You answered your own question: it’s less prestigious than winning the EPL.

But according to the soccer fans, it’s not what matters, and isn’t connected to the Premier League. It would be like if the NBA crowned the team with the best regular season record champion and then basketball had a separate tournament with AAU teams, college teams and NBA teams playing for a different title.

Different issues. Tanking is for draft position; change the draft rules and that goes away. Relegation could also be implemented without taking away the playoffs.

That’s exactly what makes the NBA and other playoff systems exciting. It’s fun to watch and see if the best regular season team can be taken down. No championship game or series = no fun.

Without a championship game, it’s just anti-climatic. And it’s so soccer to win with multiple teams tying.

Worst idea ever?

Absolutely. There are tons of examples. If you take the reverse, look how far CU has fallen since the days of McCartney / Barnett.

Because the success or failure of a college program depends on the head coach. Alabama was mired in mediocrity from the early nineties until it hired Saban. Florida was nothing until Spurrier came along.

I don’t think Dabo is overpaid or should have to give any money back; he is Clemson’s most important asset. But, the athletes should be paid and there is a way to figure it out.

But how do you settle on $30K per year? That seems like a random number to me.

I’m not saying don’t pay them, but we need a viable solution. IMO, you can’t pay non-revenue sport athletes (their scholarships are more than ample compensation since they cost the school money). Then, you would have to come up with a salary cap type of system. DeShaun Watson is worth infintely more than a backup…

It does make $19M in profits for the athletic department, which goes to support non-revenue sports. Sure, you could use that money to pay the players, but what do you do about the other sports?

I agree. But it’s tough to figure out how pay for athletes would be structured. Do you pay all athletes? Just profitable sports? Same pay for everyone? Salary cap?

Probably. It seems to work a lot like most industries where who you know matters more than what you know.

$250K per year is pretty low for the head of a $44M company.

You could. And it would be interesting to hear his response.

You may be right about that. I do think that will change in the next ten years or so.

There are some nice perks that come with playing D-1 college football at a major school. Especially in the South. There is also the scholarship (many of us with student loans would see some value there). So don’t pretend they get nothing.

He could argue that he used the game to rise from poverty and that his players all have the same opportunity he did.

Not to mention he grew up dirt poor and lived with his mom in college. He’s not the best example to use for this tired Deadspin theme.