Once again, something that should be simple is made complicated. Students who play sports that provide significant revenue for Universities and colleges, notably Football and Basketball, deserve a stipend from that flow of resources. With the exception of Baseball and Hockey, all other college sports are at best Recreational or extra curricula. Baseball and Hockey are regional and do not generate as much revenue as Football and Basketball. No, I do not need to see the Books.

Student Athletes who participate in Football and Basketball provide significant revenue to the local communities, schools, Advertisers, Communication Networks, and the NCAA. Simultaneously they provide income to the Broadcasters, Security personnel, and employees of the respective venues. If everyone involved is receiving compensation then why not the players.

If the NCAA refuse to realize that these athletes need to have a social life and therefore need to have some spending money then the members of the alumni with the resources should provide the athletes with summer jobs. In the case of Basketball players, schools like Ohio State should certainly have more than twelve (12) members of the alumni who can afford to hire the players each summer until they graduate, leave school, or leave for the NBA.

In essence, the Alumni should have an off-season relationship with the Athletic department in much the same way as the Work Study program for non-athletes during the school year. A summer job for Basketball and Football student athletes is the antidote that will reduce the frequency of NCAA violations and end the spectacle of penalties.

I firmly believe that establishing this kind of relationship would provide the student athlete with income to survive off the playing field during the school year and prevent the temptation to sell memorabilia or do other untoward things to secure pocket money. I anticipate that the statistics monitoring the success of the initiative will support my expectations. In fact, the NCAA might concoct a scheme to participate.

If the alumni of each university or college constructively organized and hired the players each summer until they graduate, leave school, or enter the NBA draft, the NCAA would have to find other things to do as opposed to imposing penalties for violations. Quite candidly, alumni who engaged in such constructive action would worry less if at all about having their hard-earned contributions confiscated by the NCAA in the form of fines.

The NCAA has no authority to prohibit any Alumni from conducting itself in a goodwill manner. Exhibiting goodwill in providing exclusive summer Jobs to student athletes would ultimately eradicate violations and penalties by the NCAA, cease, and desist the negative image cast on schools and Athletic departments. Should the NCAA try to strong-arm schools who seek to institute such an initiative, perhaps it will be time to consider the efficacy and relevance of the organization as it relates to 21st Century progress of our institutions of Higher Learning.

The Fab Five -- Work Study, I Don’t Think So