Bo Ryan Is Not An Idiot

Did you hear Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan's justification for restricting redshirt freshman Jarrod Uthoff's transfer options to "anywhere east of Kazakhstan"?

(He later rescinded most of the restrictions, saying the original list was a negotiating tactic to get the kid to discuss the issue with him.)

Ryan had the nearly unlimited ability to prevent a "student-athlete" from transferring because NCAA rules allow coaches to "protect the program." And so that stipulation is part of the "contract" signed by "student athletes" in the revenue sports before they begin "working." (All the words in quotes are Bo Ryan's, not mine. Except he never used the word "student-athlete.")

Ryan didn't use the word "student-athlete," because he's not a liar. He did use the word "job." Because Bo Ryan also isn't an idiot. He knows that basketball at the University of Wisconsin, as it is at every other BCS school, is about money, not about students. The players have "jobs," not extra-curricular activities. They are employees, not scholars. And he is their boss, whose job security depends on their excellence at their job, which is basketball, not academics.

So when the NCAA makes rules about how "student-athletes" can transfer, the rules protect the teams, not the "students." And when Bo Ryan enforces the rules, he is concerned about the program's bottom line, not the employee's future. Bo Ryan acted rationally given the actual circumstances, as opposed to the fictional circumstances that comprise the NCAA narrative.

Here's the richest part of the story: In 1999, Bo Ryan signed a six-year contract to coach at UW-Milwaukee, which he broke after two seasons to "transfer" to Madison for piles more cash. As I said, Bo Ryan is not an idiot. But anyone who thinks that big time Division I football and basketball are about "student-athletes" is.

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