Geno Auriemma: ‘College sports is dying’

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Millions of fans are preparing to watch and attend Week 1 of the college football season, but Geno Auriemma says the empire is dying.

Auriemma is forecasting the death of college sports as Lane Kiffin prepares for his first game as head coach of LSU by continuing his push to bring a former NFL player back to college. The iconic UConn women’s basketball head coach made the prediction with Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz.

“College sports is dying.” 😳

Geno Auriemma breaks down the changing landscape of college athletics.

(via Yahoo Sports Daily)

“College sports is dying,” Auriemma said. “And you know, I’ve had parents pass away. And when they were dying on the inside, they didn’t always show it on the outside. On the outside, sometimes it looks like, ‘Wow, everything’s great.’”

This weekend will be one of those times where everything looks great. The college basketball tournament is similarly one of those times where everything always looks great. Fans, analysts, and media can spend the offseason forecasting the death of college sports, but once the biggest games are played, all is well again.

“On the inside it’s dying,” Auriemma said before getting more graphic. “Because every single day, something comes up to show you a symptom of the disease that we’re suffering.”

Auriemma insisted he’s not saying student athletes shouldn’t be paid or have the right to enter the transfer portal, but he did say fans should be able to follow the sports they love without seeing constant lawsuits, legal battles, and bickering amongst coaches and schools trying to gain an edge or alter the system.

“The more this happens, and the more these things keep being the central focus of the news, the more we’re dying one day at a time,” he continued. “And until somebody comes along and says, ‘This is it, these are the rules, and that’s it.’”

There will be 90,000-110,000 fans at every big stadium in the country tomorrow who paid a lot of money to be there. But, dying. https://t.co/brPAnDHLZb

It’s fair to question whether the constant fear-mongering around NIL and the transfer portal, which spells doom, is healthy for college sports. But it’s hard to imagine what the last few years of media coverage of college basketball and football would have been like without NIL and transfer portal discussions.

They’ve added controversy to college sports, sure. But with powerhouse teams and brands, the top-heavy nature of college basketball and football is also keeping them as relevant as they’ve ever been. There’s a reason ESPN is talking less baseball and more college football than ever. And it’s not because college sports is dying.