Lets be clear it was never coaches paying players, it was boosters paying the players, sometimes through the coaches, sometimes through other 3rd parties. Now with the trainwreck the NCAA left us they essentially allow boosters to come out of hiding, pool their money into these mega cash funds in order to spread out the cost and essentially buy players. They can wink wink nod all they want, it's what's going on, everybody knows it, and lets be clear. I do NOT blame the kids or their parents. If someone wants to hand my kid 200k I'm all in on that as long as they don't have to sell their soul or their integrity, and these kids have done neither, because it's NOT illegal and they can leave for another program any time they want. There in lies the problem. It's totally legal for boosters to buy players, BUT they all want to pretend that's not what they are doing because it just "sounds bad". It's not wrong until the NCAA says it is. but they should at least be man enough to say yea. I bought players, what of it? punk... what you going to do about it..
Now this is just the opening salvo of issues. What happens when boosters hand an 18 year old a couple a hundred grand and after one season on the bench he goes to a rival? The money is still due because that's the one thing that's NOT legal, to make the money stipulated on them signing with a specific program. People with money like that, they don't like getting stiffed, and they have different rules than us. I'm thinking someone's going to end up with concrete shoes, be a episode of 30 for 30.