Should college athletes be employees of their universities?

I spent 14 years on the college football sidelines. I hate to admit it but I've cleared kids to go back in with concussions because our protocols allowed it, and I have watched some of our former linemen in their post college life struggle to remember their kids names. Things like that keep me up at night. When a player's eligibility ends, the university's responsibility ends. No long-term care, no monitoring and no coverage for the brain injuries sustained generating the school's TV money. An employee hurt on the job gets workers comp and ongoing medical coverage. But a lot of college athlete gets four years of nice treatment and then a lifetime of bills. Boston University's CTE Center has found CTE in hundreds of former football players, most of whom never played a snap professionally. If the damage happens on the university's field, on the university's schedule, the university should carry the cost like any other employer.