I support the kids being able to do what they want, but this has become ridiculous. I don't think there's anything about the school itself (e.g. education, history) that matters now. In that case college sports is dead & needs to be moved to its own league.
I agree with everything except I disagree about the kids being able to do what they want. This NIL garbage is nothing but buying talented players, and many if not most talented players offering themselves for a single season to the highest bidder, and should be called what it is. It will further enrich certain programs at the expense of others. Fans are already tuning out. The only thing I can see that matters about the schools is belonging to a major conference that provides sufficient TV exposure. Sometimes not even that if the NIL payment is enough. I think we're all in the grieving process at different stages because the college sports we knew, or thought we knew, and loved have been suddenly snatched away. We all see it. We just have to reach acceptance and deal with it.
The last distinguishing thread is the need to actually be enrolled at a school. We all know that colleges have gut courses designed to keep athletes eligible. The schools could end this farce by actually requiring athletes to be enrolled in genuine college course or, if under prepared, give scholarships and remedial courses (but not playing) until eligible. That plus no transfers without sitting out and the elimination of the NBA’s age limit would fix most of this. Otherwise I doubt that rooting for the Gainesville minor league pro basketball lizards will keep my interest like the Florida Gators used to. Edit: I guess the point is that the Universities could easily fix this if they wanted to. They are caught up in the corruption just like all the rest.
Wong from Miami is threatening transfer if he doesn't get a bump in pay matching 'the leader of an Elite 8 team' per his AGENT. That one really bothers me.
For me, the biggest shock is that I thought some of our players loved us. I’m seeing that a lot of players I thought were about building something at UF are only looking out for #1. Before anyone says I am sitting on my high horse, I’m not necessarily criticizing the players… I just thought the bond we had with them was more special. It’s like getting dumped for a more attractive person who suddenly became available the night of the prom.
This is the inevitable result of NIL and allowing student athletes to get paid in this manner while attending school. It’s no different than the no-show jobs from boosters that happened in previous years. Everyone who wanted college athletes to get “a piece of the pie” have gotten their wish, and they are now lamenting the consequences. I wonder why some NFL teams don’t do the same. Underpay players and “guarantee” them a large NIL deal instead in order to get around salary cap issues. Bet the NFL wouldn’t allow that kind of crap to happen, just like when they penalized Washington and Dallas for not sticking to the gentleman’s agreement the NFL owners had reached to not take advantage of the year when there was no salary cap.
NIL is the worst single thing that has happened to college sports since I was born 84 years ago. Young people today have NO sense of loyalty to anyone but themselves. How can any coach build a great program of team work when the players are in it for themselves. No love of their university, no love for coaches, no love for their teammates , no love for fans, school colors. The NIL is killing college sports. There needs to be some control over agents, rogue coaches and players. Top players need to go pro before they get to school and ruin the program. The NCAA has no balls and no leaders!
Changes over the past couple of years are just showing the joke on everyone "college" basketball and football really are. Elimination of freshmen inelgibility and piles of TV money have helped pave the way. NIL and transfer rules have just made it almost impossible to deny that the college 99.9% of the students knew is not the players college.
Well, if a game thread is any indication, that bond can dissolve at a drop of a hat unilaterally. At the end of the day, their coaches can leave or we can fire them, scholarships may not be renewed, and we can castigate these kids in public forums while their performance fills the coffers of the school, athletic department, coaches, community, and television executives. I fully support player movement and compensation given the lack thereof over the last half century or so, as everyone else profits off the game. Yes, it does suck as fans who follow and support these kids, and I do firmly believe many of them will actually harm their development as players, students, and adults, not to mention losing the massive amount of social capital and networking they would get from sticking it out at one school. But that’s a decision they deserve to make and a responsibility they deserve to have—like any other student or employee anywhere, really.
