Shatel: Where is college athletics headed? An SEC consultant might have the answers

When Bruce Rasmussen came to Creighton in 1980, Jays basketball coach Willis Reed was making $30,000 a year.

Fourteen years later, Rasmussen hired Dana Altman for $150,000 a year.

“I almost got fired,” Rasmussen said. “Our president was like why are you giving him that kind of money?”

Ah, yes. The innocent age.

Today college basketball players are getting paid $300,000-750,000 NIL sums to transfer schools. It’s a runaway train driven by greed and competitive boosters.

It’s only just beginning.

Soon, college athletes may sign contracts for salaries that are collectively bargained for with schools by the athletes and their representatives.

The situation is fluid, as the NCAA has stepped out of the way and college athletics go farther away from amateurism and closer to an identity of professionalism. These are historic times.