At least one high ranking U.S. Senator is prepared to throw her political influence around when it comes to changing what Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan referred to as the “Rent a Player” syndrome that is trending in college sports.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, said he is contemplating legislative action to address what she called a “phony, phony, phony” college sports rules that allow basketball players to leave after one year for the NBA. McCaskill sparked debate earlier this month when she Tweeted her opposition to the “one-and-done” rule on the night Duke defeated Wisconsin to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
Congratulations to Duke,” she tweeted. “But I was rooting for the team that actually had stars who were going to college and not just doing semester tryout for NBA.”
Three of Duke’s starters– 6-11 center Jahlil Okafor, 6-8 forward Justice Winslow and point guard Tyus Jones, the tournament’s MOP– are elite freshmen who have since declared for the NBA draft and should be selected in the first round.
McCaskill later apologized for having stirred things up but said “the one and done” thing makes her sad.
“This isn’t about those young men,” she said. “This is about a system that the grownups have allowed to come into place where you have a crazy situation where a coach is making $10 million a year and these players can’t afford to go home and visit their families. It’s nuts,” McCaskill said on “CBS This Morning.”
Now, she has been invited to speak next month to the National Association of College Directors for Athletics in Orlando on the possibility of stipends for college athletes. McCaskilll said she was still in the information gathering stage and not decided what, if any legislative remedy to pursue. She said he has had discussions with Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ), who played football at Stanford; and Sent. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), another member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has oversight over professional and college athletics.
She said she has no problem with players going straight to the NBA, but they shouldn’t be called “students” because they are being recruited “for an NBA tryout, not to go to college.”
“I really think this is about reforming a system,” she said. “One and done is not good for college basketball.”
McCaskilll said college athletes “have the right to pursue their vacation and their talent and make as much money as they can, but I don’t understand what we are serving by requiring them to spend a semester and a half on a college campus in that process.
McCaskill said one of two things should happen. “Either say let’s stop the artifice of pretending” and let kids go straight from high school to college, she said.
“On the other hand, if you’re not going to go straight from high school and you’re going to be in college lets make sure that these kids at least have a stipend so they’re not having to break the rules to have enough money to go out for pizza,” she said. McCaskill added that it was “heartbreaking” that many players’ families can’t afford to travel to see them play while coaches make millions each year.
