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By Coach Steve
As we advance toward the end of the NCAA men’s tournament, I would like to take a look beyond just the surface level of the game and college athletics as a whole. With NIL becoming increasingly prominent in college sports, it is easy to treat the college game similar to professional sports as a fan. It would be easy to say, “player X makes Y amount; therefore, they should be forming at Z level.” IT would be easy, but it would also still be wrong.
The Southern Conference Announces Plan in Anticipation of NCAA Settlement | #itsallhere
📰 https://t.co/2m56l9SPn4 pic.twitter.com/M2Z8BTYUi5
— The Southern Conference (@SoConSports) March 27, 2025
With all the money being thrown around, it would be incredibly easy to forget that on the other side, more often than not, the players are just kids. They’re not even adults. Some of them are only 17 years old. I understand wanting to hold a multi-million-dollar athlete accountable as a fan, your team is giving them a bunch of money and you want to win and need those players to play well. But they are JUST KIDS. Let’s get started.
I had the distinct pleasure of covering the SoCon men’s and women’s basketball tournaments this season in Asheville, North Carolina. UNCG women’s team won their first title in almost 30 years, and Wofford shocked the world and went dancing. But by far the most impactful moment, for me, did not even happen on the floor. The Wofford Terriers women’s team lost an incredibly hard-fought battle against eventual winner UNCG in a thrilling and physical 54-50 contest. Star player and senior Helen Matthews played the final game of her career, and I had the honor of being able to speak with her and rising star teammate Evangilia Paulk. It went about how you would expect. Matthews, Paulk, and Coach Jimmy Garrity fought back tears as you can only expect after a heartbreaking loss. Coach Garrity spoke to the great pride he had in both the players sitting next to him, as well as the rest of the team. With the interviews over, I reached up to end the recording but saw something that made me stop. Coach Garrity immediately went to Ms. Paulk and embraced her. He saw what everyone likely knew; she was heartbroken. Paulk had poured every ounce she had left into this game, and Wofford came up short. I won’t include any quotes in this article, because I want to make sure what was said stays between Ms. Paulk and Coach Garrity.
At some point, money doesn’t matter. There are still real people on the other side, and they have way more emotional attachment than we as fans ever will. This is still the college game we all know and love, you just have to know where to find it. So, this March, try to remember, in this day and age, players see everything on social media, they see what we say to and about them. And they, like us, are only human.
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