The SEC Coaches media gathering is this week in Birmingham, Alabama, and ominous clouds of NCAA sanctions fill the room. Alabama is under investigation because returning defensive end Marcell Dareus may have accepted illegal benefits from an agent. The University of Florida is under investigation because one of its players reportedly took $100,000 from an agent between the SEC Championship Game last year and the Sugar Bowl. The player, who was drafted by the NFL, denies the allegations. Georgia is reportedly next to be scrutinized.
So, it probably surprised no one that the coaches would be in an uproar. Florida Coach Urban Meyer said that his former player denies taking money and that he believes him. SEC Commissioner Mike Slive would like the NCAA to consider reexamining the rules regarding player contact with agents.
But the big story came from Nick Saban, coach of defending national champion Alabama.Saban suggested that while the onus is on the players, agents are to blame. “Agents who do this, I hate to say it, but how are they any better than a pimp?” Saban was quoted by USA Today and on ESPN. “I have no respect for anybody who would do this,” Saban said. Saban went on to suggest that the NFL should suspend an agent’s license if it is proven that they made inappropriate contact and/or illegal payments to players.
First, as he should know since he was a coach in the NFL, the league cannot punish an agent; agents are under the jurisdiction of the NFL Players Association. Would the union attempt to rein in the very people who negotiate their contracts? Would the union allow the league to have any rights to hamper agents? The last time such a cozy arrangement existed between a sports league and a union, Alan Eagleson was screwing NHL players in the 1970s and 1980s and ended up in jail and removed from the Hockey Hall of Fame.
But let’s look closer at the “pimps.” Agents are like pimps because they lure young athletes with promises of money and fame. Sounds like college football coaches do the same thing. Mr. Saban, who is paid millions of dollars, and has seen his income rise through jumps from LSU, where he was successful, to the NFL Miami Dolphins (where he didn’t) and now back to the college game at Alabama. I don’t see Nick Saban’s family worried about the sorry state of the economy or employment?
Nick Saban recruits young male athletes to play football FOR FREE! Yes, I know they have access to an education, but what is the graduation rate of football players at Alabama? (It’s 55% compared to 67% for all football schools according to the NCAA.) Do the players he recruits, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, want to get an education, or, do they want to get grades good enough to stay eligible to play football? Nick Saban dangles the prospect of playing in the NFL for riches and fame; how is that different from an agent?
And, as I alluded to earlier, the players get room and board and get to go to class. They can’t have work study jobs, they’re not supposed to get money anywhere, and besides, football and classes are a full time job. Meanwhile, they see Nick Saban’s million dollar contract; they see the schools jumping conferences in search of revenue; they see the onset of super conferences and more conference networks like the Big Ten Network. The players see the schools selling jerseys with their name or number or both in stores and online. And do they get any cash in their pockets? Illegally, they do, but it’s all under the table cash. What if a kid wants to take a girl out on a date? Where’s the money there? In the athletic department, in Nick Saban’s paychecks; that’s where the money is. And when anyone talks about the colleges and universities sharing that wealth, they are communists, atheists, and worse.
For decades (since I was writing for The Sportswriters on TV), I have publicly advocated that all college “student-athletes” for revenue and non-revenue sports alike, be paid a stipend. The player can accept or not accept the money, that’s up to the young man or woman. But with stipends, players can buy themselves the little extras, go out on dates, see movies, all honest and above board. And since all athletes get the same amount of money, it’s not like you create a bidding war for a high school player – they’re not professionals, but they have a little money in their pockets. And then, perhaps, the temptation of agents, and more problematic, gamblers and people looking to “fix” games would be lessened.
But no: Nick Saban says it’s the agents’ fault. It’s the players’ fault (and it is to some extent). But it’s not the million dollar coaches fault; the schools and athletic departments and the systems they set up and perpetuate aren’t the problem.
Agents are pimps. So are college football coaches. The Pot calling the kettle black yet again.