Student-Athletes Deserve a Stipend?
Written By: Matthew McCracken
Sports Editor
The question that has been asked for years, do student-athletes deserve to get paid? The argument goes back and forth between many individuals. Obviously, the caliber of play that some athletes such as Reggie Bush at USC and Vince Young at Texas portrayed deserved some type of reward. But then the killer question comes up, how are they student-athletes if we are paying them to play?
Jay Williams, an ESPN analyst and former Duke guard, argued on Sports Center that student-athletes deserve to receive stipends.. He even brought statistics into it saying that his jersey went for $2.3 million of revenue during his tenure at Duke. And how much of that money did he see? Goose eggs.
Then you have individuals like Louisville’s Head Basketball Coach Rick Pitino getting an annual salary of $7.5 million. This number is higher than most professional basketball players and coaches. Why does Pitino deserve to get paid for the success of these young kids on the hardwood, gridiron, or diamond? A question that many ask and few can answer without getting heated about the conversation.
Some Mo-Jo Schmo argued against Jay Williams’ Pitino question with one of the worst responses I’ve ever heard. “Well. . . you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube.” Are you kidding me? That’s worse than Saul’s (James Franco’s character from Pineapple Express) statement of “Pandora can’t go back into the box, he only comes out.”
Now, I understand where Jay Williams is coming from. Seeing all that money made off of your name is hard to bear. But players are forgetting the simple fact that they are receiving a scholarship, which at big schools can go up to about $40,000 a year, to get a free education while playing the sport you love. Growing up, these kids probably got money from their parents or coaches during the travels to get discovered. They spent countless hours of practice just to be looked at by these big universities.
Well, now you are discovered. Now you are the face of your respective university. You are a superstar. What else do you need? I know due to your prospective sports, you don’t have enough time to get a part-time job. I know the coaches ask a lot of you. But this is what you asked for when you picked up a ball at the age of two and were a natural. This is what you asked for after you played up in higher age groups because of your pure talent. This is what you asked for after lifting all those weights, and running before the sun came up.
These guys from University of Miami and Ohio State accepting money from boosters are as asinine as can be. Driving around in an Escalade when you are a broke college athlete is not the best way to conceal your illegal actions.
To college athletes like Jay Williams and others who argue that they deserve money, answer one question for me: If you get the big bucks, will the guy behind you on the depth chart pocket the same amount of cash? I think not. So how is that fair? That guy works just as hard as you do at practice, if not harder. He sacrifices just as much time as you do, yet, he probably doesn’t even have a scholarship. His hunger to get a free education is what drives him to succeed. Instead, your arrogance takes away from your pure talent that few are blessed with.
Then you’ll say to me, “Whatever Matt, what if I get injured?” And I’ll gladly answer without even blinking, “you are still getting an education at a respected university.” I’m not the smartest guy alive, but if you get hurt your junior year at a university after giving your all to the program, I put my pay check they don’t take your scholarship away from you. So stop complaining, players.
Jay Williams, I have the utmost respect for you, but I think you were arguing just for the sake of argument. I pray for the day we can debate this topic face-to-face. I’ve already written questions out to stump you including, if scholarship players get a stipend, do academic scholars get a stipend as well? Or how much more money will asixth man at Duke get over a superstar ball player at Northern Illinois?
Just play the game you love and be rewarded with the success that comes from your commitment. You’ll get the big bucks one day, as an athlete or not. I’m not going to say money can’t buy happiness, because we all know that is bologna. But, the amount of money one earns does not define the value of that individual. Play for the love, not for the paper.
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