Athletes are now essentially free agents marketing their talent to the highest bidder. Gone are the days when coaches could recruit and develop players throughout their collegiate careers.
In response to this shifting landscape, some federal legislators have proposed the Protect College Sports Act, which is rapidly advancing through Congress. In fact, the bipartisan bill could see a vote in the Senate as early as this week. But while new regulations are needed to help manage this changing system, what’s getting left behind is the holistic development of student athletes – once a central part of college sports that used to view them as students first, and athletes second.
In my interviews with 23 former Black DI athletes and 12 coaches I saw a stark new truth: the money-driven goals of big-time sports incentivize coaches to prioritize wins at the cost of athletes’ wellbeing. Pressure to win means college athletes are increasingly viewed as expendable labor rather than as students with goals beyond sports.
College athletics is competitive, but the reality is that less than 2% of college athletes will turn pro, according to the NCAA. For the other 98%, their future success depends on developing their non-athletic skills while in college.
During recruitment, coaches talk a good game about developing the whole person, but most athletes I interviewed felt their institutions fell short. That will leave athletes to navigate their futures alone.
Kyra, a former DI basketball player, recalled her relationship with her head coach as “purely a business-like transactional relationship,” which left her with an “ongoing desire to quit.”
