Phillip's blog: Right thing to do

As the wealthiest programs in college football await the coming of a four-team playoff that will make them even wealthier, no one has said a word about the players maybe getting even a smidgen of the windfall.

Senior Editor Phillip Marshall

Last fall, the NCAA Board of Directors agreed to allow schools, if they wanted, to pay athletes stipends of up to $2,000. But, alas, enough schools sought an override to force the policy to be suspended. I'm really not sure why. The idea that it would hurt recruiting for smaller, poorer schools is silly. Those schools can't recruit against the big boys with or without a stipend.

Anyway, Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez spoke out with a good idea Monday. He said schools should furnish athletes three meals a day as they did in the days of athletic. I've always found it morally wrong that so much physical exertion is asked of athletes and the number of meals they can be provided is limited.

Anyway, here's what Rodriguez said:

"Let's allow all the schools to give all the athletes meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner," Rodriguez said on Tim Brando's radio show. "Right now, they get meals, but it comes out of their scholarship check. Let's provide meals on top of the scholarship. Let us feed them breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

"If nothing else, that's an easy solution to help them get through their college careers. And everyone wants to feed them right anyway. I think that's an easier solution than trying to figure out what kind of stipend to give them."

Someone better come up with something. Sooner or later, as millions of dollars turn into billions of dollars, players are going to demand a change.

Moving on:

Third-year Auburn basketball coach Tony Barbee said dismissals and defections that cost the Tigers five players in the offseason aren't a sign his program is going in the wrong direction.

In an interview with Evan Woodberry of the Mobile Register, Barbee said:

"This will be the most talented team I've had since I've been here. Other people might be saying, 'Well, we lost this guy, we lost that guy.' Well, the players we brought in are better than the players that left. That's why our program is moving in the right direction." ...

Who would have thought it? Mike Dyer and Isaiah Crowell, can't miss running back, who signed with SEC teams in 2010 and 2011, are both gone. Dyer is at Arkansas and Crowell is facing two felony charges.

Other than the fact that both are gone, there's really not a lot of similarities. Dyer has neither been arrested nor charged with any crime. ...

I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July. I certainly did. ...

Until next time ...