Everyone saw the headlines yesterday claiming that the University of Texas is preparing to pay its student athletes $10,000. While there are a few ifs still to be decided, it is not a far-fetched proposition seeing athletes compensated to that level.
One if is whether the major conferences will agree to pay cost of attendance to their athletes. That is the true cost of going to a four-year university over and beyond what is covered currently. While it seems inevitable that the major colleges will agree to this measure, remember that every institution is different. Paying full cost of attendance at Northwestern is more of a burden than if Ohio State decides to go that route.
The second if is what happens to the O’Bannon case involving athletes having their likeness used for the purposes of television, video games and merchandising. A federal judge ruled in August that athletes are entitled to up to $5,000 each for their likeness being used.
When you consider everything, paying an athlete $10,000 is not far fetched. But as Wright State basketball fans, you might be wondering whether the university will take the step of paying stipends to athletes.
President David Hopkins ruled out that all student athletes would receive these funds. But he has said that the university will consider cost of attendance stipends for both basketball teams. He said this measure would probably cost the university around $50,000 a year but that figure would be reasonable within the current athletics budget of roughly $10 million annually.
But the figures being used by Texas Athletics Director Steve Patterson is in the $6 million ballpark.
I asked Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone on what he will encourage his member institutions to do in regards to cost of attendance. He said he would encourage his institutions to make decisions that will align with the strategic vision of the Horizon League.
When this starts shaking out and we all have a clearer picture on what the NCAA reforms will look like, I would expect that you will see most Horizon League members paying full cost of attendance to their men’s and women’s basketball teams. But such a decision may be years in the future.
Van der Keijl a go?
Our women’s basketball beat writer Greg Felder caught up with WSU head coach Mike Bradbury Tuesday to get an update on preseason practice. As the Raiders open exhibition play in nine days, it appears that Richelle van der Kiel might be ready to play.
“Richelle looks really good and she’s healthy for the first time,” Bradbury said.
Over the summer, Bradbury said that van der Kiel was still recovering from her torn Achilles injury she suffered on the first day of practice in 2013 and was likely going to miss the start of the season.
If she is healthy, one thing a lot of us who follow the Raiders women’s basketball team will wonder is with her size, will she slow down the offensive attack? Anyone who has seen this team play knows it flies up and down the court. Adding a 6-foot-5 center would seemingly slow down WSU’s guard-oriented offense. But it sounds like we will have our questions answered sooner rather than later.
