Big 12 head coach predicts ‘true minor league’ system for college football in near future
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Big 12 Media Days is ongoing this week as the conference gets the talking season rolling across college football. Soon, the ACC, SEC and Big Ten will follow, but for now, it’s all about the Big 12.
On Wednesday, that involved Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham taking his turn with the media. During his appearance, Whittingham addressed the current state of the sport, providing a prediction that the idea of student-athletes will soon be a forgotten idea.
“I think you may even see the day in the not too distant future where players don’t have to go to school if they don’t want to,” said Whittingham, per Ross Dellenger with Yahoo Sports. “It will be like a true minor league. I think that’s coming. It’s sad to say.”
RELATED: Make sure your state is among the DFS legal states, and dive into some of the best action available! Use our best DFS sites to get started.
With revenue sharing incoming, college athletics is certainly getting closer to the potential of claiming athletes as employees, and it will be interesting to see if there are any ramifications on the classification of student-athletes in the future.
However, anyone who has followed college sports for years could argue that the idea Whittingham pitched has already taken place, in some part. After all, it was former Ohio State star Cardale Jones who said he, and other athletes like him, “ain’t come to play school,” and argued that “classes are pointless.”
Whether or not that idea gets stretched even further into a true minor league system will be a story to watch.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
