Could be because they are both in the ACC and play each other.

I don't blame the guy from wanting to get away from Kevin Stallings and the now sinking ship he will ride off into retirement, but there are tons of non-ACC schools that would welcome him. If he wants to play for a coach who is a civil gentleman, Prohm at Iowa State would be a good choice. The Big 12 is a high profile hoops league.

You keep putting coaches and players on the same level. They are not. The coach by this time in his life is a professional. The student is a student. You don't let the inmates run the asylum. I believe in one sense, this is a microcosm of what's wrong with higher education today. I don't expect too many on this board to agree with this, but I believe that when you made student evaluations of professors to be a very important factor in a professor's professional evaluation for tenure and promotion (started in the 1970s, and I was a part of it), you began to see the phenomenon of grade inflation (you rub my back, I'll rub your back) and a general decline in academic rigor in higher education. This thought of the general equivalence of student-athletes and coaches is just a small symptom of a larger societal ill, IMHO>

I don't know the root cause,but I can tell you that grade inflation has become a huge problem.Its so big of a problem,that the group that accredits engineering programs (ABET) no longer allows student grades to be used in evaluating an engineering program for accreditation.

No - but do their respective bands compete directly with each other on the court or the field?

A scholarship is a type of contract (which is one reason unions argue that students are actually employees), but graduation should trigger an opt-out clause that can make the student a free agent. Free tuition, etc. is a form of payment. Whether it's just compensation, given the money machines athletics have become at some schools, is a matter of conjecture.

I can see having a non-compete clause in the schollie (if the coaches' contracts do), but it should specify the schools the student can't go to up front, not just make it at the coach's whim. None of this "including, but not limited to" BS.

These days, getting a scholarship is a big--big financial deal. Some years ago, when I was coaching we had a young man who was recruited by a very prestigious private (non-religiously affiliated) college. He got a full scholarship and the promise that he would be accepted into their law school following graduation, if he didn't do anything stupid. He is doing quite well now, and I can assure you from an academic standpoint he would have never been accepted by that school if it were not for sports.

A couple of weeks ago, a work related matter had me meeting with members of a local law firm. The group was eager to wrap up our meeting and celebrate one of the associates who had just paid off his student loans. One of the gentlemen joked that it would be a a while before he paid off his loans. Trying to be supportive, I said that I hoped it would be soon.

He retorted, "$250,000 won't be soon." I laughed thinking he was taking a stab at humor. When he didn't I realized my mistake and profusely apologized. At that point, he did laugh and said; "Don't worry about it, I will pay it off in less than 10 years. Just think about my fellow law school students who didn't get a law firm job and are trying to pay it back doing menial type work." Scholarships are a ticket to something better and their worth can't be underestimated in today's economy.

Problem is the athletes that this board garners discussion about do not go to law schools. But I agree, a fully paid scholarship is real money.

I'm amazed nobody has lawyered up and gotten a judge to prevent a university from enforcing these types of rules.

If I was a judge, I might do it just for fun -- even if I thought I would get overturned.

The reason they don't go to court is that the NCAA has the money to tie the case up forever. The kids eligibility runs out. It was the same thing when Maurice Clarret was going to challenge the NFL. They will fight it until you're dead.

But do band directors aggressively seek to poach the top musicians from other schools' bands?

The student IS a student.

So what does where he plays basketball have to do with anything.

These are either employees, or they're amateurs who are here for education.

Yeah - No "Only a MACC will get all Bobcats past St Peter at the gate" drift...or name calling, bashing etc...(tick, tick....)