Steve Spurrier: The Voice For A Monumental Change In Collegiate Sports


Steve Spurrier South Carolina

Marvin Gentry-USA Today Sports Images

On a recent airing of College Football Live, South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier announced that, upon meeting with the other 13 SEC head coaches, it has been decided that the football players be rewarded financial assistance in the amount of $3,500 per player. This money would come from the SEC’s revenue which totaled over $100-million last year.

What about the soccer, swimming and volleyball teams? What about the other student-athletes?”

Is anybody else over that argument? I’m so sick and tired of hearing this question come up in debate about paying student-athletes. To argue that it is unfair for football and basketball players to receive extra financial benefit is ridiculous. So, the two sports that bring in the most money shouldn’t be rewarded appropriately among their student athletes? With all due respect, other collegiate sports aren’t even in the same paragraph let alone in the same sentence as college football and basketball.

People, stop trying to rationalize why other sports like soccer and volleyball should pay their players. Please, stop it.

This is a generous and very beneficial move as I’d have to imagine there are quite a bit of families that are unable to make it to games to watch their son play and be there to experience something as special as college football in person. That’s what makes this such a great idea. The coaches decided that the players could use the money for themselves and their family. While the same could be said about the argument for other sports, it is nowhere near the same thing. The cost of a college football Saturday vs. a college swimming meet on a Tuesday night is probably about a $100 difference per ticket if not more.

The ability to give the players a little bit of the money they practically brought in for the school and allow them to use it for anything they need or want as well as their family’s financial benefit is a step in the right direction. We have heard it a lot, but its true. Many of the student athletes come from tough financial situations. An extra $3,500 a year could be the difference for a lot of hardships back home, there may be bigger issues than whether or not a family can make it to a game.

The only problem with the idea of this, though, is the disadvantage it brings other schools from other conferences in the recruiting race. Every parent will push their child towards an SEC school if they are being recruited and the money is needed.

So, how could this disadvantage be leveled out to even the recruiting race?

Do the same thing. There isn’t a conference in Division-I that can’t afford to cough up some of the revenue for their football and basketball players.

It would be in the best interest of the NCAA and college football, considering the direction its heading financially, to implement this proposed SEC system of rewarding football players for their revenue with amounts that were probably never even dreamed of.

As Spurrier said on the show, “In 1990, my first year in the league, the conference split up $16 million and last year the conference split up $189 million. I wish the coaches at the other conferences would speak out. We are getting paid more than we ever dreamed of as coaches and yet our players that are out there risking all the injury are getting the same scholarship they had 50-years ago.”

Need I say more?

Be sure to check out the Rant Sports 100 in 100 Series, a preview of the top 100 College Football Teams for the 2013 Season!



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