Last week, The Guardian sat down with Wright State men’s basketball coach Billy Donlon for his thoughts on his team and college athletics as a whole. Donlon gave his views on issues that could significantly alter collegiate athletics. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon is suing Electronic Arts for the likeness of college players being used in video games while they were in college. The case is currently being heard in a federal court in California. NCAA President Mark Emmert has said a ruling in O’Bannon’s favor would damage if not destroy what he calls the “collegiate model of athletics.”
Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that football and men’s basketball players from private colleges are allowed to be considered as school employees and thus are allowed to unionize. The decision is going through the appeal process and currently has no bearing on athletes at Wright State. However, many experts agree that the NCAA will be forced to change its ways in upcoming years and thus affect athletes at universities like Wright State.
Here is Donlon’s opinion on changes in college athletics:
Q: What are your thoughts on the efforts in the O’Bannon case and the Northwestern football players trying to unionize?
Donlon: The media’s job is to present both sides, and very few people have. At the very end, the amount of money a university spends on each individual athlete that is on full scholarship in basketball or football is a very high number. At the end of the day, is O’Bannon playing pro sports anymore or is he is using that UCLA education that he earned for free? With that UCLA education, did someone make a phone call on his behalf because he played on the men’s basketball team for a job that he has? I don’t know the answer to those questions but I know with a lot of athletes, that happens.
Because they played football or basketball at their respective schools, people within the community still help them get jobs when it is all said and done. Can you put a price on that? I can name great players that only get to play a couple of years professionally and have to use their educations after. I understand that right now, the TV deal is [worth] billions of dollars. I agree to an extent that it has gone a little overboard with the likeness of players to gain money… But I am not in agreement that they should get the TV revenue from the NCAA Tournament… I’ll never agree with that. But the fact that in most places, the (athletic) scholarship isn’t worth the full cost of going to the university. Players deserve that. Do I think student-athletes should get a little bit of a stipend depending on their situation or their socioeconomic situation? Yes.
Baseball, I don’t have any problems with. If the NBA said “we want to give young men the choice out of high school to go to college or the NBA but if they go to college, just like in baseball, you have to go three years.” We need to do something like that. I don’t know why basketball is the only sport that doesn’t think along the lines of baseball.
Q: Do you think the media is drowning out the voices of over 98 percent of the athletes?
Donlon: I have great respect for the media and everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I have seen very few people come out with the actual numbers that colleges are actually spending on each individual in football and men’s basketball. I’ll say this, what if in 30 years, men’s basketball isn’t as popular and men’s soccer becomes extremely popular? Do basketball players come off the scholarships? No matter what, it is somewhat a capitalistic system.
I am not naive to that but at the same time, it is a privilege to play a college sport and at the same time, 95 percent of the people at any level will need those degrees. You can’t put a monetary amount on those degrees. Do the numbers for what the degree gives you for the next 40 years of your life. You don’t spend the next 10 years when you graduate from Wright State paying back student loans. I just don’t think anyone has presented that side in the media, and that has been disappointing. Certainly there is a legitimate argument on the other side on why student athletes should be paid… What I am saying is there is a very legitimate side for them not to and I don’t see enough people in the media presenting that side.
Q: Are you worried about how these upcoming cases will affect you?
Donlon: I don’t worry about the things I can’t control. Whatever happens with that case will happen... I am not in the courtroom. I am not a judge. Like I said, when change occurs, I’ll be forced to adapt, and we’ll be forced to adapt.
