It’s a new world when it comes to premier high school athletes, both here on the Peninsula and elsewhere. For some of them who perform at a high level, agents, endorsement contracts and other trappings of professional performers are now routine for gifted teens.
In large part, the phenomenon is a trickle-down result of what’s occurring at the collegiate level. There, it’s the Wild West (and east and everywhere in between) when it comes to paying players.
Court cases have opened the door to significant cash outlays for college athletes in two specific ways, via paychecks from the schools themselves and through outside endorsement deals.
The pressure to secure the services of outstanding teen talent earlier and earlier has escalated accordingly. There are few limits. Patrick Walsh, the highly successful head football coach at Serra High School, has seen all of this up close.
Walsh, who has guided the football fortunes of the San Mateo all-male Catholic school for a full generation (25 seasons so far), said he is aware that at least three of his current players have agents.
“I have nothing to do with any of that,” he said during an interview earlier this month.
One of those athletes, a prime junior recruit, posted a revealing statement on X (formerly Twitter) that he had made $159,000 trading crypto currency with the help of an individual he described as a coach (presumably an investment tutor); he added that he had purchased a new car in the bargain.
None of that is banned behavior. But it’s one indication of financial activity by a high-level prep athlete that would have raised some eyebrows just a few years ago. Not so much now. Things have changed. A lot.
Walsh said, early on as pay-for-play regulations faded away, he was not thrilled about what was happening. Lately, though, he said he has come to terms with it. “It is what it is,” he said. “It’s reality. We have to live with it and adjust to it.”
He explained that California’s prep rules prohibit a high school from paying student-athletes. But an outside entity or individual can provide compensation. He added that even ultra-talented pre-high school kids can take advantage of the current environment.
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That’s where agents can come into play. The family of San Bruno’s McKenna Wolizckso, a senior basketball star at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, hired representatives for her during her junior year.
Their job was (and is) to assist with the many aspects of her looming future in college and beyond: Contracts, endorsements, investments, tax ramifications (which are especially relevant due to California’s high income tax rates), recruitment particulars, etc.
Her father, Aaron, has explained the outlines of the process in a Facebook online interview with supporters of the University of Iowa women’s basketball program.
He said his daughter has signed a one-year contract to play for Iowa during the upcoming academic year. “We’ll see where she ends up next year,” he said. Precise dollar figures were not revealed during the interview. But he said, “We left money on the table for McKenna to play for Iowa.” He added that guaranteed playing time is not part of her contract.
She is on track to graduate from Mitty this spring. That traditional timeline is not always the case. Some athletes leave their schools midway in their senior year (in January) to attend their chosen colleges — and begin to get paid by them — as early as possible.
“Some high schools are adjusting to that,” Walsh said. They are providing accelerated courses to allow for early graduation in special cases. Walsh said he understands. In fact, he declared that he has no philosophical reason to fight the new landscape. “I’m pretty much a free-market guy,” he said.
Outstanding athletes seeking more exposure, stronger competition and the potential for bigger paydays down the line are also transferring to high-profile high school athletic programs with increasing frequency.
Walsh, who operates his own youth athletic enterprise, Next Level Sports, as a thriving business venture, said he believes that college athletes should have been reaping the financial benefits of profitable big-time sports programs all along.
For decades, some college programs paid prime talent under the table in violation of rules imposed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Those restrictive days are over. Now, Walsh said, “It’s all out in the open, it’s allowed and it can be regulated.”
In the end, the effect on, and the potential rewards for, precollege athletes should not be a surprise, he offered. It was inevitable. Money talks.
(1) comment
Thanks for your column today, Mr. Horgan, on the subject of teen athletes raking in money. With this development, you have to wonder when lawsuits will occur between parents and teens about control of said money. Teens wanting “their” money to buy whatever teens want, or told they want, versus parents who may have their own wants, whether for their teens or not. I guess we can stay tuned and hope for the best…but not be surprised when we inevitably encounter the worst. Is that a glass half-full or a glass half-empty outlook?
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