Letters from Linden
by JACK LINDEN
The “student athletes” misnomer, especially in colleges’ major sports like basketball and football, should really be revisited. I say this even though I am a huge basketball fan, especially when it comes to my alma mater.
The one person who has the most influence over athletes and spends the most time with them has nothing to do with academics although this person is paid more than the Chancellor of the University. For example, University of Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has a guaranteed contract through the 2017-18 seasons with a salary base of $2.5 million per year. Where can you find a chancellor or university president making that salary?
There are also other incentives. Self was given a bonus of $50,000 for the team winning the Big 12 Championship, another $100,000 for winning the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Regional. Had Kansas won the championship, he would have collected another $200,000 – all added onto his $2.5 million base.
Big time university athletic programs are way out of hand, and the athletes are picked up by professional teams before they can complete their studies. The five starting players are either freshmen or sophomores – and they are all first round NBA draft picks. This is known in college parlance as “one and done”. As it stands, a university basketball team is nothing more than a prep school for a professional basketball team. The University of Kentucky is not alone in this aspect ... all major universities are the same.
What kind of education do you suppose these “student athletes” receive? More importantly, what happens to the kids who don’t make it in the pros? There are demands on players that virtually assure them inadequate time to study anything other than some course related to their sport. There are a few exceptions, but the vast majority of players in the major sports do not graduate, nor have they really progressed enough to even qualify for graduation.
While the university is pulling in large dollars from the sports programs, the student athlete is a virtual slave to the sport. The practice schedule and NCAA rules prohibit the student from earning or taking any money unless it is from his or her parent. Some of the students, especially those who come from out of state, are virtual prisoners to the sports program in which they are involved. They get zero income for their labor that produces the money for the university and the athletic departments. Why do we allow this to go on? The argument is that the major sports bring in the funds for minor sports and also underwrites Title IX programs.
Athletic programs at universities have become separate entities from the university. Athletes enjoy special dorms and dining facilities. They are provided tutors to assist them in their studies and special rooms for training. One major question: Are the football and basketball programs a part of the university or does the university merely allow the program to be domiciled on the campus?
The athletes in these programs deserve more. They are the “slaves” that bring in the crowds to pay for the coaches and their assistants, these special dorms and programs.
Perhaps the universities should make athletics a degree program just as the academic departments have programs, allowing for a true education so that these athletes can get a job after their athletic careers are finished.
