Ex-Texas QB Chris Simms: I took '$100 handshakes' from boosters

(06-21-2015 01:20 PM)SpaceRaider Wrote:  Ex-Texas QB Chris Simms: I took '$100 handshakes' from boosters

Actually, back in the day, there was "laundry" money that was actually given to players by the university. While less than the current stipend, laundry money was a decent amount of walking around money for player in the 1970's (think it was a little less than $100 bucks a month).

(06-21-2015 01:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  back in the day, there was "laundry" money that was actually given to players by the university. While less than the current stipend, laundry money was a decent amount of walking around money for player in the 1970's (think it was a little less than $100 bucks a month).

That matches up very closely to what I've heard from some Georgia Bulldog players of that era.

Standard practice for SEC schools for a couple of decades. Heard an OL from UT discuss his laundry money.

I grew up in Alaska and I remember hearing a bunch of scuttlebutt back in the 70's and 80's about University of Alaska's D-I hockey stars being given "jobs" by boosters in the offseason putting lots of greenbacks into their pockets without ever really showing up to work. Like I said, just LOTS of hearsay but I've learned where there is smoke there is usually fire.

I used to work for General Medical. In my region was a guy that played OL for Arkansas. He used to joke that in the summer they would be given jobs at boosters businesses. He said one year he and a few other Hog players worked at the same business. Every day a different player would go in the morning and clock in for eveyone and go back to the dorm. Then a different player would go clock out for all. They never worked a day but still got checks. It happens.

Universities are making a killing off these kids. A few bucks here and there doesn't for the athletes doesn't hurt. Is it immoral...sure but no more than how the NCAA exploits athletes.

My brother was at Baylor on a four-year football scholarship in the early/mid-60s. I remember him getting laundry money, but his summer jobs were real and involved manual labor. As I recall, Baylor tried to make sure their athletes stayed in shape with hard, outside jobs during the summer.

(06-21-2015 05:42 PM)SApuro Wrote:  Universities are making a killing off these kids. A few bucks here and there doesn't for the athletes doesn't hurt. Is it immoral...sure but no more than how the NCAA exploits athletes.

Millions of American parents wish their kids could get exploited like that. Millions of American high-school kids wish they could get exploited like that.

If colleges/universities want to give their athletes money under-the-table, over-the-table, or some other way, it's fine by me. "College" sports has been a semi-pro business for a long time, and it's simply evolving towards out-and-out professionalization. The sooner everyone comes to terms with that reality, the better, as far as I'm concerned. But this idea that the athletes are somehow the victims in all this is almost cosmically weird. I mean, what the hell do you suppose they (80-90% of them anyway) would be doing if they weren't playing sports?

I recall a story once of a D1 Football player who was paid to keep security at the football stadium. His requirement was to look out his dorm window (which overlooked the stadium) to make sure no one was in the stadium when they weren't supposed to be.

(06-21-2015 01:40 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  

(06-21-2015 01:20 PM)SpaceRaider Wrote:  Ex-Texas QB Chris Simms: I took '$100 handshakes' from boosters

Actually, back in the day, there was "laundry" money that was actually given to players by the university. While less than the current stipend, laundry money was a decent amount of walking around money for player in the 1970's (think it was a little less than $100 bucks a month).

The amount was set back in the mid-50's and no one ever bothered to raise it.

They eliminated it in the early 70's because they weren't sure they could afford it between the cost of adding women's sports, declining college enrollment, and the stagnant economy of the time.

By the early to mid 80's revenue had caught back up with the growth in expenses and it should have been restored then. Instead they took the new wealth and used it on facilities and salaries.

(06-21-2015 05:14 PM)SVHerd Wrote:  I used to work for General Medical. In my region was a guy that played OL for Arkansas. He used to joke that in the summer they would be given jobs at boosters businesses. He said one year he and a few other Hog players worked at the same business. Every day a different player would go in the morning and clock in for eveyone and go back to the dorm. Then a different player would go clock out for all. They never worked a day but still got checks. It happens.

Mob controlled unions and construction firms have been doing that for decades too.

I bought a car from a guy who used to play basketball for Marshall in the late 80s. He wasn't a star, just spot minutes. He said he still got $50 handshakes and the stars got quite a bit more. I bet this still happens. This cost of attendance thing is just a way for the P5 to separate themselves. They want to bankrupt the G5 so they don't have to deal with us anymore. We keep trying to keep up, but I'm afraid its a losing battle. They'll keep changing the rules so we can't compete, or they'll make it so expensive we can't compete. Either way, eventually they will win.

(06-22-2015 07:59 PM)monarx Wrote:  I bought a car from a guy who used to play basketball for Marshall in the late 80s. He wasn't a star, just spot minutes. He said he still got $50 handshakes and the stars got quite a bit more. I bet this still happens. This cost of attendance thing is just a way for the P5 to separate themselves. They want to bankrupt the G5 so they don't have to deal with us anymore. We keep trying to keep up, but I'm afraid its a losing battle. They'll keep changing the rules so we can't compete, or they'll make it so expensive we can't compete. Either way, eventually they will win.

I've heard stories about similar stuff even at the D-II or JUCO levels. The NCAA will never get money out of college sports, certainly not the upper echelons. If only they'd apply the rules fairly and consistently and i would take them seriously as a real governing body.

(06-22-2015 07:59 PM)monarx Wrote:  I bought a car from a guy who used to play basketball for Marshall in the late 80s. He wasn't a star, just spot minutes. He said he still got $50 handshakes and the stars got quite a bit more. I bet this still happens. This cost of attendance thing is just a way for the P5 to separate themselves. They want to bankrupt the G5 so they don't have to deal with us anymore. We keep trying to keep up, but I'm afraid its a losing battle. They'll keep changing the rules so we can't compete, or they'll make it so expensive we can't compete. Either way, eventually they will win.

I do somewhat agree. The current cost of attendance plans, as contemplated, aren't really that far apart. You're talking about $3,000 to $6,000 right now -- and schools are all over the place. Texas Tech would offer over $5,000, while Oregon would offer less than $3,000. As they stand now, these stipends will do absolutely nothing to sway college recruits - if you're a recruit with offers from Texas Tech and Oregon, I'm pretty sure that extra $8,000 - $10,000 over the course of four years isn't going to make that athlete suddenly decide that they'd rather play for Tech than Oregon - unless they're incredibly dumb and somehow think that amount of money is going to radically change their life forever.

That said, if we start seeing two things: 1) CLEAR disparity between P5/G5 cost of attendance money (which is not close to today's reality) and 2) larger sums of money being thrown at kids (as in mid to upper five figures per year, which would add up to a princely sum over four years), then you'll have a big issue in getting kids to pass over a high profile program AND a higher salary. And, like you, I won't be shocked if we see it happen.

Personally, I say give them their four digit cost of attendance stipends and then let them reap the rewards of profiting off their image as a way for them to profit and separate themselves. Let them do their own autograph sessions, get a % of merchandise sales that the university directly sells, etc. That way, some of them will have some cash in their pocket when they inevitably flame out in the pros and have no back up plan other than their underwater basketweaving major.