The Death of Collegiate Track?

Some quotes from James Franklin and new athletic director (yeah we have a new AD in case you didn't know) Sandy Barbour regarding college athletics moving towards stipends and cost of attendance allowances for student-athletes.

via StateCollege.com

Franklin

“I think a lot of times when things are being discussed and talked about it’s football specific and it shouldn’t be,” Franklin said. “What I want to make sure is that the decisions we make are going to allow student-athletes -- women, men -- great opportunities to come get an education and play great sports.”

“But, I would say I have an old soul and I’m old school when it comes to college athletics and student-athletes. I played at East Stroudsburg, and we’d get on the bus and drive 13 hours to play and pull over to the side of the road and eat a soggy hoagie and a Snickers bar."

“I think student athletes should be unbelievably appreciative of having an opportunity to come to a place like Penn State, I really do. I also am sensitive and I’m concerned because I think a lot of the decisions are made based on football. I think that’s troubling because these decisions need to be made on what’s in the best interest for all of our student-athletes."

“We have so many great sports here at Penn State and my concern is that some of the decisions would affect that long term. I think there are some things that the NCAA can do that’s going to be in the best interest of student-athletes and I think we’re all in support of that, doing whatever we can. But I also don’t want to do anything that's going to affect other sports and other student-athletes’ opportunities long-term. We’ve seen sports being cut and things like that, and I think we just have to be very careful with the decisions we make.”

Barbour

“I believe that student-athletes ought to have access to cost of attendance. I have been part of the governance structure that pushed for that. I stood up at the convention four years ago and advocated for it.”

“I do not believe that unionization has any place in college athletics. Our student-athletes are students; they're not professionals. We're going to be about students and about students first.”

“I’m not a fan of unionization. I think it would be a mistake. We’re here for the student experience. And athletics is a wonderful part of the student experience. So we want to do it really well. But we’re not here to have people come in the door and go out the door and not get their education."