and the fans increases, less and less people will settle for watching the games on TV. John Calipari just signed a contract with Kentucky, making him the highest paid college basketball coach. His former school, Memphis, was named in an NCAA investigation about a player having someone take his SAT test for him. There are a couple problems with this situation. First and most important, the NCAA created this problem with the silly "one and done" rule. A player must be one year removed from high school before going into the NBA draft. Most go to college, but playing in Europe or the NBA developmental league are also options. The Memphis player in question, probably never wanted anything to do with the SATs or college for that matter. The other problem is that if it is found that Calipari had any knowledge of this, he gets a slap on the wrist while Memphis receives the brunt of the punishment. I'd like to see basketball players go three years like football players. They gain some college experience, develop maturity and have a chance to further hone their skills. Though David Stern probably won't go for it, it'd make the college and NBA games would both be better. Until next week, keep learning.