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UConn coach Randy Edsall says college football players should be paid
Most who closely follow collegiate athletics and understand the amount of revenue generated by college football and basketball programs believe the players should receive compensation.
And compensation means more than just room, board and the cost of attendance stipends the NCAA began providing in recent years.
We can now add Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall to the “pay the players” camp. Edsall tweeted the following on Friday:
With @NCAAFootball proposal 2017-99 adopted Colleges and Universities will employee more people in their scouting departments than the NFL and still not paying the players with all the money being brought into the Conferences. We’ve become a farm system. #PayThePlayers
— Randy Edsall (@RandyEdsall) February 23, 2018
As Edsall alluded to, in January, the NCAA formally adopted proposal 2017-99, allowing “non-coaching sport-specific staff to participate in on-campus evaluations” and analyze video of, to use NCAA lingo, prospective student-athletes (i.e. recruits). In Edsall’s eyes, that gives college football programs larger scouting departments than NFL teams, turning college football into a “farm system” for the NFL.
With the adoption of #NCAA proposal 2017-99, it is finally permissible for non-coaching sport-specific staff at NCAA institutions to participate in on-campus evaluations/analysis of video of prospects and during prospects' participation in on-campus athletics activities.
— Brad Barnes (@TAMUCompliance) January 23, 2018
Some coaches have expressed similar sentiments before, but I can’t recall a sitting FBS coach doing so this bluntly. It’s also somewhat surprising coming from a coach from a school outside the Power Five conferences, where revenue is not nearly as plentiful in the big television deal world of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC. Edsall coached at UConn from 1999-2010 but left for the Maryland job. He was fired midway through his fifth season with the Terps and returned to UConn ahead of the 2017 season, so he knows both sides of the tracks, so to speak.
His paying players position wasn’t the only thing Edsall had to say on Friday afternoon. In response to the Yahoo Sports story detailing payments from an agency to high school and college basketball prospects and their families, Edsall offered this thought:
I’m sure there are plenty of @NCAAFootball Head Coaches and assistants who are nervous based on what is happening with @NCAAMensBball.
— Randy Edsall (@RandyEdsall) February 23, 2018
It’d be naive to think that paying for recruits happened only in basketball. In fact, an SB Nation story about boosters paying for recruits from a few years ago offered a fascinating glimpse into that world.
Edsall has never run afoul of NCAA bylaws during his career (state nepotism laws not included), but he has undoubtedly heard some stories about colleagues over the years. Perhaps, like with basketball, some of those will emerge in due time.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
