Ohio Football Topic
Topic: Boise President sounds off on Big 5 plans
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Ohio69
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Jeff McKinney
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JM
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Jeff McKinney
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Posted: 5/22/2014 9:12 AM
I think this may be the best article I've read on this topic.  Clearly delineates the issues.
Bobcatbob
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Bobcatbob
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Posted: 5/22/2014 11:42 AM
What he said.
OhioStunter
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Posted: 5/22/2014 2:20 PM
Except he buried the lead. The most impactful call to action is buried at the end of page 3/beginning of page 4:


It’s time for the NCAA to take a stand for fiscal responsibility and the 
 
rightful place of intercollegiate athletics in American higher education and 
put a stop to the arms race by rejecting all reforms related to enhancing an 
already premier and first-class experience for student-athletes. 

Three aspects of the NCAA reforms do make sense and should take 
precedence over all other issues. First, improved medical monitoring 
and changes in some rules on the field can avoid the serious aftereffects 
of concussion injuries. Second, student-athletes deserve the opportunity 
to come back after their playing days and finish their education at the 
university’s expense. Finally, there must be rules about how to protect 
a student from loss of an athletic scholarship because of a career-ending 
injury.
 
In the end, it’s about getting our priorities straight and focusing on the real 
student-athlete issues, not those fabricated by the elite few with ulterior 
motives. 
 
The NCAA cannot fall prey to phony arguments about student welfare when 
the real goal of some of these so-called reformers is to create a plutocracy 
of athletic programs that serves no useful purpose in American higher 
education. 
 
bobcat2nc
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bobcat2nc
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Posted: 5/22/2014 8:26 PM
And sounds off nicely!
OUPride
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OUPride
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Posted: 5/23/2014 10:28 AM
Kustra is no poster-boy for athletics reform.  He's sunk tens of millions of dollars into that football program from a small college with virtually no endowment or resources.  He's gutted his non-revenue sports, and the Boise football program still sucks millions of dollars out of the general fund and student fees.  He's abandoned three conferences now; two before Boise's chair at the table was even warm.  His athletic department may only have a 37M budget vs. 124M for Texas, but the relative questions are A) what percentage is that of the university's overall budget and B) does that AD require a subsidy.  In both cases, I bet that Texas is far and away the more responsible university and athletic program.

Kustra's only concern in all of this is getting Boise included with the big boys, and playing the "fiscal responsibility" and "academic priorities" cards are just the angles that he's using at the moment.  Have no doubt about this man's integrity.  You might think of him as some kind of champion for the small schools now, but his character is that of a self-centered grifter who, the moment he gets his tap on the shoulder to join the big boys, would turn on schools like Ohio in a second and start mouthing whatever the P5 Presidents told him to say.  His turnabout would be right out of Orwell.

There are a lot of very important and valid criticisms to be made of the direction of college football and athletics as well as the desirability of the P5 breaking off and dozens of other issues.  A low-rent, football-obsessed grifter like Bob Kustra is, however, not the spokesperson to be making them.

 
Last Edited: 5/23/2014 10:35:34 AM by OUPride
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