Gene Smith, director of athletics
Arizona State University
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Arizona)

"Student-athletes receive a huge benefit financially through their scholarships. People downplay the honor that is. I tell our recruited kids they should pause and be thankful. A lot of kids don't have the opportunity to get a college education funded. I tell them to take a second here to realize the special position you're in."

Matt Walters, football student-athlete
University of Miami (Florida)
East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Arizona)

"I think we're getting a cut of (the profit football generates) because they're paying for our school, and you don't realize how much that's worth until we're done. In the grand scheme of things, they're paying us as it is."

Role of the FAR

Linda Bensel-Meyers, professor
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Kansas City Star

"The FARs are clearly the weak link in the system, asked to carry far heavier a burden and charge than they are empowered to enforce. Some sell out, some remain naive, but regardless, they all tend to be the first scapegoats in times of trouble, no matter what they do."

Division I-A football playoff

David Goldfield, faculty athletics representative
University of North Carolina, Charlotte
Kansas City Star

"(Presidents) have the power to change the culture. They have the power to stop Thursday and Tuesday night football games. They have the power to stop the playoff system. But will they? I doubt it. Once that (BCS) contract is up (in 2006), if I were a betting person, I'd say the playoff system will probably be a reality. The economics are too overwhelming, and the presidents are not going to stand up for the student."

Title IX

Editorial
USA Today

"With so many players taking the (football) field and so much money following them, sports fans might be puzzled by some boosters' complaints that men's intercollegiate programs are in trouble. ...

"To hear the critics tell it, Title IX has spawned discrimination against men by forcing the shutdown of 400 programs -- notably wrestling and gymnastics -- to create new sports for women.

"What the critics won't acknowledge is that the biggest drain on athletics budgets isn't women's sports but football, with 80- to 100-man squads (twice the size of NFL teams) and fat salaries for coaches. ...

"Critics who blame women's sports and the federal law for eliminating men's athletics opportunities are shooting at the wrong target. Athletics departments too obsessed with bowl games to consider creative ways to provide opportunities for women created their own problem.

"Watering down the law would reward their bad behavior."

Krista Kafer, education policy analyst
The Heritage Foundation
USA Today

"(W)hile quotas make compliance simple, that doesn't make them fair. For one thing, they don't account for levels of interest. If more boys than girls show an interest in sports -- and research shows that they do -- it doesn't matter. If a school expands opportunities for women and even has openings unfilled, it doesn't matter. Only meeting the quota matters.

"Imagine what would happen if the government demanded that universities establish quotas for male participation in female-dominated interests such as arts, music and literature. Elimination of academic programs there would be just as devastating to women as this system has been for men.

"The answer is simple: Eliminate quota enforcement and allow colleges and universities to provide opportunities for all according to student interest."