Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Greg Couch lost his mind over Calipari

I hate to even link to Greg Couch's screed, but here's my comment to it anyway:


UNC has three players going pro early. Anyone for calling out Roy Williams? Robinson will leave Kansas early: perhaps Bill Self should never have recruited him? If you really believe this, advocate that schools bind students to 4 year contracts with repayment and penalty clauses. Let's see how well that goes.

Basketball players do NOT owe colleges anything. Even South Dakota State Teachers College(*) makes more in revenue off its basketball program than it costs to fund the kids' scholarships. A school like UK or Kansas makes multiples on it. The kids carry their school's athletic departments on their backs; they don't "owe" anything to anyone.

We are supposed to go to college to equip ourselves for a living. An NBA lottery pick guarantees enough money to live on for life. A first round guarantees a solid start for life. Even a second round pick is 5-10 years salary per year for the rest of us.

I think Mr. Couch is just jealous that his 4+ years striving for a journalism degree that is rapidly approaching toilet paper in value has clouded his judgement. Quit being jealous that these kids are turning their talents into lucrative careers.

(*) OK, I admit to exaggerating slightly. If South Dakota Teachers State College still exists (it used to, but I can't find it on Google now), it's probably Division 3 or NAIA, and they won't have scholarships. Nonetheless, the general point holds: basketball teams are profitable excluding coaching salaries, and most schools are profitable including coaching salaries. (It's football that usually breaks the athletic budgets at most schools.)

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