April 3, 2011
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By Marc Daniels
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - If it's the weekend of the Final Four, it means it's time for the annual whine of many members of the sports media who stand on pulpits preaching that the magnitude of the event proves student-athletes should be paid.
There was no shortage of opinions last week that highlighted the fact that the NCAA generates over 90 percent of its revenue from the Men's Basketball Tournament and therefore the players for Butler, UConn, Kentucky and VCU should get a piece of that big billion dollar pie.
National columnists will fill spaces like this about how "these kids" are taken advantage of and how the system is unfair. But every year the same critics always leave out important details after giving their opinion. What they leave out is a solution to the mess they see.
For all those who say college athletes should be paid, they have no idea how to do that. They have no plan for the majority of programs who lose money as to how they will pay athletes because after all, in their fantasy world every program is basically printing money.
But one of the biggest mistakes that group makes every year is that the number of players they believe are super-duper-stars who should be paid is so small. College football and basketball is blessed with many tremendous athletes. However, the actual number that truly is irreplaceable is so few. As great as Tim Tebow was at Florida, someone was going to replace him at quarterback. He may not be as good, but there was going to be another quarterback in Gainesville. As good as Kevin Smith was at UCF, a few years later we follow a fellow named Godfrey.
But once you get past the few athletes that might be known outside of their campus, there are literally thousands and thousands of true student-athletes. That group does care about getting a degree and taking advantage of the opportunity provided to them. That opportunity is to play a sport for a school and get a chance to earn a degree that is priceless.
And some of those same critics might want to visit with George O'Leary and his football team because at UCF, the education side does matter to the coach and the players. Much to the surprise of the critics, not everyone who plays big time college football tosses away the notion that a scholarship can be used to prepare one for life after football.
There is no question the NCAA can review the current value and costs of an athletic scholarship and there has been talk from the new NCAA president that items like a cost-of-living adjustment will be made to the scholarship and access to additional funds would be made available for trips home or for family to attend games.
No system is perfect and yet the majority of college athletes who practice as hard as the football or basketball star who might be famous someday do care about academics and understand the chance they have to succeed now and later in life.
So as another year of debating the issue of paying college athletes comes and goes, I'd suggest those critics actually take the time to talk with student-athletes of all sports and then go talk to athletic administrators and learn that academics matter and not everyone prints money in college sports.
Knights notes and more: Terry Rooney got ejected for the first time in his coaching career on Friday against Southern Miss. Rooney wanted to know why his team was warned in the dugout by the home plate umpire. He came out and after a few words got booted. In the next half-inning his starting pitcher Ben Lively was coming out of the game and while the relief pitcher was coming to the mound, Lively got ejected for saying something to the ump. Can you toss someone who is already out of the game? Apparently so. But Lively is good now and will be really good at UCF. The true freshman remains unbeaten at 5-0 and he pitches with a little attitude and that's a good thing...My color analyst for home basketball games, Mike O'Donnell, was in Houston for the Final Four. O'Donnell was late for an interview on my radio show last Friday and said something about Dikembe Mutumbo stepping on his phone. Sure he did Mike. Then he name dropped about seeing his friend Brad Stevens, the Butler coach. No one rolls like MOD... Final thought: When fans scream at an ump at a baseball game "C'mon blue, call it both ways." Don't they really mean "C'mon blue, be biased and give us all the calls"?
Marc Daniels' From the Press Box runs several times per month on UCFAthletics.com. Listen to Marc during UCF football, men's basketball and baseball radio broadcasts on the UCF Sports Network. Each weekday, Marc hosts The Beat of Sports on ESPN Radio 1080 in Orlando.