FROM THE CHEAP SEATS – KU sports problems

It should have come as no surprise that the NCAA levied some serious allegations against the KU basketball team. They were charged with three Level 1 violations and a lack of institutional control, mostly based on recruiting. It all stemmed from the issues involving Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa. The football team was also cited with a lesser infraction for exceeding the allowable limit of coaches. The University responded by saying that they would fight the allegations and that they back Coach Bill Self.

So what does this mean for the future? Obviously, there’s going to be some kind of punishment dished out. Maybe a reduction in scholarships for a couple of years and a postseason ban for a year, but don’t expect anything to come of it until after this upcoming season. There are time frames in place concerning KU’s response and when trials start and the allegations are addressed. I believe that they may lose a scholarship or two for a year. I expect there to be some recruiting restrictions put in place and I believe that there will be heavy fines to pay. I think that Self will be suspended for a few games and I expect assistant coach Kurtis Townsend to be suspended if not let go. I’m not sure about the postseason ban. I think that could go either way depending on the defense that KU puts together.

Other than that, I really don’t expect too much. Remember, KU is not alone in this. The NCAA will be going after other schools as well. They’ve already hit Georgia Tech with sanctions and a postseason ban for the upcoming season. The problem is, the NCAA knows that there is a problem and they’re going to try and make a statement and KU just happens to be the first one up.

Moving on, California has voted that they will allow college athletes to be paid. I think all this does is gets the ball rolling and starts conversation about paying college athletes. I think that college players should be paid and here is my suggestion to make it happen to where it’s fair to everyone.

Take each sport, EVERY sport, and look at its budget. You take a percentage of that budget and divide it equally among the athletes. Simple. Each person in each sport gets the exact same amount. Does Jalen Hurts, quarterback for Oklahoma deserve more than the third string QB? Sure, but he’d be paid the same. Now, you could adjust a bit and give more for playing time, but you’re still working off the original percentage of the budget for each sport. Football players, basketball players, soccer players, golfers, rowers, you get the idea. Every athlete would be paid something.

I realize that some schools have bigger budgets than others, but I don’t think that matters. Not everyone is good enough to go to Alabama to play football or KU to play basketball. Tough. Those kids would still get paid at whatever college they went to.

The system is broken and it needs to be fixed. When a coach can’t even buy a player a hamburger without getting in trouble, something needs to be done.

– Rob Mooney, Metro Voice sports writer

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