Man testifies to paying college players

You guys haven't figured out yet that...

~it's ok to pay players
~it's ok to set up false classes and give out false grades
~it's ok to win at all costs
...but
~it's NOT ok for a player to receive $312 in apparel, never use it, and return it
All I really want to know is did we give the damn trophy back? I would have lost that like Kennedy’s brain.
 
Illegally.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-f...-players-at-major-programs-from-2000-to-2014/

He has allegedly paid players to choose him as an agent. Players from Alabama, Notre Dame, Penn state, Michigan and others.
While obviously this violates NCAA rules on amateurism, it doesn't quite seem like the kind of payments-to-players that we usually get worked up about – because these payments were by an agent trying to woo players to choose him as their agent, not payments by schools or school boosters trying to woo players to sign with the school. Granted that the assistant coaches shouldn't have been facilitating the transfers, but it's really got nothing to do with the kind of booster shenanigans we clean-living Tech fans get self-righteous about.
 
While obviously this violates NCAA rules on amateurism, it doesn't quite seem like the kind of payments-to-players that we usually get worked up about – because these payments were by an agent trying to woo players to choose him as their agent, not payments by schools or school boosters trying to woo players to sign with the school. Granted that the assistant coaches shouldn't have been facilitating the transfers, but it's really got nothing to do with the kind of booster shenanigans we clean-living Tech fans get self-righteous about.
The colleges probably knew what he was doing and turned a blind eye
 
The colleges probably knew what he was doing and turned a blind eye
Although I'm a big proponent of the amateurism principle, this kind of payment is really hard to get excited about. The kids aren't being paid by the school to play; they're receiving loans from agents trying to woo them as clients. Heaven knows when I was a law student the best students received all sorts of inducements from potential employers – not loans, but fancy dinners and parties and cushy summer jobs and the like – all things that would render us non-amateurs from the NCAA's perspective. I think this is fundamentally different from boosters/schools paying HS students to play football, provided the money is actually the agent's, and provided all schools give agents access (or not) equally. But this kind of thing should be allowed, within limits, without affecting your amateur status.
 
Although I'm a big proponent of the amateurism principle, this kind of payment is really hard to get excited about. The kids aren't being paid by the school to play; they're receiving loans from agents trying to woo them as clients. Heaven knows when I was a law student the best students received all sorts of inducements from potential employers – not loans, but fancy dinners and parties and cushy summer jobs and the like – all things that would render us non-amateurs from the NCAA's perspective. I think this is fundamentally different from boosters/schools paying HS students to play football, provided the money is actually the agent's, and provided all schools give agents access (or not) equally. But this kind of thing should be allowed, within limits, without affecting your amateur status.
I’m not arguing it should or shouldn’t be allowed, just that I’m sure the colleges know about it.

As for what should or shouldn’t be allowed, my argument is either make the rules such that discovering payment is easy and the penalties are so severe to deter the practice, or make paying legal and in the light. As it is, college football is being ruined.
 
I’m not arguing it should or shouldn’t be allowed, just that I’m sure the colleges know about it.

As for what should or shouldn’t be allowed, my argument is either make the rules such that discovering payment is easy and the penalties are so severe to deter the practice, or make paying legal and in the light. As it is, college football is being ruined.
I don't think CFB is being ruined – this tension has existed from Day 1. For a long time giving scholarships was itself considered a threat to amateurism.

Anyhow, how do you make the rules such that discovering payment is easy?
 
I don't think CFB is being ruined – this tension has existed from Day 1. For a long time giving scholarships was itself considered a threat to amateurism.

Anyhow, how do you make the rules such that discovering payment is easy?
I’d have to put a lot of thought into that. Financial disclosing requirements would be an idea of the top of my head.
 
I think amateurism is a royal joke at this point. We ask these kids to take huge personal risks on the field, megamillions are made on the ad money, and their compensation is the college degree that most universities are doing everything they can to dumb down to the point it's meaningless so they can widen their recruiting pool. And that compensation is only as reliable as Nick Saban's promise not to wash you out of the program if you don't make the 2-deep. It's my biggest point of pride in our program that we're one of the few who can truly brag about having student athletes. We have numerous examples of former players being very successful after football.

My point: The AFL and XFL didn't last, but I don't see anything other than NCAA lobbyists in the way of a minor league that pays players and has an age range of 18-21 years. The bone density argument is a good argument for why the NFL can't take kids under 20, but a minor league could provide the development time in the same way the NCAA does. I think such a thing would actually be good for the NCAA because the monopoly would be disrupted and universities would have to make the case that their degrees are more valuable to recruits than the minor league's paycheck.
 
Should be like MLB. Minor leagues or pro right out of High School. Then the age thingy. If you’re caught paying players, the death penalty for two years.

Will never happen though.
 
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