Sunday Morning Coffee — October 12, 2025 — Pay For Play

By Roy Berger, Las Vegas, NV.

Those who read this space regularly know I am a University of Miami alum. Class of ‘74 with a BA in Communications/Journalism. In and out in four years. For those of you who don’t read this space regularly, now you know too.

I am proud of my alma mater. I contribute annually to both the communications school and general fund. To the athletics coffers I’ve owned four season football tickets for the past 25 years but haven’t been to a home game in over 15. Good seats, too. I hope my contributions have made at least a small difference in a student’s proficiency and enjoyment of the U.

When I went to school Miami was dubbed Sun Tan U. Some of us went to get an education and actually knew where the campus classrooms were. Most went to sit by the pool or to the beach at nearby Crandon Park. The U started to emerge academically in the late 1970’s, early 80’s because of our football team. That’s when Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Howard Schnellenberger jumped across town to Coral Gables and became our head coach. Then high school quarterback Jim Kelly decided to head south and leave his native chilly Pennsylvania. Other five-star athletes followed. During my four years our combined football record was 17-27 and someone’s homecoming opponent every year. That ended when Schnellenberger and his staff arrived. They committed to recruiting five-star athletes throughout the state of Florida and beating Florida and Florida State to the punch. It worked. Miraculously Miami, a downtrodden program, was revived. Five national championships between the years 1983 and 2001. Many of those sought after high school recruits that committed to Miami could ultimately be found playing on Sundays in the NFL. We gained the reputation of being outlaws. The football team was outstanding, and we knew it. They strutted their stuff alienating almost everyone except those in the U family. We became the Sharks in West Side Story. Da dada dah. The players brought that attitude onto the field and won. If your school came into the Orange Bowl to play us anytime between 1985-94 you got your ass kicked. Miami won 58 straight home games.

And because of that football prowess, and the exposure it received, the University of Miami, over the last 30 years, has turned into a considerably tough undergraduate admissions ticket. The demand from high school seniors is so great that only the best of the best now get in. If I had to apply today, it would produce a good laugh for the admissions office. And that prominence has also infiltrated the medical and law schools, among the best in the country.

The same happens all over the country these days. The expanded media hype that the top college football and basketball programs receive produces more applications than available student slots. By and large the kids want to be in on the action. You can’t buy the national media accolades that the giants of college athletics produce.

Up until a few years ago, Miami football inexplicably disappeared from the national conversation for 15 years. Other schools upped their recruiting. The successful Miami coaches left for greener bucks. The state of Florida became a national recruiting treasure chest and no longer a well-kept secret. But now with 1992 alum Mario Cristobal back in town as the U’s head coach we have reemerged as one of the big boys of the sport. In fact, today Miami is ranked second in the nation in the college football polls. That’s good stuff but any longtime Miami fan will tell you October rankings don’t mean much. Get to the first week of December and it becomes real. Despite the recent success Miami always figures out a way of losing games they shouldn’t, marring the marquee wins. Two years ago it was an improbable loss to Georgia Tech late in the season at home. Last year the Canes were in the national championship picture until they blew a 21-0 lead at Syracuse in the season finale. So far this season there have been big wins over Notre Dame, Florida and Florida State on the way to a 5-0 start. Seemingly the tough opponents are behind us but with seven games left to play and even with Clemson and Virginia not on the conference schedule we all know it’s too early to plan a parade down Le Jeune Road.

My pride in my university has never wavered. Conversely, the interest in the football program when times were tough had, especially after we moved to Alabama and saw football excellence every week in Tuscaloosa. Now, being a world champion bandwagon jumper, I can easily say Bama-who? in lieu of the Hurricanes recent success.

However, something really bothers me. While I’m now back basking in the Miami glory once again, it’s with an asterisk. College sports has changed. Forever. As I watched the beginning of the Miami-Notre Dame broadcast in this season’s opener on August 31, and the introduction of the teams, 19 Miami players had transferred to the school this year. That’s almost half of the first and second team players and about a quarter of the overall roster who didn’t start at Miami. Transfer rules in college football have been relaxed like a potent Ambien. Four years ago, in 2021, the NCAA allowed a student-athlete to transfer schools one time without being penalized a year of eligibility as had been the case previously.

Then at about the same time the NCAA did another huge turn, Trump huge, and allowed and created what are now known as ‘collectives.’ Those collectives raise funds from donors, alumni and boosters. Along with the collectives came something called NIL- Name, Image and Likeness agreements allowing players to be compensated. If Chuck Schumer pledged his allegiance to the Republican Party it wouldn’t be as drastic as the stodgy NCAA being forced into an oversight role for student-athlete’s compensation something they had previously fought forever when a booster couldn’t even buy a student-athlete lunch. Now the kid not only can take a lunch on the arm but also be financially rewarded by the restaurant. The NCAA never had much teeth to enforce the old rule anyway but now the NCAA is all dentures serving at the whim of the major conference commissioners.

Today with open transfers and big money collectives, student-athletes are not hopscotching schools for academics but instead for short term revenue opportunities. No football player is headed to Miami because they love the U or can get a prime table at Joe’s Stone Crab or even cut the line at Shorty’s barbecue joint. They are coming because of the money they can make and that bothers me. A lot.

Back in the not-so-long-ago-day both athletes and students chose a college they thought they’d like for four years and could be successful. Those that were student-athletes understood they probably weren’t going to turn pro in their respective sports but chose a school for the education they received and the career potential if offered. If athletes wanted to transfer someplace else they lost immediate eligibility and had to sit out a year. Any type of payment other than the basic scholarship package was taboo. Back in the good ole day kids got envelopes from boosters, but it was under the table, not above. It was nobody’s business. Sure it violated the rules, but it had to be done to be competitive and get the top athletes. And everyone knew it. Kids even drove brand new cars that seemingly fell from the car tree. A lot of them had ghost jobs during the summer sponsored by big boosters. Speculation and finger pointing of the rules violations, from rival schools, turned out to be sport. Today, there are no secrets anymore. Every kid is fair game.

The collectives, for the big schools, overflow with cash. Local merchants pitch in with lucrative deals for endorsements, appearances and sponsorships. While this mainly impacts the two large revenue sports, football and men’s basketball, monies are also spread across all the non-revenue sports like baseball, soccer, golf, volleyball, women’s hoops and tennis. The better athletes jump around year to year from school to school in search of opportunity. In fact, last season’s Miami quarterback and this year’s top NFL draft choice, Cam Ward, was at his third school in five years. For some kids it might be more playing time but for most it’s how much can you pay me with the NIL funds.

On Miami’s roster this season are transfer stalwarts like quarterback Carson Beck formerly of the University of Georgia; CJ Daniels a wide receiver from LSU; Keenan Marion a wide receiver last at BYU; Tony Johnson a receiver from Cincinnati; Charles Brantley, a cornerback from Michigan State; Jakobe Thomas a cornerback who played at Tennessee; Mohamed Toure a linebacker from Rutgers and Xavier Lucas a defensive transfer from Wisconsin. None of these kids are at Miami because they are fond of the bowling alley in the student union the way we were. They are on campus for a paycheck and hopefully the notoriety it produces to get them on Sunday network television.

I have no doubt you too have pride in your respective alma mater. For me wearing a Miami shirt, hat or pullover, produces a feeling of ownership. We paid our tuition, went to school, graduated and got a jump start on our careers. Andi and I even named our first dog Ibis, in honor of the U’s mascot. Ibis didn’t ask for compensation.

Now the better players at the better football and basketball schools don’t have a sense of ownership, just a fleeting representation of the respective university. They are simply renting the uniform waiting for something better, something more lucrative, to come along. I don’t have to cheer for the individuals any more but will always pull for the colors they represent.

Take U quarterback Carson Beck for example. He is now in his fifth college season, having been at the University of Georgia for the first four. Miami swayed him this year, not because of its academic excellence but because of NIL monies rumored to be between three and four million. There are also on-field incentives in place to get him to six million. His W-2 is higher than his professors, deans and even the university president. That is nuts. And wrong. Beck is the second highest compensated quarterback in college football, behind Arch Manning of Texas and the second highest compensated Hurricane in the locker room only taking a back seat to the head coach. Miami has a $10 million football NIL budget. The rest is apportioned to other stars. Meanwhile the kid who was a high school standout in Waterloo, Iowa, sharing a locker room with the big bucks stars can only drool about the couple of thousand he may be making. They might have also thrown in a pair of used Air Jordans to keep him happy. Consider Malachi Toney, a freshman wide receiver superstar, from nearby Plantation, Florida, who committed to the U in great part because of the estimated $300,000-$500,000 he gets in money from the school and outside endorsements. As soon as this season end he will probably be enticed by the likes of Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, Bama, LSU and all the other big boys next season. Maybe Phil Knight will pull up the Nike armored truck to get Toney to wear gauche Oregon green and yellow. Who knows? But if he stays at Miami it will cost them a bundle.

Even mid-majors, like UNLV in the Mountain West Conference with a rumored football NIL budget of ‘only’ $3 million, are impacted. Bring a kid in, make him a star and watch him transfer to one of the power schools for big cash. The Ivy League doesn’t give athletic scholarships but do allow their athletes to pocket NIL monies, though a pittance compared to the major conference stars. Those kids are in the Ivy League because their future is not on an athletic field but in a board room. Case in point as illustrated by The Wall Street Journal this weekend is Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Smarter than the average bear he committed to Yale out of high school. College coaches did not recruit him heavily because he was such a great student they weren’t sure about his commitment to play football. Incredibly Mendoza used Yale as a ‘safety’ school just in case he wasn’t recruited. Who uses Yale as a safety school? Then one of Cal Berkley’s quarterbacks flipped his commitment to UCLA and the carousel stopped spinning when the Cal coaching staff offered Mendoza a roster spot. Mendoza went to Cal, was last on the QB depth chart his freshman year but as expected got straight A’s in the classroom. Redshirted in 2022, he was used sparingly the next season. He won the starting job in 2024, had a good season but decided maybe there was more out there. He entered the transfer portal and Indiana told him he would be a perfect fit into their offensive football scheme. He enrolled at IU, won the top job and now, as a junior, has become a Heisman Trophy candidate and a potential first round NFL draft choice if he leaves after this season. Other than the beauty of Bloomington in the spring, Indiana also had some NIL cash for the brainiac who now pockets an estimated $1.5 million. If nothing else he showed every school that bypassed him, that indeed he wants to play football. And earn a boatload of money that wouldn’t have happened at Yale, degree be damned. Yesterday Indiana was rewarded for their persistence with Mendoza at quarterback triggered an upset of number three ranked Oregon on the road to move their record to 7-0.

The only throwback genuine programs left are the service academies: Army, Navy and Air Force. Their student athletes cannot receive NIL monies nor transfer at a whim. They are considered government employees and prohibited from accepting compensation for their athletic performance. Ah, the way it was.

College athletics have been professionalized. Across all sports not just football and basketball. Coaches who didn’t have to compete with money for recruits, who could depend upon kitchen visits with mom and dad to sell their school and program, now have to deal with how much Arby’s or Central Plumbing and Heating and everything in-between will put into a college till to get a kid to come and play for them. Allegedly it’s why Nick Saban quit coaching after 40 years and seven national championships. He just didn’t like the new look of collegiate athletes. Other big name coaches will follow.

For me I have to get over it and accept the new normal whether I like it or not. I don’t have a problem with the transfer rule. Coaches can leave at will, why not the players they recruited? I have a big problem with the cash enticements to get them to leave. I really want to still believe in amateur athletics. I can’t anymore. College sports are now professional sports just one step down. It may not be the way we were but it’s now certainly the way we are. There is no going backwards.

Which leads me to one pure thought in these changing times: Go Canes!

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I’m proud that Medjet is sponsoring Sunday Morning Coffee. I spent 20 wonderful years with Medjet in Birmingham, Alabama, and can tell you unequivocally they are the standard-bearer for medical assistance membership programs. A talented staff, who cares about its members, is at the forefront of the company’s success. Whether you are traveling for business or pleasure, domestic or international, a Medjet membership should be an important part of your travel portfolio before you leave home. Check out the Medjet website at medjet.com or just tap on the Medjet logo and you’ll be able to get a look at Medjet’s services, rules and regulations, pricing, and an overview of the organization. And remember, any opinions expressed in Sunday Morning Coffee content or comments belong to the author and not the sponsor. Safe travels with your Medjet membership! — Roy Berger