The University of Virginia Football Rip-Off

The University of Virginia announced a few days ago that it had hired a new football coach, who it will reportedly pay $3.25 annually.

What a huge waste of money.  On top of this, UVA students are required to pay a sports fee of $657 annually, one of the highest in the nation among large public universities.

UVA students should go on strike against paying this exorbitant and useless fee to support a bloated athletic department budget.

Here's an undeniable FACT about college football:  100% of games result in someone lossing.  In the aggregate, 50% of games played will result in a loss.

What that means, for schools like UVA, is that unless they can out-recruit the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Ohio State, etc. they are going to be on the losing end.  And, in the long run, there is NO WAY that UVA can out-recruit the major FBS football powers.  About the best UVA can hope for is to occasionally have a decent season in the ACC and go to a minor bowl (heck, anyone can go to a minor bowl these days, but that very fact has completely devalued the entire bowl experience.)

Anyway, there is a much better way for UVA and similarly situated schools to go.  Instead of participating in an ever escalating arms race that it cannot possibly win, it should drop out.  UVA ought to join other more academically oriented and/or smaller schools, such as Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, Temple, Villanova, Rutgers and form an Ivy League type of college football conference.  One that promotes the true idea of student athlete.  The Ivy League school play a ten game season, with no playoffs, no bowl games, limited scholarships, etc.  The season is still competitive--within the league--but not over the top.  (The two teams that play for the national championship this season will likely have played 15 games apiece, a ridiculous sacrifice for unpaid college kids to be asked to make for the glory of their rich alumnae.)

UVA could then slash its football budget, eliminate the hated student fee and pursue its primary mission:  educating students. It could also set an example that would encourage other schools to stop the madness and bring rationality (some) back to college football.