Donation request a little tone-deaf

Imagine if your supervisor said you and your coworkers should each set aside $50 of your paycheck so the office can make a major purchase. The donation is voluntary, but there will be a list of who does donate (meaning you’ll also know who doesn’t donate).

I don’t suppose it would matter how well-intentioned that money pooling was. Whether it be for donut Fridays, a Christmas party or helping a coworker befallen with medical expenses, you’d feel like you were being squeezed.

Now imagine you’re not getting paid.

That’s something like I imagined Friday morning, when I saw news of an effort by the University of Lousiana-Lafayette football program asking its players to set aside $50 each for the school’s booster club.

“The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Department of Athletics is thrilled that head coach Billy Napier’s football program and its student-athletes expressed their collective desire to give back and show gratitude to the Ragin’ Cajuns Athletic Foundation,” ULL Assistant Athletic Director for Communications Patrick Crawford said. “Members of the football program have started an initiative to demonstrate their appreciation to the RCAF, including its board of directors, staff and investors, when they are able to do so.”

The story got mixed up somewhere over the last few days, and it was believed the players were required to give $50 to their own booster club. Calmer heads have prevailed, and we now know the players are only being “encouraged” to set aside some of their scholarship stipends to donate to the booster club.

So the policy isn’t mandatory. But college programs across the country have “voluntary” practices all the time — but coaches know who is skipping the “voluntary” practice. The list of who donates is kept by the university, so the program also knows who’s not making the “voluntary” donation.

I wouldn’t expect a player to believe their playing time doesn’t get judged to some degree by how many voluntary practices — and now donations — they make.

I don’t think Billy Napier is a bad person, and I believe he has good intentions for the entire athletic department. I also believe many of his players saw those intentions when they were asked to donate. But it’s naive to think some players aren’t feeling a little squeezed or that their playing time is at risk.

It comes across as a little tone-deaf on Napier’s part, despite his intentions. In 2018 Napier had a base salary of $850,000 a year, with a chance to make another $650,000 or so in incentives if his players produce, and $2 million more to spread around to his coaching staff. It’s not a ridiculous salary in the field, and there were 87 Division I coaches that had a higher salary last season. But it still feels off to be asking players who can’t make money off their talent to show gratitude by paying the organization that makes sure you make money off their talent.

At least the university didn’t tell them, “Remember, it’s tax-deductible.”

Kevin Wilson is editor of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at:

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