A 'classic' mess

In college football, the early games get the cash

Let’s see if we have this right, now. The pros haven’t kicked it off for real, the student body hasn’t checked in … and we’re up to our eyeballs in college football classics.

Hey, student-athletes! Time to start making a buck for State U. Time to start earning your scholarship, even if the classroom and library are still in mothballs. Oh, did somebody mention freshmen suiting up before opening a book?

Just flip on the TV or open a newspaper and you can’t escape the madness. It kicked off Thursday night in a muggy Charlottesville, Va., with Virginia and Colorado State squaring off in the Jim Thorpe Classic. By unofficial count, with the close of last weekend, 14 colleges got a jump on the Division 1-A competition while teeing it up in one these classics.

OK, the casual fan just might have a clue when it comes to the Pigskin Classic or this Saturday night’s Kickoff Classic (coming after almost 50 Division I-A games kick off), but what’s up with the John Thompson Foundation Classic? We thought Big John was a hoops guy, anyway. And our favorite, something played out Sunday in Blacksburg, Va., with Virginia Tech drilling Arkansas State 63-7 -- the Hispanic College Fund Football Classic.

“Get out of here . . . get out of here,’’ cracked Knight Foundation president Hodding Carter, upon learning of the latest classic.

What’s next, the Kurdistan Workers Classic? Or the Graduate Assistant Coaches Classic?

The NCAA, to its credit, has had enough of this preseason silliness. A new rule will do away with all but one of these classics after this season, the lone exception being the Black Coaches Association Classic, which has a TV contract through 2004.

Of course, the main reason for the change is that schools are also being allowed to schedule a 12th regular-season game in years when there are 14 Saturdays between Labor Day and Nov. 30. In addition to this year, the only upcoming seasons in which that situation applies are 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2014 – but most college officials expect the 12th game will soon be a permanent addition. So rather than an occasional classic appearance, every Division I-A school can simply book another game.

The assumption here had been the NCAA let these classics slide because they generate millions for noble charitable causes. But a quick check of nonprofit organization records makes you wonder if that’s truly the case.

A call to GuideStar, a national database of IRS-recognized nonprofits, turned up few organizations tied to our football classics. It could mean they simply registered under a separate foundation, or perhaps they’re tardy in filing. But even the three we found failed to hand out oodles of charitable monies.

According to the most recent IRS filings, the American Football Coaches Foundation, sponsor of the Pigskin Classic, had income of $509,000 and spent $189,000 awarding academic scholarships. The Eddie Robinson Foundation generated $600,000 and awarded $30,000 in individual scholarships, while reporting $117,000 in expenses associated with the scholarship program. The Black Coaches Association reported $626,000 income, while spending more than $400,000 on conferences and conventions.

This has all gotten so goofy, it’s sick. For a decade or so, the Knight Foundation folks have lectured big-time college programs to cool the rush to professionalism. And here they’re basically telling Carter and his academic-minded buddies to take a hike. What they’re saying is, “It’s all about the money. Offer us a TV gig anytime, any place -- and we’ll go for it.’’

Just how hooked are college athletic bosses? Well, 11 of our 14 early birds will have two games under their belt by the end of August. Another, Virginia Tech, is booked for a Sept. 1 date opposite LSU. And this is all a good week before the NFL openers.

Fresno State (alma mater of No. 1 pick David Carr and college sports’ ultimate rebel, basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian) has a gig booked opposite San Diego State on Thursday night, less than a week after its Aug. 23 opener in Madison, Wis.

So, thanks to clever scheduling, each of our classic teams has the advantage of being able to book a 13-game regular season. It jumps to 14 for those lucky enough to land a bowl invite. And if you project someone like Nebraska making both the Big 12 title game and a bowl game, the Husker student-athletes are looking at a 15-game season.

That’s a boatload of money for the Nebraska program -- where a home game brings in close to $3 million -- and a heavy workload for its players, who still get the same scholarship whether they play a traditional 11-game schedule or one stretched to 15. (As a side note, let’s remember that U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne, R-Neb., the old ball coach, instead of looking out for the players’ welfare, is co-sponsoring a bill that would make it a federal crime for agents to entice student-athletes with cash and the like.)

“This is all so pathetic,’’ Carter says of the rush to kick off the season. “Having these games is good a demonstration that this is not being done for the sake of the student body. The students are spread out all over the world until they come on campus. Many of them are still working. And you’re having these football games, which are allegedly a university function, and which are totally disconnected from the university. It is a sharp example of the isolation of the athletic program.’’

So why are colleges rushing to jump the gun and play in these extra games?

Well, you might argue that someone like Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, who trails only Penn State’s Joe Paterno on the Division 1-A victory list, will never duck a chance to pad his victory total -- even if Iowa State struck some fear in his ‘Noles.

It’s also probably a nice way to help cover the seven-figure salaries pulled down by Bowden and guys like Frank Beamer at Virginia Tech and Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin. The schools love all the exposure they can get, and the games also provide low-cost TV programming for the networks.

And if your team’s goal is to play in a BCS bowl game -- certainly FSU, Ohio State, Nebraska and Virginia Tech qualify here -- an extra W is only going to help your postseason slot.

But even football guys like ex-Baylor coach Grant Teaff, head of the American Football Coaches Association, admits that an idea that started modestly two decades with the Kickoff Classic and later the Pigskin Classic has gotten out of hand.

“There’s just been a proliferation the last three or four years,’’ Teaff says. “Everybody jumped into it. A lot of promoters got into it, instead of entities that serve the football world.’’

Ah. That’s just business, we suppose.

Mike Fish is a senior writer for CNNSI.com.

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