Coach Konkol on the new era of college sports: Player compensation takes TU by storm

A multibillion-dollar announcement marked a new era in college sports, as schools can now begin paying athletes directly, and TU head men's basketball coach, Eric Konkol gives his thoughts on the new advancements.

"Of course, it's a monumental decision in case in the history of college sports, something that we've been preparing for for quite a while. And I want to give a lot of credit to our administration, Justin Moore and his team, for putting a lot of things in place to get ready for this." said Eric Konkol. "And then that's exactly what we've been doing. And it's just we were prepared for it. We thought that it would happen. A lot of mechanics in place to be able to navigate this. And of course, we're feeling very good about our position within our conference and just all the different things that we're doing to going forward."

So how does this change the recruiting process of things?

"I think that the changes that have been put in place, they're the different. Whereas any type of initial compensation could come from a third party, now it's coming from the school. Any third party over $600 is being scrutinized at a high level. So the way that it's working is much different. It's great that it's being able to come from the school. I of course, I've always been a big believer that that players, should be compensated in a way that is, is is just and fair and it's a fair, free market value and all those types of things. So this is a monumental case to be able to have it come from the school."

On top of these athletes being paid by programs, anyone who competed from 2016 to now is eligible for back pay from the NCAA. Over the 10-year span, a total of $23.1 million will be dispersed throughout. 80% to football, 15% to basketball and 5% to all other sports.

"Well, that's that's a big part of this. And that happened even back in the fall as players were opting in, signing up, knowing what kind of back pay they could get. It's a it's a lot and good for them. And this is a great time to be a college athlete. We wanted to make sure every player, not just the players on our team last year, but any player that has been here at the University of Tulsa that fell within that range in any form of player that we had at a previous institution can take advantage of it."