When Rich Paul speaks, people listen. And that includes the NCAA.
Only a few hours after Rich Paul’s op-ed in The Athletic went live, the NCAA announced that they would waive the requirement for ‘certified’ agents to have a Bachelor’s degree. While the Bachelor’s Degree is still technically a part of the criteria, it can be waived if the potential agent is in good standing with the National Basketball Players Association.
The NCAA also denied that specific individuals, aka Paul, were in mind when they drew up this criteria that targeted people with his background.
While specific individuals were not considered when developing our process, we respect the NBPA’s determination of qualification and have amended our certification criteria.
Student-athletes now can be represented by agents who meet the following requirements:
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Have a bachelor’s degree and/or are currently certified and in good standing with the NBPA.
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Have NBPA certification for a minimum of three consecutive years.
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Maintain professional liability insurance.
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Complete the NCAA qualification exam.
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Pay the required fees.
Although the question of whether the NCAA should be certifying agents is another one entirely, they have changed one of the more discriminatory rules of the certification. And they probably wouldn’t have changed it were it not for the public uproar from players, agents and of course this morning’s essay from Paul.
