There are big changes in store for the NCAA and everyone associated with it. Sports Writers & Broadcasters have been talking about it for some time now and most recently NCAA Commissioner Mark Emmett has been hinting that substantial changes were in the wind.
The sport of football at the college and university level has grown exponentially in the past decade to be one of the biggest money making machines on the planet. There are millions and even billions of dollars involved these days and the schools are all lining up for their piece of the pie.
But what about the players? What about the guys who are sweating down there on the field and being chased by 275 pound linebackers? What about the linebackers? Those guys are still being compensated at the same level they were receiving back in 1950.
Student athletes still receive basically the same athletic scholarship stipends in the form of tuition, room and board. Some include books and cover a few other expenses but none actually puts cash in the player’s pockets.
Take a look at how the coaches have fared since then. At the University of Oklahoma in 1950, the legendary Bud Wilkinson was earning $15,000 a year to be the head coach at OU back when the stadium held 56,000 fans seats were less than $5.
21 years later Barry Switzer earned $35,000 to coach the Sooners and the capacity of the stadium at OU had risen to 62,000. By the late ‘80’s Switzer’s salary had risen to $88,000 and the stadium seated 75,000.
In many cases unauthorized payments to players were handled ‘under the table’ from the hand of wealthy alumni directly into the hands of the player. Many people feel that it is unseemly for students to take money from anyone at all to play football at the college level.
But the situation has gotten out of hand and nowadays Head Coach Bob Stoops earns around four and a half million dollars a year to coach at OU and the university has just invested $125,000,000 in renovating the on campus stadium which now holds over 82,000 Sooner fans each weekend.
Somehow or another the powers that be are going to have to figure out a way to share a little bit of the wealth with the guys who are actually down there in the bright lights playing the game that everyone is cheering for and wagering on.
