I'd wish it was possible to move all players who feel they need to be compensated beyond scholarship, training, etc out of the system & limit college football to "amateur" students only. The fact that the quality of play would drop significantly is of absolutely no importance to me. The thing that college football has turned into should have absolutely no connection to universities. It is culturally poisonous.

Especially given the fact that what you describe hasn’t existed…..ever. Except in the minds of fans who bought into the well done propaganda that the NCAA and the schools put out there.

Ringers were being brought in the 30s and 40s.

There was massive cheating scandals in the 50s and 60s led, in no small part, by Bear Bryant himself.

The 70s and 80s saw the rise of booster culture.

pay for play is considerably more extensive,
not even close,imo. Remember this is an
opinion and if you like this direction, enjoy.

You can back to the 20s and literally every decade has brought a different kind of scandal. This pay for play simply took something that was the shadows and brought it into the light.

player movement,etc.
You have a narrative
and use the facts to
fit it. Fine, everyone
does it but the present
situation is much LARGER,
not talking about smaller
scale stuff in various eras.

It’s out of control and needs a massive amount of work to make to fair to the players and to the teams and coaches.

But if you want to argue that NIL is on par with player movement as a threat to the fabric of the game, we’re going to disagree. I’ve met a real life bag man for an SEC team. I’ve heard the stories. And while I didn't believe everything he told me, he told me enough for me to know how out of control it was.

At the very least NIL brought what was already happening in the shadows into the light. But as others have suggested, and reform of NIL has to start with players being fairly compensated for their contributions to the multi billion dollar industry that is college sports. If that bankrupts some athletic departments along the way, so be it. It it forces some small schools to go down a level, so be it.

As long as other elements that fit the amateur athletics model are included (and would prevent a culturally poisonous system, to use your term):

- cap HC salaries more in line with amateur sports - high school, FCS, DII, DIII head coaches/teachers - $95,000. Move all coaches who feel the need to be compensated beyond that to the NFL or a new minor league.

- cap AD salaries more in line with amateur sports - $145,000. Move all ADs who feel the need to be compensated beyond that to the NFL or a new minor league.

- Strength and conditioning coaches capped at $30,000, might need to come from ranks of Physical Education staff.

- No more than 15 additional employees in the athletic department, capping total payroll at $900,000 above and beyond AD.

- Limit student-athlete required training/game play to 15 hours per week.

- 11 games per season. Minimum of 8 games played within the time zone or within a 2-hour drive.

- Eliminate playoff system - a bowl game would serve as a 12th game for qualifying teams.

The only way players could get more than the scholarship would be if boosters, etc. paid them under the table. Same with coaches I guess.