UM nearly skipped 2018 Final Four Open Practice

Submitted by urbanachiever on April 6th, 2020 at 8:14 PM

Very interesting article from Brendan Quinn and Nick Baumgardner at the Athletic:

https://theathletic.com/1724778/2020/04/06/the-near-2018-final-four-practice-boycott-youve-never-heard-about/

In summary: Duncan Robinson (and a couple other unnamed UM teammates) nearly lead a 4-team boycott of the open practice the Friday night before the 2018 Final Four. The motivation was to protest the NCAA's abuse of "student athletes." A pipe dream was to boycott the actual games themselves, though Duncan admits this was never a legitimate possibility.

Also, free youtube video of a conversation between Duncan, Nick B and Brendan Q: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkgQ1A3qMQw&feature=emb_title

urbanachiever

April 6th, 2020 at 8:22 PM ^

I found it interesting that Duncan himself hesitated on the idea of "shoving money in players' pockets."

He seems to be a stronger proponent of things like the NCAA/universities providing lifetime health care to all former college football players (potentially other sports as well, but he highlighted football specifically), allowing players to return to school after 4 years to complete degrees, free of charge and on scholarship, either after "going pro" in a sport or simply because they don't have the time to dedicate to classes given their demanding sports schedules.

ThWard

April 7th, 2020 at 10:27 AM ^

Agreed that enhancing/extending healthcare to players past eligibility would be difficult, but college sports generate in excess of $1 billion annually.

Enhancing healthcare for players past eligibility, even modestly, would require re-allocation of some spending priorities no doubt. But with major AD salaries routinely north of $1 million (and assistant ADs and other paper pushers regularly pulling in half a million at major AD offices) and scoreboards being replaced more often than necessary -- side note, maybe the Mississippi States of the world don't spend $7 million on a scoreboard, as they did in 2008 -- there's plenty of fat to cut in an industry bloated by its desperate desire to spend money anywhere other than direct-to-players.

lostwages

April 8th, 2020 at 4:33 PM ^

LOL awesome comeback... for that matter Ivy League schools etc.

Years ago when I looked into Michigan I I believe it was upwards of around $400,000. So... six figures a year no taxes... how much do bench warmers in the NFL get paid? We all have to start somewhere right?

lostwages

April 8th, 2020 at 4:20 PM ^

A lot of "careers" work this way.... our own QB Gardner went into Community Services. If you love it, it's not about the pay! Just sayin'

Wonder how much the average enlisted grunt gets paid for putting his/her life on the line for our country? Does ROTC get paid?

wolpherine2000

April 7th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^

The best analogue at Michigan seems to be grad student assistants. GSAs with a 50% appointment  (up to 20 hours a week) get free tuition and an $11K per term stipend. Student-athletes with the 20 NCAA maximum allowable countable hours get... free tuition only?

I would love it if someone could justify the difference to me.

urbanachiever

April 6th, 2020 at 8:28 PM ^

Duncan also emphasized that he was very grateful for his time and support at UM. He said he was blown away by the staff/facilities and overall support structure for players, particularly coming from D3. He said his goal is to demonstrate that you can be grateful for the things you have while still recognizing that the system is taking advantage of you

bronxblue

April 7th, 2020 at 9:40 AM ^

Quinn was on the MSU beat for a long time; I assume at some point he wrote about it.  Of course the fact a quick Google search didn't bring up an article does make me wonder.

For some reason the Detroit-area journalists always carried water for Izzo and Dantonio to a degree I never quite understood.  Yes they won a ton of games but I swear Michigan's coaches got more grief even when they were winning just as consistently.