Bob Sluka, father of UNLV QB Matthew Sluka, told ESPN that his son's agents agreed to an NIL deal with the school back in February, never received payments despite requests and never asked for any adjustments to the original deal.
Sluka's agent, Marcus Cromartie, told ESPN that UNLV didn't come through on a verbal offer of $100,000 from an assistant coach. The quarterback's father, Bob Sluka, told ESPN that head coach Barry Odom later said in a phone conversation that the offer wasn't valid because it didn't come from him, but rather from offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who declined comment to ESPN.
UNLV and Shannon Cottrell, the director of athlete engagements for the Friends of UNLV collective, also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
We're kidding ourselves at this point. I know we have literally 0 sway over what happens, so I'm just bitching to bitch lol. But I don't think you could invent a worse system than NIL. Like WVU opened a bar that helps fund NIL. It's owned by a sports agent. So the guy gets kickbacks on the bar profits, a % of the money goes to NIL, and he presumably has an in with the players, and gets a % of their NIL money, partially paid for by the bar he owns. Like....that feels insane to me given the setup for the players. Lmao
Sadly. Lot of schools are gonna suffer the fallout too. I've long said even the previous model isn't sustainable. Schools are spending so much on stadiums and facilities and equipment, and every school felt the need to keep up. It's long been an issue, but now money is flowing freely to players while the school still manages the same costs, if not more for the NIL shortcomings.