I think the universities and the NCAA are just as much to blame for this. You think they really care if these kids graduate when they offer them a scholarship? I'm talking about the top recruits in their respective sport. What are bowl games about? The BCS? The strung-out bowl season? The jerseys sold? The expanding stadiums. Money, money, money, money, and more money. Oh, but make sure the kids don't get any. Concerning the area where this is the biggest issue (top football and basketball programs), the educational value of a scholarship means little. It is not valued at $100,000 to these kids. Why would Ryan Mallet transfer from Michigan, one of the better educational universities in the country, to attend Arkansas?
Again, it comes down to reality. And I live in REALITY. TP will be a broke drug addict or dealer in 5 yrs, I have no doubt about it. And then Jimmy Tressel can pat himself on the back for helping TP turn out a lot like his last great Blue Chip recruit Maurice Clarett!!! :amen: Maurice Clarett knew Lebron James too, so at least MC and TP have more than one thing in common. I feel sorry for them in all honesty, and if they were given just a little TRUE mentoring, they may have had a chance in life. MANY, MANY people have said that TP has a sense of "Entitlement." but when he can't play college football anymore, and he ain't quite good enough to play in the NFL, then where's he gonna be??? Giving these kids an education is more than enough!!! Just out of curiosity, did you go to school. and if you did, did you have any student loans??? Or better yet have you ever signed for a loan all for you that was for $100,000, and made every payment??? The reality of it is, these kids are GIVEN more than enough, and in some cases.....WAY too much. While the rest of the general population has to EARN what is rightfully theirs, some of these kids are "on the take." COLA loans can pay for cars, rent, groceries, cell phones, etc. Easy to come by, and deferred until after school.... Trust me, they are there, and easy to come by, so why shouldn't these kids have to put some effort forth??? This is where you're wrong!!! Did you go to school??? Did you have any student loans??? How much better could your life have been if you'd never owed the school a penny for your education, rather than $500/month for 10 yrs??? Mallet transferred to Arkansas because the pot was cheaper..... :D Just the free stuff they get for KICKING UM's behind every year..... :D Ride that sack all you like, it's probably got a little "TP" on it...... "TP" = whatever you want to consider it..... Tressel won that trophy with COOPER's players though, you have to keep that in mind. It's at LEAST half Cooper's Trophy. Remember, he couldn't win it when he tried with his own recruits, only with Cooper's did he win it.
Wow...just wow. Wait, I'm wrong and you're right? I've never seen you take that position before. You're the loud guy at the end of the bar.
Nice. Yes I went to school. No I did not have any student loans because I had an academic scholarship, and a summer job to pay for bills. These kids are earning what is rightfully theirs, and then some, but they don't see all that is rightfully theirs. How can you not understand this? Some of these kids earn way more than $100k for the university while they are in school.
In who's opinion? Your's? We've all learned in your mind that is the only one that matters. If you are offered a bonus for doing a great job at work, you going to turn that down? "No thanks, I've earned more than enough this year. I don't want to go on the take." Oh, and make sure you turn down that beer your buddy offered you for helping him move a couch. These kids are not breaking laws, they are breaking NCAA rules.
College student athletes ARE paid. They are given small stipends to live on... Do swimmers get less? Do you get more per TD? Do only the profitable sports get paid? 90% of college athletics already cost the school money, on top of the free educations they give out to the athletes. Why should they take even more of a loss?
Watch and see..... That's all I can say. And I'm the loud guy at the bar who can back it up........ And the $100K (or whatever) for school is plenty. Because some of the kids don't make the school $$$. And in efforts to keep the "playing field level" the FREE EDUCATION should be enough. So OSU makes $2.7million off of football, loses $400k on softball, and the entire AD ends up $1.4million in the good. But Indiana's AD is $450K in the red, so it's fair for OSU to pay athletes while Indiana charges them??? FREE EDUCATION is a GREAT DEAL, and if while getting that FREE EDUCATION, they get an opportunity to get drafted and play professional sports, then that FREE EDUCATION was an even better deal for that specific individual. If you want to keep any competitive balance in college sports, then the "FREE EDUCATION" must be enough, otherwise, all the Blue Chippers are coming to OSU or USC for the "Fringe Benefits." I suppose you don't see it the way I do. It's not quite like the JOB thing you offer up as an example, unless you're talking about a COP being offered a BONUS to look the other way as a drug deal is going on, or a heist occurs. So which sport or player does the university show preferential treatment to??? Football, basketball, women's swimming??? If the Football team goes 3-8, should they get LESS than a women's swimming team that wins nationals??? Or should they get more because the university still made more $$$ off of football, even though their season was dismal than the National Champs women's swimming team??? Or how about they both get the SAME thing.....a FREE EDUCATION??? And they are free to do with that EDUCATION whatever they want in the future. Be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, whatever..... Again, ask someone who's paying $500/month in student loans, and their opinion may vary a bit.
I am that guy paying two student loans (including my wife's). Are all athletic scholarships the same? Or do the better athletes get better scholarships? As someone who went to college to play basketball, I only received a partial scholarship as a freshman. Another incoming freshman received a full. He was better than me. Is it fair he got offered a better scholarship, or should we have been equal? With that said, I don't think different players on the same team should receive different amounts. Pay them an amount based on their sport. I think the biggest thing is to allow them to receive gifts. I really don't know what the best solution is, but the NCAA is crazy if they think this type of stuff is going away. They need to make some changes, and stiffer penalties won't do it. No college kid ever thinks he/she is the one thats going to get caught. I think your caps lock keeps getting stuck. Capitalizing free education doesn't increase the value of it to many major college athletes. If they did, they would choose the college with the highest tuition, not the one with the best program, or the one where they will play the most, or the one that gives them the best chance at making the league.
But the FREE EDUCATION = DEGREE which is essentially equal be it from UofM or Nebraska or Iowa or FSU..... That is where the disparity is solved. I understand the partual vs. full scholarship, and THAT is where some of the athletes are "REWARDED." Not by getting deals on cars or loaner cars for weeks at a time, or getting paid to show up somewhere, etc. What it really comes down to is HONESTY in many cases, and this is EXACTLY why Jimmy Tressel is no longer the coach at tOSU, because he wasn't HONEST. And truth be told, it's not the FIRST time by any means he's been a little dishonest. We've all bent the truth a little, I have many times because I didn't want to be "the one" who told a patient their "poor prognosis." Yet the BLATANT lying and hiding of information that was KNOWN to potentially have very negative consequences, isn't just a LIE, it's a calculated, measured action. Sort of like the difference between a crime of passion and a premeditated murder..... Woody Hayes struck a player in the heat of the moment, while Jim Tressel lied, took measure to hide the truth, and when approached regarding an issue he knew full well about he acted like it was the first he'd ever heard of it. Did he make a deal with his players to "keep their mouths' shut and they could play, and Blab and your done???" Who knows the REAL truth. None of those guys were gonna get drafted high, so they were better off to keep their mouths shut, but now with the truth coming out, it's looking like a BAD DEAL for all of them. A good MENTOR, as Scott mentioned Tressel to be, would have guided these guys towards what the RIGHT thing to do was, and lead them by his example using what is commonly known as TOUGH LOVE. Then it becomes a matter of betrayal or lesson learned. (I know which way I'm raising my kids, and lessons learned hard are lessons learned well.) Had Jimmy made the RIGHT decision in April of 2010, he may still have his job, and in the overall realm of it, it may have been BETTER for recruiting rather than worse. Had Gee and Gene Smith had good solid principles and a righted moral compass, Tressel would have been FIRED months ago. But instead, they "supported their coach," even in the face of the blatant lies and violations of the NCAA rules, only bringing MORE SHAME upon the university.
No they should not be paid. I had my tuition, room and board, and food paid for because of athletics in college. I received a national class education for free. That is plenty. I also worked in the summers to pay for my apartment in the summer and everything else.
You keep throwing out $100,000 as the value of their participation in sports. Is the monetary value or not? Or is it the level of education? Is a degree from Harvard worth more than a degree from UNLV? All degrees are certainly not equal. Caps lock...its on the far left of your keyboard. If you push it again, the little green light should turn off.
No, it's your wack view on things. I think you are a refugee from the Tressel -Michigan wars, who fled to the safe haven of Ohio. In the name of revenge it is your life mission to annoy buckeye fans for torching UM to the tune of 9-1 over the last 10 years.
I'm throwing that "value" out there because there are MANY people who are going to have loans and they could potentially be $100K or more. Again, it's not that difficult to decipher that a FREE EDUCATION is like a payment, when you look at loan payment on $75k or $100k or maybe Harvard if you will at $240k??? And in the overall realm, degrees ARE equal. An MD from OSU or an MD from MSU is still an MD. Certainly there are differing degrees that are more coveted, but in the overall realm a DEGREE qualifies you for a job, and in that valuation they ARE essentially equal. And the CAPITALIZATION is to EMPHASIZE points (not that I didn't think you figured that out by now.) I don't use the CAPS LOCK key, I know how to type.... My "wack" view??? Again, I'm a Buckeye fan FIRST, and I support what is best for tOSU, not just particular persons I "idolize" at tOSU. I objectively evaluate things and if my opinion isn't 100% supportive of something that some Buckeye Fans would support, then it's because I'm able to step out of my FANBOY mentality long enough to see more than one view on it. The IGNORANT people with their 'Tressel till I die" banners are exactly that...IGNORANT!!! How hard is it to admit he made a very calculated and deceitful mistake, and it's his own damned fault he lost his job??? Seems pretty easy to me. Had he been 80-70 over the last 11yrs, it would be a LOT easier for people to swallow, unfortunately, that is where the PRINCIPLES thing comes in. What is good for the GOOSE is good for the GANDER??? I have a good friend who I really like, but when he got a DUI, and lost his job working for the local Coca Cola company, I didn't go on about how its not fair and he's my FAVORITE Coke delivery guy, because he made a calculated decision that ended up costing him his job. Again PRINCIPLES Scott, you ether have them or you don't. I LOVED seeing OSU beat Michigan, and I don't care if Fickell is the coach or Urban Meyer or whomever if they're running a good CLEAN program. And there is nothing wrong with CLEAN.
The problem is the value of the scholarship is dropping for many of the top collegiate players in basketball and football (just referring to those as they are the ones that dominate the issues that start these conversations). They are being offered something they really don't care about. When a player gets in trouble, how often is the concern that the player will be kicked out of school? Its usually if they will be kick off the team or not, right?
