C-USA's Banowsky quoted on NCAA's looming changes

[Harry]

I think the concept of putting money aside that would be collected by the student athlete after they graduate and can be used for graduate school education etc is a pretty good one... Also it appears that the whistleblower Mary Wilingham at North Carolina is going to testify in front of Congress in regards to the NCarolina scandal and I expect her testimony to be pretty telling. It's an interesting controversy, on the one hand you have the greed of the power schools and their desire to separate legislatively. On the other hand, the LAST thing they want to do is move away from the student athlete model which this North Carolina mess indicates will happen when the need to win overrides academic integrity...

Conference USA commissioner Britton Banowsky said he would support considering allowing athletes to receive licensing money that's put aside into a trust fund and collected later.

“I think we're going to have to look at that and we're going to have to find a way to make it happen within the collegiate space,” Banowsky said. “I'm a big advocate for rewarding student-athletes that are graduating and have made a contribution for four years. I do like the concept of those funds being captured at the end of the collegiate experience. It will be up to the legal process and legislative process to provide guidance on where it settles.”

READ MORE: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/writer/jon-solomon/24554058/how-does-college-sports-solve-the-growing-players-movement

[Arkstfan]

There are some problems that the NCAA is not well equipped to fix.

Bogus classes and degree programs is a perfect example.

The accreditation associations are better positioned to deal with those issues. Auburn was placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools because one group of trustees had so much political and financial clout they effectively wrested control of the board from the majority, they had meetings that did not comply with state public information laws, and had conflicts of interest not addressed because they did substantial business with the school. One trustee had effectively taken control of the athletic department usurping the president and his oversight.

The accreditation bodies are much better equipped to identify and punish schools for bogus academic programs and lack of academic integrity in how athletes are dealt with (ie. grade changes, no show classes, improper academic assistance). They are also better equipped to deal with cases where a school may divert so many resources to athletics that it compromises the academic mission. They can also handle issues of whether proper oversight is being maintained.

They hold the nuclear bomb. Clean up your act or lose accreditation and if they drop the bomb, you lose access to Federal aid and membership in the NCAA.