Big 12 coaches like idea of compensating athletes

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Giving college athletes a small percentage of the millions of dollars they generate is a "pipe dream," says Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson.

Baylor coach Dave Bliss calls the whole idea "a Pandora's Box."

But judging from an informal survey, most Big 12 basketball coaches would love to see players in revenue-producing sports get a stipend, if not a monthly salary.

"I think it's unrealistic to think these kids only need their education paid for and nothing else," Colorado coach Ricardo Patton said during the coaches' weekly conference call with reporters.

"Most of these kids are far away from home. A great deal of them don't have parents who can send them money on a regular basis, if at all," Patton said. "I've coached kids whose parents are unable to send them anything other than a box of food. The people who are making these decisions are all capable of sending their kids money when they go off to school."

The biggest argument against paying players has always been the value of the education and other benefits they derive as scholarship athletes.

Scholarship values

In the Big 12, the value of a full athletic scholarship ranges from about $23,000 a year for out-of-state students at Baylor, Colorado and Missouri to roughly $8,300 at Oklahoma, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, according to figures provided by the conference office.

Full scholarships include tuition, room and board, books and fees. Athletes also get other considerations, such as free tutoring.

"I still am one of the 'old school' guys who feel the education and the opportunity to learn life skills ... is what really enhances their college experience," Bliss said. Paying players, Bliss said, "is a Pandora's Box."

"But that doesn't mean it won't happen tomorrow, the way college athletics has gone," Bliss said. "College athletics has a guilt complex because of all the money involved with football and basketball."

The issue has heated up in the Big 12 because a bill working its way through the Nebraska legislature would mandate payments for football players.

Gov. Mike Johanns has said he would sign the bill into law, which would not take effect unless three other Big 12 states adopt the same measure. Former Nebraska Gov. Kay Orr vetoed similar legislation in 1988.

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson wondered if the Nebraska lawmakers are prepared "for the lawsuit that's coming from Title IX."

Title IX implications

Title IX, the federal law mandating equal treatment for male and female athletes, would certainly be a complicating factor if schools attempted to pay football and men's basketball players, but not female athletes. Sampson said he would join those who demand all athletes get paid.

"It bothers me that a university is going to write a check for a stipend for a student-athlete without writing a check for every student-athlete," Sampson said. "Just because her sport doesn't make money, that doesn't mean she should be excluded."

Older coaches remember fondly the $15 stipend they received as college players. The NCAA outlawed the stipend -- called "laundry money" -- in a cost-cutting move in 1973.

"We lined up and couldn't wait to get that check," said Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins. "I would have no problem with (paying athletes) at all. I know they say we've got a valuable scholarship, but they're putting in a lot of time."

Missouri coach Quin Snyder figures paying athletes has "become politically untenable, as you try to treat every sport the same."

"Philosophically, it's something you'd obviously want to do, see athletes who are generating revenue for schools be compensated," Snyder said.

"But I wonder what happens to college athletics. The idea of having people fairly compensated is always a good one. Some of the marketability of college athletics, a part of the reason people like college athletics is they like the idea of amateurism. I think that's kind of a myth. But it's a myth that's very popular."

The only player quizzed on the subject came down solidly in favor of the payments.

"It's a weird system, with so many people making so much money and the athletes who are putting the product on the floor aren't making money," said Kansas senior Nick Collison.

"There are kids who struggle so much financially and worry about a family at home who's struggling. Sometimes it's not easy for them to stay four years. It's a difficult situation."