Failures of the NIL Era

A trust-based system is increasingly failing its athletes.

Honesty is a core pillar of the coach-athlete relationship. So much of it revolves around honest communication that, without it, the relationship falls apart. A coach offers an opportunity to play in exchange for the athlete's performance. From the outset, the coach tells the athlete they can have a spot on the team — but in most cases that spot is conditional on continued performance, growth, and development.

So from the coach's perspective it's a rescindable offer; from the athlete's perspective it's simply an option, likely among others. There's a natural imbalance in how the scholarship is perceived. Coaches often offer more scholarships than roster spots they have available.

For all of the self-congratulation the NCAA engages in, it hasn't made a sincere attempt to improve the flawed system that often leaves athletes without a chair in the game of "scholarship musical chairs."

The rise of the handlers

Can we really expect NIL to be handled any differently by coaches and schools? In the highest-profile sports, the industry has supported intermediaries, or "handlers," in delivering athletes to specific programs. Now these handlers are demanding more money from athletes and collectives in exchange for their services.

The father of a four-star prospect said a local street agent offered to handle NIL negotiations for the family in exchange for 20% of the offered sum. The final offers were identical from SEC and Big Ten schools, and the father didn't feel the need for someone with no legal expertise to take $10,000+ of his son's income.

But it's not just the artificial representation; it's also the fabrication of competing offers. One SEC football analyst told me about an agent fabricating offers from other schools — where the analyst knew the coaches and quickly confirmed the offers weren't real. It reflected poorly on the athlete and diminished trust in the agent.

When the collective cuts corners

The agents aren't the only ones operating with imperfect integrity. In some cases, collectives look to realize savings by not paying athletes what was agreed upon in this lightly-papered era.

So much is verbally agreed to during recruitment that you can forgive a zealous youth for not having the shrewdness to demand tightly defined terms and prices.

If you don't agree that a young adult can be forgiven for not demanding a specific contract, that may speak to your unawareness of the psychology of many minority and low-income athletes, who tend to trust athletic programs more than unknown legal advisors.

School-friendly contracts are coming

The NCAA will likely soon "come to the rescue" by allowing revenue sharing through the mandated vehicle of the House Settlement. But these contracts will be decidedly school-friendly, with athletes either taken advantage of or forced to negotiate.

Payment timing may shift from post-portal-closure distributions (school-friendly) to front-loaded or monthly distributions. Ralph Russo and Stewart Mandel of The Athletic write that one ACC school required the athlete to pay back 100% of his earnings if he transferred before January 31st, 2026. These contracts resemble pro athlete or even college coaching contracts — except the athletes still have no formal say in their treatment.

The human cost

Not all athletes want to transfer regardless of money, but some can't afford not to. One athlete at a mid-major left a school without a collective, despite desperately wanting to stay, because he was offered a considerable sum to switch. The kicker? The money would let him pay off his dad's gambling debts.

There's a plea from professional athletes, many now retired with a more mature outlook: prioritize skill development and professional readiness over the largest NIL deals.

The yearly NIL deal is a quick nickel, but the professional contracts are the slow dollar — absolutely worth waiting for and earning.

As usual, the NCAA will make decisions aligned with its own best interests, while disregarding the interests of players or player-supported entities.