A family member of mine has a radical solution to clean up big time college athletic programs. Eliminate any and all athletics only based scholarships and adopt the NCAA Division III format. This means no athletics based scholarships for any student-athlete.
His rationale is the idea that amateur student athletes and their full time, paid coaches actually put academics first and extracurricular activities, including but not exclusive to sports, second.
It's very much unlikely (if at all) NCAA big wigs will adopt the D-III model for Division I and II sports. However, it could eliminate big time college football, basketball, baseball and more recently soccer (MLS is the only soccer league that I know of that implementing an amateur draft) players from leaving school early for the professionals.
Hypothetically speaking, removing sports scholarships would lead to more student-athletes finishing school with four-year degrees. It may also make major drafts obsolete. Thus, creating the true student-athlete.
As of publish date and time of this post and according to this NFL draft website there are around 50 underclassmen (mostly juniors with a few sophomores) who have officially declared for the NFL draft. Among those are Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III from Baylor and potential top pick Andrew Luck from Stanford.
Stanford University, a traditional Pac-12 powerhouse, is widely considered the Harvard of California. By leaving early and therefore not graduating, Luck throws away a chance to finish with a degree from a prestigious and internationally acclaimed university.
The worst possible scenarios for NFL prospects like Luck is the possibility of career ending injuries or a not at best a "never-was"-esque pro career. Regardless, by not taking true advantage of a free or less expensive education Luck and other like him are just another college dropout.
Stanford University, a traditional Pac-12 powerhouse, is widely considered the Harvard of California. By leaving early and therefore not graduating, Luck throws away a chance to finish with a degree from a prestigious and internationally acclaimed university.
The worst possible scenarios for NFL prospects like Luck is the possibility of career ending injuries or a not at best a "never-was"-esque pro career. Regardless, by not taking true advantage of a free or less expensive education Luck and other like him are just another college dropout.
Agents, coaches, university administrators and the NCAA all make millions as a result of the current scholarship and draft systems. Under the mostly exclusive year-by-year, renewable scholarships athletic departments and coaching staffs pick and choose which players will be retained on scholarship and which ones are revoked or cut. The results are numerous transfers and young students leaving school entirely either ending their academic career or trying the pros crap shoot.
If you disagree or agree with this blog's premise, click this.
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