Column: Is Tad Boyle a bad guy for not paying players?

Nobody wins in college basketball. The players can’t get paid. The NCAA has been caught exploiting athletes. The coaches who discreetly pay players and continue to win are considered ‘cheaters’. And the coaches that don’t pay players, don’t win. But even if they do, they can still be considered complicit.

Ever since I watched ‘The Scheme’, an HBO documentary on some of the behind-the-scenes business deals surrounding college basketball and the subsequent FBI investigation, there has been one thing in the back of my mind.

Besides the NCAA, who are the bad guys?

There were a lot of notable parts in 'The Scheme', mostly a biography about basketball wiz Christian Dawkins, but there were some tape recordings of coaches talking to Dawkins and other people in his circle.

Nothing significant will come out of this documentary in regards to the college basketball landscape.

But Dawkins said one thing towards the end of the film that has stuck out to me since,

“The real bad guys are the ones not paying the players.”

First of all, Dawkins will always take the side of coaches such as LSU head coach Will Wade and Arizona head coach Sean Miller, two of the subjects of the documentary, because he used to conduct business with them. Dawkins also used to represent the players so he believes they deserve a cut of the action.

“Here’s the reason I’m different than the NCAA: yes, I make money,” Dawkins said in the documentary. “So do the people with me, so do the players. I never took anything from them. The NCAA acts as if they are bigger than the athlete.”

Over the last few years, it has become clear to most people, especially those not profiting off of them, that college athletes deserve to be paid if they’re raking in money for the university.

State governments have recently been forcing the NCAA’s hand and have passed legislation to allow athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness.

But should we be asking for more from the coaches? Dawkins does have a point that if coaches are following the rules then they are complicit in the exploitation of young athletes.

Coaches continue to make millions of dollars while the athlete gets a stipend.

Colorado head coach Tad Boyle has long been outspoken about the ‘cheating’ going on in college basketball and has always vowed to run his program the right way. Boyle has also been a major proponent of allowing athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness.

After losing to Colorado in Boulder this past season, Stanford head coach Jerod Hasse spoke about Boyle and the way he runs his program.

“It’s just a concerning time for college basketball and college athletics for a variety of reasons but I know that Coach Boyle has really just been an advocate for doing things the right way,” Hasse said.

“I think (the Stanford-Colorado game) represents what's right about college basketball in a concerning time for our sport. Colorado and Coach Boyle are at the forefront of doing it right.”

Is it bad to think what these coaches believe is right is actually wrong? An argument can be made Colorado and Boyle are at the forefront of the rules. And Boyle has done a lot of things right during his tenure.

But the right thing to do for someone who will make millions for you and the university is actually paying him for it. Whether it is under the table or not.

“I still can’t believe the FBI went through all of this just to stop someone from getting paid when they are supposed to get paid,” Dawkins said about the FBI probe into collegiate athletics. “It just doesn’t make common sense to me.”

Common sense is paying people what they deserve. Whether it’s the NCAA, college coaches or the media, it is time to wake up and actually do the “right” thing.

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