From The Couch – “The Industry Of College Athletics Is A Disaster”

From The Couch – “The Industry Of College Athletics Is A Disaster”

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Chris Klieman spoke to the media yesterday and dropped some truth bombs about the current state of college athletics. You can watch the almost three minute clip below…

JM: Klieman is very frustrated, and rightfully so. As a fan of college sports, I am frustrated, too. Much of what is happening off the field right now is asinine. Is anybody running the show? It sure seems like the wild, wild west to me.

“I still think the industry of college athletics is a disaster. It just is.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: I don’t know what is more frustrating, NIL or the transfer portal. Both are slowly destroying college sports. There is no amateurism anymore. The NCAA has evolved into a professional sports league that has no rules, regulations, or enforcement. At least the franchises in the professional sports leagues have rules that everyone has to follow, with consequences if they don’t. The “House settlement” will be decided this coming Monday. Supposedly, the decision will put some rules in place, like a “salary cap” and roster limits. I am not holding my breath that it will make anything better. Chris Klieman isn’t, either.

“During this month of April – it’s not our decision as coaches and not our decision at Kansas State – but the industry-wide decision because of the House settlement and because of different legality things and litigation, we’ve got to remove a lot of kids from the program and it sucks…I’ll be honest with you. There’s a lot of kids that want to be here, want to stay here, that we can’t have in the program. There are kids that are paying their way, that have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this place. Kids that are invested academically…now those kids have to make a choice.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: With a “salary cap” also comes roster limits. Chris Klieman will be forced to make some cuts to his roster like an NFL team does during training camp.

“It’s frustrating to me because I don’t understand why the number came about of 105. Why can’t we slowly bring it down? I don’t even know who decided it, but as a lot of us coaches talk about it, we’re not in those meetings. We’re not in the rooms. The practitioners and the guys that have their boots on the ground every day aren’t in the meetings that decide some of these things. I’m sure it happens in other sports as well, but in football in particular.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: Slowly bringing down the number to 105 over a few years makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, none of what they are doing makes much sense to me.

“Make no mistake, I’m not in favor of this at all. We have a lot of kids that want to be in the program, that are not going to be able to be in the program. Then we also have the transfer portal happening in the month of April. There are some positives with that, in kids that maybe won’t make your 105 will have the opportunity to go on and play somewhere. I think that’s great.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: Why is the transfer portal open during the NCAA tournament and spring football? Can a player from a school that loses in the Sweet 16 transfer to a school that makes the Final 4 and become immediately eligible? It sure seems like they could. Does the NFL have its free agent period during its season? No, they don’t.

“The negative, which you all know and can assume, is our best players are getting contacted every day right now.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: Let me get this straight. K-State football is having spring practices right now, and, at the same time, K-State’s best football players are getting contacted DAILY by agents and other schools trying to coerce them to transfer for more money? What in the holy hell is going on?

“Is there an injured reserve? Have you guys found that out? I don’t know. Is there a practice squad? I don’t know. I don’t think any of those things have been talked about, or if they have we don’t know about them as coaches because we’re not in any of those meetings.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: Mentioning an injured reserve and a practice squad sure makes this sound like the NFL’s model.

“So a lot of us in the industry are really frustrated because a lot of these decisions are made without our input.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman

JM: He’s not lying. Two prominent basketball coaches took the opportunity during press conferences in the last couple of weeks to let everyone know their thoughts about the mess that college sports has become.

JM: The look on Calipari’s face when he finds out that the transfer portal is open while his team is preparing for an NCAA tournament game is priceless. What does it say that he didn’t even know when the portal was opening?

JM: Tom Izzo calls the current state of college athletics “chaos” and also made it clear that he’s “pissed off” about it. Does Izzo seem like a guy that is going to put up with this crap much longer? It doesn’t look like it to me. Many prominent coaches have already quit because they don’t want to deal with the “chaos.” Admittedly, it’s hard to feel sorry for millionaires who get to coach basketball for a living at this level, but I can relate to Klieman, Calipari, and Izzo’s frustration. I’m just as frustrated as a fan. To go a step further, they’re about to lose me as a fan.

I have never been a supporter of paying college athletes. They get a free education worth upwards of $100,000 or more, free room and board, free meals, stay in five-star hotels, and fly on luxury jets. That used to be enough, but it is no longer. If a kid finds success on the field or court and Pizza Shuttle wants to pay them to do a commercial, I think they should be able to get paid for that. But Name, Image, and Likeness has gotten completely out of hand. And guess what? A 20 million dollar “salary cap” isn’t going to do jack squat to level the playing field. The schools that used to pay athletes under the table will still find a way to do it under the new system. It’s never going to change.

I wonder how many college sports fans have stopped watching or caring the last few years. Many of my friends no longer watch or go to the games. They’re fed up with what is happening. I don’t see that reflected in television ratings, but I suspect legalized gambling has a lot to do with the high ratings. Those ratings may taper off as time goes by. How do they expect me to be a loyal fan to my school’s athletic teams when the players and coaches don’t share that loyalty? I am just sad about the whole situation.

JM: Maligi is going back to Texas. I had high hopes when he was hired that he would bring in some really good recruits. Not so much. Good luck, but good riddance.

JM: Rich got sideways with the K-State coaching staff and didn’t see the court as much as he should have. Since he didn’t play much anyway, I don’t have any emotional attachment to him leaving. He showed potential at times and has the potential to be a good player elsewhere. Good luck to him.

I am not sure you have noticed, but my columns haven’t been as frequent lately. To be perfectly honest, my passion for K-State sports is waning, just like so many others. It is becoming more and more difficult to get motivated to write about K-State sports. Perhaps that will change by this fall.

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