The Nico Iamaleava saga has been a black eye on one of the most popular sports leagues in the history of sports in this country.
Over the past several days, Iamaleava held out on attending team meetings, practices, and stopped responding to coach messages and correspondence.
All of that was centered around Iamaleava’s hold out over wanting a bigger NIL deal.
Let’s be clear, the starting quarterback for the University of Tennessee made $2.8 million in endorsements and apparently, that wasn’t enough.
Since then, Volunteer head coach Josh Heupel stood on principle and essentially told his former five-star quarterback to kick rocks.
Good on the Volunteer skipper.
The NIL and transfer portal has created a wild west of athletes who are able to create demands and generate millions to stuff their pockets.
I’ve got no issue in this day and age of players using their name, image and likeness to create additional wealth for themselves. But the issue I have is clinging to this notion they should have unfettered ability to try and leverage schools/donors to pay more.
Fact is, these student-athletes get a free ride to a college education.
There is a massive population of non-athletes who are trapped in student loan debt for life and these star athletes have the audacity to leverage millions more than they’re already getting?
The college sports model is heading towards a hard reset.
The thing that made college sports, football in particular, is the diehard fans creating electric sports environments.
Going to Columbus, Ohio to see Ohio State meant something.
Going to Austin, Texas meant something.
Going to Neyland Stadium in Knoxville meant something.
But with college rosters essentially being a revolving door thanks to the transfer portal and NIL’s impact, fans have a hard time getting behind a roster that changes from one year to the next.
The thing that needs to happen is this:
The NCAA has to impose a salary cap that players can receive.
A college athlete receiving several hundred thousand dollars certainly covers any expenses needed.
The NCAA also needs to impose a strict agreement that NIL endorsements include agreements that players will agree to fulfill their allegiance to the school they sign with.
If a player decides to transfer, this should nullify any NIL deal in place and the player should have to reimburse the school for the tuition costs.
The current model isn’t sustainable for fans, schools and it makes life a living hell for coaches trying to create a cohesive team environment.
Iamaleava for example, made it very clear his intentions were greater than any component of a team environment.
We’ve reached a tipping point where big name players have made their respective sports more about making money than playing the actual sport they signed up form.
Something has to change.
Hopefully, potential transfer destinations see Iamaleava as the selfish human he is, give him a pass and he’s sitting on a couch somewhere watching games this fall, instead of signing that multi-million dollar NIL deal he feels like he deserves.
Chris Siers is sports editor of the Marshall County Post. Email him at csiers@bedfordcountypost.com.
