Some observations and potential solutions:
Baseball has a minor league system, so that College baseball is not so important. Those with lesser academic upside simply go directly to the minor leagues.
A minor league football and basketball system (sponsored by the pro leagues) might serve the same purpose, except that College football/basketball are currently the big money makers that fund the rest of the sports, Title IX etc.
That college football/basketball are migrating over to high $$ "super-leagues" is also a problem in high school football/basketball (the Catholic schools are becoming the big dogs, public schools have rules that make it hard for them to compete), look for public high schools/colleges to trim non-football basketball sports in future years.
Solutions:
1) There should be some revenue-sharing in college football/basketball (as there is in pro sports). There should also be a "draft" of high school players/transfers that favors the struggling schools (also like the pros). That way, there might be some parity and more interesting competition.
2) Players that are clearly not academically eligible should play for a football/basketball minor league system. Like baseball, these players would get some income and be groomed for the pros.
3) Non football/basketball sports need to generate A LOT MORE REVENUE (which means hitting up alumni and charging more for attendance, possibly their own TV deals and advertising etc). College swimming, track, volleyball, wrestling, soccer, lacrosse, gymnastics etc actually have much marketing potential (this might also help in boosting profiles/revenues of female athletes). Other college sports (like cross country) are cheap to run and will probably never be affected.
I'm not one to take all the sports (and fun) out of college. Colleges (and high schools) also need to promote the "whole person" (mental and physical). College sports has also been an upward mobility device for many, but I think its time to enforce some reasonable academic standards lest college sports becomes an academic farce.
.Finally, college sports needs to weed out the bad actors (thugs, physically/sexually abusive) that often (but not always) involve football/basketball. These could also be candidates for minor leagues after some sort of successful rehab? Right now, the more reputable colleges have high student-athlete behavioral standards, while leagues like SEC (and others) tend to look the other way. High behavioral standards need to be universally enforced, lest we want to see LSU and 'Bama win everything year after year.
