ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips is standing firm in his support of the US Senate’s bill to reform college sports. Phillips kicked off the annual ACC media days in Charlotte, NC, on Wednesday by addressing some of the issues involving the bill and the challenges for college sports if it does not pass.
ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips Talks Big Picture
“This is our last hope relative to getting some help from Congress,” Phillips said. “I don’t know that I can share what does that look like beyond, if we’re not able to get some help there because I don’t think anybody wants to go in that direction just yet.” He added, “I don’t know how much more disrupted college sports can be.”
Phillips acknowledged that the Big 10 and SEC commissioners have been rumored to be considering breaking away from the current college sports structure in order to operate on their own. “Self-governance is no governance,” he said.
The commissioner said he has been in regular conversations with other commissioners and said last week he spoke to the Protect College Sports Act co-sponsors Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
The Specifics
Phillips assessed what he sees as the benefits of the legislation. “What we want is more transparency [in the system]. We want agent legislation because student-athletes are being taken advantage of.” He called the bill “A chance to stabilize the future of college athletics.”
Among the big-picture issues that Phillips addressed were rampant player movement from school to school, often going to the highest bidder, and the high spending by schools over what is supposed to be a revenue-sharing cap brought about by the House v. NCAA settlement. “There’s a failure to have restraint in college sports like I have never seen before.”
Tampering
Among the restraint issues Phillips addressed was tampering. There have been allegations from ACC member Clemson about Ole Miss being guilty of tampering in order to get a linebacker who was already enrolled in school in South Carolina. He also had an off-season in-conference issue where Miami took away Duke’s quarterback with an offer of significantly more money.
“The tampering is serious, whether it’s in the league or nationally. Those accusations are serious things that people are looking at,” he said. He said he wants to see more support for the college sports commission and the NCAA to hold colleges and coaches accountable for tampering. There are few existing enforceable rules with regard to tampering. Some would be added in the PCSA senate bill.
“There is frustration, of which I completely understand.” He labeled legal cases, and athletes suing the NCAA, conferences, and schools as an impediment to bringing clarity to the situation. “It’s allowing people to play in the margins.”
Those Pesky Legal Cases
Phillips lamented the lawsuits being brought by athletes seeking extra years of eligibility. Part of the senate bill and a current NCAA rule is to have five years of eligibility to play five years of college sports. He called the lawsuits “Disheartening.” He added, “That has to be a foundational piece of how we move forward, he said of the new eligibility rules.
He said he understands athletes wanting to stay in school longer when they are making more money than they might outside of school. “Where there’s trouble in the system is if you don’t like the NCAA ruling, or the conference ruling that you’re ineligible to play because you have exhausted that eligibility…you just go to the local courthouse.” He said local judges are usually going to be inclined to side with the athlete.
The rest of the first day of ACCKickoff includes Miami, Florida State, Virginia, NC State, and Stanford.
Main Image: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
