The NCAA as an organization is beholden to its member institutions. Those member schools are controlled, largely, by their most financially well-endowed donors. The booster class runs college sports, choosing which recruits and coaches to spend their money on.
Paying the players is a new practice that's only been happening, legally and transparently, at least, for a few years. Of course, coaches have been paid since the dawn of the 20th century. It's always been a monetized profession.
In 2026, despite social justice efforts to fix the issue, the profession is still rigged against Black coaches who are looking for head coaching jobs at top universities by the booster class.
Texas professor Leonard N. Moore has poignant message for boosters
University of Texas American history professor Leonard N. Moore took shots at those in such positions. He slyly swiped at men who run NFL franchises in their minds, but are playing with taxpayer dollars in a far more profound way than NFL owners -- who benefit from public stadium financing, tax-exempt municipal bonds, and lower capital gains tax rates, but unlike colleges, aren't completely tax exempt. Including, and most notably, on revenue.
“This was an issue going back to the 1900s with Princeton, Yale and Harvard,” Moore said to The Austin American-Statesman. “I think (the boosters) have too much power. Some of them can’t get an NFL team, and they think they have some ownership at the college level. If you make a program all about the money, that’s what happens.
“Black dudes aren’t getting coordinator jobs anymore. And that’s the quickest way to a head-coaching job. Let’s have a level playing field and let the best man win the job. But African American coaches aren’t getting that.”
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Remember, athletic department revenue is folded into the revenue of the larger umbrella of a university. Every school is a representation of the state it is in because it's on the taxpayers' collective dime.
Boosters across the country denying a fair chance at representation for some of their state's highest-paying jobs to millions of tax-paying Black Americans, many of whom live in SEC territory, sounds comically evil.
Of course, when you have people/alleged reptilian beings in a skin suit, like the despicably listed Les Wexner, as the biggest booster at an institution like The Ohio State University, it all horrifyingly comes into focus.