Yesterday, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster told reporters that he and other coaches had a policy of fining players for things like missing practices or meetings. The reason Foster was ever asked about fines in the first place was that a few beat reporters had noticed a screen in the team facility displaying a list of finable offenses. Now, thanks to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, we know exactly what was on that list of fines.
Just look at that bullshit right here. (And note that the scale roughly indexes the priorities of a meathead college football coach—a dirty locker, for example, is apparently more than three times as bad as being disruptive enough in class for an instructor to report it.):
These are fines being thrown at players who, aside from a piddly shit cost-of-attendance stipend—$3,280 or $3,620, depending on whether a player is from out of state or not—aren’t getting any kind of monetary compensation in exchange for their labor. The Times-Dispatch has another photo, in which fines for “improper equipment” are detailed. A seventh offense would have cost a player $1,600.
According to the Times-Dispatch, at least five players had already been fined under this system:
A third screen listed players who apparently had already been assessed fines, with their name, offense, date it occurred and amount fined.
One player, for example, had been fined $20 for missing a meeting on Aug. 17, $10 for missing breakfast that day and $20 for missing treatment the following day, according to the monitor. Another player was listed as having $100 unsportsmanlike conduct fine and two $20 fines for missing special teams meetings.
In total, the screen showed five players being fined a total of $330.
Hopefully those guys will get their money back.