Ex-UCLA Bruin Josiah Johnson Describes Struggles of Student-Athletes
LBS interviewed former UCLA basketball player Josiah Johnson about The Wooden Effect, a film he co-directed and co-produced. Josiah is the son of former UCLA star Marques Johnson, who founded Point Forward Productions, which produced the documentary. In our interview, we talked about how the idea for the film came about, what it was like growing up in a Wooden environment (both his father and brother won national championships for the Bruins), and whether the current state of the program reflects the standard set by John Wooden.
We also asked Josiah whether the one-and-done rule in college basketball is fair, and if high school kids could handle playing in Europe. One of the most interesting aspects of our conversation had to do with student athletes receiving benefits. Do typical scholarship athletes get enough money to live off of? Do they need more? Is the system fair? Josiah answers all those questions during our conversation:
Josiah says if you can live off of about $150 per month, then you can survive as a college athlete on scholarship at UCLA. Because it’s so little, he believes student-athletes should have more money, or be allowed to work. His thoughts are pretty spot-on with what Ed O’Bannon believes. What do you think?
