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If a prominent NCAA gymnast went this route we would never hear the end of the Gymguy80 posts...

More seriously I make the distinction between an individual and a sport using sex appeal for marketing purposes.

At the individual level I think I am pretty neutral on this subject... I have never felt the need to condemn any woman for making money off her appearance. It is your image to sell or not sell and it is the individual's "biz." I am either curious enough to look or not, for better or worse I don't think a "classy" Playboy spread is going to discredit a modern woman these days if she is in the entertainment business... If she is majoring in Elementary Education or wants to be a Business Executive it might not be worth the backlash, remember you cant un-take the pictures.

Since many famous gymnasts (at the Elite level) are underage the whole using sex-appeal to market gymnastics is different than some other women's sports it is a different kettle of fish compared to say Beach Volleyball.

However it seems like half the Romanian National team members over the last 15 years have posed nude (after retiring) and it has not helped or hurt the sport than I can tell.

I don't think NCAA gym programs should try to push the sex-appeal aspect. Partly for a back handed reason... NCAA gymnastics is going to have a certain amount of sex appeal just by the nature of the sport. Fit, flexible, and graceful college aged woman performing in leotards are going to naturally have some sex appeal and I don't think helps the sport to push or exaggerate that aspect... I think efforts would be better spent pushing other aspects of the sport. I really don't think athletes, coaches or administrators want to exaggerate or sell sex appeal.

If an individual NCAA gymnast posed for Playboy during her career the NCAA cops would be dropping out of the sky... After her career I would go back to my starting point... It would be her business but, I admit would certainly look, joke, and kid about it. However I think if some gal asked my advice I would just as soon take a pass on the guilty pleasure and not have it happen.