Taggart: Defer pay to college athletes

AMELIA ISLAND — As pay for play continues to be one of college sports’ greatest debates, Florida State coach Willie Taggart offered a unique take on how to compensate players.

Taggart said college athletes should be paid after they graduate from school instead of paying them while enrolled in classes. Such a regulation would provide an incentive to graduate and those funds could help them get a head-start on life after college, he said.

“Should they get paid? Sure. But I think there should be some trust fund for [players] to get paid,” Taggart told reporters Tuesday during ACC spring meetings.

“It really bothers me, we always talk about paying players, but I think we all know as adults when they need it the most is when they graduate and getting ready to start their life.

“They don’t need it in school. Not everybody is going to the NFL. Not everybody gets jobs once they get out. So to have a little fund for them to start their lives out is the best thing.

“But I think they need to graduate in order to get that fund. That solves a lot of issues. I guarantee that entices a lot of guys to graduate, and you can probably eliminate the APR after that.”

Taggart addressed the topic when asked if players could be paid by the NCAA with potential profits that could flood college sports after the Supreme Court opened the door for legalized betting Monday.

“I don’t think they necessarily need to do that to pay players. I guess when you get more revenue, you have more money to pay them. If you do it or not, that’s totally different,” Taggart said of the issue.

But Taggart remains a staunch advocate of college athletes finishing school with their degrees.

Taggart says paying athletes after graduation could help them move forward in life at a time when they need financial support.

“We need to think about helping them when they get out of college. Not while they’re in college and we’re taking care of them,” Taggart said.

“They’ve been taken care of all their life. Once they get out of school, nobody takes care of them. That’s when most of the kids get themselves in trouble. Or they’re not moving forward in life because of that.

“I think we all know that and see that, but I guess that’s too easy to do. To me, that’s the right thing to do. But they have to graduate. Everybody’s talking about pay, pay, pay. Nobody’s talking about graduate anymore.”