College recruiting has long been filled with coaches who bend the rules and, in some cases, blatant cheaters who are asking to get caught. Most of these instances include coaches indirectly giving players impermissible benefits. College kids want nice things and sometimes coaches offer to pay them so they can buy a new pair of expensive shoes or whatever they want.
I can’t say I blame the kids for taking the money. As a college student, I know what it’s like to be constantly strapped for cash. And these part-time students, part-time athletes have no time to work a part-time job. They’re here at school to simultaneously get an education and excel at their sport of choice. Most of us only have to worry about the education part. This is why I think college athletes should be paid a little extra to go to school.
That said, I do think it should be an even amount across the country. With the difference in resources from school to school, there would be legal bidding wars for players and no one wants recruiting to come down to that. The goal here is to help out the students while they go through college.
If the NCAA plans on keeping them in school for three years then I think they deserve to have a little extra money in order to afford normal college kid expenses. I don’t think it’s fair to ask so much of them and not give them a little extra. I think this could also help out with some cheating in recruiting. If kids know they’re going to get some extra money wherever they go, then they won’t need to pay as much attention to the extra cash they’re being offered illegally. Obviously, this won’t completely prevent all dirty recruiting, but it won’t hurt either.
I also think that kids should be able to market themselves to a certain extent as well. I’m not saying it would be OK if a college athlete signed a deal with Nike while in school. But if Terrelle Pryor can market himself and sell his Big Ten championship ring or an autographed jersey then he should do it. These kids aren’t dumb; they know that their jersey is worth a good amount of money. And if you’re good enough to sell autographed memorabilia to diehard fans, then you should be able to. Again, I think there should be a cap on how much a student can make by selling memorabilia to people. The only way to keep the payment of players from spiraling out of control is to put a limit on the amounts. Otherwise I do see how it could become a problem.
Being able to be a student athlete is a rare quality someone can have. It takes a lot of focus and a lot of dedication on top of it. And I honestly feel like having an athletic scholarship isn’t fully compensating these students enough. There needs to be a little bit more to offer them. Yes, some of these kids will go on to make millions of dollars in whatever sport they play. But a vast majority simply won’t. They need to be rewarded for their big commitment to the university with a little more than just a scholarship.