SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Less than three months away from what it supposed to signal the biggest transformation in NCAA history, the associations’ 21-member Transformation Committee — a group charged with rewriting the NCAA constitution — doesn’t have a clear picture of what there is to rewrite.
An enforcement model that the conferences are supposed to take over is like a stalled car stuck on the side of the highway, and the NCAA enforcement division hasn’t moved much to intervene as the collegiate model has degraded around them.
Eyes collectively rolled at the Fiesta Summit this week when news emerged the NCAA was getting serious about booster collectives that have sprouted in the name, image and likeness era.
Most notably, a reported demand for more NIL benefits by Miami guard Isaiah Wong evolved after Kansas State transfer guard Nigel Pack got an $800,000 NIL deal from Miami booster John Ruiz. Pittsburgh wide receiver Jordan Addison also last week became the poster child for the vagaries of the transfer climate. Addison entered the transfer portal after reportedly being propositioned with a multi-million NIL deal that looks suspiciously like an inducement from USC. (Sources told CBS Sports on Wednesday that Texas believes it has a chance to land the Biletnikoff Award winner, who has two years of eligibility remaining.)
“Let’s be candid: That’s where this game is headed,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said of the NIL climate. “If that’s the way things are going, we’ve got to adapt to the times. The old adage: ‘You adapt or you die.’ There’s no more dinosaurs on this Earth.”
The NCAA Transformation Committee has until Aug. 1 to turn around an aircraft carrier by deregulating college athletics to the point that the association is a bit…
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