The entire debate surrounding whether college athletics is still of the amateur ilk has been taken to a whole new level recently. It started with a still ongoing FBI probe focusing on a pay for play scandal that has seemingly enveloped the entire college basketball world.
With news that Arizona head basketball coach Sean Miller was allegedly caught on tape offering up $100,000 to a high-end recruit, that’s been taken to a whole new level (more on that here).
In providing a one-word opinion on the debate, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr could have just opened up a major hornets’ nest. The defending champion responded to a CBS Sports article opining that college athletes should in fact be paid. His response was about as clear as it gets.
Yep. Bingo. https://t.co/3MAIVKht4v
— Steve Kerr (@SteveKerr) February 24, 2018
The article in question, written by the venerable Gary Parrish, claims that the NCAA should “eliminate the black market by allowing student-athletes to secure representation and accept fair-market value in this billion-dollar industry where just about everybody connected to the biggest sports in the biggest conferences are legally getting rich but them.”
Kerr is seemingly the first NBA coach to speak out on this topic. In doing so, he’s going against the entire current philosophy of the NCAA that still believes amateurism is the primary way college athletics should be defined.
Interestingly enough, Kerr graduated from the University of Arizona, where the latest news surrounding pay for play has sent the school’s basketball program into controversy.