College Sports used to feel more "pure" than the Pros. Its feels the opposite to me nowadays. Am I alone?

[storrsroars]

On the bright side, NIL probably eliminates players point shaving for a couple thousand bucks.

I don't know how much I really care about this, I just want to see UConn win.

But it's certainly not the "opposite" of pros. It's simply not as "pure" as it once was.

 

[uconndogs]

To the OP point, major college athletics are now full fledged professional franchises associated with a given school. The portal and NIL allow for uninterupted free agency. This has nothing at all to do with playing for school pride, loyalty and god knows, academics.

There are going to be a lot of very good athletic departments (including some currently in the P4) that are going to be on the outside looking in trying to compete at the highest levels. I think UCONN hoops may very well be facing that future. It's probably 40 or so programs that compete at the highest level, and take most of the money. The balance will play at a level that currently looks a lot like FCS football or the way the Ivies run their athletics.

Sad for sure.......

 

[RSTuthill]

Yup, must be a newbie. Those of us that have been here more than a couple months are far too jaded now to have written the OP. The original post is right, of course. The old system used to make cognitive dissonance possible. Plausible deniability. But yeah, the sport has been "dirty" since the early 1900's if not earlier. The Courant 25 years ago published a piece about the abuses at Nebraska for instance. Everyone just shrugged. The on field player and fan enthusiasm covered up a lot.

I will still go to games on sparkling autumn afternoons if they hold the promise of being competitive. Or a bowl game like Fenway regardless of the weather. But there may come a time when getting on the bicycle, into a kayak, or onto a hiking trail becomes more attractive on a glorious home game Saturday.

 

[Waquoit]

It was never pure. Nostalgia for a time that never was.

 

[Windham4th]

The "purity" of the NCAAs since it became a big money enterprise was them taking advantage of free labor. (Not starting a scholarship is pay argument) So now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction and the schools need to deal with it.

It will even itself out in the next few years as the current chaos is not sustainable either.

 

[UConnRock]

Many players make more money in college than in the pros. You will see players that are not guaranteed 1st round picks stick around college for as long as possible. Getting to the NFL or NBA is no longer the only goal. The goal is to cash in on the way to NFL and NBA dreams

 

[noeynox]

I think the purity aspect is overrated. It's pretty much common knowledge that UCLA under Wooden had a bag man. Kentucky under Sutton was definitely paying players. We all know about Duke with Will Avery and Corey Magette. I'm not naive enough to think that UConn players under Calhoun were not. taken care of also.

What is about today's college sports that is less pure?

 

[HCCForever]

It was never pure. Nostalgia for a time that never was.

I agree that it was never "pure" but now all schools are involved. I will still watch college football and basketball until it goes completely off the rails.

Also, another reason that I enjoy college baseball. NIL is involved but doesn't appear to be as dominant as the two major sports.

 

[Drew]

UConn will finally be able to compete and there’s people mad about what’s happening lmao

This roster next year is the most talented we’ve had in at least fifteen years, maybe ever. Five years ago we were celebrating commitments from kids whose other offers were Northern Colorado, Bryant, Army and Princeton.

If anything, we should be ecstatic that we have people who care enough to fund our success and we can finally start to play at the big boy table when it comes to recruiting football players.

 

[noeynox]

UConn will finally be able to compete and there’s people mad about what’s happening lmao

This roster next year is the most talented we’ve had in at least fifteen years, maybe ever. Five years ago we were celebrating commitments from kids whose other offers were Northern Colorado, Bryant, Army and Princeton.

If anything, we should be ecstatic that we have people who care enough to fund our success and we can finally start to play at the big boy table when it comes to recruiting football players.

This has been a playing field leveler for a program that has had everything go against them. The perfect geographic conference for them was dissolved around them. No conference TV money for the FB program worth a damn in that dreaded AAC.

People need to forget about "program building." We are in the era of year to year team building. That means we will lose guys like Pryce Yates from time to time. Learn to accept this and take solace in the fact that Mora is one of the best equipped coaches for this era. A guy totally comfortable with losing a good player and confident that in this system, with decent financial resources, can go out and find capable replacements.

UConn has always had solid basketball booster support. A bit of that on the FB side and you saw immediate results. I love this era.

 

[B1GEast]

Everyone feels this way. I mean USC and UCLA playing in the B1G 10? That's blasphemy.

They should have just created a separate football league and left the other sports alone.

Unfortunately there's no going back. If something happens to the ACC it's going to look even worse.

College basketball is a bit different, but if the SEC and B1G get their way, they'll expand the NCAA tournament to get more of their teams in and structure the payouts to benefit them.

It sucks, and the only way it won't suck is if your college team is in a bigger conference.

 

[uconnric]

It was never pure. Nostalgia for a time that never was.

Ironic that the NCAA gave SMU the death penalty years ago for paying players. Today you have to pay them.