WSJ on Nick Saban and "medical" scholarships

Four career-ending injuries a year? This isn't 1970. Blown out knees and badly broken legs heal. Players are ready after a year.

 

It's a hell of a lot better than running kids off.

 

Just one more way tha tthe NCCA is a fraud. In concept, it's a good idea. If this story is to be believed, an increase in oversight would seem to be in order.

 

The real "solution" to this is to have, say, an 80-scholarship limit and a 20-player maximum signing class every year. It would reward coaches who recruit academically prepared players and then retain them for four years, while punishing those who do the opposite.

It would never happen, of course. (I've also argued that because players are on one-year scholarships, they should be able to transfer at any time without penalty. That also will never happen).

I agree what Saban (and others) have been doing is an unsavory practice on the surface, but as many have pointed out, if he wanted to be truly ruthless, he would just non-renew the scholarships of players who aren't very good.

 

Better than this plan for getting scholarships back

 

So a kid who is marginal football player at the D-1 level, at best, is offered a free ride to college, and doesn't have to practice. Damn Saban, what's he trying to do, get the right kids educated?

 

Three former players say that they didn't violate team rules, as Saban said they did when they transferred. He just uses that as a smoke screen when he oversigns:

http://online.wSportsJournalists.com/article/SB10001424052748704243904575630593438793612.html?KEYWORDS=nick+saban

 

I know for a fact that Alonzo Lawrence basically flunked out of Alabama, and then did so again at Southern Miss. That's why he's in junior college in his third year out of high school, and why he won't be headed to a four-year school this January. He'll either have to go to Division II in the spring of 2012 and have two years of eligibility, or go to Division I and have one year left.

I can't speak for the other guys, but Alonzo Lawrence is full of shit.

 

Saban needs to be congratulated. His free agent signings don't pan out (high school eligible athletes that sign letters of intent), so instead of cutting them he offers them full scholastic opportunities without them having to commit to the football team.

Sounds exactly like a responsible college football coach.

 

Am I the only one who found that story incredibly difficult to read due to all the uses of "Mr."?

 

Yeah, it's shady, but there are many practices that college football coaches do that are 100 times more shady. At least these kids get a free education, which is what college kids are supposed to be in college for.

The worst for me is asshole coaches who corral 37 commitments and then figure out the day before signing day which 12 are going to get fucked over.

 

Shaggy,

It's worse than that because they oversign and keep the kids beyond signing day. Then down the road, if everyone qualifies and stays eligible, they have to cut people. So you may have a kid who is on a roster for 6 weeks after signing day and then gets cut loose. Or in some circumstances, you'll have a player, who gets axed in July right before practice starts.