Saving College Football by Rotating Coaches

The recent decision allowing college athletes to benefit from others using their name, image, and likeness is the latest step from an amateur to a professional model. Nearly from college football's beginning, cash payments, ghost jobs, and eased admissions standards induced talented football players to attend one school or another. Over time, conferences formed among schools with shared philosophies regarding the role of athletics in the college setting. But, of course, not every conference member toed the line, and there were often dramatic differences in these practices across conferences.

In 1949, these conflicts once again came to a head when the NCAA passed the Sanity Code with several key provisions:

• Athletic scholarships would be based on financial need and limited to the cost of tuition, fees, plus one meal per day in season.

• All assistance had to come from the institutions themselves, not boosters.

• Pay for student jobs had to be consistent with the services rendered.

The Sanity Code passed with overwhelming member support despite some schools openly offering full athletic scholarships that did not plan to change their approach. Seven schools were "charged" with violating the Sanity Code in 1950, but an NCAA member vote to expel them from the organization failed. The failed vote left the Sanity Code toothless, and the NCAA soon repealed it. Its repeal intensified the concerns of those who supported the pure amateur model, particularly after gambling issues emerged in college basketball, West Point had its test cribbing scandal, and William & Mary's president, football coach, and basketball coach resigned for falsifying athletes' transcripts.