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Episode 22 on Apple Podcasts Episode 22 on Spotify
Written Recap
On Tuesday, LEAD1 Association (“LEAD1”) released its 22nd episode of the “LEAD1 Angle with Tom McMillen,” where LEAD1 President and CEO, Tom McMillen, interviewed Joe Moglia, chair of athletics at Coastal Carolina, and the former head football coach at the school, as well as former chairman of the board at TD Ameritrade.
Moglia believes that college sports should be run more “like a business,” and that the industry has lost one of its core principles of “commitment.” On that front, Moglia would modify college sports in some of the following ways.
First, Moglia believes that coaches in college football should serve out the duration of their contracts. Unlike the NFL, which has an Anti-Tampering policy, which prevents coaches from leaving their current teams, college football coaches often leave their schools for other opportunities during the term of their contracts. The new school, often with more resources, will “buyout,” the coaches’ contract at his former school. “In the NFL and in the business world, you have to live up to the contract,” said Moglia. “We have buyouts.”
Moglia also believes that the NCAA’s former transfer rule should be reinstituted or at least that student-athletes should be required to stay at their institutions for a minimum of one year upon signing a letter of intent.
Second, Moglia would empower an “Executive Committee” for college sports with total autonomy to govern the enterprise. To eliminate conflicts of interest, the Committee members would not be affiliated with a school or conference and would ideally have a business background. Such Committee members could be voted in and out by the membership. In that vein, Moglia believes that FBS football splitting from the NCAA “would be a good first step,” but that such executive leadership team would still be needed.
Third, Moglia believes that the Power Five schools should band together on television contracts thereby creating “super leagues,” for more leverage in negotiations with media networks. The Power Five, for example, could be broken down into multiple groups, with the top tier group negotiating on behalf of college sports. This would “maximize [industry] potential,” and could happen after some of the upcoming grants of rights from schools to conferences expire.
More in the podcast episode can be found on Moglia’s plan for how he would run college sports.
