CRN Chimes in on Agent Issue in College Football
by tasser10 on Aug 3, 2010 2:15 PM PDT
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PrintA few days ago, we heard about Nick Saban railing against the involvement of agents in college football during the SEC media day, eventually calling agents pimps. He was joined in his complaints by Urban Meyer.
Although the cynics in us would like to remind them of these coaches' salaries, as does the New York Times, they certainly have a point and are justified in their complaints. Incidentally, the reasons behind their high salary ($4 million per year) is somewhat related to the agent issue. The popularity of the sport, the lucrative TV contracts and the potential big paydays for some players in the NFL create a lot of incentives for third party parasites, aka agents. Surely, the athletes themselves bear some of the responsibility, they are adults after all. But The schools must continue to monitor these activities diligently, as must the NCAA.
Coach Neuheisel has his own views on how to curtail agents' activities in college football:
Speaking on the Dan Patrick's DIRECTV's show ahead of his appearance at the Pac-10 Rose Bowl media day, UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel was asked how he polices issues between agents and student-athletes.
"Only one way," the coach told Patrick. "If there's proof that they were involved in that, then they are banned. And that has to happen from the NFL level. They cannot be involved in anything but representation."
I think that is an important first step in dealing with the interaction between agents and student athletes. The incentive for it is created by the big contracts in the NFL. That does not mean however that schools such as U$C* get to wash their hands of all responsibility, much to Cheatey Petey's chagrin.
This issue reminds me a bit of the one-and-done rule in college basketball, only in terms of where the action must come from. The trick is to get the NFL to care about this issue, because the NBA at least gets some benefit from the one-and-done rule, but I cannot see how the agent issue benefits the NFL at all. In fact, the more I think of it , the more it seems that if the NFL cared for its players, dealing with this issue should be a priority. The push in fact should come from the Players' Association in order to prevent leaches with ill intentions from taking advantage of college players. It is in their interest to allow their players to have as many options as possible and get the right kind of representation once it's time to get to the NFL, rather than be stuck with wannabe agents who care about nothing for their fee.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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While I think
CRN is correct that there has to be an NFL solution, I think it is equally true that there has to be a college solution. Extending his theoretical, I’d say that iIf there’s proof that they were involved in that, then the colleges, too, are banned, too. Throw them out of the NCAA for a couple of years. See how they like it.
Make the colleges pay for allowing agents to infiltrate their halls and fields, because even with a ban of agents from the NFL, there are those scurrilous creatures who would seek to profit, even if they couldn’t do so officially.
Agreed
This issue starts at the collegiate level. I love the idea of being banned for a certain period of time. The NCAA needs to establish a punishment that will force schools to police their programs and athletes to the best of their abilities. I think schools would be a heck of a lot more vigilant of agents if they knew their program could suffer an NCAA ban for a year or two.
"He has to want it because talent only takes you so far. How much you want it is the difference between good and great." - Rick Neuheisel
by SonsOfWestwood on Aug 3, 2010 3:03 PM PDT up reply actions
Too many too's
I would like to pose a truism: When trying to read one’s own writing, one’s perceptions, senses, and reflexes are greatly sharpened, but only after hitting Post, or Send, or…
Or, more colloquially, the time it takes to catch one’s own mistakes, misspellings, and dumbnesses is reduced by a factor of at least 100 after hitting Send.
I think it's a money issue
The agents and runners and cappers and that ilk are only there for the money. They succeed in seducing players because of the money involved. Schools like just$c* willfully ignore what’s happening because of money. For those reasons and more, I think Bruinut is right – I think the solution has to involve money. And it’s not going to come from the NFL, which could care less. The NCAA has to make it clear that there will be money penalties that are stiff enough to convince the cheating schools that it just isn’t worth it.
My solution would be to require all players to agree to be subject to subpoenas for the time they’re in school and for ten years thereafter as a condition to playing D-1 sports, and to require all schools to agree to be subjected to subpoenas as a condition to participation. Then just like random drug tests, players would be subjected to random subpoenas and depos and financial audits. If there is a problem, then wham, they’re out immediately. No four or five year investigations as with bu$h.
I think just$c* might have discovered what was going on with bu$h had they faced a stiff financial penalty that would have meant something to them. Or a stroll through OJ2’s dorm room might have come up with a little plasmalogical evidence of payoffs.
A school facing significant enough financial penalties will police itself. A player facing a financial penalty, i.e., not being able to showcase his skills, or being forced to pay some kind of penalty in terms of a signficant salary-based fine might think twice.
And give an option to the athlete. Have a NCAA-approved advisor available to help athletes understand the financial aspects of things, with the athlete knowing that this advisor would not under any circumstances be his agent.
"plasmalogical evidence of payoffs"
LOL.
I like your solution, but you would have to apply the rules fairly and uniformly, else the less policed schools would likely be the subject of subpoenas envy.
The NCAA should sue.
Too much corruption in College sports hurts the NCAA economically. The NCAA’s ‘brand value’ depends on players following rules and maintaining amateur status but college athletes’ future earnings depend on playing under the NCAA rules. Players should have to agree, in writing, to be subject to specific financial penalties in the future for breaking NCAA rules now (with a statute of limitations). They should be required to cooperate fully with NCAA investigations or be subject to financial penalties.
I bet Reggie Bush would have thought twice about taking that cash if he knew that the NCAA could garnish his wages.
Well, with his U$C education
Reggie would have probably thought that the NCAA garnishing his wages would mean he would get some parsley with his paycheck…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
by tasser10 on Aug 3, 2010 9:15 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Here is a solution:
create a pool of agents for drafted rookies that agree to take a flat fee for their contract negotiations. Then hold a lottery for the agents to determine which agent gets which rookies.
You can let undrafted players find their own agents because they will probably just sign a league minimum contract any way.
For major disagreements between rookie and agent, the rookie can ask for another lottery selection.
You could take a lot of cheating out of the college game and maybe even stop the stupid contract holdouts in the NFL.
Agents would probably do it to have a chance at trying to retain a big money early draft pick.
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