You’ll run into a lot of people who didn’t like high school. In fact, you’ll find a lot of people who HATED high school. I was no AC Slater or anything, but I was fortunate enough to be fairly popular, and therefore my high school experience was far more enjoyable than many others. By the end of my first semester of senior year though, even I was sick of high school and aching to get out. Mainly because from a maturity standpoint, I had outgrown that environment and was ready for my next challenge.
College though? That was an entirely different story. Honestly, who doesn’t love college? The freedom, the ability to reshape your identity, to choose your own coursework and to choose your own friends (rather than being bound to your friends strictly by geography); the parties, the drinking, the girls— college is everything high school isn’t. Any sane person should want to stay in college as long as possible (until you become that pathetic guy that never graduated who’s older than everybody else and you see him at all the ice breakers, but never on campus between the hours of 9:00 am and 6:00 pm with any books. Yeah, once you become that guy, you need to go).
That is, any sane person who is not projected to be a top 10 pick in the NFL or NBA draft.
We see this from time to time in sports. The most recent case study is that of Oklahoma State point guard Marcus Smart. Last year, in what was widely considered the worst NBA Draft class since the utterly reprehensible 2000 NBA Draft, Smart was a projected top five pick, and given the class’ lack of star-power, being drafted in the top three was certainly not out of the question. Despite this awesome situation, Smart decided to go back to school.
Why? Well, there were several reasons. Smart remarked that he “had the confidence to [compete against a more talented draft class]”, and in regards to his team he “felt like we had a lot more to accomplish”, and that he was “a Cowboy at heart”. Valid reasons? Yes. Admirable line of thinking? Sure. But was it the most logical decision? Not even close.
First off, Smart had an award-winning freshman campaign, including earning Big 12 Player of the Year honors. From a talent standpoint, he was absolutely ready to take the next step a year ago. But when a player likes Smart makes the decision to stay in school, more often than not, he’s not maximizing his earning potential, which is a real shame.
Like everyone else, I loved college. I loved college so much, I went back for two more years and earned a master’s degree. The problem though is twofold: A) life has somewhat got in the way and B) more importantly, these days, the job market is not at all friendly to recent college graduates. Since undergrad, I’ve done everything “the right way”. I got good grades, was involved on campus, was an RA for two years, graduated on-time (with about 25 more credits than I needed), worked multiple internships, went back to school and finished, worked extremely hard, got letters of recommendation from each of my stops, paid more than my fair share of dues, and still I find myself struggling to get my career off the ground. What’s worse is I personally know several intelligent, hard-working college grads who are dealing with (or who have dealt with) the same plight.
The majority of this generation of college grads would be ecstatic to be making 30 stacks annually right out of school in their field of choice, but this seemingly reasonable request is drifting further and further away from the norm. And then you have guys like Marcus Smart, who are willing to pass up guaranteed millions for another year of college.
Sure, it’s hard to put a price tag on the college experience (yet universities always find a way) and I’ve made lifelong friends at each of my stops at institutions of higher education. And it may not be completely fair to compare the average student to a student-athlete on the brink of stardom in basketball or football. But it’s not hard to imagine the majority of 19-year-olds put in that situation choosing the draft over…well, anything else.
Here’s the bottom line: Anytime you’re a lock to go in the lottery, you go to the NBA. Immediately. It’s even more vital in football where all players are destined to suffer a debilitating injury. As soon as you’re eligible and you have a legit shot to be a first round pick, you MUST go.
The uncertainty a kid faces when he stays in school far outweighs the uncertainty of the draft process. The NBA has slotted salaries that are guaranteed for each numerical position in the first round of the draft. The NFL has a much less rigid slotting system that leaves more wiggle room for negotiation — particularly of guaranteed signing bonuses — but the contracts themselves are not guaranteed. And we KNOW every move an intercollegiate athlete makes is being eyeballed by the NCAA snitches in their ivory tower, hence college athletes are not being compensated.
Sidebar: And if they are being paid under the table, it probably isn’t close to what they should be making compared to the rest of the NCAA machine, or what they could be making on the professional level. Paying college athletes is a whole other issue. We’ll save that one for another day.
Many would respond that “a free education is compensation” for college athletes. This though is only a half-truth. Athletes only receive scholarships on a year-to-year basis. Here again is another example of the universities being able to cover their own, while the athletes are left to fend for themselves. If you’re removed from the team for whatever reason (poor grades, on-field/off-field behavior, whatever), your scholarship could be revoked and you might just be ass out (just like you might be ass out if you commit to return to school to learn from your coach, only to see your coach bounce for a higher paying job. Coaches are good for that). Furthermore, this “free education” line of thinking neglects the aforementioned cruel reality of the diminishing value of a college degree.
A school can also yank a scholarship if an athlete suffers a severe injury. Injuries are a part of all sports, but if you’re a top flight prospect in football or basketball, what sense does it make to go back to school to work play for free and run the risk of getting hurt (i.e. Aaron Murray)? No competent financial advisor would sign off on this decision. For highly-touted football players, an injury can significantly derail your chances of being selected highly, thus reducing your earning potential. And if you’re a fringe first round pick (in the NBA) an injury could be the difference in you getting drafted and not getting drafted at all.
Jay Z’s words for Wiggins: Dark Knight feelin/Die & be a hero/Or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Take the case of Joel Embiid, the Kansas center who burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2013 and somehow, incredibly, surpassed his mega-hyped teammate Andrew Wiggins to reach the top of many draft boards. The 7′ Embiid, who has been compared by some scouts to Tim Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon, suffered a back injury late in the season and missed the final six games of the year, including Kansas’ only two NCAA Tournament games. Even with the injury, Embiid is still projected as a top three pick (lots of luck to the team that drafts a big man with a bad back), but now there are reports that Embiid might not enter the draft.
Draft stock is like milk, it can go from good to stinky overnight. If Embiid returns for his sophomore season, his draft stock can ONLY decrease. Ostensibly because of injuries (one more serious back injury and GMs will be running for the hills like Andre 3000 in the B.O.B. video), but also because his game will get continuously picked over by scouts and other observers. This is another extremely common side-effect of hanging around in college too long— the media builds you up, but will inevitable tear you down. We’ve seen the cycle take shape in less than one year with Wiggins. Call it market correction if you want, but the longer you stick around, the more questions will continue to appear. Not to mention NBA teams often prefer their lottery picks to be no older than 20. Being a junior or senior going in the lottery is actually considered a strike against you, like a junior or senior going out for JV basketball in high school.
Remember Matt Leinart? The Heisman Trophy winning quarterback at USC who was practically a lock to be the top pick in the 2005 NFL Draft? In case you don’t here’s a quick refresher: Leinart’s Trojans were the wire-to-wire number one team in the country, as the lefty QB guided them to a National Championship win at the 2004 Orange Bowl, where Leinart was 18-for-35 passing for 332 yards and FIVE TOUCHDOWNS! And after accomplishing all that, Leinart still went back to school, instead of staying in California and being the likely top pick of the San Francisco 49ers.
Leinart famously took ballroom dance classes during his senior year (that scholarship really paid off, right?) and the Trojans went back to the title game…only to lose to Texas. Leinart also did not win his second consecutive Heisman— that honor went to his teammate Reggie Bush. However Bush would ultimately vacate the Heisman years later due to NCAA improprieties, which also resulted in USC forfeiting their ’04 BCS National Championship. Had the Trojans won the ’05 title, it likely would’ve suffered the same fate, which would have retroactively rendered Leinart’s senior season a complete waste.
While he did get “another year of grooming” under Pete Carroll, Leinart’s stock ultimately dipped and he was selected 10th overall in the 2006 Draft. Although he did well, earning a six-year $50.8 million contract with $14M guaranteed, Leinart’s deal was not nearly as lucrative as Alex Smith’s (the top pick of the ’05 Draft) who received a six-year $49.5 million deal with $24M guaranteed. Of course, don’t let the base salary fool you— the real deal Holyfield dough in football is in guaranteed money. So if nothing else, we knew that Leinart’s decision to go back to school (for basically no reason) cost him at least $10 million off top. And this was before the NFL restructured their rookie pay scale— back in ’05, there was no limit to how much money a rookie quarterback selected first overall could receive. Needles to say, Leinart washed out in Arizona after just three years, and since has struggled to hold a job as even a third-stringer in the NFL.
Matt Leinart’s NFL career summed up in one photo.
Sidebar: The story of Andrew Luck shouldn’t be overlooked here either— a can’t miss QB prospect, Luck would’ve been the top pick had he declared for the draft after his junior season.He went back to school for his senior year and still went number one overall. Sure, this is possible, but again, why even roll those dice?
Which brings us back to Marcus Smart. After being lauded by many for his decision to return to school, Smart’s sophomore campaign didn’t quite go as planned. Inconsistent play from his team and himself, the horrific fan pushing incident mid-season (sparking the belief that Smart might be a hot head, which will hurt his stock) and a first round exit in the NCAA Tournament has left some wondering if Marcus’ decision was at all a smart one (you knew a bad name pun was coming at some point). It’s now assumed that Smart will drop from a top five pick to being selected somewhere between sixth and tenth, which will not only cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars — if not millions — in terms of his draft slot payout, but also the potential endorsement opportunities and exposure that come with being a higher pick and having a greater shot at winning Rookie of the Year in a garbage draft class.
Professional athletes have such a finite window to earn a living. While most of us hit the job market at 22 and work in our field until we’re 65 (if we’re lucky), athletes considered to have had good careers have roughly 10 years to get every dime they can. To shrink these prime earning years for any reason other than simply not being able to compete in professional game is a foolish decision.
There’s no evidence that suggests players who stay an extra year perform any better than those who go to the league ASAP. In fact, according to ESPN.com’s Kevin Pelton, the contrary is actually true, which makes a ton of sense. What’s wrong with on-the-job training? Since when is learning from Doc Rivers, Bill Belichick and Gregg Popovich while going head up with the very best players the world has to offer every day in practice a bad thing? And since when is being properly compensated for what the job market dictates you’re worth a bad thing?
It isn’t. Darrelle Revis knows that much. Speaking as someone who has yet to be properly compensated for his skills, education, work ethic and work history since leaving college, any young person who has the ability to earn a healthy living early in their careers should absolutely capitalize on it. Colleges make BILLIONS off these student-athletes (specifically football players) and the people doing the real work don’t see one red cent of those profits. In fact, athletes are in a tougher position than the average student because the average student could sell their car, for instance, without a problem. Yet a student-athlete would be in violation of NCAA rules if they did the same thing, even if the car is a piece of junk.
If that weren’t bad enough, while the NFL has had a standing rule that a player must have been out of high school for three years before they can enter the draft, the NBA has discussed raising their requirement from one year to two years out of high school. The game is rigged against the student-athlete, which is unfortunate because the families of many of these student-athletes are in desperate need of financial relief.
Perhaps in the future we’ll see more basketball players go the Brandon Jennings route and get paid to play professionally overseas for one year, before declaring for the NBA Draft. And maybe the Northwestern University football team’s landmark unionization victory has real legs and will facilitate a paradigm shift in how universities handle their student-athletes. But as long as the system remains the way it was set up, we should NEVER hear stories about players as talented as Duke’s Jabari Parker even considering the idea of returning to school.
It’s difficult for me, or anyone else, to tell someone else how to live their life. Moreover, if an athlete’s heart is in college, but they enter the draft against their own desires, it could backfire with tremendous consequences. And agents and other self-serving individuals will quickly lie to players about their projected draft position. Yes, these are all real concerns. More often than not though, elite level athletes that have a real chance to be high draft picks in the NFL or NBA must take advantage of their gift, rather continuing to be taken advantage of. It’s easily the most prudent decision they could make. And if an athlete is that hung up on fulfilling his academic commitment, more power to him. But he can always go back and finish his degree after his playing career has concluded, and he can pay for it using the money he earned at the next level.
Above all else, college is designed to best educate and prepare you for your professional career of choice. Well, if you can get a head start on your career and earn millions in the process, why not strike while the iron is hot?
Believe me, I would.