Spurrier’s pay petition meaningless but concept has merits
Steve Spurrier and Nick Saban are among SEC coaches who believe it's time to pay players.
Steve Spurrier must have seemed like a seven-year-0ld on a sugar rush at the SEC meetings in Destin as he scrambled to get other coaches to sign up for his pay-the-players plan. But there’s a way to go about this, and a meaningless piece of paper isn’t it.
There are valid arguments on both sides of the pay-for-play issue. The “don’t pay:” Student athletes already receive a valuable scholarship. The “pay”: The dollars in college athletics and contradictory messages from the NCAA have grown out of proportion relative to the concept of amateur athletics. Therefore, it’s time for the athletes to share in the wealth.
My view is somewhere in the middle: I’m certainly not for handing football players $300 paychecks every game, as Spurrier is proposing. Finding a fair and workable salary system that fits into Title IX regulations would be nearly impossible. But I do think it’s time to look into giving student-athletes a small percentage of the peripheral income that a university’s athletic department makes off a a team or player’s name, whether that’s the sale of jerseys, T-shirts or video games.
Georgia coach Mark Richt put it best when he told our Chip Towers: “The spirit of wanting to get more financial help for our players is unanimous. But how to go about it, I’m saying that wouldn’t necessarily be the best way to do it. I didn’t sign [Spurrier's proposal] because I didn’t want to say that’s how I felt was the best way to get it done. … In no way shape or form was I saying I didn’t want to help student-athletes. I 100 percent do. … But how do you do it without hurting amateurism? How do you do it without tax implications? Maybe it’s through the scholarship becoming more valuable.”
Finally, let me add this: A sweeping change like this is not going to made because Steve Spurrier got Houston Nutt and Nick Saban – the biggest oversigning abusers — to sign his little petition. Nor is it up to the SEC, the Big Ten or any other conference. This is an NCAA decision.
But I’m happy for Spurrier that he’s so excited about this and was able to hold court with the ravenous media in a hotel lobby. Guess it beats answering questions about Stephen Garcia.
What are your thoughts on pay-for-play in some form to college athletes?
By Jeff Schultz
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264 comments Add your comment
SC Boy
June 2nd, 2011
1:29 pm
This I know. Spurrier is going to kill it in the SEC this year especially with Garcia. UGA fans need to deal with it and him. He’s got a heckuva team and he’s going to run roughshod over the conference for a couple of years. And then he’ll retire a winner again. Makes you UGA fans sick, doesn’t it?
And as for the pay for players? He’s already in every national sports publication. I think he made his point while Richt sat on his duff and (as usual) never makes a commitment.
Texas Pete
June 2nd, 2011
1:31 pm
NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT IS MAD!!! Yep, wanting cash in the pocket makes you a thug and gangster. Nick Saban must be cappin’ fools left and right the way he’s jumped around for money.
Texas Pete
June 2nd, 2011
1:35 pm
Steve,
I cannot tell you how nice it would have been if you ran a 4.2 40 and could tote the rock like Herschel.
steve
June 2nd, 2011
1:35 pm
College athletes do get paid. It is called a scholarship. As one who paid for his own college education, I cannot begin to tell you how nice it would have been if someone had been willing to pay for my tuition, books, and room in exchange for playing a sport.
KCR
June 2nd, 2011
1:36 pm
Congratulations to Coach Spurrier for deflecting the media away from the more serious issue of oversigning!
Alabama | MrSEC.com
June 2nd, 2011
1:36 pm
[...] 1. Florida’s John Brantley will likely have a better TD/INT ratio this fall… but he’ll also take some sacks in Charlie Weis’ offense.2. Former Gator cornerback Janoris Jenkins pled no contest yesterday to the marijuana charge that led to his dismissal. (He received a small fine.)3. This Georgia fan/blogger writes that he’s lost faith in Mark Richt and will understand if some Dawg fans “will be open to selling their morality for a football coach who wins (like Jim Tressel)” this December. 4. Five-star UGA basketball signee Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is academically eligible.5. This writer says Steve Spurrier’s pay-the-players proposal is meaningless… but has merits. [...]
heartofdarkness
June 2nd, 2011
1:40 pm
Please, Jeff, be mindful of our desire to show our commitment to displaying the sincerity and intensity of our effort by bending the rules, taking short-cuts and otherwise manipulating the contest in our favor. If you don’t do that, you’re not trying. What is sport going to be worth, if all the shady characters and underhanded dealings are gone?
Mark
June 2nd, 2011
1:49 pm
Mr. Schultz dislike of the 2nd greatest coach in SEC history is obvious in the tone of the article and the quick dismissal of Spurriers idea. Why? Is it because Spurrier has beaten UGA (and notice how many Georgia fans that comment are fine with what Spurrier suggests…good on them) so many times? Is it because Spurrier hates the BCS? Is it because he runs clean programs?
A putrid article without any objectivity.
The Real JC
June 2nd, 2011
1:52 pm
What do college kids spend their money on when all of their books, food and classes are covered? Nothing good.
In many cases, you’re getting flown around in private jets, training in facilities nicer than most NFL teams, staying at luxury hotels and generally having all needs met. Yes, players deserve to see royalties from the use of their likeness, but handing them a check after each game is not the answer.
Perhaps some sort of bond or fund that fully matures after 4 years in school that is baked into their scholarships? That way, players who don’t get drafted have something to fall back on when they graduate. Also, no graduation = no $$$.
NOT AFRAID TO SAY IT
June 2nd, 2011
1:57 pm
Texas Peter, cap in the what? You are a moron. Look at the numbers these kids put up. Then look at the stupid @#$% they do. This will never end until someone drops the hammer. They get better and better, are given more and more yet their behavior continues to drop in the abyss. And yes I am mad. I was a college football player. Say what you will but the ‘content of these men’s character’ is drastically below that of what it once was. The days when guys got out and played the game because they loved it not because of ‘me me me.’ Petty and felony crimes has skyrocketed with this ‘new breed’ and if you are too stupid to see it, God help you…because no one else (including Obama) will.
juvenal
June 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm
look at the IOC model-take support outside the ncaa, call them amateurs via the olympics rules…..let the market decide….
JayTee
June 2nd, 2011
2:02 pm
How much would a cross country runner get? Doesn’t he or she play into this deal?? Or is life all about football?
Hey Steve, NCAA will be knocking
June 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm
I’m sure he live to regret this.
DWayne
June 2nd, 2011
2:11 pm
Looks like the Ole Ball Coach stole the show again.
Has the whole nation buzzing about him.
Meaningless? I think not.
DWayne
June 2nd, 2011
2:13 pm
ESPN covering the meaningless story too
TheAntiMe
June 2nd, 2011
2:13 pm
The NCAA has always been the most hypocritical institution when it comes to the billions of dollars schools rake in collectively as opposed to the draconian measures the NCAA takes to ensure that the players don’t see a dime of that money.
It’s akin to being on Gilligan’s Island and the other 5 castaways using all of the available resources to build a Georgian mansion for Mr. and Mrs. Howell only to have to sleep outside in the jungle themselves.
Mr. Howell: Lovie, Lovie Dear, you didn’t give away any of our coconut creme pie to those knaves, did you?
Mrs Howell: Really, Thurston, let them eat cake!
DWayne
June 2nd, 2011
2:15 pm
Rivals, USA Today, Sports Illustrated also carrying Spurrier’s meaningless concept.
Why can’t Richt get people talking about him/UGA??
Dirty Dawg
June 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm
Hey Russ, the temporary one, if you can’t see, or aren’t willing to admit, that Mark Richt’s position on this pay thing, as well as over-signing, is not only thoughtful and rational but the only way that either will be resolved going forward, then we need to just rub your mashed-in nose in it and whip your butt with a rolled up AJC…maybe that’ll stop you from sucking The Grandstander’s (Spurrier) eggs.
Delbert D.
June 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm
On the question of football equity, here is a partial quote taken from a blog on http://www.ncaa.org by John Infante, “Time for Football to Pick a Side.” Infante is Compliance Director at Colorado State.
“One option is for FBS football to agree to a playoff, but not just any playoff. An actual NCAA Championship, run by the NCAA, with revenue distributed by the NCAA according to traditional standards of NCAA revenue distribution. Lots of black, the same field at every site, with blue circles as far as the eye can see. Assuming a college football playoff earned revenue equal to the Division I men’s basketball tournament, it would pay for the jump to full cost of attendance scholarships for all sports, a substantially increased enforcement staff, all while allowing for significantly higher revenue distributed based on success in the championship.
The other option is for FBS football to be kicked out. That is, to remove FBS football from the list of NCAA sports, stop regulating the sport, and stop using football to determine how revenue is distributed. In effect, if football does not want to have actual skin in the game of its own regulation, the NCAA shouldn’t either.”
DWayne
June 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm
Scout ran his meaningless story too.
Scout & Rivals, not bad for recruiting.
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
June 2nd, 2011
2:21 pm
Dirty Dawg, I don’t think Coach Richt is all that smart. Now, don’t take that wrong because he is my boss on Saturdays when I am on the sidelines. Still, I don’t think he should have to ask someone what to think, say, or do when he is the head football coach at UGA. He should stand for something besides sunglasses and a tan. This may get me in trouble and I may be out of a job pretty soon but I am one of the few bulldogs still standing that is not inbred so badly that my teeth are coming out of my painted a$$. Have a nice day.
Dink
June 2nd, 2011
2:21 pm
Where do you draw the line? Every athlete from every sport (including the ones in the red) will demand stipends or paychecks. It took me years to pay off my student loan. I agree with blue devils post on page 1. And what will they want next?
Go Dawgs!
NoGaGator
June 2nd, 2011
2:23 pm
Title IX needs to become pragmatic for any of this to work.
I have no problem of the concept of equal scholarships for men and women based upon the men/women ration at a university with one exception – Football.
Football takes 85 scholarships. No other sport has more than 20. Football is also the biggest revenue generator at virtually all university programs. There are only about 20 universities in the country that actually make money during the year – and that’s thanks to football. It takes 4 womens’ teams to equate to football. If Title IX was pragmatically employed, the football team would count for 20 scholarships. Then you’d have something that would work for all. Otherwise, the biggest cash cow effectively penalizes all other mens’ programs.
Time to change Title IX. Then we can talk about add’l reimbursements. Otherwise, college sports would go broke.
ATL Sports Fan
June 2nd, 2011
2:29 pm
Hey Deion!! Do not know how to read or you just plain dumb? Don’t let facts get in the way, but Richt voted to keep the number at 28. Not sure where you get your info. If 12 of 12 SEC coaches voted to keep the number at 28 then where did you get that Richt voted against it? Last time I checked the SEC has 12 member schools. I’m waiting for your response!!
Right from ajc.com
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said the coaches voted 12-0 to keep the signing day limit at 28
Deion
June 2nd, 2011
1:03 pm
Richt was also the LONE DISSENTER among the 12 coaches for trying to reduce from 28 to 25. 11 out of 12 SEC coaches wanted to keep the signings at 28, Richt was the LONE DISSENTER who wanted to get it reduced to 25.
Richt looks closed to all ideas that are not his own.
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
June 2nd, 2011
2:29 pm
Thanks for all the e-mails offering support for my positions. I am thinking about getting a bus and riding all over the state much like Sarah Palin is doing right now in the northeast. I believe Russ, the Temporary Mascot may have a political future in this state. What if I got elected and we really did run this state? I have 3 degrees from UGA and sometime before next season kicks off I plan to graduate from the colllege of cosmotology in suntan science. That will give me 4 degrees from UGA and with those I should be able to enter the mascot hall of fame.
TheAntiMe
June 2nd, 2011
2:31 pm
I suppose that Steve Spurrier could always pay his players in used head visors for every one of his that he slams to the ground.
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
June 2nd, 2011
2:31 pm
Cosmetology. Remember, I am a dog.
Coach Grohbo
June 2nd, 2011
2:32 pm
The only reason Spurrier presented his ridiculous proposal was to mock Richt’s equally ridiculous proposal on “roster management”.
I understand he even impersonated Richt as he did it.
They said it was hilarious.
Coach Grohbo
June 2nd, 2011
2:35 pm
““The spirit of wanting to get more financial help for our players is unanimous. But how to go about it, I’m saying that wouldn’t necessarily be the best way to do it. I didn’t sign [Spurrier's proposal] because I didn’t want to say that’s how I felt was the best way to get it done. … In no way shape or form was I saying I didn’t want to help student-athletes. I 100 percent do. … But how do you do it without hurting amateurism? How do you do it without tax implications? Maybe it’s through the scholarship becoming more valuable.”
Thank you for that clear and courageous stand, Mr. Milquetoast.
Russ, the Temporary Mascot
June 2nd, 2011
2:35 pm
The folks at Chevron have asked if they can rent my a$$ on game days. They want to put a Chevron logo on my a$$ so when the cameras are on me they get some advertising like in NASCAR. They also talked with Coach Richt about a decal on his bald spot but he got really mad. I think I may agree to the sign on my a$$ if the money comes to me rather than the school. Isn’t that what this blog is all about?
PoorRichard
June 2nd, 2011
2:38 pm
You can legally pay them as much as you want. It will still not stop the problem. They will still accept outside compensation if offered, and it will be. $300 ain’t jack. $3000 ain’t jack. $300,000 is more like it. When you open this door, there is no end. College student athletes should not be supporting their families or even have their own families. If they are, dismiss them and tell them to get a job. The policy should not change. Colleges have no business in professional athletics, no matter how much income they earn. It erodes the ultimate mission of a university. Please NCAA and coaches, regulate this system better. What happened to the honor system in coaching that eschewed winning at all cost?
-former NCAA athlete
Coach Grohbo
June 2nd, 2011
2:40 pm
I understand Coach Spurrier was mocking Coach Richt in his voice when he presented his toungue-in-cheek pay-for-play proposal.
The rest of the coaches had just wasted the day enduring Richt’s “roster management” proposal, which doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of passing.
Spurrier’s timing was perfect. I heard it was hilarious.
Ted M
June 2nd, 2011
2:46 pm
Give them one scholarship, if they graduate, to give away in the future perhaps to their child.
PoorRichard
June 2nd, 2011
2:52 pm
Dear Cam Newton,
I might allow you to wash my car after you are a bust in the NFL or get hurt. Get your degree, loser. It is your only long time insurance against poverty. We’ll use you for profit in the pros too. Then the government will take half, your agent another half and you will blow the rest. Then you can return to a plantation in LA, Lower Alabama.
PoorRichard
June 2nd, 2011
2:58 pm
When the NCAA starts paying players is when I stop watching. See ya.
Spurrier
June 2nd, 2011
2:59 pm
Dawginlex, I think you have things confused. The only corch gettin slaughtered out there is Richt. After another 7 win season, what will his pious idiotic principles get him then? A buyout.
Najeh Davenpoop
June 2nd, 2011
2:59 pm
In order for a commodity to be worth something, it has to be in the hands of someone who can make use of its value.
Giving a college scholarship to someone who can barely get through his high school classes makes no more sense than buying a plasma screen TV for a blind man, or buying a steak dinner for a vegetarian, or paying you your paycheck in Zimbabwean dollars. Just because a scholarship would be a valuable commodity to some people doesn’t mean it is a valuable commodity to someone who doesn’t belong in a college classroom to begin with. Compensating someone by giving them something that is worthless to them is no better than not compensating them at all.
If the NCAA wants to keep up the charade of amateurism and the “student-athlete”, they need to start holding athletes to the same admission standards as everyone else. No more admitting five-star recruits who score 400 on the SAT. If the NCAA wants to continue making money off of athletes who don’t belong in college, it’s time to start compensating them with something that is actually valuable to them.
Either raise athlete admission standards to the same level as everyone else, or pay the players like the hired contractors that they basically already are.
By the way you all should watch last week’s South Park episode which deals with this topic.
Spurrier
June 2nd, 2011
3:07 pm
ATL Sports fan – Yeah, he voted to keep it at 28 after he realized no other coach was going to stand on his soap box. He looks like an idiot now after talking all that noise, then capitulating when it was clear nobody agreed with him. What a loser, good thing he coaches for a fanbase full of them.
Druid City
June 2nd, 2011
3:08 pm
@Coach Grohbo,
It sounds like the SEC coaches respect Richt about as much as his players do.
gdawginkalamazoo
June 2nd, 2011
3:17 pm
If these kids don’t want to play college football for a full ride scholarship then don’t make them. Oh, wait, nobody is making them play football. I guess it is just a damn fine opportunity to maybe have a better life by getting an education through hard work. That or hang out in the neighborhood upon graduation or join the military or get a job. Hey I just described 99% of the population. The other 1% inherits it or lives off the trust fund.
RCB
June 2nd, 2011
3:19 pm
Exactly what is the relationship between a coach lying to a highschool student about giving him a scholarship and a college athlete being paid $300 to play in a game??? Some one yelled “rape”(ie the coaches are lying) and the coaches yelled “fire” (ie why aren’t we paying athletes to play). If you are falling for this trick, I have 2 teenage sons that would like to adopt you as their surrogate father.
5150 UOAD
June 2nd, 2011
3:20 pm
Give them all a LOAN for their time in College and they will just have to pay it back like every other student. If the players get a worthless degree and can’t get a good job So be it. They will get out of college just like most students with Loans out the butt.
A Murray at UGA better hope he makes it to the NFL. He is majoring in Psychology and that JOKE will get you to be a school councilor. If he had to pay back student loans with that degree it would take him until he is 40 to pay them off.
WHO OWNS the rights to the players in college?
I think it is the NCAA and starts when the Player signs the CONTRACT/ Letter of Intent.
The NCAA has every right to USE/ Sale the images to EA sports.
Pay the Players fine. Make the Players pay for the Better Food they eat and the better Workout Facilities too. Make them Rent their Uniforms, Pads, Helmets, and everything they USE to promote them selves to the NFL. Student Athletes will have to pay for their Hotel rooms and travel costs too. Hell the football players are already treated like Politicians. They get all kinds of stuff free, opportunities other people can’t afford, and treated like they are something special when they are not that great anyway.
TheAntiMe
June 2nd, 2011
3:26 pm
The policy should not change. Colleges have no business in professional athletics, no matter how much income they earn. It erodes the ultimate mission of a university. Please NCAA and coaches, regulate this system better. What happened to the honor system in coaching that eschewed winning at all cost?
-former NCAA athlete
But that’s the deal, PoorRichard. College Football is a professional sport where many institutions earn more money than teams in the NFL. It seems rather disingenuous for the university presidents on down to the assistant coaches to be raking in hundreds of thousands and, many more of them, millions of dollars and say that we are participating in an amateur enterprise – because make no mistake about it – NCAA football has little to nothing to do with the so-called mission of education and everything to do about raking in the megabucks.
You do realize that the NCAA gets paid handsomely to whore out their brand with everything from tee-shirts to video games? It’s a mission alright. As a matter of fact, starting this coming college football season the NCAA will be bringing to the Kroger nearest you the all new USC Trojans brand condoms.
TheAntiMe
June 2nd, 2011
3:30 pm
Where you is, comment?
5150 UOAD
June 2nd, 2011
3:30 pm
Hell $300/game wouldn’t even cover the Shoes the players get for free.
TheAntiMe
June 2nd, 2011
3:31 pm
The policy should not change. Colleges have no business in professional athletics, no matter how much income they earn. It erodes the ultimate mission of a university. Please NCAA and coaches, regulate this system better. What happened to the honor system in coaching that eschewed winning at all cost?
-former NCAA athlete
But that’s the deal, PoorRichard. College Football is a professional sport where many institutions earn more money than teams in the NFL. It seems rather disingenuous for the university presidents on down to the assistant coaches to be raking in hundreds of thousands and, many more of them, millions of dollars and say that we are participating in an amateur enterprise – because make no mistake about it – NCAA football has little to nothing to do with the so-called mission of education and everything to do about raking in the megabucks.
You do realize that the NCAA gets paid handsomely to pimp out their brand with everything from tee-shirts to video games? It’s a mission alright. As a matter of fact, starting this coming college football season the NCAA will be bringing to the Kroger nearest you the all new USC Trojans brand condoms.
The Evil Genius
June 2nd, 2011
3:40 pm
Well, we’re gonna pitch it, gonna catch it… Somebody’s gotta win, may as well be us.
GT Dude
June 2nd, 2011
3:46 pm
It is a nice idea, but in the socialistic world of the college campus environment not only the revenue generating sport athletes will get a piece of the pie the non revenue sports athletes will demand to get paid. No college president is willing to expose his student athletes to the harsh realities of real world economics where only the athletes in the positive cash flow sports get paid.
Joe Bob Thibodaux
June 2nd, 2011
3:48 pm
I suppose the question to CMR is:
Is $300 per game enough to make bail?
Just kiddin,
Of course, there ain’t anyone making those kids go to college to be student athletes either.
Will enough ever be enough?
JBT
5150 UOAD
June 2nd, 2011
3:48 pm
If the NCAA does dump the bowls and has a playoff at on campus sites what will the people do? An NCAA sanctioned event is not supposed to serve Beer and Alcohol at the events. Bowl game are fun partly because you can get drunk during the game without having to sneak the stuff in with you.
If Student Athletes really cared about their college then why not let all the money Football generates just go to help lower the cost for All Students to attend the colleges. There would be no need for Student Activities if all that college football money were used to cover that and maybe LAB fees for all students too.