Sports Agents "are viewed as the scum of the earth"

the reason this issue concerns me is how it puts the student athlete at risk. basically they are restricted from all contact from agents as students to the point where, like Andre, they can jeopardize their spot on the team. yet we are supposed to expect them to suddenly become adept at dealing with such a byzantine system so obviously strewn with unscrupulous bastards ready to take advantage of them?

they are, obviously, kids and it’s asking a bit much to expect someone in their early 20s to have the wherewithal to handle such a situation in a mature and reasoned manner. (i’ve got similar concerns about these athletes in the recruiting process but that’s another matter for another day…)

i know alabama as well as many other schools have systems in place to assist players prepare for their professional careers. i would assume some component of this covers dealing with agents. but the school’s priority is – correctly – to protect its own interests. that’s clearly going to limit the ability it can help an athlete protect his own. and, into this fallow ground falls the unsavory little industry described in the AP story.

I just don’t know a good way – at the state level – to address this. Congress could because improper agency contact is certainly within the purview of interstate commerce. The larger question is, given all the yammering about the BCS’ demise, why they haven’t. Many of the larger states have been popped by the agent bug: off the top of my head, Florida (at various points, all of the Big 3); Texas (Texas A&M and SMU —obviously); California (take your pick of U$C agent contacts), as well as storied programs with powerful legislators: Alabama (Shelby); Oklahoma (Inhofe). This obviously only scratches the surface.

The best way, and I will go to my grave believing this, is to legislate it as an improper interference with a prospective business relationship/educational opportunity. Set standards tied to education funding, for instance, or under the NLRB, or DoJ and essentially make it impermissible for an entity to muck around with student athletes. Or, have Congress pass it, and make it an administrative agency with a complete (and exhaustive system of regs). I hate to see it go that route, but the state response can essentially only be a criminal one; and, even then (as the AP story indicates) its more politicization than actual enforcement.