College football is a disgrace, and big-time Div. I universities should completely do away with it, making it a minor league NFL sport just like MLB. Players could then form a union and be paid.

The zoo called big-time college football

Photo: Getty Images

… Big-time college sports have no educationally redeeming value.

When the tail wags the dog, you are in trouble, whether it is the U.S. military or college education. 

When college coaches are making tens of millions of dollars exploiting young athletes in the hope that they will make their fortune in the professional ranks, but carrying little whether or not they receive an education, then big-time college athletics have no educational value. 

I am not referring to college athletics as a whole because I coached Div. III college football and find some educational value in it since players have no scholarships and must pay their freight. 

However, the fact that some of these "Power 5" conferences are having multi-million dollar coaches trying to wrestle power away from their presidents is a disgrace. 

I would love to see college football this year if it could be done safely, but the reality is that if they do go through with this, the coaches and universities are asking for a calamity. 

Here is the issue: Football is a contact sport, unlike cross-country or golf or even baseball. How you can prevent Covid-19 from spreading in a situation in which physical contact is essential to success is going to be a major challenge particularly since they do not have the testing available?

Major focus of universities/colleges should be educating their students

Big-time college athletics fits nowhere within the realm of education. Yes, sports teach discipline and teamwork and character, but athletes can learn that as much on a Div. III or Div. II level as on a big-time national scale. 

College presidents should be spending their time worrying about the 99.8 percent of their students who are not big-time college athletes. 

Instead, the focus is on a small minority who are essentially unpaid entertainers on a stage that brings in billions of dollars to the sport.

Do coaches really care about the kids?

What does Nick Saban have to worry about? His paycheck. He has not returned any of it to the University of Alabama as other coaches have. 

That is the case with so many of these guys. 

I vow to never again watch a college football game on television or in person. 

I care for the students who are attending Penn State to receive a quality more than James Franklin cares for Penn State, who has also refused to return any of his salary to PSU while the school is laying off staff and faculty now and in the future. 

When athletics dictate educational policy, then it is time to fold up the tent and go home. 

It makes me sick. 

 

Proposal: Make the NFL pay for it

Have the colleges rent out their stadiums to professional conferences set up by the NFL. Make them pay out those billions to build up a farm system. They can rent out the school’s name, too. 

This way the “college” players can be paid, and part of that pay could be a college education. Make the NFL pay for that education. 

Sure, you think that this could not work? After all of this, the bottom is going to fall out of college athletics. 

Never thought that I would agree with the crazy Stephen dude on ESPN, but I do. Perhaps it will not happen, but just from the summer workouts, you can see how many athletes could be damaged by this. 

I have not been watching much football anyway. I did not watch one bowl game last year or the year before that. 

Sorry, it is all about money, not about pride or character.