Add news
News Every Day |

Amateur hour: We need to fine-tune post-COVID changes in college sports  

The COVID pandemic prompted numerous changes in college sports. The most significant is student eligibility and the use of the transfer portal, giving student-athletes the ability to move to another school and play immediately. The eligibility rule was further watered down in 2023, paving the way for multiple transfers. The long-standing pre-pandemic rule that transfers sit out one year was effectively dead. 

Then came the mechanism for student-athletes to earn money for their participation, attracting names, images and likeness (known as NIL) endorsement deals that puts money directly into their pockets. That change effectively ended amateur status amongst student athletes — something the NCAA had protected for many decades.

Individually, the transfer portal and NIL can be viewed as reasonable changes to how student-athletes function within college sports. For revenue sports like football and basketball, and to some degree hockey and baseball, college sports serve as the de facto minor league system for professional sports leagues. Given this role, providing greater flexibility and outlets for student athlete compensation makes sense. 

However, the law of unintended consequences keeps imposing itself, as student athletes look for better NIL opportunities and use the transfer portal to move to schools that give them more attractive endorsement deals. In such cases, money, not participation on the playing field, may be driving major decisions. 

Such activity has created chaos among coaches who must not only recruit high school seniors but now college student athletes who enter the transfer portal. This has resulted in a turnover of rosters that coaches must address every year.

A perfect example of this is the University of Illinois men’s basketball team. In 2024, they enjoyed a run to the Elite Eight, something they had not done for nearly two decades. The coach’s “reward” for this success was a complete turnover of his roster. Every active player on this season’s team is new, creating challenges to develop chemistry on the court for teammates who have only been playing together just a few months.

So far, Brad Underwood, their coach, has managed to showcase a talent-laden team with a high ceiling, developing team chemistry on the fly rather than nurturing it over previous seasons. 

Not all coaches have been as successful or so fortunate. Jim Larranaga, the now former coach of the Miami Hurricane’s men’s basketball team, decided that enough was enough, saying that the new culture of one-and-move made it impossible to build a team that could stick together. He took his team to the Final Four in 2023, only to see the majority of his roster transfer elsewhere.

Such roster chaos deprives young college athletes the opportunity to mature, as they constantly seek instant gratification and the best financial deal. Fostering patience and discipline as they learn from upper classmen and wait their turn to star on the court or field are no longer priorities. 

Given that football teams have large rosters, with 85 scholarships available, the impact of constantly changing rosters is dampened, though not eliminated. Not so with basketball, with 15 scholarships available, where a rotation of seven or eight players is typical. This means that even two or three transfers, either off or onto a basketball team, can make a significant performance difference.   

NIL deals are not going away anytime soon. The NCAA settlement that paved the way for student-athletes to be paid directly means that the relationship between the athletes and the schools are now transactional, not relational. Moreover, if NIL endorsements become protected information, the potential abuses are unfathomable.  

What should be considered for review is the overly permissive transfer portal. Placing headwinds on transfers would go a long way in stabilizing rosters and giving student athletes more time to assess their current situation before “jumping ship” to what they perceive to be “greener pastures.” 

One possibility is that NIL endorsements can only be paid if a student athlete stays two full seasons at a school. Such a vesting procedure gives students both access to NIL endorsements and the ability to transfer. This means that moving annually would be penalized with lost NIL endorsement revenue, an apparent driving force behind many transfers. 

If NIL revenue is untouchable, bring back the one-year sit-out rule for transfers. This would also put some skin in the game for the students, forcing them and their family to make better informed decisions that balance money and playing time. 

Changes like these would quiet the roster chaos that coaches are now facing. It would also suppress the wild west mentality that appears ubiquitous among some athletes. 

Placing some guard rails around what students can do to participate is necessary. The unlimited and free transfer rule was a great experiment, but it has failed. With 20-20 hindsight, when it was implemented, a sunset date should have been set to reevaluate its impact.  

Without any such safeguards, the next step may be to extricate big-revenue college athletics from campuses, giving them affiliation status that demands payment directly to the school for using their name and funding non-revenue sports (based on how revenues are generated and expenses are paid).  

Professional leagues should also pony up more funds to support college sports. Private equity is already salivating over the opportunity to invest in big time college sports. Then the athletes can get what they seemingly want, and athletic department financial arm races can continue untethered by campus constraints. 

Indeed, college revenue sports is a misnomer for football and basketball athletics on campuses. Let’s call them what they are: farm systems for professional leagues. Then the necessary changes can be made that shines a bright light on the situation, rather than pretending it is anything else.

Sheldon H. Jacobson, Ph.D., is a professor in computer science in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Game News

Atomfall surpasses 1.5 million players to become Rebellion's most successful game launch in 32 years

Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine

Tesla shares sink as deliveries miss forecasts by 'wide margin': report

T-Mobile closes Lumos deal after dropping DEI

Here’s more of what you’ll see through Meta’s $1,000 smart glasses

Roadies XX: Even after Gautam Gulati's return, Elvish Yadav remains the richest gang leader on the show; A look at his net worth

Ria.city
Реклама
  • ИП Попов А.П.
  • ИНН: 602715631406
Ревматолог: "3 апреля 2024 в г.Колумбус запущена квота"

Каждый человек с больными суставами имеет право получить...






Реклама
  • ИП Попов А.П.
  • ИНН: 602715631406
Ревматолог: "3 апреля 2024 в г.Колумбус запущена квота"

Каждый человек с больными суставами имеет право получить...


Реклама
  • ИП Попов А.П.
  • ИНН: 602715631406
Ревматолог: "3 апреля 2024 в г.Колумбус запущена квота"

Каждый человек с больными суставами имеет право получить...

Read also

Revolt on the Campus

FAA increasing air traffic control staff, supervisors at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

USDA freezes funding for Maine schools over transgender athletes

News, articles, comments, with a minute-by-minute update, now on Today24.pro

News Every Day

Here’s more of what you’ll see through Meta’s $1,000 smart glasses

Today24.pro — latest news 24/7. You can add your news instantly now — here


News Every Day

Roadies XX: Even after Gautam Gulati's return, Elvish Yadav remains the richest gang leader on the show; A look at his net worth



Sports today


Новости тенниса
WTA

WTA сменила флаг теннисистки Дарьи Касаткиной на австралийский



Спорт в России и мире
Москва

Видеоуроки, учебные пособия, рабочие тетради и другие материалы по каждой теме доступны в «МЭШ»



All sports news today





Sports in Russia today

Москва

Видеоуроки, учебные пособия, рабочие тетради и другие материалы по каждой теме доступны в «МЭШ»


Новости России

Game News

It's actually happening, everybody stay calm: Silksong properly confirmed for a 2025 release date at the Nintendo Direct with a whole 3 seconds of footage


Реклама
Top 6 nutrition questions men should ask themselves after 40

To maintain health and remain full of energy, men will be helped by this

Реклама
Top 6 nutrition questions men should ask themselves after 40

To maintain health and remain full of energy, men will be helped by this

Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine

Russian.city

Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine


Мода

Блогер Поздняков сообщил о прогнозах тайских врачей для Паши Техника


Губернаторы России
Театр

На сцене Театра Эстрады пройдёт Музыкальный фестиваль «Ровесники Победы»


НАТО СПОСОБНО НАНЕСТИ ЯДЕРНЫЙ УДАР ПО США И ЕВРОПЕ? НАТО СДЕЛАНО ДЛЯ ЭТОГО. СЕНСАЦИЯ! НОВОСТИ! СПЕЦOПЕРАЦИЯ "ЗИС". Россия, США, Европа могут улучшить отношения и здоровье общества?!

Минск, Москва, Нижний Новгород, Казань, Ульяновск и Волгоград приняли литературный десант

Рейтинг пяти лучших маркетинговых агентств: VICTORY GROUP занял первое место

В восьми регионах РФ возникла нехватка лекарств от рассеянного склероза


Концерт музыки Антонио Вивальди в исполнении ансамбля старинной музыки в Эрмитаже

При падении машины с пятого этажа парковки в Москве погибла педагог Гнесинки

Рилсмейкер. Услуги Рилсмейкера. Рилсмейкер в Москве.

Дирижера Челябинского театра оперы и балета отметили на Международном конкурсе


Вероника Кудерметова одержала разгромную победу на старте турнира WTA-500 в Чарльстоне

Бухарест (ATP). 2-й круг. Гаске сыграет с Коболли, Баутиста-Агут – с Комесаньей, Баес – с Уго Карабелли

Игрока в пинг-понг Сидоренко дисквалифицировали за оскорбление женщины-судьи

Как открытая лесбиянка*, если я хочу быть собой, мне нужно было сделать этот шаг. И я его сделала, - сказала Касаткина


Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine


Контроллер внутри стены: новый смарт-дюбель fischer мониторит здоровье дома

«Ассоциация Блогеров и Агентств» и «Рейтинг Рунета» выпускают первый в России рейтинг агентств с экспертизой в инфлюенс-маркетинге

Рейтинг пяти лучших маркетинговых агентств: VICTORY GROUP занял первое место

Axenix и «КОРУС Консалтинг» объявили о стратегическом партнерстве для реализации проектов на платформе интегрированного планирования In.Plan


На курорте «Манжерок» состоялся Чемпионат СибМастерс среди любителей и ветеранов горнолыжного спорта

Кокорин получил более 1,6 млн рублей штрафов за нарушения ПДД в Москве — источник

Вучич: два мировых лидера тайно контактировали с Путиным

При падении машины с парковки в Москве погибла преподаватель Гнесинки Бойцова


Что мог позволить себе простой народ в Царской России. Сравниваем тогда — 1914 и сейчас — 2025

США не ввели пошлины на товары из России и Белоруссии

В России остаются автомобили с опасными подушками Takata, которые могут нанести травмы

Красногорские врачи удалили крупное образование из желудка 19-летней девушки


Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine


Путин в России и мире
Реклама
Top 6 nutrition questions men should ask themselves after 40

To maintain health and remain full of energy, men will be helped by this



Реклама
Top 6 nutrition questions men should ask themselves after 40

To maintain health and remain full of energy, men will be helped by this



Реклама
Top 6 nutrition questions men should ask themselves after 40

To maintain health and remain full of energy, men will be helped by this



Реклама
The most beautiful beach towns with cheap living

A huge number of people around the world dream of one day breaking out of the daily routine

Персональные новости Russian.city
Георг Фридрих Гендель

Органный концерт «340 лет Баху и Генделю» в Москве: Владимир Скоморохов представит барочные шедевры



News Every Day

Hyundai’s Insteroid is an EV one-off for gamers




Friends of Today24

Музыкальные новости

Персональные новости