The NCAA should have learned from Major League Baseball. For years, MLB used the reserve clause to keep their players for as long as they wanted them. The NCAA restrictions weren’t as bad as Major League Baseball but considering that the players received just room, board and tuition when millions were being reaped in by the NCAA and the colleges was extremely unbalanced.
The NCAA when confronted with the amount of money being made by the NCAA and the colleges made no effort to compensate the players. When the courts ruled in the players’ favor, it became like free agency in Major League Baseball…players going to the highest bidder…my team be damned.
If the NCAA had developed a better compensation plan before it went to the courts it may have been able to avoid the runaway freight train it has become.