Should college athletes be employees of their universities?

I've taught at a Power 4 university for twelve years. Here's what I see from the faculty side: the head football coach's contract has a buyout clause he will absolutely use the day a better offer arrives, and nobody calls it disloyal. For decades, a player who wanted the same freedom lost a year of eligibility. The portal loosened the chains, but the double standard built the whole system: maximum mobility for the millionaires, maximum control for the teenagers. Employment status wouldn't create professionalism. It would just extend to players the labor rights their coaches have always enjoyed. I grade papers for a living, so I know a rigged rubric when I see one.