PHILADELPHIA– It was just a matter of time before the NIL created unexpected problems for college football and basketball and the mess spilled out on national news.
Former UNLV starting quarterback Matt Sluka, a senior transfer from Holy Cross has left the team after a 3-0 start, claiming the university failed to make good
on promised payments of $100,000, according to his father and agent.
UNLV along with its third-party collective that arranges name image and likeness payments to student-athletes, has strongly disputed their version of events.
Sluka announced earlier this week he would be using his redshirt year and leaving the program because of “representations that were made to me, which were not
upheld after I enrolled.”
Sluka’s agent, Marcus Cromartie of Equity Sports, and his father Bob Sluka, told multiple outlets the quarterback left the team because the university reneged on a verbal
offer of payment. The school claims Cromartie made financial demands upon the university and its NIL collective in order for Sluka to keep playing. UNLV athletics interpreted these demands as a violation of the pay for play rules, as well as Nevada state law. the school claims there was no formal offers made during the recruitment process. Sluka was paid $3,000 in a separate deal for a summer community engagement event with Child Cancer Society once he enrolled in June. Cromartie described the money as a relocation fee.
The issue at stake is Sluka’s father’s claim that it wasn’t the collective that promised his son a big payday. it was offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who isn’t talking.
Cromartie says the conversations took place while Sluka was completing his degree work last semester, but Sluka couldn’t sign an NIL agreement without being enrolled at the school.
Cromartie said he pursued payment as soon as Sluka arrived, but the school claimed the offer wasn’t valid since it didn’t come from head coach Barry Odom. He added he
even attempted to negotiate the deal down from $10,000 a month to $5,000 but was told the best the school could do was $3,000. At that point, Cromartie said he felt his client was being lied too so he went public.
Bill Paulos, a UNLV alum who is the president of Friends of UNLV, claims Cromartie didn’t make his initial outreach until last month and wasn’t even registered agent in Nevada. ‘We received an email from Cromartie in last August. He said he was exploring NIL opportunities but never mentioned a control on Sluka that wasn’t being paid.
There is nothing stopping Skuka from playing anywhere– after he sits out the rest of the season NCAA rules allow athletes to use a redshirt year as long as they play in four games or less. Sluka just won’t be able to pay again until next season. Sluka’s father and agent didn’t reject of idea of revolving things with UNLV, but the school has already moved on.
Odom announced he will start Malik Williams, who was part of a three-way competition for the job this summer.
Sluka’s deal going wrong is part of the growing pains in this brave new world of college football. It’s hard to say what happened but this is a pandora’s box. Did the school lie to the player. Did the player have three good games and come back and ask for more. It’s a bad look either way. The NCAA never thought about rules and limitations on paying players in a Wild West where players can transfer and be eligible immediately. The NCAA needs to allow contracts once players commit to transferring. That will at least protect the school and the student-athlete in unsettling times.
