Speaking at the ACC football kick off event, former UNC football player and athletic director and current ACC commissioner John Swofford said college athletics was at a 'tipping point,' and said recent scandals have caused an erosion of public trust.
He laid out a few good ideas, such as having scholarships cover all costs - travel, pizza and beer money, etc. - in addition to tuition, room and board.
Swofford also said he "favors strict, consistent penalties." When asked about the troubles at his alma mater, the former Tar Heels quarterback said "that's not who we are as a league.* When you have those kinds of problems, you don't step back from what your cornerstones are and what you're all about. You try to fix it and move forward."
* Kind of a funny statement when you consider the league includes Free Shoes University, Butch Davis, the 2009 champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that had to forfeit that title and are on probation, etc. etc.
I have one very simple way to fix college sports, an old idea that would fix recruiting and change the mentality of college coaches and athletic directors everywhere. An idea, by the way, endorsed by none other than Dean Smith - eliminate freshman eligibility.
Making freshmen ineligible would force coaches to take the long view, end the get-rich-quick mentality of big time college recruiting - where many, many abuses occur - and almost more importantly, give college athletes a year to act like normalish college students.
You could compliment a ban on freshman participation by adopting baseball's draft rules for all sports. In baseball, high school seniors and college juniors (and seniors) are eligible for the draft. But once a student-athlete commits to college he or she has to complete three years of school before being eligible to be drafted a second time.
Fairly simple rules that would change college sports completely.
But in the meantime, Carolina should fire Butch Davis!
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