UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma believes the modern NCAA landscape is operating at an unsustainable rate.
"College sports is dying," Auriemma said, per Yahoo Sports. "I've had parents pass away, and when they were dying on the inside, they didn't always show it on the outside. So on the outside, I think, sometimes it looks like 'Wow, everything's great.' ... On the inside it's dying. Because every single day, something comes up to show you a symptom of the disease that we're suffering."
He added, "Imagine you have an 18-year-old kid that you're raising, and there's no rules, there's no structure, anything goes. And if they don't like your decision, they go get a judge, and they sue you. So tell me how in God's name something like that can survive. It can't."
Recent changes to NIL policies and transfer portals have created several controversies in recent months. LSU's football program is currently facing plenty of heat after a Louisiana judge passed a preliminary injunction to allow former NFL players on its roster.
Auriemma believes the rampant negative news cycle is impacting fans' connection to NCAA sports as well.
"They read about another lawsuit, another coach trying to get away with anything they can, another school doing whatever they have to do to win," he said. "... The more this happens, and the more these keep being the central focus of the news, the more we're dying one day at a time."
Auriemma has coached UConn since 1985, and he's won 12 national titles with the program.
