Levelle Moton is a good coach and by all accounts, a good man too. He’s been at NCCU since 2009 and has had some brilliant stretches. He could have taken a better job any number of times, but he’s coaching at his alma mater and clearly loves it there.
Moton has some strong thoughts on how college basketball has changed in the era of NIL and the transfer portal and how that has affected schools farther down the food chain.
Check out what he said on Run Your Race podcast, as quoted in the article linked above:
“The person that you thought you could trust, you can’t trust. Everybody’s in it just for the money. The most important thing during that time was, I learned it’s no honor among thieves.
“Now you fast forward and you looking at this NCAA business, and everybody’s chasing it, and it’s no more morals, it’s no more values, it’s no more.”
For Power Conferences like the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 and Big East schools, it’s not a big deal because the talent moves upwards. Schools farther down the line have to identify players and try to develop them, and now, as soon as they do that, the players transfer up.
It must be unbelievably frustrating for coaches like Moton. Understandably, he’d like to see some reforms to the reforms.
He goes on to point out that if you keep transferring, you won’t get enough credits to graduate, and once you’re out of eligibility, the schools are no longer obliged to pay for your education, which kind of undercuts the whole point of college sports.
As the article goes on to point out, up to 40 percent of players go into the portal now. A lot of these players are going to find that they lost their old spot and don’t have a new one.
These are solvable problems, whether it’s the NCAA, Congress or the schools themselves and they should be solved. Some of the players are getting good money and some are graduating. But it’s possible that some are more exploited than they were in the old system.
Is it possible to completely separate the product (basketball) and education?
Conceivably, but it might end up entirely destroying the college game. It’s a lot more engaging for fans if actual students are playing, however you structure it.
If it does end up with a total separation, it’s hard to see how college ball competes with the NBA which isn’t doing particularly well at the moment anyway.
However you look at it, the game has changed dramatically, suddenly and with little planning. It’s no way to run a railroad. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has long called for a commissioner or something along those lines. That may or may not work, but strong if not visionary leadership is definitely needed.
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