Agents or Players: Who is to blame?

All week the only thing that seems to have been talked about on sports radio and television is the controversy of NCAA football players and agents having improper contact. Everyday a new school is under investigation. Heck, University of Florida is even under multiple investigations. But who is the real culprit here: the players or the agents?

Earlier in the week Nick Saban compared agents to pimps. He offered that the actions of agents are no better than those of a pimp and went further to say that he is disgusted by their actions. He clearly put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the agents, essentially offering that a student-athlete is still young and impressionable.

When Urban Meyer was asked about agents being allowed on Florida's campus he was quick to say that no agents have ever been, nor will ever be allowed on campus. This same statement has been made similarly by most of the other schools under investigation as well.

All week coaches were deflecting the criticism back to the agents. It appeared as though the agents were villains and by the accusations being made by these coaches, why shouldn't we believe that they are?

However, that changed during SEC Media Day when Tennessee coach Derek Dooley and Auburn coach Gene Chizik both insisted that players must be held to the same accountability as the agents. Both coaches insist that this clearly is not the first time that there have been interactions between players and agents and also made it clear that the players are happy to participate in these meetings as well.

When it gets down to it, who is to blame? The NCAA is not going to change their rules for football players to talk to agents early or to leave for the NFL earlier. Should agents be penalized by the NFL and NFLPA if they are caught interacting with student-athletes who have yet to declare for the draft? Or should players lose their eligibility and their teams be stripped of wins because of their improper contact? At the end of the day the only people who get hurt when an investigation proves there was early contact are the players and the teams. Shouldn't the agents have some kind of penalty as well?