Bill Friday warned us

When Bill Belichick was hired as head football coach at Carolina, at a reported $50 million dollars compensation package, the first thought that came to my mind was that former UNC President Bill Friday had warned us about the dangers of big money in college athletics.

In a 2010 television interview I conducted with Friday he recounted that in the 50s and 60s, both State College and Carolina were put on probation, due to illegal recruitment and monetary payments. But those problems paled in the crisis of 1960.

One December Saturday morning that year Friday received a phone call at his home from Lester Chalmers, a district solicitor for Wake County. Chalmers wanted to see Friday in person that day. Friday agreed to the unusual request, meeting the solicitor at his office in Chapel Hill in what was a frightening conversation.

Chalmers told Friday that the night before two NC State basketball players, on their way out of Reynolds Coliseum, had guns stuck in their stomachs by gamblers, who demanded money from them. The Dixie Classic was the best-known holiday basketball tournament in the country and the State players had been paid to keep the final score within 5 points. They had not done so, and the gamblers wanted their money back. Fortunately, officials in the Reynolds parking lot intervened and the players escaped unharmed. But they were terrified.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the Dixie Classic was a major source for betting in Las Vegas and many dollars were waged on outcomes. To the overwhelming disappointment of all, the tournament was cancelled and never played again. Friday said it was obvious that big time money was “threatening the integrity of the institution (college) itself.”

In my interview, Friday bemoaned that players who couldn’t otherwise be admitted were being given college scholarships; many of them couldn’t read or write at a 10th grade level, the graduation percentage of student athletes was abominable and that salaries for coaches were approaching millions and escalating.

Later, as co-chair of the Knight Commission, Friday and Notre Dame President Ted Hesburgh called for reining in college sports. The Commission called for college Presidents or Chancellors to take charge of college athletics, that credible academic requirements be set for scholarship athletes, that greater fiscal responsibility be demanded and that players not be allowed to play in post-season events if they had not achieved certain academic levels. This report came out even before major television contracts injected huge sums to schools to televise college games.

The horse had already left the barn. College teams in major sports have become little more than farm clubs for professional leagues.

College Presidents and Chancellors have yielded to pressure and the NCAA has passed rules making it virtually a toothless tiger. Players can transfer for almost any reason from one college to the next. They are lured by name, image, and likeness (NIL) payments set up at most every college to pay athletes.

A recent report indicates that the average Atlantic Coast Conference school is estimated to receive $85.5 million in revenue sharing from the NCAA next year. Football accounts for an estimated 73 percent of that sum, men’s basketball totals 20.4 percent and all other sports receive 6.7 percent.

This same report indicates that in the 24-25 school year the average ACC school will raise $8.9 million in NIL funds to distribute to athletes. But the averages are a bit skewed because Clemson reported $15.2 million, Virginia clocked in $12.7 million, Florida State reported $10 million, Carolina reportedly raised $8.3 million and NC State had $6 million. Some schools like Duke, Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Miami didn’t report.

Hold on to your seats because Belichick’s big payday is going to start a bidding war for coaches, not only in the ACC, but throughout college sports, just as the NIL payment reach six figures for some star athletes.

And while many of our colleges and universities are awash in cash from athletics, some of those same schools are facing challenges not experienced since the baby boomers started matriculating. Declining enrollments, static to declining tuitions, along with increased salaries and maintenance costs, are resulting in courses being cut and hard financial decisions made.

Cut it and slice it anyway you like: athletics are now running our major colleges and universities. Bill Friday was right!

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@carolinabroadcasting.com