Lou Holtz Rips CA Athlete Pay Law: ‘You Go to School to Get an Education’

College coaching legend Lou Holtz took the State of California to task for its new law that would allow college athletes to receive pay for endorsements.

The former University of Notre Dame coach told Fox & Friends that people go to college for an education, not to make money. He also worried that the scheme to pay athletes upsets the balance.

“You go to school in order to get an education,” Holtz told the hosts. “Why do schools even have sports? Because you learn so much from sports. You learn about adversity, you learn about getting along with other people, you’re learning about teamwork and being unselfish. All these qualities will carry over. You ask almost everyone who ever played athletics how much they learned, and that’s why we have them. We don’t have them for money.”

Holtz added that schools are already spending money on things to help the athletes, such as training, and workout facilities, food, and equipment.

“I just think we cannot get in this thing of paying somebody,” Holtz added.

The NCAA agrees with Holtz and has spoken out against the California law.

In its latest statement, the NCAA insists that a “patchwork” of state-by-state rules is not effective.

“As a membership organization, the NCAA agrees changes are needed to continue to support student-athletes, but improvement needs to happen on a national level through the NCAA’s rules-making process. Unfortunately, this new law already is creating confusion for current and future student-athletes, coaches, administrators and campuses, and not just in California,” the organization said.

“We will consider next steps in California while our members move forward with ongoing efforts to make adjustments to NCAA name, image and likeness rules that are both realistic in modern society and tied to higher education,” the statement continued.

“As more states consider their own specific legislation related to this topic,” the NCAA concluded, “it is clear that a patchwork of different laws from different states will make unattainable the goal of providing a fair and level playing field for 1,100 campuses and nearly half a million student-athletes nationwide.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.