Calipari Likens NCAA to Dwindling Soviet Union; Offers Suggestions for Player Compensation

Submitted by Waters Demos on

Some remarkably poignant and common sense ideas from a man I've never respected re: player compensation.  Ideas include: 

• Players should receive stipends of $3,000 to $5,000;

• The NCAA should cover eligible players' insurance premiums;

• Athletes should be able to accept loans up to $50,000 against future earnings;

• If a coach leaves an institution, players should be able to transfer from that program without having to sit out a season;

• Athletes should be allowed one round-trip flight home every year.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10760355/kentucky…

Soviet Union metaphor seems fitting.  Insurance premiums and flight-home ideas in particular indicate that he's thought about it and seems to have kids' interests in mind.  Is there more to this man than ruining programs and one-and-dones?

Ihatebux

April 10th, 2014 at 7:02 PM ^

He means EVERY team should be able to pay their players like he does.  Also, he wants players to be able to leave so that he can take them with him when he gets in trouble and moves to another school.

State Street

April 10th, 2014 at 7:50 PM ^

Yeah, I'm sure people would pay a fortune to watch Johnny Football play for the "Texas Rail Cats" or Jabari Parker play for the "Durham Bloodhounds."

These teams wouldn't make any money, and thus could never afford to pay the stars the money that people think is out there.

These schools instill more value on these prospects than most people care to realize. 

RoxyMtnHiM

April 11th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ^

It is interesting how valuable the current de facto farm system is as an economic engine compared to what a real one would be worth. Without the ties to the beloved institution (even if many of the fans of a given one conceive of it as primarily an athletic institution) and the amplifying effect of the same brand across many sports (Do you KNOW how many national championships our gymnastics/golf/curling team has?), this level of basketball or football would be diddly squat.

ak47

April 11th, 2014 at 8:24 AM ^

You really believe that over a four year period the average minor league player makes less than 200k? The value of a player in a minor league system isn't how many people would go to see them (though I think minor league baseball has more fans than college baseball anyways) it's on their potential future value to the teams that own the minor league team.

DMill2782

April 11th, 2014 at 9:05 AM ^

make $2150 a month in their first year, $2400 in their second, and $2700 in their third. So the most any of them make (with the max of $2700) over a four year period is $129,600. Well short of the $200K figure. They also do not get paid during spring training. This also does not calculate their mandatory dues they must pay. 

LSAClassOf2000

April 10th, 2014 at 7:17 PM ^

"Is the NCAA afraid we're going to make them fat? Give them too much ice cream and chocolate cake?" he writes. "The whole thing really defies sanity."

As we have since discovered, of course, that you can provide fruits, nuts and bagels per the rules...just not cream cheese. I am guessing you can supply the cake only if the cake is made generally available to the student body though. 

GoBLUinTX

April 10th, 2014 at 7:18 PM ^

seems fitting?  Interesting.  Do players face the very real possiblity of being shot should they decide to leave the school of their choice?  Do player's families face the very real possiblity of disappearing should an athlete not peform to standard?  Are players forced to perform and should they not meet an arbitrary quota, they are then denied sustenance until such time they meet their quota?  Are there guard towers around campuses manned by guards who receive bonuses for killing those trying to leave?  

Waters Demos

April 10th, 2014 at 7:26 PM ^

Metaphors do not require exact fit - just pertinent/illustrative likeness.  If exact fit is required, it seems there would be no such thing as a metaphor.  E.g., the NCAA is . . . the NCAA.  Not very illustrative.

Calipari's metaphor draws us to the pertinent/illustrative likeness of 'dwindling but still apparent power.'  

Waters Demos

April 11th, 2014 at 6:52 AM ^

I still don't understand how 'choice' has anything to do with Calipari's metaphor, which seems to instead deal with institutional inflexibility.

He does deal with the issue of player choice in his suggestions though.  

Canadian

April 10th, 2014 at 9:44 PM ^

I don't agree. The coach may be the reason that recruit chose that school in the first place. If the coach moves on to another job a player should be allowed to go there too provided there aren't any sanctions or investigations on the player or coach in question and that there is enough room on the new teams roster. The transferring player cannot take a roster spot away from a returning player at that school nor an incoming freshman who has already signed an loi.

Also beyond the coach sharing the fact he is leaving there is to be no contact between players at the old school and the coach preventing the coach from recruiting those players he is leaving

Blueisgood

April 10th, 2014 at 10:17 PM ^

I get that, but there's no doubt that the coach is going to recruit the players he's leaving. Just like anything that goes on today in the NCAA, it'll be hard to monitor. It could gut a team, depending on how many left or the quality that do leave. Its all hypothetical, and one persons opinion vs another. Should any of this come to fruition, I'd be real curious to see how this situation plays out. I have little doubt in my mind it'd become dirty, just like how it is now.

ZooWolverine

April 11th, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^

You're correct that it wouldn't have to be in order to follow the coach, and I'm conflating that with the release. If the proposal is just the NCAA waiving the year off, and the school still needed to issue a release, then you'd be correct. However, I read the proposal as the player automatically being given a release--thus the school wouldn't be able to impose a restriction.

Edit: read it again, and you're correct--I think the player would transfer from the school as usual, and the year off is the only thing that changes.

ThadMattasagoblin

April 10th, 2014 at 7:44 PM ^

The NCAA and NBA/NFL like it the way it is and it should stay the way it is. Nobody is shooting you or forcing you to play. You go through 2/3 years of college and then you get payed millions. I'm not sure what these players are bitching about. They have no student loans. They have the cost of eating payed for and free gym membership and no living expenses. I would love to be in their situation.