The Cost of Winning

An unapologetic insider's account of the corruption and greed within college athletics.
College sports may have begun as a benign attraction, but it has since morphed into quasi-professional athletic leagues that exploit higher education, taxpayers, and students. A foremost expert in ethics in intercollegiate athletics, Dr. Gerald Gurney spent his career fighting the greed, collusion, and corruption among college presidents, athletic directors, and coaches, playing a pivotal role in the movement for athlete well-being and academic integrity.
The Cost of Winning: An Insider's Perspective on Exploitation and Greed in College Sports is Dr. Gurney's candid memoir, covering his 40-plus years working directly with athletes as they struggled to achieve the dream of a meaningful college degree and a chance at a professional athletic career. He saw firsthand the exploitation of these athletes and the blatant disregard for their education, even as universities touted the educational and character-building values of intercollegiate athletics. Dr. Gurney reveals how academic fraud works at too many NCAA Division I institutions, the lengths individuals and entire programs will go to in order to win, and the unsustainable path in athletic spending.
More than a memoir, The Cost of Winning is an honest, brave, and fascinating account of some of the most remarkable triumphs and disasters in college sports history-an unapologetic depiction of the well-sheltered inner workings of major college athletic programs and prospects for change.

Gerald S. Gurney, PhD (1951-2022), was Professor Emeritus of Academic Affairs at The University of Oklahoma where he was formerly Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academics and Student Life. Prior, Dr. Gurney was Associate Athletic Director for Academic Support and Compliance at the University of Maryland-College Park, Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Affairs at Southern Methodist University, Athletic Academic Counselor at Iowa State University, and Academic Adviser at Grinnell College. He authored or co-authored approximately 40 publications, including Unwinding Madness: What Went Wrong with College Sports and How to Fix It, and gave more than 30 major presentations, including at the U.S. Senate Panel Discussion on Academic Integrity in College Sports in 2019. He also appeared in the documentaries Schooled: The Price of College Sports (EPIX), Gaming the System (HBO), and Dropping the Ball: The Shady Side of Big-Time College Sports (SiriusXM and NPR).
Learn more at www.geraldgurney.com.