UNLV Rebels Athletic Director Erick Harper Speaks On Paying Student-Athletes

UNLV Rebels athletic director Erick Harper is now working in an office, but he was once a student-athlete himself during his days at Kansas State. That gives him an interesting perspective on student-athletes now getting paid. He seems to understand both the pros and the cons of this issue. He went into great detail when speaking to UNLV's official website. This is what he had to say about the topic of NIL deals and paying players.

UNLV Rebels Athletic Director Erick Harper On Paying Student-Athletes

"By all means, they deserve to get something — especially those who are involved in sports that generate revenue through television deals. Have I arrived at a specific number yet? No, I haven’t.

There’s also the old-school part of me that still says, “What about your scholarship — doesn’t that count [as payment]?”

Also, if they weren’t on scholarship at UNLV, would they be on scholarship somewhere else — in other words, were we the only offer they had? And if we didn’t offer that scholarship, would they have gone to college? Where would they be four, five years after high school? Would they be on a path to a well-paying job and a successful career?

So the old-school in me wonders, “How much is too much?”

At the same time, if we’re going to pay our student-athletes, we have a very, very strong responsibility to teach them financial literacy. Because you can’t just give an 18- or 20-year-old, say, $100,000 and expect them to know how to manage it. The reality is most don’t understand that taxes come out and that an agent is going to take a cut. So that $100,000 dwindles quickly.

Another thing that isn’t often talked about: What happens when a student-athlete doesn’t make it professionally in their respective sport, and it’s time to go out and get a real job and the take-home income is far lower than when they were in college as a student-athlete?

I’ve already heard stories about former college athletes saying, “I can’t take that job — I’m not used to only making $60,000 a year.” But you just graduated. And the job market and your experience does not warrant six figures.

These are some of the realities that this generation of student-athletes are going to have to understand."

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