Schedules Make it Easy For the SEC to Make the College Football Playoff

College Football Playoffs Schedule Scam

Schedules are the biggest scam in college football. The College Football Playoff Ponzi scheme, and the SEC is Bernie Madoff, same as the BCS was. All the Power 5 conferences do the work, but the SEC collects the rewards. The SEC (Bama in particular) deserves credit for winning the tournament, but often as a whole conference is severely overrated. When the CFB Playoff was formed we were told teams would be ranked based upon schedule quality and quality of wins over being undefeated. This has not been true. The curtain has to be lifted so fans can watch the season with open eyes. Isn’t it time that fans get the games we want to see and the undeniable four best teams in the playoff games? We are all being had by ridiculous schedules that manipulate who makes it to the playoff. Teams only get 12 guaranteed games per season. So why on earth should teams be rewarded for playing 3 non-competitive non-conference games per year?? Nobody really wants to pay to leave games at halftime. In 2018, Alabama and Georgia are were top 5 teams but were in the top 10 for easiest non-conference schedules. As fans, we spend our time, hard earned money, and devote our Fall lives to college football. We should we never waste an entire Saturday watching bad games!

College Football Committee Can’t Do Its Job Properly

The notion that the College Football Playoff Committee can accurately and fairly decipher who the top four teams in the country are is outrageous. How can they, when these schedules give us so few quality common opponents between conferences? This is the committee’s fault though. We will NEVER see schedules get better until the committee punishes teams that don’t win their conference or play competitive non-conference games. As a college football fan, you should absolutely be frustrated with the quality of the games we get. I’m assuming that all of you are like me and love college football and enjoy watching good games and debating other fans. If that’s the case, there is no way to be ok with a team that didn’t win their conference and played a bad non-conference schedule to be in the top 4.

The committee has essentially said that it is acceptable to lose your conference, play eight conference games while playing three non-power 5 teams, including an FCS team and get into the playoffs. Do not give me the “everybody does it” line. Clemson, Georgia, Florida, Notre Dame, USC, Miami, Cal, and others managed to schedule at least 2 power five non-conference games. That means everyone else can do it as well.

I’ve long said that college football schedules are consistently manipulated by the SEC and ACC, who have an advantage. Pac-12, Big XII, and Big 10 teams have a significantly smaller margin for error when trying to compete for championships. Let me explain how this works by using this table:

College Football Playoffs Ponzi Scheme

You can clearly see why the ACC and SEC have a win-loss advantage. Notice that there is a seven-loss difference between the ACC/SEC, and Big 10 which all have 14 teams. Seven more losses mean an additional game for each team in the BIG 10 against a team that could beat you. Imagine how easy the path to the championship would be if Ohio State could sub out that Iowa game for Mercer. Now, let’s compare those numbers to the Pac-12, which has 12 teams and 54 total conference losses. That is only two losses less than the ACC and SEC, despite having two more teams.

If that was too complicated, an easier way to explain all this is by looking at the average number of losses per team in each conference. SEC and ACC teams will lose a half-game less than all other conferences.

In theory, all this would not be a big deal if the conferences made up for that conference game with a competitive non-conference game. However, in most cases that is NOT what happens.

One of the biggest conversations when comparing teams is comparing how many losses each team has. However, all wins are not created equal. I’ve heard the argument that the Big XII, Big 10, and Pac-12 “play themselves out” of the playoffs by losing too much in-conference. The reality is playing 8 conference games instead of 9 conference games creates a systematic advantage for the SEC and ACC.

Now that we are all on the same page regarding wins and losses, I’ll explain the manipulation of the committee rankings. The current formula to manipulate your way into the playoffs is: play eight conference games, one mandated power 5 team, two non-competitive FBS games, and 1 FCS team. That FCS game often presents itself in November. It is commonly referred to as a “November Cupcake,” which is a glorified bye week against teams like Mercer, Citadel, or Wofford. The “November Cupcake” is an important component for highly regarded SEC teams to move up in the playoffs because of timing. When other conferences have ranked matchups in November, SEC teams play “November Cupcakes.” This gives them an opportunity to move up the rankings without playing a competitive game, and one of the teams from the other conference has to lose. This is the formula how you consistently end up with top 10 matchups amongst SEC teams late in the season, which makes the conference appear stronger.

Even Nick Saban (Alabama’s Head Coach) agrees with me when asked about college schedules and teams being deserving of playoff bids:

“I think it’s subjective to some degree because we don’t all play each other. I could get into my theory on this. I personally want to play all Power 5 conference teams every week. I know people say we played Mercer College and we couldn’t get a game with anybody else. All right so…  If we all had to play twelve teams from the Power 5 conferences, we would have a better feel for which conferences were the strongest and there would be more crossover play… and maybe even play more conference games.  Fans would like it better. You guys [the media] would like it better. You’d have a better inventory to show people. We wouldn’t have these games that people don’t really want to come to, players don’t really want to play in. And I think you’d have a better idea of who the best conferences and the best teams were.”

-Nick Saban on “College Football Playoff Selection Show” (December 3, 2017)

The Solution

  1. Change the college football playoffs to eight teams.
  2. Take the five power five champions and three at-large teams.
  3. One of the at-large teams has to be the highest ranked non-power 5 team.

There are two solutions to solve the scheduling imbalance and increase the greatness of college football for fans:

  1. 9 conference games, two power 5 games, and one FBS non-power 5 game to continue to give money to the little guys.
  2. 8 conference games, two power 5 games, one FBS non-power 5 game, and one FCS game to continue to give money to the little guys.

Both of these options would give the fans a much better game experience and generate more revenue for athletic departments. Teams would be more encouraged to schedule home and home non-conference games against good teams. This would make selling season tickets much easier

This would also alleviate a lot of the nonsense discussion about resumes and strength of conferences when choosing playoff teams. The committee would have more data because teams would have played more common opponents. My plan would cause television ratings and revenue increases as well. That’s more money for the NCAA, coaches, sponsors, and athletic departments to keep out of the hands of the players. And isn’t that the #1 goal of college football?

Am I Wrighster or am I wrong?

Should Ohio State Fire Urban Meyer?

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer is in hot water. A report by former ESPN college football reporter Brett McMurphy says that Urban Meyer had specific knowledge of domestic abuse allegations against a member of his coaching staff, Zach Smith, in 2015. McMurphy says Courtney Smith, ex-wife of fired Ohio State assistant coach Zach Smith, provided text messages between her and the wives of Ohio State coaches – including Urban Meyer’s wife, Shelley – showing Meyer’s knowledge of the situation.”

The problems for Meyer are two-fold. First, there is text message evidence that Meyer knew about multiple allegations of domestic abuse against a member of his staff and did not investigate which may trigger a Title IX violation. Title IX states A college or university that receives federal funding may be held legally responsible when it knows about and ignores sexual harassment or assault in its programs or activities. Second, he lied when asked about it during Big Ten media day last week. Meyer said, “I was never told about anything…Never anything came to light, never had a conversation about it. So I know nothing about it. I asked people back at the office to call and see what happened, and they came back and said they know nothing.”

The text messages state otherwise. The full post by McMurphy is available via his Facebook page.

The immediate question is what does Ohio State do about this? The university does not want to fire Urban Meyer but may be left with no other choice. Any other coach in America including Nick Saban would be fired for lying about covering up domestic violence to the media, fans, and other coaches. And, Ohio State forced national championship coach Jim Tressel to resign amid NCAA violations from a tattoo-parlor scandal. So, how can they retain Meyer when this situation is far more serious?

Meyer admitted he knew about the 2009 allegations against Smith, but said “What was reported wasn’t actually what happened…It’s a very personal matter.”  However, he claimed to not know about the Oct. 25, 2015 allegations where Courtney Smith said, “He took me and shoved me up against the wall, with his hands around my neck,” Courtney said. “Something he did very often. My (then 3-year old) daughter was clinging to my leg. It obviously registered with him what he was doing, so he took my (then 5-year old) son and left. So I called the police.”

Meyer was not required to fire Zach Smith immediately upon allegations of domestic violence by Zach Smith, but he was required to investigate the situation. And if those allegations were founded, he needed to do something. Instead of doing the right thing, he lied. Now he has placed Ohio State is in an untenable position.

Should Ohio State fire Urban Meyer?

College Football: Top 5 Teams Likely To Disappoint In 2018

If your college football team is not coached by Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, or Dabo Swinney, there’s a good chance that things may not go your way in 2018. I’m talking about disappointing seasons. There are bound to be quite a few teams that will have sour tastes in their mouth come December. It’s inevitable.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 teams that are likely to disappoint in 2018.

#5 Michigan

This hurts to write because I am a big Jim Harbaugh fan, but his three seasons have been a letdown for Michigan fans. It’s hard to say a coach underachieved with two 10 win season in his first three years, but for a coach to be making over $7 million a year, Big 10 titles and wins over Ohio State are a necessity and so far neither of those accomplishments have happened. This will be Harbaugh’s best chance to silence the critics thanks to Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson, who is easily the best quarterback that Harbaugh has had in his tenure at Ann Arbor. However, for Michigan to rise to the top of the Big 10, they will need to beat Ohio State, Penn State, and Michigan State. Maybe they can beat one, but all three? It’s just not happening especially with trips to East Lansing and Columbus. Until that happens, I can’t bet on Michigan.

#4 Florida State

The talent is there. Running back Cam Akers is a Heisman hopeful. Quarterback Deondre Francois is healthy after missing almost the entire 2017 season. The team is young and full of potential. Despite the talent, Jimbo Fisher took his talents to Texas A&M. He had five straight years of 10+ wins at one point as well as a National Championship victory. Taking over for Fisher is Willie Taggart, who bolted from Oregon after one year. I have no idea how to judge Taggart because this is only his second year as a head coach at a Power 5 school. Can he handle the pressure and live up to the lofty expectations? Clemson is still the king of the ACC and Miami is closing in on them. Florida State is not better than those two teams right now, so they will have their work cut out to stay above the middle of the ACC.

#3 Florida

Staying in the Sunshine State, let’s go to Gainesville to talk about the Gators. First-year coach Dan Mullen inherits a team from a year ago that had no energy and was flat out inept on the offensive side of the ball. Their super “vanilla” offense finished #101 in the nation during McElwain’s last year. I expect Mullen’s knows he has to spread it out and score a lot of points. With questions at quarterback and on the offensive line, it will take a while for Mullen to find his next Dak Prescott to revitalize the Gators. The strength of the team will be the secondary lead by the ballhawks at corner, CJ Henderson, and Marco Wilson. The season is already off to a rocky start as six players face potential discipline after a confrontation with “Tay Bang” that involved airlift guns and a frying pan. I’m not kidding. Mullen will turn Florida around, but not this year.

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Pac-12 Media Poll picks Washington to Win the Conference: They are Wrong!

Washington Huskies

The Pac-12 media poll is out. 37 of 42 media members who cover Pac-12 football voted Washington as their favorite to win the conference. If you let the media tell it, Washington should run away with the North division and the South will be competitive with USC winning. But, recent history tells us that the likely Pac-12 champion will be someone other than who the media picks. The media has only correctly predicted the winner of the Pac-12 title game twice since 2011 (Oregon 2011, 2014). 2018 will be extremely exciting for the Pac-12. This is the best coaching from top to bottom that the conference has ever had.

2018 Pac-12 Media Poll

The media will be wrong about their 2018 pick as well. Either Stanford or Oregon will win the North division and Arizona will win the South division. Washington is well coached and their defense will be solid per the usual, but Stanford and Oregon are lurking in the shadows. Stanford has the best coach, offensive line, and running back in the conference. If KJ Costello shows up in a major way, Stanford will be a treat to go to the College Football Playoffs. Oregon, on the other hand, is the biggest wildcard in the conference. They feature a new head coach, Mario Cristobal who will bring more of the SEC conference ground and pound to the Ducks. They also have the project top NFL quarterback prospect Justin Herbert and are very talented at all positions. Arizona is a major threat to USC in the South division. The Trojans are replacing their top quarterback, running back, and wide receiver all in the same season. Arizona has a nuclear weapon at quarterback in Khalil Tate. He has the ability to win any game for the Wildcats.

No matter who wins the conference should fair significantly better in bowl season than last year.

College Football: Big XII Coaching Power Rankings 2018

Lincoln Riley

Who is #1 in the Big XII Coaching Power Rankings?

Welcome to the Big XII, where offense thrives, and defenses die. If you like points, this is the conference for you. If you like defense, you might as well turn off the game because it’s rarely played with the exception of TCU. Because of this, it can be hard to determine how the Big XII stacks up against other conferences like the Big 10, Pac-12, ACC and SEC if one side of the ball is, for the most part, neglected. However, the top of the conference is loaded with teams like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU who regularly compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

ICYMI:

Pac-12 Coaching Power Rankings

Big Ten Coaching Power Rankings

Can Lincoln Riley take the Sooners to its third playoff trip? Can Gary Patterson and Mike Gundy lead their teams to the promised land? Let’s take a look at the coaching power rankings for the Big XII.

10. Kansas – David Beaty

Without a doubt, the Big XII program that believes in their coach the most is Kansas. Am I crazy? No, and here’s why. Name one coach in America that can go 0-12 and 2-10 in back-to-back seasons and still earn a contract extension. I’ll name that coach for you. It’s David Beaty. All the credit in the world to this guy for keeping his job despite having a record of 3-33 (!!!) in three years. You can’t help but root for Coach Beaty. The only way to go is up so best of luck to Coach Beaty. Rock chalk!

9. Baylor – Matt Rhule

Matt Rhule is a brave man for taking the Baylor job. He inherited a toxic situation at the university and surrounding the football team in the wake of the allegations under Art Briles tenure as head coach. While Rhule deserves a long leash, he likely won’t get one. The Rhule won 10 games at Temple twice, which is remarkable in itself. The Baylor Bears fan base will be looking for that same success. They are accustomed to 10+ win seasons and won’t settle for excuses. Rhule must drastically improve on his 1-11 record in Waco. Otherwise, his seat temperature will go from cool to inferno very quickly.

8. Texas Tech – Kliff Kingsbury

Kliff Kingsbury’s tenure at Texas Tech can be described with one word: disappointing. He is 30-33 overall, and 6-12 in the Big XII over the last two seasons. But why hasn’t this worked? Kingsbury knows how to develop quarterbacks cc: Case Keenum, Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes. The program loves Kingsbury because he was a legendary quarterback for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech lights up the scoreboard every week. Why is this not working again? Oh, that’s right. Texas Tech is allergic to defense. Two years ago, Kingsbury’s Red Raiders allowed a mind-blowing 554.3 yards per game, which was easily last in the Big XII. However, the defense made some strides last year, and “only” gave up 443 yards per game. The good news is will most of their starters for the upcoming season. If they can improve on the defensive side, even more, Texas Tech will be a dark horse to make the conference title game.

7. Iowa State – Matt Campbell

Iowa State, enjoy Matt Campbell for now because the NFL and college football bluebloods will be knocking on his door soon. That’s how coveted Campbell will be. In two years in Ames, Ames has turned Iowa State into a highly respected team in the Big XII. There are no more guaranteed wins when teams see Iowa State on the schedule. Last season Campbell led the Cyclones to 8 wins, the program’s highest win total since 2000. If he keeps the momentum growing from last year, watch out. Iowa State should be fighting in the top half of the conference all year.

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Wrighster or Wrong: I Know Why the Florida Gators Only Play in Florida

I figured out why the Florida Gators won’t play outside the state of Florida! Am I Wrighster or Wrong?

Before last season’s game against Michigan at Cowboy’s Stadium in Dallas, the last time they won a regular season non-conference game outside of Florida was 1989 (they won at Memphis State).

And the last non-conference regular-season win for the Gators outside of Florida against a team that finished with a winning record was in 1947, against North Carolina State. Yes, 1947. 71 years ago.

I’m not so sure I would leave the state if I were having so much trouble beating Florida State and Miami lately.

And nothing is changing any time soon with their future schedules. The conferences and playoff committee have to put this sort of nonsense to rest. This is awful for college football. If you can find more outrageous stories than this send them to me at unafraidshow@gmail.com

 

College Football: Pac-12 Coach Power Rankings 2018

Great players win games, but great coaches win championships. The Pac-12 always has plenty of great players and is littered with future first-round draft picks. The conference has also had coaching legends like Pete Carrol, John McKay, Terry Donahue, and Don James. Despite a rich history and tradition, the PAC-12 has never had a coaching roster as good as the upcoming 2018 season. From top to bottom, the conference is now full of some of the best coaching minds. Only the Big Ten (Meyer, Chryst, Franklin, Harbaugh, Dantonio, etc) can rival the coaching lineup the Pac-12 now has in its arsenal. Six of these coaches are in their first or second year at their schools, but all are making noise on the recruiting trail and creating a footprint on the college football landscape. Over the next 2-3 seasons, the Pac-12 collectively will have it’s highest finishes on the recruiting trail.

Despite last year’s abject failure as a conference, the future of the Pac-12 conference is extremely bright and will soon claim multiple national championships.

On to the coaches:

12. Oregon State- Jonathan Smith

Jonathan Smith is the biggest unknown of all the Pac-12 coaches. He put up big numbers as the offensive coordinator at both Washington and Montana. The best news for Smith is that there is nowhere to go but up for the Oregon State Beavers. They haven’t won one conference game in two of the last three years. The bad news for OSU is that is Smith is successful he won’t be in Corvallis long.

11. Colorado- Mike MacIntyre

To say that Colorado has struggled since joining the Pac-12 would be an understatement. MacIntyre took over the program in 2013 and has only been able to win more than 5 games once. In his defense, the university absolutely mishandled a powerhouse of a program and burned it to the ground before he got there. The school has not made a commitment to winning, and until they do the Buffaloes will continue to be Pac-12 bottom feeders. There are few coaches who could do better given what MacIntyre has had to work with.

10. Arizona State- Herman Edwards

The Herm Edwards experiment at Arizona State is either going to be feast or famine. Herm was a good NFL coach and is an excellent leader. But, he has never been a college head coach and hasn’t coached football in 10 years. It initially felt wrong ranking him this low, but their recruiting class wasn’t particularly special and he wasn’t able to retain his offensive and defensive coordinators. If Herm does well, re-ranking the coaches at the end of the season is going to be a nightmare.

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Is Florida State Courageous Enough to Schedule Oregon?

Are Florida State and Willie Taggart courageous enough to schedule a home and home with Oregon? Am I Wrighster Or Am I Wrong?

I’ll admit Florida State is historically played “anybody, anywhere”, unlike the team in Gainesville who just played an out of state non-conference game for the first time since 1991. However, times are different now and FSU has plenty of room on the schedule that can be filled. We will see if they are willing to put real competition on the schedule.

 

NCAA Still Misses the Mark with New Transfer Rule!

Let’s Not Get Too Excited About the NCAA’s New Transfer Rule

by: Kassandra Armstrong

Many are needlessly praising the NCAA for replacing the “permission-to-contact” rule, which required college athletes to obtain their current coaches’ permission prior to contacting another institution, with the “notification-of-transfer” rule.  Set to become effective this October, the “notification-of-transfer” rule has relinquished the unfettered power coaches had over the academic and athletic future of athletes seeking a transfer as athletes are no longer required to seek permission and are only required to notify their coach of their desire to transfer.  Within two business days following notification, the athlete’s name will be entered into a national transfer database whereby any coach can contact the athlete.

While many are praising the NCAA for passing a rule that benefits the athletes, those accolades are unwarranted as it is unlikely that the rule will provide an equally significant benefit to all athletes because of its failure to address the issue of immediate eligibility upon transfer.  Athletes in major revenue-producing sports still are unable to transfer with immediate eligibility and are required to sit out for a year upon transferring.  This requirement is detrimental to the athletes’ athletic future.  For the “notification-of-transfer” rule to truly be effective, it must be accompanied by an equitable rule allowing all college athletes to be eligible immediately upon transferring.

Some suggest that athletes with a certain grade point average be allowed to transfer with immediate eligibility.  If such a rule is created, perhaps the rule could take the form of a balancing test that considers other factors, such as the athlete’s involvement in co-curricular activities in addition to grade point average.  Implementing a rule that considers the athlete’s collegiate experience as a whole, instead of a one-size-fits-all grade point average requirement is a more equitable way to determine who should have immediate eligibility as each athlete has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses.  While the NCAA took a small step in the right direction with the “notification-of-transfer” rule, it does not warrant any praise because the rule falls short of truly ensuring equitable transferability for all athletes.

 

Sweatshop Labor is the Backbone of College Football: Pay the Players?

How much money do you think true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made Alabama in merchandising, donations, rising ticket prices, and memorabilia sales for the national championship? Whatever that dollar amount is, it is in the millions, which is a hell of a lot more than what Alabama is paying for his scholarship!

The college football national championship with Alabama vs. Georgia was a success. It was “amateurism” at its finest.  Everybody got rich and won, except the players. Fans got to see an entertaining game and see new young stars blossom. It was the second-highest rated championship game in the playoff era. Advertisers and sponsors got their money’s worth. Coaches and administrators get bonuses and raises. The players only leave with a few bowl gifts, memories, and fame they can’t monetize. That is exactly the way the NCAA likes it. They treat everyone like big business, and professionals except the people everyone pays to see, the athletes. That sounds an awful lot like sweatshop labor to me. It also sounds extremely “un-American”.
I know what’s coming next. “These players leave school with a free education. I have student loans up to my eyeballs. I would love to have left school debt free. Plus student-athletes knew what they signed up for, and they can potentially make money in the NFL.”
To that I say, quit crying. Athletes add big numbers to the bottom line. Regular college students add no financial value to the school besides your tuition and fees. There is nothing free about the education athletes get. They worked extremely hard for it in middle/high school, and in college. It required a lot of sacrifices to earn a scholarship. The people who add the most financial value, and add most to the bottom line in life typically get the biggest paychecks. The vast majority of college football players are NOT going to the NFL. There are only about 265 guys drafted each year out of the 10,000+ seniors who play college football each season.
When our life is over, we will all have had peak years of our earning potential. Some people make the “most money they ever made” in their teens, others 20s, 30s, 40s, etc. You never know when that will be for you, so the idea of limiting a person’s earning potential under the veil for “amateurism” seems almost criminal.
Alabama’s $1.2 billion endowment will increase due to additional donations by pride filled alums. Their $103.9 million revenue will surely increase from merchandise sales. Ticket prices to Bryant-Denny stadium will surely increase a few bucks next season. A 30-second ad during the national championship game cost $1.2 million. The average resale ticket price was over $3,000. Nick Saban made over $11 million this season, and he and his assistants will get six-figure bonuses for their achievement.
Tua Tagovailoa became a star and hero by leading Alabama to a huge second-half comeback and the national championship. He is the most popular name in college football. After generating so much money for everyone else, it makes sense that he and the other athletes should receive some additional compensation. He should at least be able to monetize his newfound fame. Imagine how much he could make off signing memorabilia, appearances, podcast or from a YouTube channel? He probably could make a million dollars or more before the start of next football season. Well, that’s not how it works. Let him try to do any one of those things, and he would have played his last college football game.
If not paying the players wasn’t enough, lets not forget that the man that Tagovailoa replaced at quarterback for Alabama is Jalen Hurts. If Hurts wants to transfer Alabama can block it, or restrict which schools he goes to. Coaches regularly leave schools for greener pastures as long as the buyout is satisfied. It does not matter what commitments are made to athletes, administrators, or families. Players, on the other hand, are bound by their commitments.
I love college sports and football in particular, but I have to call a spade a spade. Long gone are the days when the value of a scholarship exceeded or was commensurate with the revenue a college athlete generated. Nowadays, everybody eats except for the players. The big professional business of college football is currently run like a sweatshop.
The NCAA is never going to voluntarily pay the players because it wants to keep up the myth that is “amateurism”. I am not one to present problems without solutions, so naturally, I have a solution. My solutions will pay the athletes, increase graduation rates, and be cheaper than just giving players cash monthly. Some detractors say paying players will ruin amateur athletics. I couldn’t disagree more because it already is run like a professional league.
A revenue sharing model that is paid out in an annuity makes the most sense. The players would participate in a certain percentage of jersey sales, bowl game payouts, video games, and other ancillary income associated with their sport. If conferences pool their money there will be higher yields from interest and investments, which will help fund the pool and cover management fees associated with it. The annuities would be paid out upon graduation. More athletes would graduate knowing there is money waiting there. Instead of handing the kids money, invest in their life after college. Imagine how many businesses would get started, or homes bought. Only good can come from my plan!
Let’s close the NCAA sweatshop, and become partners with the athletes and make more money together!