Tennessee QB Controversy

N

NorthKCHawk

Well-Known Member
I applaud Tennessee's coach for not being held hostage by one star player. I guess hold outs are the next unfortunate change to college football. :( I love that Tennessee sent him packing rather than give into a Me First player.

Interesting, listening to ESPN this morning, they reported that he was signed out of highschool and received a signing bonus from the Tennessee collective and then received pay for his freshmen year and made around 7 million total. He was set to make 2.4 million his sophomore year, but held out for 4 million and was then kicked to the curb. Allegedly, he might get a million from UCLA, so this kid got very bad advice.

In any event, this is the landscape. Again, how does Iowa compete with that shit? 7 million for one year for one player?????? Insane.
 
Unfortunately, it's only going to get worse. Schools with big donors and big money will have their own major conference & championships before too long and the rest of them will be left out of the parties.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
I applaud Tennessee's coach for not being held hostage by one star player. I guess hold outs are the next unfortunate change to college football. :( I love that Tennessee sent him packing rather than give into a Me First player.

Interesting, listening to ESPN this morning, they reported that he was signed out of highschool and received a signing bonus from the Tennessee collective and then received pay for his freshmen year and made around 7 million total. He was set to make 2.4 million his sophomore year, but held out for 4 million and was then kicked to the curb. Allegedly, he might get a million from UCLA, so this kid got very bad advice.

In any event, this is the landscape. Again, how does Iowa compete with that shit? 7 million for one year for one player?????? Insane.
Click to expand...
It's his dad behind it which makes it even worse. Good luck with that going forward. I think it's more of a matter where if they cave to one player they're going to have everyone holding out. This sends a message to players (and their parents).

His dad is obviously looking at it from his own gain perspective which is sad because if his kid just stayed in his current lane he could have a decent shot at putting up something for the scouts to look at, especially with the supporting cast at Tennessee. Now he has to go to who knows what school, learn a system from scratch, and for less money than he was getting in the first place. Head case parents bring with them a heavy discount to your value, and this shows the drama any prospective coach will have to deal with. I'm reading in various media places that his options now are severely limited. Hate it for the kid, love it for dad.

From Pete Thamel @ ESPN:

Multiple sources have told ESPN that Iamaleava's camp is seeking much more through the portal than the $4 million they hoped to earn with the Vols this year. The read after talking to sources, however, is that he's unlikely to find a situation that gets him to that number.

"I think he has zero market," said a general manager at a Power 4 school. "It will be an interesting test of how smart and disciplined colleges are in looking at him."
Click to expand...
"Absolutely zero interest," another Power 4 general manager said.
Click to expand...
 
I would venture a guess that what happened to start this whole thing had happened before. With a player trying to renegotiate his NIL in the spring. What's different about this one is the player holding himself out of practice without outright saying he's leaving. He was hoping to twist TNs arm into getting more $ ultimately.

I don't think he really wanted to leave. But TN put their foot down when the number he was asking for was way too high in their eyes. Had that number been more reasonable/doable I bet they'd have just paid it. We'll never know for sure. Regardless Heupel got to get on his soap box and do what he did and say he's done with the QB before the QB said he was done with the school.

To me this is just the mechanics of the free market in play. Everyone played the cards they had. This exact scenario between parties can happen everywhere every yr. With just the $ numbers being different.

To me this is where recruiting and scouting for a lack of a better word for when schools bring in players from the portal is so important. If you get one sniff of their being a headache of sorts with a kid and their representation then the juice may not be worth the squeeze. This kid evidently had some red flags during his recruitment with his dad being really hands on. Buyer beware and good luck...
 
Hawkfnntn said:
To me this is just the mechanics of the free market in play. Everyone played the cards they had. This exact scenario between parties can happen everywhere every yr. With just the $ numbers being different.
Click to expand...
Bingo. He made an ill-advised business decision and now it's biting him in the proverbial ass. One piece of advice than will go unheard by anyone who needs to hear it, is never let a parent act as an agent on your behalf unless you're in a wheelchair unable to speak.
 
From what I read, he tried to shop his services to Oregon prior to spring ball. They said no thanks, and they told Tennessee that he was looking around.

I was watching Cowherd this morning. He said that someone "close to the family" called him and said that this wasn't about the money. That sounds like a face-saving measure after they've come to realize how limited their options are. They've really botched a great situation for this kid. He would've been paid $10 million for the life of the contract had he stayed.
 
haydensly said:
From what I read, he tried to shop his services to Oregon prior to spring ball. They said no thanks, and they told Tennessee that he was looking around.

I was watching Cowherd this morning. He said that someone "close to the family" called him and said that this wasn't about the money. That sounds like a face-saving measure after they've come to realize how limited their options are. They've really botched a great situation for this kid. He would've been paid $10 million for the life of the contract had he stayed.
Click to expand...
Its about the money.

To be clear, I don't fault the kid for seeking as much money as he could get. That is what the system is right now. Pros do it all the time and these kids are now, for all intents and purposes, pros. But, when you skip practice, show up late, and put yourself ahead of the team, there are consequences. NFL players are protected by collective bargaining and can sit out practice and games and there are rules that govern that situation. College does not have that. So, the kid just overplayed his hand, and its unfortunate that he did so with trusted adults advising him. Like most things in life, if he had handled it the right way, there probably was a compromise that he could have reached with the Vols.
 
Fryowa said:
Bingo. He made an ill-advised business decision and now it's biting him in the proverbial ass. One piece of advice than will go unheard by anyone who needs to hear it, is never let a parent act as an agent on your behalf unless you're in a wheelchair unable to speak.
Click to expand...
His reps/Dad totally got wrong what his value was to TNs coaches and what they thought they'd be able to pay. Cause here's the thing you can NOT play the I'm holding out card if you aren't willing to leave. You have to anticipate the coach playing the card he did too. If you get what you're after and end up being able to stay then that's great. But you sure as hell don't want to be left holding your dick in our hand without place you'd want to land. Which is what this ended up being. No way going into this did ending up at UCLA for half the $ he was already lined up to get being the goal.... There's no spinning that into a win. (not to mention the state income tax laws being what they are in TN and CA are SIGNICANTLY different)

Any good rep should've had his other options lined up and knew how much they'd pay before even doing what they did. Rumor was Oregons coach told Heupel that his people were shopping him around. So I don't know the extent of what all else went on behind the scenes but I'm sure it'd be interesting to know. We probably don't know the half of it.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Its about the money.

To be clear, I don't fault the kid for seeking as much money as he could get. That is what the system is right now. Pros do it all the time and these kids are now, for all intents and purposes, pros. But, when you skip practice, show up late, and put yourself ahead of the team, there are consequences. NFL players are protected by collective bargaining and can sit out practice and games and there are rules that govern that situation. College does not have that. So, the kid just overplayed his hand, and its unfortunate that he did so with trusted adults advising him. Like most things in life, if he had handled it the right way, there probably was a compromise that he could have reached with the Vols.
Click to expand...

I don't fault any college athlete for thinking about how to set themselves up for future success, but I also think that, "How can I secure the most money for this upcoming season?" is the wrong question to be asking. It wouldn't make sense to ask a player like Iamaleava to play for free, but his future success (financial, professional, personal, etc.) does not come down to whether he gets $4mil from Tennessee vs. $5mil from another program. Yes, you could consider that a short-term win (+$1min). But the damage he has done to his reputation will cost him more than that down the road...and it turns out he is not even going to get the +$1mil he was hoping for. Not to mention the potential lifelong friends he was in the process of making at Tenn, many of whom will now want nothing to do with him. That doesn't enhance personal success or happiness.

Student athletes, get your money. But also, don't make the bottom line your sole factor in decision-making, there is so much more to life than $. People making $200,000 per year are happier than those making $50,000 per year (because they are less stressed out). People making $5mil are not happier than those making $4mil. Focusing solely on the bottom-line is a recipe for an unfulfilled life.
 
CP87 said:
I don't fault any college athlete for thinking about how to set themselves up for future success, but I also think that, "How can I secure the most money for this upcoming season?" is the wrong question to be asking. It wouldn't make sense to ask a player like Iamaleava to play for free, but his future success (financial, professional, personal, etc.) does not come down to whether he gets $4mil from Tennessee vs. $5mil from another program. Yes, you could consider that a short-term win (+$1min). But the damage he has done to his reputation will cost him more than that down the road...and it turns out he is not even going to get the +$1mil he was hoping for. Not to mention the potential lifelong friends he was in the process of making at Tenn, many of whom will now want nothing to do with him. That doesn't enhance personal success or happiness.

Student athletes, get your money. But also, don't make the bottom line your sole factor in decision-making, there is so much more to life than $. People making $200,000 per year are happier than those making $50,000 per year (because they are less stressed out). People making $5mil are not happier than those making $4mil. Focusing solely on the bottom-line is a recipe for an unfulfilled life.
Click to expand...
Well said
 
Zstatman said:
Wasn't Tennessee pretty good last year with this kid at QB?
Click to expand...
Made it to the playoffs and got pounded by OSU so some would say that's pretty good. Some would say disappointing. Perspective is different for everyone I suppose. But kid has potential going into 3rd yr. But now he's starting over on a worse team having to learn a new offense without having 15 spring practices to do it.
 
I'll speculate that as long as there are idot Dads out there, each year there will be a Nico. Even though this will be seem to be a lesson to everyone...many will learn and some wont.

to think he'd even sit out a year...wow.
 
He landed at UCLA as predicted. I have not seen solid reporting on what he got paid, but he definitely overplayed things with the Vols and is paying a financial price. Also, UCLA has a starting QB already, so I wonder if that kid now bounces. I would.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
He landed at UCLA as predicted. I have not seen solid reporting on what he got paid, but he definitely overplayed things with the Vols and is paying a financial price. Also, UCLA has a starting QB already, so I wonder if that kid now bounces. I would.
Click to expand...
I'd bet big money the salary hit he took was massive. Small pool of P4 programs willing to take him, well-established history of being a primadonna, prone to temper tantrums in the form of holdouts, head case parent baggage...
 
Fryowa said:
I'd bet big money the salary hit he took was massive. Small pool of P4 programs willing to take him, well-established history of being a primadonna, prone to temper tantrums in the form of holdouts, head case parent baggage...
Click to expand...
Yep. The last report I saw was that several schools were interested, but for a million per year. I suspect he might have haggled it a bit above that to close the deal, but that is over a 50% cut for next season as to what he would have gotten in Tennessee, and he still had more upside left on the remainder of that deal. Sometimes you just gotta keep your head down and your mouth shut. Hopefully this kid learned a tough life lesson here.
 
NorthKCHawk said:
Yep. The last report I saw was that several schools were interested, but for a million per year. I suspect he might have haggled it a bit above that to close the deal, but that is over a 50% cut for next season as to what he would have gotten in Tennessee, and he still had more upside left on the remainder of that deal. Sometimes you just gotta keep your head down and your mouth shut. Hopefully this kid learned a tough life lesson here.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it's more likely with a dad like that raising him that he'll become a victim in his own mind, blaming a hundred different other factors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top