ATLANTA — Dabo Swinney isn’t the only coach with hypocritical opinions about paying college athletes. Swinney is only the most sanctimonious and entitled coach arguing against allowing players to profit from their work, same as coaches. But I give Swinney credit for being one of the few who brings up education in this debate.
Swinney was wrong when he said paying players would devalue their education. The current college sports model devalues education by requiring athletes to spend so much time working, leaving less time for learning. Paying them a market salary would only compensate them for that labor.
However, if Swinney really is worried that education is getting lost in the shuffle, then I share that concern. I look forward to the inevitable death of the NCAA’s “amateur” model. In the meantime, schools should be required to meet their stated goal of ensuring athletes receive a quality education. They’ve failed do to that in many ways, especially with Black athletes.
