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Doug Gottlieb-Bomani Jones

Dorsey101

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Oct 31, 2017
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This will almost certainly devolve into the same argument as always, but I think there's something interesting to talk about here.

This doesn't have to be an either/or thing. Allowing athletes to profit off their NIL isn't mutually exclusive from them getting a degree. But the bigger conversation is this: The NCAA wants them to be considered as student-athletes, with the "student" part first. But they're being recruited as athletes. They're not being pushed out of programs because their academic performance was average; they're being pushed out because the team wants another open scholarship for a player they think will be better.

Very few athletic departments have any sort of internship or professional work experience program to help these kids. And so even if they do graduate with a degree, it really isn't worth much when they don't have any applicable work experience on top of it. If you're the hiring manager of a company, are you going to hire the person with say, a 3.2 GPA and no work experience, or are you going to hire someone with a 3.0 GPA and a couple of summer internships?

In addition, a somewhat significant portion of the athletes being recruited for these sports are way behind where they need to be academically to succeed. Many are pushed by coaches and/or academic administrators to take the easiest possible classes/majors, as to not affect their eligibility. They then end up with a mostly worthless degree, have barely improved their academic skills, and have no applicable work experience to show for it. And that's where Gottlieb's argument falls apart.

Of course these kids should value their education. But by and large, coaches aren't recruiting them with the pitch of, "When you graduate, you can get a job in ____ field making $55K per year. They're telling these kids—many of whom have no chance of playing professionally—that this school is their best shot to get to the next level. And for kids who come from very little, that's like holding a shiny object in front of their face. At least if these kids can make money from their NIL (and yes, I know not all of them will) they can do something for their families and themselves to be more financially stable.
 
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