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Troy Aikman ‘done with NIL’ after giving money to UCLA player who left after a year

“There’s gotta be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up. Starting with players that accept money. There’s gotta be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program,” Aikman told Deitsch on Monday’s episode. “I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who. I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you note. So, it’s one of those deals, to where I’m done with NIL. I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.”

Of course, Aikman didn’t name the player in question. But based on UCLA’s recent transfer history, he may have been referring to Oregon redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore, who started five games for the Bruins as a true freshman in 2023 before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and signing with the Ducks the following offseason.
 
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ATX_Husker said:
Troy Aikman ‘done with NIL’ after giving money to UCLA player who left after a year

“There’s gotta be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up. Starting with players that accept money. There’s gotta be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program,” Aikman told Deitsch on Monday’s episode. “I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who. I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you note. So, it’s one of those deals, to where I’m done with NIL. I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.”

Of course, Aikman didn’t name the player in question. But based on UCLA’s recent transfer history, he may have been referring to Oregon redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore, who started five games for the Bruins as a true freshman in 2023 before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and signing with the Ducks the following offseason.
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Uh.....I guess donating to NIL is "not for you" Troy. Leadership at the very top is not going to clean this up. Change is only coming via legislation at the national level and I give that about 0.1% chance of happenings. Schools could come to an agreement - but let's be real. The deeper the pockets the less likely they are to agree to any NIL restrictions. An NCAA cap? 1. You would end up having teams cheat "off the books" - so we are back to little stuffed envelopes under the tables. 2. The NCAA restricting earnings of players would be taken to court and they would lose.

Even if Congress stepped in - how do you regulate the "off the books" activity. Right now - it can all be above board because there are no caps and teams/boosters/alumni can spend whatever they want to spend. Good for players. Actually NIL has leveled the playing field of good teams vs. pre-NIL - clearly there are still have and have nots - but more teams are in the mix.

If the "non-money" schools try to gang up on the "money" schools somehow - the money schools are simply going to kick the NCAA to the curb and form their own league.

There aren't really any good answer or fixes. So if you don't have the stomach - stay out of it Troy.
 
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Jimbosc said:
Uh.....I guess donating to NIL is "not for you" Troy. Leadership at the very top is not going to clean this up. Change is only coming via legislation at the national level and I give that about 0.1% chance of happenings. Schools could come to an agreement - but let's be real. The deeper the pockets the less likely they are to agree to any NIL restrictions. An NCAA cap? 1. You would end up having teams cheat "off the books" - so we are back to little stuffed envelopes under the tables. 2. The NCAA restricting earnings of players would be taken to court and they would lose.

Even if Congress stepped in - how do you regulate the "off the books" activity. Right now - it can all be above board because there are no caps and teams/boosters/alumni can spend whatever they want to spend. Good for players. Actually NIL has leveled the playing field of good teams vs. pre-NIL - clearly there are still have and have nots - but more teams are in the mix.

If the "non-money" schools try to gang up on the "money" schools somehow - the money schools are simply going to kick the NCAA to the curb and form their own league.

There aren't really any good answer or fixes. So if you don't have the stomach - stay out of it Troy.
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Very true. And any attempts the schools make to come to an agreement to control or limit NIL money could cause anti-trust issues. I just don't think it's an easy fix.
 
This extended to other schools as well - FSU, Texas and Clemson for sure. I always assumed some under the table stuff was happening at tOSU and Michigan as well. Honestly - it was happening more broadly than that but no need to speculate too far - if you were getting 4 and 5 stars before NIL at least some of those players were getting $$$$.
 
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Jimbosc said:
This extended to other schools as well - FSU, Texas and Clemson for sure. I always assumed some under the table stuff was happening at tOSU and Michigan as well. Honestly - it was happening more broadly than that but no need to speculate too far - if you were getting 4 and 5 stars before NIL at least some of those players were getting $$$$.
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All schools.....ALL have paid their players under the table. It's just to what extent. And its happened in all sports going back decades.
 
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Guys, guys, guys! In the extended version of that interview, it was officially just a joke. That's not what really happened. (wink,wink)
 
justino52 said:
All schools.....ALL have paid their players under the table. It's just to what extent. And its happened in all sports going back decades.
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If you go all the way back to college football's beginning, the sport has always had a 'renegade' aspect to it. It's pretty ironic if you think about it because of its link to higher education.

One of the less-talked-about aspects of Bob Devaney's success at Nebraska in the 60s (and, I might add, Al Papik's historic success at Doane) was a willingness to recruit Black players when most historically white schools were still reluctant to do so. In my blowhard opinion, Nebraska's annihilation of Bear Bryant's boys in 1971 was a psychological turning point for Bama and the rest of the south. The SEC began thinking, 'Hmmm, maybe we should be taking more of our homegrown Black talent.'

Steroids used to be a big, under-the-covers thing back in the day too. And our program under 'Saint Tom' was well-known at the time as one of the sports biggest users.

Undercover money was always 'out there' in the sport until the NCAA began cracking down on programs. The elimination of the SMU football program back in the 70s told boosters the NCAA was serious. But the sport's Powers-that-Be began looking the other way as the sport continued to grow in popularity and more and more money came pouring in.

Beginning in the oughts, the SEC -- along with other notable southern schools -- began ratcheting up their 'backdoor' payments of players. It got so bad during the Saban years that it became like two separate divisions: The Paid Players Club and everybody else. For all the righteous grousing about the coming of NIL (which I agree with), its introduction actually leveled the playing field. For all the NFL-like crap we're all dealing with now, it's made the sport more competitive again.
 
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My question would be if the right to NIL $ always existed then, why can't former players sue for their share?
 
Cigarman said:
While I personally can't stand Fleck. He truly is one of the best at working with what he has. A coach now has to decide what a player is worth to the program. If a player won't accept that you have to let them go elsewhere.
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I’m in the other side. I like and respect Fleck a lot. The boat thing is corny and some former players said he was a bully of a coach. I don’t care about any of that. He has created an identity for his team, and he constantly gets a lot of results out of far less talent than we have. If the Rhule experiment ends, I hope we give him a call.
 
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