A federal judge in Tennessee on Friday granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits the NCAA from enforcing its own rules against pay-for-play in recruiting. Effective immediately, name, image and likeness collectives can negotiate deals with recruits without fear of NCAA sanctions.
My first reaction to the news: This renders the entire plot of “Blue Chips” obsolete.
If you’ve never seen that classic 1994 college basketball film, here are the key details: Nick Nolte plays Pete Bell, a big-time coach (clearly modeled after Indiana’s Bob Knight) so desperate to get his struggling program back on track that he sells his soul and allows a booster to go buy some recruits. Stud center Neon Boudeaux (played by Shaquille O’Neal) gets a new car. The mother of Butch McCrae (Penny Hardaway) gets a house. And a big ol’ tractor shows up at the farm of Ricky Roe (former Indiana big man Matt Nover).
But an investigative reporter catches wind of the operation. Things don’t end well for coach Bell.
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Federal judge blocks NCAA from enforcing NIL rules
I bring this up because in 1994, even a non-basketball fan walking into their local cinema would be aware that paying high school recruits was a cardinal sin. This assumption was so ingrained in the public that an entire film…
