The Final Four is decided. The Univ. of Florida, Univ. of Conn, Univ. of Wisconsin and Univ. of Kentucky are in. With the exception of the Badgers, all the participants have won multiple NCAA titles. Bo Ryan might be the best coach in the country ergo Wisconsin reigns. The rich get richer and they like it that way. Oh, there were thrills along the way, but the outcome is the same.

I have an idea. What if we put everyone into the Madness? Instead of the conference tournaments (which the coaches universally hate), play the first round regionally to cut down on travel expenses. In that weekend you could be down to the standard 64. Do the math.

One more essential piece … after expenses split the total net income evenly between ALL the participants. What we have now is the domination of the so-called “power conferences.” I am actually proposing this for the benefit of the coaches.

Number One, if the money was evenly split maybe the administrators wouldn’t be so quick to fire the coach for not playing during March Madness. Maybe the coach could actually do his job—the development of the young men he coaches. They are already doing that you say. Maybe so, maybe not.

What kind of training is it when rules are broken to achieve an acceptable result? The majority of programs break a rule or two almost daily. There are many reasons why this is so, too numerous to mention today … another day and time. The kids being recruited know. What’s the message? Maybe if some of the survival was removed the coach would behave differently. Maybe the change won’t have any effect. What I do know is that “doing what you usually do, gets you #$@!#!”

The majority of our population has no idea what it takes to be a student-athlete. It is akin to working ones way through college. The difference is they are doing something they love. There are a lot of folks out there wishing they could say that about their job.

One of the athletes participating in this year’s March Madness was asked about athletes getting paid. His response was that he was getting his education paid for ($40,000+ per year). Not bad for doing something you love. This is a topic for another time.

Time for those Final Four teams to get after it.