Bruce Pearl, Ted Cruz Blast 'Arrogant' NCAA And The Current State of NIL
The ex-Auburn coach was a guest on the Texas senator's podcast.
Former Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl joined Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) on the latest episode of his podcast, and neither one of them held back on the state of college athletics.
Both Pearl and Sen. Cruz have been outspoken about the state of college sports and the NCAA in the era of NIL.
During their discussion on Verdict with Ted Cruz, co-host Ben Ferguson asked Pearl for his thoughts on the subject.
"Do you love it or hate it? Can I just ask that?" he asked.
"Well, first of all, the NCAA was arrogant and not recognizing that they were sitting on our country's biggest antitrust violation," Pearl said. "They were just arrogant."
READ: TED CRUZ SLAMS NIL & GAMBLING PUSH, GIVES JOHN KENNEDY SOME SAVAGE ONE-LINERS
He went on to say that he was a big believer in what the opportunity to land an athletic scholarship meant for people.
"Think about it. Rural Americans [who] never dreamed of going to college, all of a sudden, they had the opportunity through something that they maybe were good at in sports, got them on the campus."
"And inner-city kids, lots of kids that couldn't afford it, that had no history of family going to college," Sen. Cruz added.
Former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and Senator Ted Cruz ripped the current state of the NCAA and college athletics. (Getty Images)
Pearl went on to talk about how the system that we've got here in the US — which allows athletically gifted people to pursue degrees they may not have had the chance to otherwise — is unique, but needs to be fixed.
"So, we've got a unique system that right now needs fixing, because it's a disaster," he said. "It's chaos off the court. On the field and on the court. It's great. The product that we're putting out is really, really good. But the problem is what we're paying our top student athletes, because everybody wants to win, is ridiculous.
"Back in the day, 10 years ago, you couldn't give them a hamburger; now you can buy them a hamburger restaurant, it’s not against the rules," He continued. "Literally, the top college football programs that are competing right now, their rosters are between $35 and $40 million for that roster right now."
Cruz noted that most schools can't afford to shell out money at this clip, which led Pearl to point to some interesting examples.
"Why is Indiana and Miami (in the National Championship Game)?" Pearl asked. "Great coaching, great kids, great support, but Indiana would be a great example. All of a sudden, Mark Cuban, the people at Indiana said, 'You know what, we're going to be committed.' Now the challenge is, are you going to do it every year? And it's one thing in your world, you got to raise $20 million for an election, $30 million, whatever it is…"
"Add a zero to that, my last race was a quarter-billion-dollar race," Senator Cruz said.
"And I sent $1,000, very happy to have supported you," Pearl said, before pointing out how putting up the kinds of money needed to be competitive is not sustainable.
"College sports are losing an enormous amount of money," he said. "We can't continue to afford it. And so, who's going to suffer from it? At some point, Olympic sports are going to get cut."