Writing at The Pope Center, Stephanie Keaveney highlights some current issues facing collegiate athletic programs and the need to change them so that college student athletes are more likely to be actual students. And also so that players are better protected against risks of injuries that could end their chances of lucrative pro careers and leave them with degrees that are useless to them. And...well you get the idea.
Keaveney notes the glacial progress of NCAA regulatory change in addressing these issues -- mostly because addressing them might dry up the money spigot and the organization blushes a little at the idea.
She notes that some schools, seeing needed reforms, simply made them on their own, whether the NCAA required them or not. This could conceivably put them at a competitive disadvantage against other sports teams. That's disastrous until you remember that some colleges don't consider their football teams the reasons for their existence. That way lies madness, so best leave it alone.
Her point, and the headline, sum it up quite nicely: Reform is possible without the NCAA's involvement. Which is kind of like saying a new Bruce Springsteen album is possible without my involvement. It's more than possible; it's almost a certainty.
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