I totally agree that money ruins things, including education, and that massive reforms are needed at all levels.
And I do think that the whole student athlete thing is a bit of a dodge. Creating a small number of poster boys-people who come out of poverty and go to school next ti societal elites on a sports scholarship-covers up the enormous number of non-athletes who never get that chance. When these examples of fraud happen, it breaks us out of our illusion that everything is fine, and ignorance is bliss.