Agents in college sports

"Agents" have always been a dirty word around college campuses. With the recent surge in NCAA investigations -- especially in football -- regarding athlete's interactions with these "agents" (The term agent has become quite comical to me. Its gotten to the point where it seems the general public does not know what, exactly, an agent is, they just know that it is a bad thing. I keep picturing Ari Gold, talking on two cell phones, lurking in the shadowy corners of a campus bookstore.), one could only expect a surge in the amount of time we spend discussing them and ways to prevent the problem.

And on Friday, ESPN did just that. Dana O'Neil (here), Pat Forde (here), and Gene Wojciechowski (here) rolled out a four-part series on the NCAA and the problems associated with amateurism and enforcement.

Its all great stuff, and if you have nothing to do on a Monday at work, spend the 30 minutes and give it all a read. You won't be disappointed.

OJ Mayo never faced consequences for what he did while at USC.
(photo credit: SLAM)

To be honest, I don't really have all that much to add, except for this: you really want agents out of college sports? You really want to maintain a modicum of respectability when it comes to amateurism? Then two things need to be done.

First, there needs to be a way to punish the people that actually commit these offenses. While I'm not saying that the athletic departments and coaching staffs that cultivate an atmosphere on non-compliance are without blame, until the players that accept cash and gifts -- and the agents and runners that offer such things -- get hit with some kind of punishment, nothing is going to change.

Think about it like this -- you are a college basketball star. You know that before you get anywhere near finishing your degree, you will be in the NBA making millions. You also know that people keep coming up to you, offering you cash, cars, clothes, TV's, invitations to parties in Miami, and anything else that a 19 year old star athlete could want. If the only repercussions of accepting these gifts are that you may get stripped of any individual awards you win, the school will have to vacate any wins you contributed to, and the axe may come down on your head coach, would you really turn down those gifts?

I cannot honestly say that I would.

Until the people that actually commit the violations face a level of accountability for their actions, nothing is going to change.

The other thing the NCAA needs to allow is, believe it or not, some access to agents. Sports agents know the world of professional sports as well as anyone. They can provide some valuable insight on whether a player is making the correct decision by going pro. They can provide advice as to the best way to manage your image while in college -- it is going to be tough for Jeremiah Masoli to get endorsements if he makes the NFL. They can tell players what professional teams value in terms of off-the-field behavior.

In an advisory role, agents can be very, very helpful. Now, O'Neil's article touches quite a bit on the issues with this -- and there are many, allowing agents into the lives of college players could be opening Pandora's Box. But if the NCAA only allows these agents to be affiliated with the schools, not the individual players, and bans them from signing those players for a few years, couldn't this work? Maybe even allow the agent affiliated with a certain school see a cut when those players do sign a contract. Then they have some incentive to provide accurate information and keep in line in their dealings with the college kids.

Its just a thought, but unless the NCAA gets very serious about this issue, its tough to think we will ever see a change.