Steve Spurrier proposes that coaches pay players out of their own pockets
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier believes coaches should be able to pay 70 players $300 per game out of their own pockets.
DESTIN, FLA. – South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier emerged from Wednesday afternoon’s meetings with SEC athletic directors and fellow football coaches with a crinkled piece of paper in his hand. And with a raspy, Godfather-like voice — he has been hoarse the past two days — he proceeded to tell media gathered here to cover the SEC meetings that he wants to be able to pay his players out of his own pocket.
“I presented a proposal that we give our football players $300 a game for game expense,” Spurrier told reporters in one of the lobbies in the Sandestin Hilton Beach Resor. “They can give it to their parents for travel, lodging, meals. Maybe they could take their girlfriend out Sunday night or Saturday night and so forth.”
For a fleeting moment it wasn’t clear if Spurrier was joking or being serious. Then he raised the piece of a paper from which he made his proposal. At the bottom were dotted lines with the names of the SEC football coaches underneath. Seven of them included actual the coaches’ signatures. Asked who they were, Spurrier read them off.
“The guys that were willing were [Will] Muschamp, Derek Dooley, [Nick] Saban, Les Miles, Houston Nutt, Dan Mullen and myself,” Spurrier said.
“A bunch of our coaches felt so strongly about it that we’d be willing to pay,” he said. “Seventy guys, 300 bucks a game. That’s only $21,000 bucks a game. I doubt it will get passed. But as coaches, we make all the money, as do universities and television, and we need to give more to our players. That was just something we need to get out there.”
Conspicuously absent from the list was Georgia’s own Mark Richt. I asked him about it as he checked out of the hotel to make his way back to Athens.
“The spirit of wanting to get more financial help for our players is unanimous,” Richt said. “But how to go about it, I’m saying that wouldn’t necessarily be the best way to do it. I didn’t sign it 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. Every single coach in that room wants to do that. We all believe that. 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.”
Richt’s sentiments more closely matched those of SEC athletic directors, who generally didn’t take Spurrier’s proposal seriously.
“I don’t think you’re going to see anybody give a stipend to an individual,” Florida AD Jeremy Foley said. “I think this cost of attendance conversation is going to continue and I think that will probably gain some momentum. . . . Coach Spurrier’s desire is part of that conversation. You just couldn’t do it ikndividually in one sport. It will be national legislation.”
The SEC and other BCS conferences are getting behind legislation that would elevate the value of scholarship for student-athletes from just room, board, books, meals and lodging to full cost of living.
Spurrier is realistic in his expectations. More than anything, it seemed like he just wanted to make a point.
“We all make so much money,” he said. “It’s only $300,000 for 14 games. For what us coaches are making nowadays, we’d all love to do that.”
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226 comments Add your comment
Mike
June 2nd, 2011
1:02 pm
These are supposed to be sports played by college kids. To call most of these kids “college” material is embarrasing. Most of these kids can barely read out of high school. We need true college-level sports – create a semi-pro or minor league for these morons that only want to play ball and dream of the pros. I’m sick of these idiots. Give them more? You’ve got to be kidding.
Warner
June 2nd, 2011
1:04 pm
Some things amiss here.
Richt was in the moniroity on the pay players a small stipend proposal.
Richt was the lone dissenter on the move to keep player signings at 28, not 25.
It appears that Richt is stubborn.
Not open
to any new ideas not his own.
Steve Spurrier
June 2nd, 2011
1:15 pm
I have been paying my players all along. How do you think I did so well at Florida?
DawginLex
June 2nd, 2011
1:15 pm
Coach Richt is the only one in the room with the guts to stand up for his principles..
All the others are sheep being led to slaughter.
RiffRaff
June 2nd, 2011
1:16 pm
CMR – “Maybe it’s through the scholarship becoming more valuable.” Seems the more reasonable solution. Once you start giving out cash it will become abused and out of hand.
DawginLex
June 2nd, 2011
1:21 pm
Spurrier will do anything to avoid going 2-5 versus Richt head to head while at the chicken coop.
RiffRaff
June 2nd, 2011
1:28 pm
What would Jim Tressel do?
David
June 2nd, 2011
1:30 pm
C O dawg, nice article. Did you say take out a loan for extra money??? Clark Howard would have great dialogue with you. You have to be kidding right? I’ll tell you what. That 80K-120k you mentioned, let the school be responsible for finding a job anywhere in that range (we will take the low end) the day after completion of a degree and watch how things change about free this and free that. The schools are making at least that much from every player, the least they can do is enable you be able to pay YOUR loan back. Now, I bet your range will probably go to 20K-30K now. Bottom line, the players are getting pimped, screwed, etc. You must know what I mean. I am an average sports fanatic who went to college, worked and paid as I went. I didn’t bring the university a dime or in other words they didn’t make any real money from me. I saw I had more extra money than the athletes and that is a damn shame.
The Dawgfather
June 2nd, 2011
1:51 pm
Pay them!! College football players being labeled as “amateurs” is a joke. Accept it or not, NCAA football has jumped into the entertainment industry and generates big $$ and big profits. So why does everyone keep trying to believe it’s still pure? Anyone who thinks that Mark Richt is more valuable to Georgia than AJ Green, Knowshon Moreno, Stafford, or David Pollack has their head in the sand. When’s the last time you saw someone wear a CMR jersey? And as far as a “free” education… that dog won’t hunt neither. Less than half of football players graduate so most aren’t getting one. And I’ve never seen someone without a scholarship having to attend “mandatory” and “voluntary” workouts that impedes their ability to take on extra jobs for money. Next time you see your team playing on National TV, enrollment for your university going up, or visiting the state of the art facilities on game day, thank your athletes for their $0.50/hour labor.
Hollis
June 2nd, 2011
1:53 pm
As a life long Dawg fan, I’ve never thought too much one way or the other about the “evil genius”, except when we were playing Florida. I gotta admitt he’s dead on on this one.
gatorhoop
June 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm
pay the players a percentage of the profits and leave it in an account for when they graduate they can have access to it. it keeps them in school and keeps them on a good path.
UGA’s Michael Adams expects ‘robust discussion’ among SEC presidents on over-signing | UGA sports blog
June 2nd, 2011
2:09 pm
[...] is traditionally known as the quiet day around here, which is in stark contrast to yesterday when Steve Spurrier was proposing paying players, Nick Saban was storming out of meetings and the conference leaders were retooling men’s [...]
dumbdawg
June 2nd, 2011
2:09 pm
While we’re at it, why not pay coaches the same as the teaching staff. IF I was a star collegiate player from a poor background, it would be hard seeing all the revenue and nothing for me.
dansfae
June 2nd, 2011
2:22 pm
If the NFL needs a minor league, it should start one, pay the players and leave the colleges and universities out of it.
Aubie the Tiger
June 2nd, 2011
2:24 pm
We pay a lot more than that!!!!
AltamahaDawg
June 2nd, 2011
2:30 pm
Warner…try reading first.
NOBODYYOUKNOW
June 2nd, 2011
3:09 pm
Right on, AIRBORN, so many of these athletes have such big egos no one can stand to be around them. Not all but many seem to think they should be worshiped and adored. One pro football player some months ago actually had the audacity to compare himself to a solder in battle. He was quickly reprimanded by his coach. And by the way let me say THANK YOU AND ALL MILITARY FOR YOUR SERVICE. I will have more respect and admiration for you brave people than any athlete.
G8R GRAD
June 2nd, 2011
3:25 pm
Increase the scholarships’ coverage to include costs of living.
To pay these kids outright would inpose taxable income liability and lead to student athlete unionization.
cadawg
June 2nd, 2011
4:22 pm
let operation “talk about anything but oversigning” commence…
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 2nd, 2011
5:03 pm
I think the ole ball coach is getting senile, coming out with something like this. The news wires are already having a ball with this one. Just the kind of notoriety the SEC needs. I think ole stevie boy done opened his mouth too wide on this one.
AltamahaDawg
June 2nd, 2011
9:02 pm
Good of Stevie to wait till he is going to retire next year to have such a revelation about his paycheck.
F Spurrier
June 2nd, 2011
9:57 pm
Hey Spurrier, go F yourself!
Mon, Wed, Fri LINKS | RIsportslink.com
June 3rd, 2011
7:10 am
[...] —Chip Towers/Atlanta Journal-Const: Steve Spurrier wants to give players $300 per game (out of his own pocket). [...]
Mobile Dawg
June 3rd, 2011
9:13 am
An “opportunity” exists for a great education. If an athelete doesn’t want to apply themself, whose fault is that? Personally I think an “allowance” should be part of the “scholorship package” for all students that fall into the category of being a “full time athelete”. Seems there could be odd jobs at the University, or the local businesses, or charities that could use some help so they could earn money for personal use. I don’t know the actual number of students who would fall into that category but imagine that it wouldn’t be a number to large to absorb.
It Ain't Rocket Science
June 3rd, 2011
10:14 am
Mobile,
Not sure about that jobs idea. I think that got OSU in trouble with that concept. Paying players for a job, and they don’t do any work at all at the place of employment. The idea of including the stipend as part of the scholarship could have merit, provided someone would monitor these kids a little. A lot of them have not seen a lot of money or even an amount like 300 per month and would not know how to manage it. It would still be a problem though, since every athlete, no matter their sport on an athletic scholarship, probably has the same problems the football player does.
co dawg
June 3rd, 2011
11:18 am
Clark Howard would more likely say keep your spending down and finish your degree. The conversation should be less about paying these players and more about finishing the degree. Why? Well, just take a look at unemployment rates from May ‘11.
Less than a high school diploma – 14.7%
Some college or associate degree – 8%
Bachelor’s degree and higher – 4.5%
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm
It’s really time to stop worrying about paying some student athlete 300 bucks a game. A lifetime of employment is worth far more especially, since statistically speaking, these kids are NOT going pro. An extremely small percentage get a shot and even fewer make it. 32 starting quarterbacks in the nfl and Brett Favre had one of those jobs for roughly 20 years.
Let them take out a small loan each year. And let’s be honest, it would be small since they are not paying for their tuition, housing and meals. 3k a year = 12k after 4 years. Since these are most likely subsidized loans (which is pretty much free money), I am quite certain that the 50 to a 100 bucks a month is something that college grads can afford.
Not sure who made the networking comment but you are way off. UGA football players are unable to network. Huh? Seriously. Come on. That’s absolutely absurd.
Get the degree and feel fortunate to have a good education for very little out of pocket.