California is on its way to pull off a shocking move that rocked the college athletics world. A week ago was the first stepping towards a massive shift because California passed a new bill unanimously; allowing student athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness.
Although it passed the state legislature 72-0, Governor Gavin Newsom has yet to sign it, but for all intents and purposes, it’s looking like he will do just that in the coming weeks.
And Washington State head coach Mike Leach absolutely destroyed California over the new college athlete compensation bill.
If California Governor Gavin Newsom signs the bill allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, then the NCAA has threatened to do something drastic.
The NCAA will likely pull out of California altogether, which means all 58 colleges and universities would be on their own and means they would not be allowed to compete with other schools around the country.
That means the Pac-12 will likely be dismembered and California teams will play in-state only and will definitely not be involved in the championship circuits across all NCAA athletics.
Tim Tebow vehemently disagreed with California’s decision and expressed his thoughts on ESPN’s “First Take.”
You can watch his comments here:
.@TimTebow passionately expresses his thoughts on the California Senate passing a bill allowing student-athletes to have endorsements. pic.twitter.com/W5uBW7ePNm
— First Take (@FirstTake) September 13, 2019
After this video went viral on social media, most analysts and players blasted Tebow for being tone-deaf to collegiate athletes who are desperate for money and want to do what’s in the best interest of their family.
But Washington State head coach Mike Leach not only shares Tebow’s sentiments, he blasted the state over other problems that are in dire need of being fixed before anything else.
Leach said, “The state of California has trouble keeping their streets clean right now, so my thought is that they probably ought to focus on that. That’s just one guy’s opinion, and I’m sure that I’m probably wrong, but at the rate that California is handling their infrastructure and some of their other problems, you know, I think that we’ll see how they do with that before I really think it would be that beneficial for the legislature of California to enter into college football. If you see benefits to them entering into college football, I’d love to hear because they seem determined to do it.”
He’s not wrong.
Coach Leach even noticed the imbalance that will undoubtedly occur with California landing all the top recruits due to this new bill.
Leach explained, “If you create a recruiting advantage beyond what already exists, I think it’s going to be very difficult. I think there will be a huge imbalance and you’ll destroy college football, and I think that we have to be very careful of that … Then, of course, are we going to have a draft? Are we going to have trading? Are we going to have free agency? How far does all this stuff go? I think we ought to be careful with that, or maybe we ought to just have minor league football.”
You can watch Leach’s comments here:
Mike Leach has some THOUGHTS on the state of California trying to pass legislation to pay college athletes (Things get spicy after Leach, quite literally, sips his tea)
H/T @WSUCougarFB pic.twitter.com/Jtt4rIKV1C
— Brenna Greene (@BrennaGreene_) September 16, 2019
He’s not wrong. The NCAA will have a huge problem when Gov. Newsom signs this bill but it will likely be only those top recruits. UCLA has one of the most storied college basketball programs in the history of the NCAA, but if you’re a five-star recruit, would you rather go there in its current state or play for Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski?