A Career Coach Talks about College Football

Gary's coaching career began at Wittenberg, where he was an assistant to head basketball coach Eldon Miller. He subsequently coached football at 11 different colleges, working with legendary coaches like Woody Hayes and Nick Saban. Gary talked about three areas of particular interest today, the first being safety. The NCAA has made strides in increasing safety for football players by issuing rules intended to reduce concussions.

A second area of great interest to fans is the question of bowls versus playoffs to determine a national champion. Gary doubts that we will see playoffs in the immediate future in view of the tremendous amount of money earned by the BCS conferences (some $174 million was paid out last year by the BCS to the six conferences).

The final area Gary discussed was the role of the NCAA. Once regarded as "pure but powerless," the NCAA is anything but powerless today. Last year the NCAA earned $734 million from television revenues alone (not including millions from its annual basketball tournament). This sparked a number of questions about student athletes (whether they should be paid at least a stipend, whether this should apply to all college athletes, the importance of graduation rates, etc.).This was clearly a topic of great interest to our members and guests.