College football: A dark cloud over Auburn

College football has been rocked before by allegations of under-the-table payoffs, said Pete Thamel in The New York Times, but the Cam Newton story has the potential to be the “most explosive” scandal in the sport’s history. Newton, a 6-foot-6 quarterback, is easily college football’s best player this year, as he’s led Auburn University to an 11–0 season with his blazing rushing and passing talents. But a former player for rival Mississippi State has triggered an investigation by both the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the FBI with a claim that Newton’s father, Cecil, a Georgia pastor, shopped his son to recruiters for a payoff of $180,000. The mere solicitation, if proved, would disqualify Newton and void Auburn’s stellar season. “God help the Rev. Newton” if he pimped his son to the highest bidder, said Kevin Scarbinsky in the Birmingham, Ala., News. And God help Auburn if investigators find truth in another source’s claim: Cam allegedly told a recruiter he had to choose Auburn because “the money was too much.”

“Please, stop feigning shock,” said Jerome Solomon in the Houston Chronicle. College football has been dirty ever since the legendary Knute Rockne let his Notre Dame “student-athletes” make some cash by playing pro ball on Sundays under assumed names. Scandals like this are inevitable, said George Vecsey in The New York Times, because the NCAA insists on pretending that big-time college sports is nothing but wholesome, amateur competition. Instead, both college football and basketball are “semipro enterprises grafted clumsily onto the fabric of education,” with great players like Newton worth millions to whatever college he chooses to attend.

So why shouldn’t he get his share of that pie? asked Clay Travis in Fanhouse.com. Any other gifted 18-year-old is entitled to earn a living at his chosen profession. Only college football and basketball players are required to “serve an apprenticeship at college that makes universities a ton of money.” Newton is certainly worth a lot of money to Auburn, said Ken Belson in The New York Times. There’s the income from merchandise bearing Newton’s No. 2, and the promise of higher ticket prices in the future, easier recruiting, and fat donations by alumni elated by the team’s success. So if Auburn did pay, said Steve Luhm in The Salt Lake Tribune, it was simply a good business decision. A “difference-making quarterback” like Newton comes along once in a generation, and “$180,000 is peanuts these days.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up