March Madness’ days are coming to a quick end
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Sen. Tommy Tuberville
Monthly column
By Sen. Tommy Tuberville
March Madness is in full swing and college sports fanatics from the West Coast to the East Coast are tuning in to watch their teams battle it out over the next few weeks. But once the season is over, the chaos of the modern NIL era returns. Players walk away from contracts just to chase a new shiny opportunity. Coaches are left begging their alumni to donate to their collectives so that they can “afford” to constantly be re-recruiting their roster. It’s a complete disaster.
College athletics used to be about education, now it’s sadly all about money. It’s not uncommon nowadays for 17-year-old high school students to sign brand deals with brands like Nike, be gifted sports cars, and to have their bank accounts flooded with more money than you can imagine. America is a capitalist country. If you work hard, the sky is the limit for what you can achieve. But we’ve got to have some rules around this.
Now, I’m all for college athletes getting paid. But unfortunately, the current system has created an unlevel playing field. Sports like football and basketball are thriving while women’s sports and Olympic sports are being hung out to dry. At this point, I don’t even blame the athletes. The system is fundamentally broken.
You’ve heard me say it: NIL is the Wild West, and it is in need of some major reining in. There is no accountability and absolutely ZERO loyalty in college athletics today. The arbitrary transfer windows don’t line up with the expanded college football playoffs, leading players to announce their intent to transfer before the playoffs are even decided. This not only interrupts the team dynamics, but it also undermines what student-athletics is supposed to be all about: education.
As you all know, I spent nearly 40 years coaching. I’m not a politician, but in my current role as Alabama’s senior Senator, I’m asked often about my thoughts on NIL. Over the past few years, my team and I have met with dozens of coaches, administrators, athletes, and other stakeholders with one goal in mind: how can we protect student-athletes while preserving college sports?
I’m excited to announce that I am introducing a bill this week that I believe will solve many of the problems plaguing college athletics today. My bill is called the Student-Athlete Act and has two main provisions. First, it would clarify eligibility rules to allow student-athletes to have five consecutive years to play five consecutive seasons. After that, you’re done. We’re not doing this COVID free year of eligibility anymore. We can’t be having 25-year-old “students” who graduated three years ago still competing in the NCAA. A student-athlete gets five years to get an education, compete, and then move on.
Second, student-athletes can transfer ONE time without penalty, after that, they have to sit out a year if they choose to transfer again. I truly think that the unregulated transfer portal is the worst thing to happen in the history of college sports. Look, this is a free country. If you get a better opportunity somewhere else, you owe it to yourself to consider it. But if college athletics is truly about education, we have to prioritize coursework and help set these kids up for success in life. Every time a student transfers, they lose credits, have courses interrupted, and often are set back in their timeline to graduating. There’s no question that transferring multiple times has a negative impact on a student’s education.
This is not to mention the tragic impacts that the unregulated transfer portal has had on the culture of college sports. When I was coaching, the players in my locker rooms were brothers. If someone needed help moving, they knew that their teammates would show up to help. If someone had a death in the family, they could count on their brothers to be there for them. That type of bond between student-athletes requires time, trust, and consistency. That kind of trust is hard to build if you’re worried that the person you share a locker room with isn’t going to show up the next day.
We have a president in the White House who is an avid sports fan. He has attended some of America’s most-watched sporting events over the years – he’s even visited Bryant-Denny Stadium a handful of times. I have spent a lot of time talking to him about this issue, and he’s in agreement that we have to do something about college sports. And as a friend of the president’s and a former coach, I have full confidence that we can work this out for the betterment of our universities and our players.
The game clock is ticking, but we aren’t going to wait until the clock gets to zero. Now is the time to move the ball forward and get something done for the future of college athletics.