Slightly OT: UNLV Starting QB quits after 3 games, plans to transfer for more NIL money (Merged)

[UConnJim]

I just listened to Sluka's agent Cromartie on Sirius radio. Here is his version of the story.

When Sluka entered the transfer portal at Holy Cross, he spoke with a number of schools including some that offered more NIL money, but he thought UNLV was the best fit. UNLV's Offensive Coordinator made the $100k NIL offer to Sluka before he committed. Sluka wanted to finish his Holy Cross degree, so he asked the UNLV coaches if he could stay at Holy Cross in the Spring to finish his degree and the coaches agreed. Cromartie said NIL contracts are not signed until a player is officially enrolled at a school (not sure if this is true) and Sluka didn't enroll until the Fall semester. At enrollment time, Sluka and Cromartie tried to get a signed NIL deal and they were given the runaround by the collective and coaches. Apparently, the head coach, Odom, claimed he had no knowledge of the NIL deal so Sluka was willing to negotiate the deal down to say $50k or $5k to $10k per month. Sluka was told the new offer was $3k per month for 4 months. So, Sluka went from being offered $100k in NIL to $12k. At that point, after the broken promises, Sluka decided to enter the portal.

 

[jostar1]

 

[Kolumbo]

Fight go viral with it and I guarantee he gets the money he was was promised, if that story is true btw. He didn't fight for his cause he quit.

well he would only have less than a week to fight it, most likely. I agree, he probably should have fought it somehow and started the process earlier but who know how this all went down. I probably would be too trusting to know any better.

This is what the student-athletes wanted, to be treated like professionals. Sorry, can't have it both ways.

If you want to get big boy money and are hiring representation don't act like a child. What is the point of having an agent if your agent doesn't do the most basic thing for your best interest?

As I said, he's free to do what he wants and people are free to criticize him for quitting on his teammates.

Like I said, if he thought he was getting paid, he thought he was getting paid and not getting the high hard one. But no worries, he can move on to get paid. That's his remedy.

 

[huskymedic]

Sounds like Sluka's teammates are taking his side. Maybe the guy running the UNLV NIL collective gambled it all away.

 

[metsfan2323]

Yup, maybe nobody at UNLV is getting paid, which begs the question, what are they collecting money for?

 

[Greg]

Wow. Need to go full blown contracts. Players can be traded, to he'll with the education part of college. We are entering 100 percent about the money.

 

[REB1094]

 

[freescooter]

To me go back to the old redshirt system or something like it. I don’t want to penalize a kid who gets hurt in the first play of the first game, but guys quitting on their team a quarter of the way through the season is a rotten move so they can get paid more. We lost guys last year. But this one is the worst. Walks out on the team at 3-0 right before a huge game against a 3-1 league opponent. Punk move.

 

[KryHavok]

These players are acting like they need JG Wentworth. Yeah, last year we had 2 opt outs (Brewton & Houston) after a few games. I'm glad to see it's not only happening to us, but like McMurphy said in @jostar1's post, the SEC pay their players and they don't seem to suffer the same problem. The sport is deteriorating (I exaggerate as it's evolving, but what it's becoming is not the game we grew up watching and loving). So, I just wonder at what point do we get faced with this same scenario again.

 

[DawgEnjoyer]

He's 100% right, UNLV is a pretty large school so tons of alumni.

They are off to a GREAT start after making their first bowl in a decade last year, it amazes me that once this scenario started to simmer, they weren't able to crowdsource the money and solve the problem.

$100k is a lot of money in some ways, but in today's NCAAF world, it's really not much

 

[RedStickHusky]

There's just so many better ways to go about this then quitting on the season. Why don't you make a stand, document the verbal agreement and get the general public on your side in today's day and age of social media.

Because he's one game shy of burning a year of eligibility...

 

[RedStickHusky]

To me go back to the old redshirt system or something like it. I don’t want to penalize a kid who gets hurt in the first play of the first game, but guys quitting on their team a quarter of the way through the season is a rotten move so they can get paid more. We lost guys last year. But this one is the worst. Walks out on the team at 3-0 right before a huge game against a 3-1 league opponent. Punk move.

If he plays the next game he's giving away one of his two remaining years to get paid. Harsh reality but I can see it from that perspective.

 

[RedStickHusky]

so they can get paid more.

The big unanswered question; is he looking for more or for what he was promised? Sounds like he had a "my cousin Vinny" agent...

 

[superjohn]

He's 100% right, UNLV is a pretty large school so tons of alumni.

They are off to a GREAT start after making their first bowl in a decade last year, it amazes me that once this scenario started to simmer, they weren't able to crowdsource the money and solve the problem.

$100k is a lot of money in some ways, but in today's NCAAF world, it's really not much

They should've hit up...

 

[freescooter]

The big unanswered question; is he looking for more or for what he was promised? Sounds like he had a "my cousin Vinny" agent...

He said she said at this point.

 

[Patman]

I think it will be different now. Instead of honoring the yearly scholarship I think some coaches will find a way to get rid of kids during the season who aren't performing up to expectations.

Again, like they've been doing for the last 50 years

 

[Nostical]

The agent, who seems inept--wasn't on top of this kid's deal-which led to the "misunderstanding". I don't blame the kid for ending his season. Keeping his eligibility will make his next season's NIL compensation at another school worth much more based on his performance and results at UNLV. Why should he give up the chance to make significant money by continuing to play for the team he perceives as having cheated him? I'll bet his teammates back him, too. He's exposing defects in the system and taking a stand.
This is the reason why after Merrimack, when folks were pushing for Fagnano to start vs Duke, that Mora had to start Evers. He had made certain commitments to him. And he's paying him more than the UNLV kid thinks he was promised. Sitting in the stands at Duke I mused to some savvy Duke fans whether due to our offensive struggles Mora might insert Fagnano for the 2nd half. I was told no way. "If UConn did that, the word would spread and we'd get many fewer portal transfers to UConn."

It's a wild world out there but it also has the promise to be very beneficial for us. Look how many undervalued MAC and FCS players are showcasing their talent and their value at the higher level of FBS. Look at us. There were two players on Wisconsin's roster, Nick Evers and Skyler Bell, multi star HS players who were either backups or down on the depth chart. Evers never got the chance at QB and Bell was not the top target he thought he should be. Both were unable to showcase their talents there. UConn has given them the platform to do just that. The NFL scouts can see talent at UConn just as easily as at any other school. And if promises are kept at UConn, the word spreads. We'll have a chance to pluck some gems from future portals. And if Mora proves adept at grabbing the right ones, and we raise the dollars to be competitive, we could take this program to a whole new level a lot sooner than any of the BIG 12 or ACC naysayers think.

 

[Patman]

Yup, maybe nobody at UNLV is getting paid, which begs the question, what are they collecting money for?

that's going to be the other problem. Some of these collectives are going to be running scams for their creators.

 

[RedStickHusky]

if Mora proves adept at grabbing the right ones, and we raise the dollars to be competitive, we could take this program to a whole new level a lot sooner than any of the BIG 12 or ACC naysayers think.

This post deserves a separate like for each para. Flip side, is that this is a really damaging look for UNLV, regardless of what the facts may be.

 

[UConnJim]

The agent, who seems inept--wasn't on top of this kid's deal-which led to the "misunderstanding".

I listened to him today and I don't think he is inept. UNLV's OC made the $100k NIL offer. Supposedly, Sluka wanted to complete his degree at Holy Cross last Spring (and UNLV's coaches allowed it) and didn't arrive at UNLV until before the Fall. Supposedly, people don't sign NIL agreements until they are officially enrolled at the school so he couldn't sign until he got to UNLV. When he arrived at UNLV, he and his agent asked for a contract and were given the runaround. The head coach, Odom, basically told Sluka he didn't know about the deal and he was unwilling to compromise.

 

[Purple Stein]

The agent, who seems inept--wasn't on top of this kid's deal-which led to the "misunderstanding". I don't blame the kid for ending his season. Keeping his eligibility will make his next season's NIL compensation at another school worth much more based on his performance and results at UNLV. Why should he give up the chance to make significant money by continuing to play for the team he perceives as having cheated him? I'll bet his teammates back him, too. He's exposing defects in the system and taking a stand.
This is the reason why after Merrimack, when folks were pushing for Fagnano to start vs Duke, that Mora had to start Evers. He had made certain commitments to him. And he's paying him more than the UNLV kid thinks he was promised. Sitting in the stands at Duke I mused to some savvy Duke fans whether due to our offensive struggles Mora might insert Fagnano for the 2nd half. I was told no way. "If UConn did that, the word would spread and we'd get many fewer portal transfers to UConn."

It's a wild world out there but it also has the promise to be very beneficial for us. Look how many undervalued MAC and FCS players are showcasing their talent and their value at the higher level of FBS. Look at us. There were two players on Wisconsin's roster, Nick Evers and Skyler Bell, multi star HS players who were either backups or down on the depth chart. Evers never got the chance at QB and Bell was not the top target he thought he should be. Both were unable to showcase their talents there. UConn has given them the platform to do just that. The NFL scouts can see talent at UConn just as easily as at any other school. And if promises are kept at UConn, the word spreads. We'll have a chance to pluck some gems from future portals. And if Mora proves adept at grabbing the right ones, and we raise the dollars to be competitive, we could take this program to a whole new level a lot sooner than any of the BIG 12 or ACC naysayers think.

Diamonds in the rough 2.0?

 

[Husky68]

1. Much longer than you would think.

2. If he truly had a deal to be paid an amount he wasn't paid, why wasn't the word "suit" mentioned?

1. I doubt it, but when did a lawyer ever stretch the truth.
2. Hitting the road was the cleanest approach. Would you take this verbal only he said/he said case on contingency, or require a nice fat retainer?

If what was said was true and he got later and much bigger offers then he is the honorable guy by sticking with his agreement with UNLV and got stuck in the you know where. If he did get later and higher offers of NIL the grapevine will confirm and bolster his creds and he'll be in demand next year.

 

[Greedo]

This is what the student-athletes wanted, to be treated like professionals. Sorry, can't have it both ways.

If you want to get big boy money and are hiring representation don't act like a child. What is the point of having an agent if your agent doesn't do the most basic thing for your best interest?

As I said, he's free to do what he wants and people are free to criticize him for quitting on his teammates.

The player isn’t being treated like a professional though. I understand you think the player is naive and the agent did a terrible job. I agree the agent did a terrible job. But this looks really bad for the UNLV coach as well. I mean, he offered the kid 100k and then reneged on the deal.

Even if it was just a handshake deal, and no contract was signed, that was a pretty crappy move by the coach to offer money they don’t have. The fact is this wasn’t all kosher, and the coach is operating on a pretty low moral bar. You make someone an offer, whether in contract or handshake, and then go back on your deal.

The predatory nature of this whole thing is pretty reprehensible, and can’t be just hand waved away saying he “quit on his teammates.”

 

[Bongo Fury]

For 100k (apparently) they can

I meant as I was watching REs last game.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

"NIL revenue came up short..., pay me. Team is off to a 3-0 start...., pay me"
When there is no more money to borrow...you light a match"- 'Good fellas (sort of)

That said, don't write checks with your mouth....