Coaches’ agent-bashing wearing thin
Alabama coach Nick Saban has closed his practices to NFL scouts. Says he doesn’t want his players evaluated during August heat, as if NFL scouts are too clueless to know how hot it is.
Saban obviously is firing back at the NFL for what he perceives as going soft on agents who solicit football players with NCAA eligibility remaining, and Bob Stoops says the Sooners are considering the same thing.
Of course, it’s not something Saban or Stoops or anyone else can get by with for long. The NFL would have the trump card; just send out word that Bama players would be harmed in the draft without scouts’ access, and the Crimson Tide’s recruiting would take a hit in the dog-eat-dog SEC. NFL scouts who can’t get inside the gates in Norman could announce they’ll just go spend twice as much time in Austin.
All kinds of coaches have been vocal in their criticism of agents and agent runners, who try to recruit players as clients.
But the louder coaches talk, the more hypocritical they seem. At this level of college football, virtually every head coach has one thing in common.
Not educational background. Not geography. Not marital fidelity. Not offensive system. Not race. Not age. Not even playing experience.
But they all have agents. They all have representatives who help them make financial decisions about their careers. How much money to demand. How long of a contract to negotiate. Buyout clauses. Media reimbursements. A thousand other items that could financially impact the coach’s income.
Yet those coaches rail against agents who might represent their players.
I’m not saying some agents aren’t scumbags. I’m not saying agents have players’ best interest at heart. I’m not saying we should just disarm and let college athletes have agents.
But I am saying that coaches don’t necessarily have their players’ best interest at heart. Coaches have coaches’ best interest at heart.
The reason coaches want agents to stay away from players is that there’s a rule against it. It’s not otherwise unethical. It’s not immoral. It’s just against NCAA rules, and the reason the rule exists is to make life easier on schools and coaches. Not players. Schools and coaches.
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