By: Faith Harris and Claire Huss
Capital News Service
It’s a bold move as a student-athlete to spend your day leading a union and working on labor issues at the national level.
It’s another thing to show up to practice afterward, where your views might differ from that of your coach.
But that’s exactly what basketball star Oluchi Okananwa is doing at the University of Maryland this season as she opposes the Protect College Sports Act in the U.S. Congress.
“Obviously, this is something that affects both of us greatly,” Okananwa said of her coach. “But of course, we both do look at it from different lenses.”
Her coach, Brenda Frese, has said she supports at least “some sort of structure” to govern college sports.
“Anything that helps in terms of us getting some sort of parameters and structure, I’m always going to be for, as long as it doesn’t impact the student-athletes,” Frese said.
The Protect College Sports Act is meant to bring order to chaos in college sports. Among other things, it would help protect sports programs from lawsuits against restrictions on player eligibility and on endorsement deals for athletes. It passed the U.S. Senate by a wide margin and awaits consideration in the House.
But critics worry the measure would unfairly limit the athletes’ earning potential and autonomy. They’re concerned about giving too much power to school and association leadership – at the expense of athletes. The NAACP, a leading voice against racial injustice, opposes the measure in its current form.
The civil rights organization expressed concerns about the bill in an August letter to the Senate, citing how schools with majority white student bodies profit off of black athletes yet want to restrict their revenue with the act.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers from Maryland shared those concerns. Maryland Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen both stood against the act in the Senate vote.
“I am not satisfied in particular with the salary caps,” Alsobrooks told CNS. “The idea that we should cap the potential of the athletes, the people who make the money, who do all the work, but address nothing about these coaches.”
Back on campus in College Park, the coach and player are respectful on the subject.
“We’re all trying to figure out this landscape together,” Frese said.
But Okananwa isn’t shy about her advocacy as president of the United College Athletes Association (UCAA) union. She has even partnered with U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on social media to urge lawmakers to vote no.
When asked about the NAACP’s position, Okananwa told CNS she sees the point, noting that “predominantly Black men” profit from revenue sharing and from the use of their name, image and likeness.
One of the UCAA’s main goals is to establish collective bargaining agreements for student athletes – similar to what NBA players sign. The approval of the Protect College Sports Act would end the potential of any such agreements, according to the union.
“It’s really vital for the student athletes to not just be a part of that, but be a main contact,” Okananwa said. “That’s really the concern, that it was drafted without us involved here.”
She has not directly connected with Maryland lawmakers yet on the topic, Okananwa noted, but those conversations are likely to occur soon.
Even though the coach and player don’t entirely agree, conversations between Okananwa and her coach about the legislation have been amicable. The two say they have had multiple discussions about the bill and Okananwa’s advocacy for it, sending each other articles about the legislation and related issues.
Frese addressed the changing landscape of college athletics across her 24 years as the university’s women’s basketball coach.
Okananwa acknowledges that the two might have different perspectives because she’s never been a coach. Frese, who played for Arizona in college from 1989-1992, has been coaching at Maryland longer than Okananwa has been alive.
“I think that’s the beauty,” said Frese, “is that we get to work with student athletes and be able to have a variety of opinions.”
