I first became a Steve Spurrier admirer when he coached at Florida and those of us who are fans of "the ole ball coach," know that he is not exactly traditional in his thinking.

His recent suggestion to begin paying college athletes out of the coaches' pocket just ain't gonna fly. Title Nine notwithstanding, as the armchair shrink Dr. Phil would say, "What were you thinking?" There's a whole myriad of problems associated with this idea, so numerous that I can't even address them all in this column. Suffice it to say, it's a bad idea. Or is it?

Having said that, I can't help but wonder why the ole ball coach brought this up at all. He had to know it violates every rule the NCAA has. He had to know that the idea would literally die on his lips as he was sharing it. He had to know that the handful of buddies he has in the SEC that had signed the petition were only doing so to send a message to potential recruits that they too favored paying the kids for play out of their own pockets. It's not as noble as the ole ball coach suggests; it's a bit more Machiavellian in nature.

Of course this would never happen under the current NCAA rules because of Title Nine, which says what you do for one you must do for all. But I'm sitting here in St. Cloud, Florida on Father's Day morning asking myself, "Was the ole ball coach up to something else?"

However, let's play "What if?" for a moment. What if the super conferences like the SEC and others decided to secede from the union and form a new version of an NCAA that was focused only on the big boys? Would that open the door? After all, these colleges are making millions of dollars off of these kids; why not share some of the wealth?

Could the Machiavellian mind of the ole ball coach be going there? Could this be an early salvo that the BCS members have had enough of the Utah's of the world bellyaching about not getting a shot at the title? Could this be the early stages of a new and different "super league?" Stay tuned; it's not as farfetched as you might think.

To begin with, the NCAA needs the super powers a lot more than they need the NCAA. Even if they formed their own super league, the Utah's of the world would still be lining up for a shot at them, so it won't hurt the big boy's schedules. The fact is super powers wouldn't even waste their time scheduling a Utah when you could have your own classic matchups within the super league.

Is Steve Spurrier, often referred to as Steve Superior by his old nemesis Bobby Bowden, that smart? Before you have a dementia test done on the ole ball coach, you might want to take pause for a moment. Is he on to something here?

NCAA amateurism is the oldest joke in modern times; it simply doesn't exist. There is no equality in college sports. Are you going to try to convince me that a $60,000 annual tuition to get into Vanderbilt is of equal value as the tuition of a typical state-supported school like the University of South Carolina? Kids don't go to Vandy because it's more expensive; they go there because of the quality of the education.

What about the nobility of playing at Army, Navy, or the Air Force Academy? Let's be fair, kids don't go to an academy to play for a National Championship. If they did, the academies would be playing for a title every year. In short, there will be some casualties under the super league idea. It doesn't necessarily make it a bad idea. Could this be what the ole ball coach was thinking?

Actually, as creative as the ole ball coach is, I'm not sure he's smart enough to have concocted this idea of paying athletes to pave the way for secession from the NCAA by the super powers. Given enough court rulings and other NCAA blunders that seem to happen on a daily basis, don't rule it out.

Is that what you were thinking coach?