Scott Rich

There are tons of problems that we face.

No, we have, but we also know that it takes collective buy-in to fix them.

If you just try to take a moral stand on your own, you're really just shooting yourself in the foot, you're shooting your trainees in the foot, etc., etc.

This feels like one of those situations where if Duke wanted to, Duke could put itself out on the limb, say to the world that contracts at Duke mean something, and we're going to go through every step and every legal measure, blah, blah, blah.

But you're right that in the grand scheme of things, the odds of that changing anything are so slim to none.

The only way this works is collective action.

As if a whole conference or a whole group of schools together says, we need to change the way this works and we're going to do this in XYZ way and get the players to buy in as well.

This takes collective action and action.

As long as college athletic departments and the NCAA are content with putting out a bunch of little fires rather than collectively putting out the root cause of those fires, this is going to keep happening.

Darian Mensah's situations are going to happen in every sport, in every year, in every transfer window until the root cause is collectively addressed.

And Duke can't be responsible for doing that on its own.

It's not in Duke's best interest.

It's not in Darian Mence's best interest.

Well, maybe he's already done what's in his best interest, arguably.

But it's not in anyone's best interest is what I'm trying to say.

College sports fandom is not logical.

Correct.

And it doesn't have to be.

For me, as someone who is, you know, a scientist who has to think rationally and logically all the time.

College sports is my escape.