Tommy Tuberville on Paying College Athletes: ‘Players Are Already Getting Paid’

Senator and former college football coach Tommy Tuberville (R, AL) sounds like a no on whether college athletes should receive further pay.

In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Tuberville stressed that not only is college sports not a “farm” system for professional sports, but the former Auburn and Cincinnati coach also reminded that college athletes already receive pay.

“Players are already getting paid,” Tuberville told TMZ Sports while at Reagan National Airport. “You’ve got to remember that. They’re getting their scholarship.

“Plus, most of them are getting $600, $700, $800 cash a month for what we call cost of attendance,” Tuberville added. “And, so, nobody’s going hungry as a college athlete. Men and women.”

A major effort to compensate college athletes is making its way through the halls of power in Washington and the NCAA. Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders (D, VT) introduced legislation calling NCAA athletes “employees” and would allow them to unionize. Other states have begun pushing for reforms to allow athletes to receive compensation for name, image, and likeness.

“This is not a minor league farm system.”

Tuberville continued, “This is not farm minor league sports. It is education … at the end of the day, it should be about education.”