Show college athletes the money — all of them

The Ohio State tattoo saga and the recent resignation of football coach Jim Tressel has the sports world talking again about whether or not college athletes should be paid.

The prevailing question is: Would the Buckeyes players caught trading official school gear and memorabilia for money and tattoos have done so had they been paid for their services on the field?

Some people believe problems like tattoo-gate could be avoided if athletes were given a reasonable amount of spending money in addition to their scholarships. Others contend athletes getting paid (actual money) to play what is technically an amateur sport is a bad idea.

Having been a Division I college player, I support the addition of a supplement.

There is absolutely no time for an athlete to get a side job to earn extra spending money. Being a student and an athlete are two full-time jobs.

Unless college athletes have parents with means, and many don’t, where do they get money for the occasional trip to McDonald’s or for a movie, or for a shopping trip to Walgreens for necessities like toothpaste and shampoo? Or, I suppose, for a tattoo?

A small monthly stipend makes sense.

But here’s the problem: Where does that gravy train stop? Would every athlete get a stipend, or only those who make gobs and gobs of money for the athletic department?

Maybe only the successful athletes should be rewarded.

At Northwestern, would that make the players on the women’s lacrosse team, who just won the program’s sixth national championship in seven years, more deserving of an incidental stipend than the players on the football team, which has won only three Big Ten titles since 1936?

See, this opens a huge can of worms, one that I’m afraid could exclude a majority of female athletes if making money for the university is the top criteria for payback.

I can guarantee you the women’s lacrosse program at Northwestern doesn’t net the university any money. Ditto for the volleyball, women’s basketball and softball programs, and on down the line.

But I can also guarantee you that those athletes work just as hard and devote just as many hours to their sport as the moneymaking football players.

And in lacrosse, they’re far more successful. What price tag should be put on that?

I like the idea of an incidental stipend, but it must cover everyone to make sense. Either all college athletes get paid, or no one gets paid.

Paying everyone would be quite an expense. But I have a feeling that with all the lucrative television and sponsorship contracts out there, most universities could swing it.

Heck, they could probably even afford to pay former athletes retroactively.

By the way, I take checks.

Hall of an honor: Congratulations to former Loyola University women#146;s volleyball coach Therese Boyle-Niego. It was announced Thursday that she will be inducted to the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame in September. In six seasons as the Ramblers#146; head coach, Boyle-Niego compiled a 140-72 (.660) record and guided the program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 1995.Final numbers: The DePaul softball team finished strong and was rewarded with a No. 24 ranking in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25 final poll, tied with Tulsa. It is the 12th time DePaul has been ranked in the Top 25 at the end of the season.Unable to crack the Top 25 during the regular season, DePaul (41-15) emerged Tuesday in the only ranking that counts after battling No. 6 Missouri in late May to the final game of the NCAA Regional in Columbia, Mo. The Blue Demons were among the final 20 teams in the NCAA tournament.#147;I believe we were overlooked during the regular season,#148; Lenti said. #147;After all, we led the Big East Conference almost the entire way,#148; The Blue Demons finished second in the Big East at 19-2. They went on a 16-game winning streak from April 9 to May 5, the longest streak since the 2007 team won 20 in a row.#147;We got our just desserts in the end,#148; Lenti said. #147;When it comes to rankings, the only thing that matters is where you finish when the season is over.#148;pbabcock@dailyherald.comLAC19022017Northwestern lacrosse players such as attacker Shannon Smith may not bring in the revenue that football teams do, but they have been more successful at the NCAA championship level.Associated PressLAC