The senior transfer from Holy Cross has quit the team over "representations" that "were not upheld".
Matthew Sluka said he will instead use his redshirt year.
"I committed to UNLV based on certain representations that were made to me, which were not upheld after I enrolled," he posted on X, formerly Twitter. "Despite discussions, it became clear that these commitments would not be fulfilled in the future. I wish my teammates the best of luck this season and hope for the continued success of the program."
This is the new world of college football in the NIL and unlimited transfers age. I was also discussing with a Florida fan last week that he thinks Napier will get fired after 5 games because they don't want all the players that could use a red shirt to quit the team.
Comments
Yup. Promise the moon and deliver a used Yugo.
after a few miles, they all were highly used.
from what i hear, this wasnt the case. unlv lived up, he just got a big offer elsewhere to take the shirt and transfer
Each side is spinning the story to support their interests.
The QB's camp is saying they promised money and then reneged once he got there. The school is saying they delivered on what was agreed but he got greedy and wanted more/is leaving for a better offer.
Either way - he's chosing to preserve the year of eligibility to try to get more than he's currently getting.
college football is quickly barreling into the realm of unwatchable. I have not watched a single non-VT football game this year (with the exception of a few mins of the GT FSU game .. lol) and I don't see that changing any time soon. I watched 0 of the playoffs last year and unless VT is in the playoffs (LMAO) that trend will continue this year
I'm reduced to only watching the team I support and that team is making it very difficult to stay engaged in the sport at all. On the plus side, I'm having a hell of a fun time watching soccer instead.
I have watched some teams beating up on FSU a couple of times. But just when during a break. Tech or nothing!
I watch VT only and that's due to sheer loyalty to the school I love. With that being said, I only caught the last quarter of the Rutgers debacle after hiking all day. I find it hard to support where the sport is going. It's a never-ending cash grab from the players all the way to the media conglomerates that pull the strings. It's just pure avarice.
Ultimately, the fans are stuck paying more money for an inferior product. We are a prime example of ponying up more money to pay coaches and players that can't quite cut the mustard. The fact that VT seems listless at the moment just further cements my disinterest in the sport.
Hold outs are coming too folks. Pro Football. You will see a Trent Williams and Hassan Reddick situations soon. This is nothing but a watered down UFL now. But this is what people wanted. They wanted millions in cash funneled to college players.
What is the Trent Williams and Hassan Reddick situation? I honestly have no idea what this is.
They- like the UNLV QB- took their ball and went home for more money. Williams got his and is playing. Reddick is not- like the punk from UNLV
I think he means Albert Haynesworth
Which Haynesworth version? The Tennessee version or the version that Washington got after they paid him?
no you wont and here's why:
trent williams and haason reddick are under contract. They are not upholding their end of the contract in hopes of getting a new one.
there are no player contracts holding a player to a team at the college level. if a player is unhappy, they will just leave entirely. why bother holding out if you can just enter the portal.
So i think DC is saying that this is what it is coming to not necessarily what it is now. Foreshadowing the future of college football if you will
i am certain the percentage of NFL players under contract who hold out is far far far less than the percentage of NCAA D1 football players in the portal in any single given offseason
i know it's getting to be spooky szn but the concept of hold outs isn't the awful end that it's made out to be
False comparison. The portal is NFL free agency- hundreds of players every year change teams.
Of course it's a false comparison, that's why it's stupid to compare two union members under contract within the framework of a collective bargaining agreement to *gestures vaguely* all of this.
Haason Reddick has forgone about $8m in salary, fines, bonus forfeiture and so forth. Don't pretend players holding out is without consequences.
1. - No i am not an NFL executive in Manhattan to show you the paperwork- so let's get that straight up front. 2. I have heard from multiple outlets that NFL fines are largely fake and are never paid by the players. It's a PR thing mostly. The Union and Owners always agree to donate a much much less portion to charity, etc. Bottom Line - Reddick is not writing an 8 million dollar check under any circumstances. There are thousands of examples of how pro athletes are not financial savants. If this fine was real, Reddick would be playing. I doubt he has 8 million in hard cash in his account anyway.
God I hate to even reply, but you're being completely disingenuous about this.
1. Nobody said he was writing an $8M check. Clearly a big chunk of that is withheld salary. Way to move the goal posts.
2. Nobody is arguing this guy was worth millions (comment below). You made that up to be alarmist. He's worth whatever someone is willing to pay him, sounds like someone thought that was $100k and now can't or won't pay.
You don't like playing players, we get it. You have made that abundantly clear. We stand on opposite sides of what appears to be a chasm. If you think money ruined college football, you are decades too late. Money ruins everything. At least the people that put their bodies on the line can be compensated for it. And not under the table by creepy bag men. OVER the table by the same creepy bag men. Why? Because to some people, their team winning on Saturday is worth a certain number of dollars. It's an escalating process, it HAS been for decades and it always will be unless there is a CBA involved, and even then it's just escalating at a slower rate.
This is supposed to be a place to celebrate our successes AND vent about our team underperforming and college football in general. But you don't do anything but bitch about eligibility, giving money to players, and our team. I normally skip all of your posts, but it's harder when you completely derail conversations, like you did this one.
Honestly, maybe you need to Marie Kondo college football. Does it bring you joy? If not, find something else to spend your time on. Because it seems like it makes you deeply unhappy.
The fine is 8 million dollars thus far, is it not? You just made up that it wasn't. At least you agree that the NFL is creative with fines- which is what I was trying to say in the first place.
is literally what i wrote in the comment. in the NFL if you don't play due to a holdout, you don't get paid. because it's literally Pay-For-Play
Also nfl = 32 teams of 53 man rosters
Ncaa div I football = 13x teams of 85 man rosters (soon to be 105) + practice squad and walkons
That's why i said percentage
But even then NFL = contracts, NCAA = no contracts. This whole conversation is dumb until it gets to that point
Original statement:
Your reply to original statement:
Your reply to me:
Which is essentially agreeing to the original statement that you issued a disagreement to.
I don't get the disdain for DC.
holdouts are not coming under the current framework
unless and until the framework changes, it's useless to invoke holdouts. it's apples and orange at this point.
even should the current framework change, holdouts wouldn't even be a big deal in the college game, because they aren't a big deal in the NFL.
DC yells at the sky in every thread about how college football is changing. it's old and it's tiresome, and he starts talking bout things that have no real relevance to a) rile himself up or b) rile other people up. i'm tired of the fake pearl-clutching in seemingly every thread about the purity and integrity of a sport that has basically never had much of either.
Yep, and every week we read a more preposterous story about what a farce this sport is "talent fees" Opt outs for more money and you play all high and mighty, dismissive of any issues.
If there's anything I'm dismissive of, it's fearmongering about the sport currently with the perspective of what it might be down the road
Fans paying players directly via a fee is not fearmongering- Tennessee is doing that. Corporate ads on fields to funnel more money to players is not fearmongering- many teams are doing that. Players quitting the season because they are underpaid is not fear mongering - the UNLV QB just did that. Whether you think these are not ruining the sport or not is fine- you are entitled to your opinion. For me- I don't remember "predicting" doom, just opining strongly- yes when things actually come true/happen. I HAVE predicted that these players won't be students at all within 5 years if laws aren't passed- yes I have fear mongered that.
No, it's a good thing
How much do you give to the VT players? Is it a certain % of your salary? do you do it year by year basis? curious as to what your player giving model is.
I don't because I'm super poor, but I like buying a ticket for a college game and knowing how much of what I spend is going directly to the players.
Are we talking about Player Holdouts Coming Soon Because We Are The USFL Lite Now, or are we talking about the monetization of college football
Why are you hung up on the holdouts thing? I could see it happening, you disagree- but you continue to hammer it. OK- I'm the one clutching pearls though. And I know your thoughts on the monetization of college football- the more the better, so that VT is never a serious school at the top level again, and we can have lesser players than the UFL does on Saturdays. I know where you stand on it.
Same. The level of play is really entertaining across the sport and I'm glad players are getting compensated for their labor. It has structural problems because the NCAA is dumb, but it's not ruining the sport.
Like i get the Hokies aren't what we want them to be, but i swear the state of our program influences the way the sport at large is discussed. It's fun! The product on the field is fun!
Yea, i bet the Worshams think it's "fun" seeing their millions being pissed away every year
congrats on making my point entirely -- "the sport" is significantly broader than VT Football and just bc VT Football is doing bad right now doesn't mean the sport is.
There are betting apps now- that makes the beyond VT appeal much greater for me!!
Are you saying the Worshams are also investing in Georgia and Alabama football?
Are you?????
The status of VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL is not the same as COLLEGE FOOTBALL
We talk about COLLEGE FOOTBALL like the sky is falling and it sucks because for VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL the sky is falling and it sucks. the Worshams opinion of VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL has little or no bearing on whether or not the sport of COLLEGE FOOTBALL is or isn't floundering. COLLEGE FOOTBALL is fun!
benw said this about COLLEGE FOOTBALL
and i said this about how VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL influences our discussion on this board about COLLEGE FOOTBALL
I'm not moving goal posts, you're continuing to talk about VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL as a microcosm of COLLEGE FOOTBALL.
I personally think VT football is going to shit, as well as the rest of college football. Perhaps for different reasons, but it's still two piles of shit. Unless you follow one of around 20 teams, in which case I can see how it would be fun. But for the average fan, I don't know how you can think what we have now is more fun than what we had 20 years ago. If we had a team like Bama, UT, etc, I guess things would look good. But to think that the sport, as it applies to entertainment which I would assume is what it is at its core, is doing better or is more fun is not accurate imho.
VT football has absolutely gone to shit in a big way. I am comparing this to when we won conference championships, went toe to toe with USC, Bama, hell we even mustered up a team and scheme that beat eventual champ Ohio State. I will always love AND support - yes via money- my hokies. They are easily my favorite sports team. Having said that- I realized after Vandy- let's just call it what it is - the program is shit right now. We are by all metrics a lower tier ACC team. We are Wake, Syracuse, GT, BC- we are. Sands, Whit, whomever is in charge of donations beyond Mehul- they dropped the ball. Their incompetence gave you the Fuente extension for example- one thing to hire a non recruiter and meh coach- another to extend him. Whit tolerated Cornelsen and bums like Tyrone Nix and Jafar Williams. Whit allowed Fuente to promote a guy to DC that had only ever been a position coach. This is how you lose to ODU and to a bad Duke team. This is how you lose to Liberty. It takes YEARS to build that cred back with recruits. YEARS. So I am realistic. Fuente is long gone. Yeah Fuga and some of his other G5 guys are running around for us on Saturdays- but Pry has had time to get them out of there by now and he hasn't. So now we are trying to win big again with very medicore talent and green OC/DC and Whit sits back and watches it happen. I guess Lane is full so he doesn't give a fuck about anything else. Well I want to win. I hate it that we are fucking Wake Forest now. I hate that we sweat games with Marshall- VT crushed their best ever team like a drum back when we were actually good- I hate that Beamer got picked off by shit ECU teams late in his tenure. But this is what we are right now. Wake, Syracuse, Illinois, Arizona st. Miss State, Maryland, Vandy. We suck. and it sucks from the top down. Whit is not the guy- for sure and Pry is -probably- not the guy. So I guess we sit here and mire in it and accept the fact that the teams we used to mock- we are. The ONLY thing we can still do is beat UVA. Yay. Going to be a long long long few years friends.
I second this, but I still want them to please, please beat GT. I'm going to be at that one with my GT alum sister. I can't take another year of ceding the name "Tech" to that school in Atlanta.
Dont necessarily think the sport is BETTER and MORE FUN, but it's not some awful slogfest like pre-pitch clock shift-riddled Major League Baseball. I LIKE watching big teams play each other more frequently.
And more generally (not you specifically, just a remark), i think we as VT fans have a favorable impression of the sport 20 years ago because we were really good 20 years ago. It's not the only reason, but it certainly has a Good Ol Days halo effect.
I'm with you GGC. CFB is changing (somewhat drastically). What we will have in 5, 10, 15 years will be drastically different than what we had in the 90's, 2000's, and today. I'm not convinced it will be significantly better or worse... but it will be different.
But you can only enter the portal at set intervals. If the report is true that this QB was paid what was promised to him and now he wants more, isn't this really just a hold out? UNLV could come back and ok you have a new "contract".
Overall agree with your point, that it will not be anywhere near as common due to essentially unlimited free agency each off season.
I feel like this path the school just becomes a sponsor and host of a team that's ultimately directly unaffiliated
So the full story might not have been told. Shocking, I know
Does this mean after losses to Vanderbilt and Rutgers that VT can ask to renegotiate for the decreased value of some players? /s
This is sound logic in every single other business in the world of course. But not college football.
I've been trying to renegotiate any FanDuel loss I incur. It hasn't really worked out yet...
So this is all about money now for a guy who must know he can't get to the NFL. So, the family does this. The world is a steaming pile.....
It may be too early for anyone to make the comparison. He's just rattled off 3 wins as the QB for UNLV, 2 of which came against Power-4 opponents. Someone is going to need a QB and Sluka likely did just enough of a preview to get some interest at a lot of other places, and someone will make him an offer that will significantly eclipse what he was allegedly promised at UNLV. Maybe its about the money, but this may also be the equivalent of a JUCO transfer that still has hopes of making it to the NFL and just needs a bigger stage to showcase himself.
I would say this is UNLV trying to tell their side of the story, like much in this world, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle, could they have promised escalators for certain wins but now are backing out of them? Only if the agreement was written down somewhere, and you know, signed by people that could prove who isn't holding up their end of the bargain.
America- the place where the fucking UNLV quarterback is entitled by birth to earn millions of dollars. The only place on earth, the only business on earth.
No, not entitled by birth. Exaggeration during this type of discussion will not help.
Correct- not birth, but a decent season sophomore year in high school when you get on Holy Cross's radar and demand 6 figures 2 years later. No other business in the world.
Now I hate everything. I kinda could at least see if UNLV promised something and didn't deliver but if this is the case then I'm out. You play for fucking UNLV.
Oh no, you are reading it correctly. The former fucking Holy Cross- zero star rated QB- is entitled to millions of dollars now or he won't play. I repeat- you see this NOWHERE else in the world. No law firm pays a premium - or hires at all- a kid with a 2.9 GPA at Strayer law. NO FIRM.
The reports are all over the place. His agent is denying this claim so I have no idea what happened but from his agents perspective they're claiming that he was verbally offered $100k. Guess how much verbal contracts are worth? About the same as a verbal commitment.
"Agents"- fucking preposterous. But that toothpaste is out of the bottle.
of course he would, thats what agents do
not throwing him under the bus, but it is funny, jc price's agent knowingly lied to teams about missing practices due to a bad back, he went with "jc price is a prima donna and didnt like to practice" lol
And he just tanked said market value after quitting on his team in the middle of an undefeated season.
He must be related to Alexandre Dumas.
Deleted tweet isn't suspicious at all.
Yeah the guy recanted saying there's no connection but a UNLV coach lists that reporter in his profile for media queries lol
scumbag sluka
The lack of regulation in the NIL space, which allowed collectives to come up and buy player's image rights up front at an almost certain negative ROI, is the primary problem with NIL.
If there was a central governing body with actual authority, they could have regulated the NIL space from the outset. They could have made rules that disallowed the up front, or pre-purchase, of an individual's image rights by a 3rd party.
Of course, there is no central governing body with actual authority, and everything was implemented with no plan. So we get exactly what you get in a wild west market with no regulation.
This does all seem temporary though, with anti-trust case in play right now, it seems inevitable that the players will become employees.
"almost certain negative ROI" - yep, and businesses/investors do this why?? because apparently the most important thing in America is Go Blue! Your college team winning on Saturday trumps logic, investment, rules, integrity, losing millions. Yep. I am a marine officer who is going to cheat to help Michigan win. I am not going to sue Brian Kelly for killing my child because GO Irish. Is a sick twisted fucking game.
*sigh* oh well.
FWIW:
So we are cool with open bribery now? People go to jail for that.
How do you go from breach of contract to open bribery? And who is we?
So you liked when payments were under the table, non competitive, and untaxable?
I hear you. And I do think there is a lot of stink with NIL. But bribery? I guess you can argue it's a bribe for UNLV to promise the QB money to influence his decision, but to me that's just an offer and a verbal contract, not a bribe. And if there was no intent on UNLV to honor, it's a fraudulent offer and contract.
"I guess you can argue it's a bribe for UNLV to promise the QB money to influence his decision" - pretty much the legal definition of bribery.
But it's not. A bribe has to be affecting someone's trust or abuse of power. Otherwise, every employee contract offer is a bribe.
Also he realized he could probably get more than $100k next season at a bigger school and is capitalizing on the opportunity using the redshirt rule to his advantage
More like realized that he couldn't get more than $12k at his current school, despite being promised $100k
Yea, but if he is being paid his money, he probably doesn't back out. T
But to DC's point earlier about "holding out," I do see scenarios where this is repeated, the QB is getting paid his $100K but SEC school says take your RS, we'll cover your contract losses and add on another $500K (or whatever). And, to be honest, it would be "legal" within all the rules except the tampering part. But, is tampering really punishable under the NCAA NIL? I doubt it.
The legality of it fall within what's written into the NIL deal...and whether or not he gets paid if he voluntarily redshirts.
Smaller schools might even like this one day - develop one player, and effectively trade them for 4 more.
To me, the fix for college football is pretty obvious: you have regional conferences with promotion/relegation and you pay players as employees and you have transfer fees. If you do this, then smaller schools can benefit greatly from collecting and developing strong talent and Traditionally underachieving schools Have an actual path to a national championship. Of course, the stakeholders and powers that be would never allow this.
The "fix" is players as employees with published salary caps per conference. Bama can spend what Auburn spends on player employee salaries. Players get paid their bag- the key to world peace and hamony, there is some level of competitive balance, and you - gasp- bring coaching and player development back into the mix. Make the schools pay the players like they do professors. I think everyone would be OK or eventually get used to Tuten making much more than Malaki Thomas. The schools that can manage their cap best are the schools that will win. If it goes all in like this AND there is a league salary cap, I can live with that provided they are still required to be enrolled and make academic progress.
Meh, I could go without salary caps. Works fine in every non-US pro sports league
While proven time and again that the highest salary doesn't always win- you are correct there in terms of competitive balance- I would argue that it would matter in CFB, because the players pick you- you don't pick the players, so the best players (theoretically) go to the highest paying teams. To contrast, the Chiefs struck gold and found a generational QB in mahomes and won super bowls while he was on his rookie contract. They drafted him- they didn't have to woo him in recruiting. Now that he is making much more than his rookie deal, it will be harder for the Chiefs to keep all of their veterans under the cap.
I don't have a problem with the player doing this.
UNLV's collective lied, and now they (along with coaches, fans, etc) are being held accountable by the player. It's a shitty situation. Don't make promises you can't keep.
Not the first time and won't be the last. Ask Jaden Rashada about Florida doing this with a much bigger number involved.
https://sports.yahoo.com/georgia-qb-jaden-rashada-sues-florida-coach-bil...
Me either- he loses exposure this year, doesn't get a P4 offer, cashes his little check in the G5 next year and will enter a very competitive workforce looking for a 50K per year job soon. If he thinks he is going to make millions in the NFL soon, I can't help him.
I think he's holding the UNLV collective accountable exactly for this reason. He knows that as soon as his college eligibility runs out, his value is zero. So he needs to maximize his value in the short term.
Agreed- and his value is going to slap him in the face... submit your resume in a remote work/global recruiting world and pray. Drones is not an NFL player, and Drones is better than this kid is.
How so? Presumably, he already understands that his earning potential is at its highest point right now, so he capitalizing on that, and creating a financial cushion.
1. 75K is not life changing money 2. He's been coddled and been given special treatment since 10th grade because he can throw a football. Now he will have to compete with normal kids with his same qualifications for jobs that aren't based on throwing a football. But that's called life.
I didnt call it life changing. I called it a cushion.
Maybe the kid has been coddled. Maybe he hasn't, and he's just trying to make the most of 5 year window.
I would do the same thing.
If he does the full year and says to the world I will not be back to UNLV last year due to their NIL contract being 12% of the offer. But look at what I made of shitty situation. I put up great numbers and would like to come to your University. Please contact me at MONEY@Payme.com.
This is his last year of eligibility.
Ummm we shall see (lol)
I laughed. Leg.
The new appeal for an extra year. My NIL contract wasn't fully paid, so I want another swing at it.
I don't think we know who lied/is lying.
I am guessing there is nothing in writing and thus different people do not know what was promised and absent such written agreement, there is some misunderstandings there as well.
To me, the bottom line is that this college framework is just dumb and really shitty. When only relying on caselaw and a governing body without any ability to enforce anything, this is what happens. Need Congress to allow P4 (or P4 + G5) football, basketball, baseball, and softball to become professional with a collective bargaining agreement and true oversight commission. And be done with all this nonsense. It's only going to get worse under this current system.
So I found the story interesting and thought I would post it for discussion but now I am all like......
there's like a 65% chance that if VT was 4-0 and looking decent going into the Miami game this thread doesn't blow up like this
It definitely doesn't help that all off season we we're being told dinner was filet & scallops but when we showed up all we got was manager special cubed steak
A lot of discussions have been driven in a direction as of late...so I feel it would be exactly the same.
maybe you're right. impossible to tell. All I'm sayin' is that anger and frustration (caused by us sucking) is the driver that is driving those discussions in certain directions. If we were all feeling pretty good about VT football we'd all have a rosier outlook on things and we'd probably be taking threads in a different direction. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I ask myself: "What if this happened at VT?" and it's so hard to even fathom this situation happening.
I wonder what being 3-0 must feel like.
If I was a player or his reps at this point, all conversations would need to be recorded so there is no doubt what was said.
Is there something stopping players from getting it in writing, that's usually a lot more bulletproof than a conversation recorded or not.
Nope nothing stopping them excepts smarts.
Look, rather than play blame game, I'm going to hit a the point here: the current NIL "system" is irrevocably broken and the longer it is allowed to continue completely unregulated the more and more ridiculous bullshit like this is going to happen.
As with most of these situations, it appears that both sides deserve some of the blame. As this article states,
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/unlv/unlv-football/unlv-nil-collective-issue-statements-on-qbs-decision-to-leave-team-3176857/
when Sluka signed, he wasn't represented, apparently took a verbal offer from an Asssistant as Gospel and never clarified anything or worked thru the official NIL Collective.....sorry but that's straight dumb and I have minimal sympathy for people who are chasing money but not accountable enough to accept its their responsibility to do their due diligence.
On the other hand, making false offers of NIL money is dirty business and it appears that someone at UNLV at least implied money was coming. But here's the thing---verbal offers are like verbal commitments ---they are not set in stone and players have no problem "flipping" whenever it suits their priorities.
This kid probably has UFDA (at best) in his future. I get that he wants to "maximize his value" but UNLV is also providing him with a stage to try to get to the next level that Holy Cross never would---I love how the NIL proponents completely ignore the value of the school and the exposure they afford these players.
I will continue to bang this drum again and again and again. STOP THE NIL BULLSHIT. Let players sign with agents--make all agents representing College Players register with a "ClearingHouse" or some similar entity to make sure they are legit. Create reasonable rules and regulations to protect the players and agents.
Guess what will happen....?? Players with real NIL and commercial value will have agents and get paid according to that actual value. 4th String WR who were 5-star prospects when they were 16 won't. Kids might actually have to be realistic about their real-world value and not what their families and sycophants tell them.
"value of the school and the exposure they afford these players." - come on man, this AND the 200K scholarship, room, board, etc "Don't Count".. lol
It's not broken because of this instance. And I'm not sure it's broken. It is what it is. There are shady people in this, just as there were before with bagmen that didn't deliver what they said they would. Only difference? Now it's above board. You couldn't blow the whistle or turn tail previously because they didn't fill the bag all of the way. And this happens every day in all aspects of life. Asking for a deal, and it changes all of a sudden right at the end...don't do business with them.
What's out of whack is the have-nots trying to keep up with the Joneses. $100k to Bammer is nothing. They would have paid him and sat him on the bench or taken his helmet away. To lower level schools, that could be 2 starters coming thru the portal with 3 years left. It's out of balance, and when trying to run with the big dogs, this kind of thing happens. Doesn't mean it's broken. Doesn't mean you have to accept it. It just happens. Do business with shady people, in, checks, Las Vegas, without seeing the money, well, you roll the dice.
And you know who is loving this? The NCAA. They gave the players what they wanted, have no strings to this, and can say this is what destroyed the game they protected and represented for so long. (Right, wrong, or indifferent.) They can wash their hands of things, and be moved to page 7 instead of above the fold while slinking along.
I agree that the NCAA is loving it. I disagree that the system isn't broken. The tear started when NIL was approved. The limb just hasn't completely given way yet.
A 20-something being conned by a sleezy bag man (which was occurring in the shadows in the past anyway) is a story as old as time. But it's a free market. And the market is way more volatile than it was 20+ years ago.
There's always room for improvement, but calling it full broken means it isn't working at all. Tell the other 99.9% of kids that did receive their full promise.
Lawsuits against Florida gators over NIL. It isn't a lone story.
That's 2! miniscule sample size.
Look up how many breach of contract lawsuits there are from the corporate world...this is not a new story. And TWO or three or four doesn't mean it's broken. Just means there's bad actors with bad intentions out there. Welcome to reality.
Since 2! = 2, I'll allow it. ;^)
If the "sleezy" bag man is an assistant FB coach, then yeah, sounds right.
As a proponent of players getting as much money as possible, I don't ignore the value the school provides them - in terms of exposure, coaching, professional network, or education. I just recognize that the players (collectively) provide equal value to the school. There's no VT football if there's no football players.
I also believe that for far too long, schools claimed that every player was equally valuable to the school, and that value is was whatever a scholarship + board + cost of living was.
The pendulum has swung the opposite direction (though IMO not to the extreme degree it previous was), and I think that's good for a period. With time, the pendulum will swing back, and eventually settle in the middle.
I'm all for this, and I also support schools being able to pay players directly.
"There's no VT football if there's no football players.".. true of course. However these players are highly expendable, replaceable, in abundance. 1. Thousands of high school kids could get us to 6-6. 2. Lane is sold out this year, VT sells more merchandise than ever and there is no Tyrod, Vick, Suggs, Williams, Logan, Edmunds on this team. Those stars leaving and the value they took with them has had no impact on Virginia Tech's ability to field a team and sell out a stadium.
70 P5 teams, 105 scholarships per team. Assume half the teams (and thus half the players) go 6-6 or better. 70x105/2 = 3675 players.
I know that's a very rough estimate, and obviously coaching plays a factor, but it illustrates the point - there's 70 teams competing for under 5000 people. Each of those 70 teams makes millions more (post season revenue, donations, etc) when they win.
And that doesn't even start to put a dollar value on the excitement alumni get from wins, growth in the program's brand value, etc.
If VT never had the Vicks, the Tyrods, the Machos, etc and they never won as many games, then VT doesn't sell out stadiums decades after those players leave.
Checks notes: VT did in fact sell out lane after ..... zero players were drafted from last years 7-6 team. It is much more daytime chicago cubs lovable loser sell outs than remembering Mike Vick and Lee Suggs at this point. The VT brand has much more value than Bashul Tuten- our best player. This will be proven a million times over the next several years of sold out games watching the next running back wear the uniform.
That's not what I'm saying - I'm saying that fans who buy tickets today are fans (directly and indirectly) because Vick, Tyrod, etc. led teams they watched to such success, and the people buying tickets today fell in love with those teams.
Man...this makes me wonder what current Gen Z students are going to be thinking when VT asks them for donations and tickets 15-20 years from now. They didn't experience a winning VT. Will memories of being wasted drunk and puking in the stands be the high water mark? /s
So what you're saying is randomly distribute money to folks are aren't Vick now.
If you're looking for fairness, you give more money to Vick and Tyrod. But both of them DID get a payout.
While I'm on board with some level of (equal) payout for participation in college sports, NIL is outright stupid the way it's implemented now, and is killing college football as we know it.
NIL, along with va tech, are killing my college football experience. Period.
If VT football was any good I wouldn't give a rat's ass about NIL.
exactly. Our perception of *all things college football related* is seriously skewed by how our favorite team is doing. If we were on Georgia's level for the last decade, winning 11+ games and competing for championships, we'd all be fine with NIL. But, since we suck (and have sucked for over a decade - boy that's hard to type), anything that is going on, especially change, is going to be viewed through the foggy lens of disappointment from our team being poop. We're bad and that's going to tint everything in the CFB realm. Everything is bad because we are bad. If we were good, everything would be good. IIWII
basically what i said above but put better and with more clarity!
https://www.thekeyplay.com/comment/1272614#comment-1272614
https://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2024/september/25/qb-undefeated-unlv-...
Well it's not just that. The changes are actively making it harder for us to stop sucking. So, yeah, to my way of thinking, everything kind of is bad. CFB's no fun if my team's not good. Sorry 'bout it.
^^^This^^^
VT's problems started before NIL - totally true.
But it is impossible not to consider how Pay-for-Play, unlimited transfers, and now expanded Rosters are making it tremendously more difficult for VT and similar programs to compete.
I think CFB over the next 5-7 years is going to see a lot of core fans lose interest in watching their programs be relegated to picking up Transfer Portal "table scraps" in order to try and compete. Meanwhile, the bandwagon fanbases of the Blue Bloods get bored watching the same 4-6 teams have any legitimate shot at a Championship year upon year.
Barring, in my humble opinion, 3 major changes- Virginia Tech is more than done competing at the highest level. Done. It's been over a decade since Danny Coale caught that ball. It's been 25 years since Michael Vick was running around the field in Lane. That level of football is clearly in the rear view and hasn't been seen since. We have had the occasional highlight - Fuente actually won games in Tally and at Heinz field if you can believe it. Those are actual good wins for VT in those houses of horrors- regardless how good the opponent is. We still dominate UVA as of this posting. We won at ND and at the Shoe. Not bad at all. But that's it. We aren't seriously competitive with good teams the past 5 years, we lose to ODU twice, etc. So unless 1. We hire a top flight proven and football minded AD that has support from Sands to gut the program and build a winner. 2. Everyone associated at the top of the VT food chain pours millions more into the program- via fundraising, budget increases, cutting other sports, finding a new conference- whatever- we need millions more investment. 3. We stumble upon a truly brilliant head coach- the next Urban Meyer at Utah or Peterson at Boise- that level of coach. Maybe its an alum that will take the hometown discount. But we need an elite head coach to win here. We could find one- Even Paul Brown and Bellichick had to start somewhere.
I read Paul Brown but thought Paul Johnson, threw up in my mouth a little, then realized my mistake.
Everyone here knows my thoughts on his chicken shit option offense, but I would take Paul Johnson as OC at VT in a heart beat.
With the group right now, he could be scary good.
Agree with this, but you left off a glaring omission. Players. To quote you specifically, we need good players.
I think you outline realistic mechanisms to attract good players in your point #2. But I also see you bemoaning the current NIL/transfer portal/"immediate gratification" situation we find ourselves in in every other post as well.
How do you reconcile those seemingly competing viewpoints to chart a path to VT relevance in CFB?
Recruiting and retention is 75% of a college coaches job. My point #3 - an elite coach would also be an elite recruiter - they go 100% hand in hand. We need to reach higher than Mike Gundy and David Cutcliffe here- guys that can win without great players- but they have a ceiling.
With the current state of college football, I am somewhere between:
Clinging to hope that VT gets a life rope called SEC or B1G membership so that we can continue the delusional dream of returning to some level of relevancy;
And
And when I really consider some of the shameless behavior that NIL and the portal has helped cause, I am inclined to the latter.
Guy inspired more. Saw a USC-W DL just did the same thing. Not as much back story there yet.
I'm ashamed at how excited I was to see this and how crushed I was that it isn't true.
Amazing hahaha
UNLV obliterated Fresno State without this QB. 59-14. His replacement had 301 yards of offense (182 passing, 119 rushing) and passed for 3 TDs and 1 Rushing TD.
After the game the coach had this to say
Can we get a coach that appreciates the O Line this much?