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If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes with the NCAA, there are some new documents that give us a glimpse.
Last spring, an NCAA working group gathered in Dallas, Texas, to talk about the NCAA as a whole, its problems, and its future.
The Los Angeles Times was able to get its hands on some documents from that meeting thanks to an Open Records Request and it’s... interesting.
Each attendee received a 44-page report marked “Privileged and Confidential — Not for Distribution” filled with anonymous feedback from top college athletics officials.
One official seemed to think sports writers were a major problem.
“It is a hard environment with these sports writers who think amateurism is ludicrous. I think there is room for the definition of amateurism to evolve. In some sports, it is okay for students to compete in non-collegiate competition, like the Olympics, where there is an opportunity to make money through endorsements. And this inconsistency is ridiculous to me. Treat student-athletes like other students. If a pianist got an endorsement from Steinway, we go, yay. If it is an athlete, totally different story.”
And one predicted the doom of the NCAA...
“The biggest threat is that the court system will force us to start paying athletes. And that will be the end of amateur sports as we know it,” one commented. “I think if we did a better job to show the academic benefits of playing college sports, it would take a lot of wind out of the balloon. All of the perks like letter jackets, cost of attendance, ring, etc.”
There are a lot of other interesting nuggets from this report, so make sure you check out the LA Times report here.
These are some interesting comments from these officials, especially the one above that the NCAA would get some good PR from showing letter jackets and rings. Like that will undo all the absurd decisions the NCAA has made and continue to makes.
And now on to your Thursday Quickies...
Tweet of the Day
Some Cat on Cat crime here...
— Big Blue Nation (@BigBlue9ation) January 23, 2020
Anthony Davis with the smooth footwork gets the bucket over Julius Randle
pic.twitter.com/YxX8I3LEqX
Two former Cats going at it last night.
Quickies
Eddie Gran, Brad White get raises - Herald Leader
Efforts are being made to keep the coordinators in Lexington.
Ja Morant gives a shoutout to Ashton Hagans - Cats Pause
Real recognize real.
John Calipari says he is ready to hand over the reins to the team - KSR
Cal likes what he has seen from this team’s leaders.
De Sousa gets 12-game ban for KU-KSU brawl - ESPN
Fair or should it have been worse?
Shareef O’Neal to transfer from UCLA - Yahoo
Where will Shaq’s son end up next?
After 16 seasons, Manning is going to hang up his cleats.
McNabb and T.O. reviving old beef - Yahoo
The drama is fun to watch unfold.
Who will be the top NFL free agents? - SI
Free agency should be interesting to watch this offseason.