@Kelly Quinlan @BigDaddyBuzz @Alex Farrer @tazbanks, I’d love to get your take along with whomever else…
Conversation with some buddies the other day and when the news of Belichick’s hire broke, one of my buddies said “Okay, can we just end this farce that college football has anything to do with college anymore?” based on the comments Bill has made about running a professional program at UNC. While we all agreed that in the specific case of Belichick in Chapel Hill we think he will be unsuccessful and the whole thing will be over sooner rather than later, we talked for a while about the ideological impact “running a professional program” at the college level might have. Here are some things that were said:
“I don’t think there is very much ‘student-ing’ going on with ‘student athletes’ these days, with some exceptions obviously. Belichick isn’t going to give a flying flip about a math class…”
“Eventually, the school part will be completely optional. While some kids will desire to pursue a degree, many won’t and they won’t be required to. Profit sport athletes will be paid employees of the school and their work will be viewed as marketing and publicity and treated as such within the school budget...”
“When do we stop calling it college football and start calling it what it is? This is minor league professional football and kids will skip college just to try and make as much as they can at this level, some may go pro, but this is basically just like minor league baseball...”
“No one wants to acknowledge or say this stuff out loud, just like no one wanted to talk about or admit that players were getting paid under the table for years and years before NIL, but what’s happening right in front of our eyes is hard to ignore and now Belichick is basically saying it...”
“College football isn’t college football anymore...”
“When they start using contracts, those contracts aren’t going to say a darn thing about going to class. They’re not going to lose a good player over grades. What happened with Taye Seymour will fade far into the rearview mirror…”
“When is the NFL going to take over and the NCAA only have jurisdiction over non profit sports or just disappear all together?
Do you think we’re there, and do you think it matters? As long as the money is in the sport, does education largely go by the wayside and this is just the new reality?
Conversation with some buddies the other day and when the news of Belichick’s hire broke, one of my buddies said “Okay, can we just end this farce that college football has anything to do with college anymore?” based on the comments Bill has made about running a professional program at UNC. While we all agreed that in the specific case of Belichick in Chapel Hill we think he will be unsuccessful and the whole thing will be over sooner rather than later, we talked for a while about the ideological impact “running a professional program” at the college level might have. Here are some things that were said:
“I don’t think there is very much ‘student-ing’ going on with ‘student athletes’ these days, with some exceptions obviously. Belichick isn’t going to give a flying flip about a math class…”
“Eventually, the school part will be completely optional. While some kids will desire to pursue a degree, many won’t and they won’t be required to. Profit sport athletes will be paid employees of the school and their work will be viewed as marketing and publicity and treated as such within the school budget...”
“When do we stop calling it college football and start calling it what it is? This is minor league professional football and kids will skip college just to try and make as much as they can at this level, some may go pro, but this is basically just like minor league baseball...”
“No one wants to acknowledge or say this stuff out loud, just like no one wanted to talk about or admit that players were getting paid under the table for years and years before NIL, but what’s happening right in front of our eyes is hard to ignore and now Belichick is basically saying it...”
“College football isn’t college football anymore...”
“When they start using contracts, those contracts aren’t going to say a darn thing about going to class. They’re not going to lose a good player over grades. What happened with Taye Seymour will fade far into the rearview mirror…”
“When is the NFL going to take over and the NCAA only have jurisdiction over non profit sports or just disappear all together?
Do you think we’re there, and do you think it matters? As long as the money is in the sport, does education largely go by the wayside and this is just the new reality?
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