Discussion on Article Today in PS on NIL and Weitsman

[007]

Let’s be clear. There is no indication that the NCAA sees him as an “easy target.” A local journalist is putting forth conjecture that his actions may be what the NCAA is looking to rein in. And in addition to engaging with one of the leading legal authorities on the subject, he also has Mark Wheeler and SU Compliance on speed dial.

Yeah, I get that.

 

[Bayside44]

I read the article. Really wish someone who was a better writer tackled the subject.

Carlson stressed the importance of the NCAA rule change that finally allows them to take circumstantial evidence into account when performing investigations and says this could be a big factor in getting Syracuse into trouble with the NCAA.

And ignores the fact that Adam Weitsman has been exceptionally open on everything he is doing from day one.

This, IMHO, is what makes Adam fundamentally different from 99% of the people paying athletes today under the guise of NIL. And it makes the central point of his story, the importance of the policy change to consider circumstantial evidence, essentially moot.

Chris should have been impartial enough to discuss this in his story and should have had the impressive group of experts he interviewed for his story discuss this.

As well as the difficulty Syracuse and all other schools are encountering dealing with the NCAA. He should have discussed how the NCAA ignored NIL for an extended period, the vacuum this bizarre decision caused, and how the lack of oversight and guidance encouraged boosters to do anything they wanted.

Weitsman and other Syracuse boosters got involved in NIL because other schools were using it extensively to get better players on their teams. NIL was making a major impact on the Syracuse basketball program and if Syracuse was to remain competitive, he and others had to do something to level the playing field.

Trying to paint Weitsman as an extreme figure in NIL is easy because he is basically the only one doing this above board. But it is lazy and inaccurate and disingenuous.

After reading the article I don't think the NCAA can win this fight.

SU lost our rounds by bad behavior and lack of legal investment. Here there are way too many schools and too much money involved and they'll push back.

 

[Orangezoo]

After reading the article I don't think the NCAA can win this fight.

SU lost our rounds by bad behavior and lack of legal investment. Here there are way too many schools and too much money involved and they'll push back.

Hopefully we've learned our lesson and fire back if they even try.

 

[BigNastyJon]

I’m sure this article won’t piss off Boeheim.

 

[Cuseregular]

You disagreed with me saying Adam was unique in that he is being very public regarding his activities with NIL. Sounds like you are backing down from that now, which is fine.

I agree there are many who are contributing similar money, sometimes more money, than Adam has. But they are being quiet about it.

I expect this article and the fallout from it will result in Adam shutting down his NIL activities. All the back room dealing by all the other schools that have embraced NIL from the start will continue and only Syracuse and the kids Adam was trying to help will be affected.

Maybe the NCAA will now start up their first investigation over NIL 'violations' (still don't think they have set up formal rules) on Syracuse. Yes, Syracuse started on NIL 18 months later than the rest of the college athletics world and horror of horrors, ended up with a verbal from one top 70 player for basketball. No doubt this needs to be severely punished as it is the worst thing that has ever happened in college sports.

Sigh.

It reminds me of the old adage back when us and North Carolina subsequently we’re being investigated, that the “NCAA was so upset with North Carolina that they gave Syracuse an extra six months probation!”

This, while North Carolina essentially created a whole course load of joke classes to pass athletes and keep them eligible, while the meat of the Syracuse violations was one foreign player being assisted with one paper written for him.

Same here, Syracuse and it’s boosters do due diligence, trying to do it the right way, delaying its implementation on a large scale, but of course, now that Syracuse is into it trying to keep up with the Joneses let’s crack down. Friggin ridiculous.

 

[Bayside44]

It reminds me of the old adage back when us and North Carolina subsequently we’re being investigated, that the “NCAA was so upset with North Carolina that they gave Syracuse an extra six months probation!”

This, while North Carolina essentially created a whole course load of joke classes to pass athletes and keep them eligible, while the meat of the Syracuse violations was one foreign player being assisted with one paper written for him.

Same here, Syracuse and it’s boosters do due diligence, trying to do it the right way, delaying its implementation on a large scale, but of course, now that Syracuse is into it trying to keep up with the Joneses let’s crack down. Friggin ridiculous.

UNC spent a sizeable fortune on legal and Roy said nice things.

SU did a 180 of that.

 

[Willy75]

UNC spent a sizeable fortune on legal and Roy said nice things.

SU did a 180 of that.

The local (Raleigh) newspaper came after UNC hard on the academic fraud scandal; there was even a book I believe by their reporters. UNC even in the face of horrible facts went back all out against the NCAA and prevailed. That’s the approach SU should take If necessary.

 

[Consigliere]

Ju

The local (Raleigh) newspaper came after UNC hard on the academic fraud scandal; there was even a book I believe by their reporters. UNC even in the face of horrible facts went back all out against the NCAA and prevailed. That’s the approach SU should take If necessary.

Just don’t think the state would underwrite our legal costs like they did for UNC and PSU. It’s nice to be able to just lay the costs at the feet of the taxpayers.

 

[007]

After reading the article I don't think the NCAA can win this fight.

SU lost our rounds by bad behavior and lack of legal investment. Here there are way too many schools and too much money involved and they'll push back.

I wonder if the NCAA really cares about winning pending legal fights. They probably know they can’t. It might be more about creating the illusion of trying to rein some of this in.

Adding wording like “circumstantial evidence” and “common sense” to allow them to site infractions is one thing. they then double down by saying making the charge is an assumption of guilt and the burden of proof will be on the university. So, guilty unless you can prove your innocence.

Let’s hope that if charged, SU fights back this time.

 

[Willy75]

Ju

Just don’t think the state would underwrite our legal costs like they did for UNC and PSU. It’s nice to be able to just lay the costs at the feet of the taxpayers.

The lack of due process (bringing cases under vague rules, presuming guilt) described in the article is really glaring. How that works where a private voluntary association is doing the enforcing I’m not sure, but UNC found a way.

 

[cuseallday]

Personally I think there are three things that differentiate Adam from others:
1. He has done his due diligence on compliance and hired a leading attorney in the field to advise him on the topic. cuseallday can certainly provide perspective but there is a reason he waited almost 18 months to engage. And it’s not because he can finally fund it with last month’s lottery winnings.
2. To our knowledge he started by working with current players, and has now started working with high school level prospective student athletes. He has not been engaged with transfer portal candidates. If he does that to the level that it appears to be an inducement to leave a current school, my support will dissipate.
3. Adam is a globally recognized influencer and mentor to young entrepreneurs. I imagine this is in line with his giving back philosophy. Beyond the financial aspects there is a great symbiotic relationship being formed with these young men with a value that goes way beyond sports. I feel pretty comfortable saying that you can count on one hand the number of college sports boosters who can make the same claim.

A couple of things here. I did talk with Adam this morning at length. I actually spoke to him several times earlier this week, and he noted the new SU NIL "rules." He gave me a lot of insights into this whole thing. He had a lot to say about Chris' article. I plan to talk in greater detail with Adam in the near future to do a comprehensive piece. I'm the first to admit that I have developed a friendship with Adam in recent months, and we trust one another, but at the same time, I've been a long-time journalist and am just speaking my own thoughts here, regardless of my friendship with Adam. The Carlson piece, to me, was imbalanced and involved a ton of speculation. There were inaccuracies in it. It was pretty one-sided. I like Chris and all of the Syracuse.com reporters. So not taking a shot at Chris here. But at the same time, Adam has been very transparent about what he's been doing with NIL. He has a great NIL attorney who advises him. He has gotten all of the rules from SU compliance. I personally think he's playing by the rules, even if those rules are murky to me at best. Also, I feel like since Adam is wealthy and in the spotlight, and he's doing the most out of anyone with NIL in CNY (it's not even close), he's an easy target. I hope to share more soon.

 

[jordville]

 

[TheCusian]

The NCAA is toothless and will lose all legal arguments. They know that and that’s why there’s been a series of “we’re scarry!” leaks and interviews.

 

[rocfan44]

I just have a bad feeling that in the end all of this is not going end well.

 

[HOFCeluck]

We love ya Adam!

 

[Sherman20]

Carlson sucks.

It’s absurd. Everyone knows one of the main reasons we lost out on JP Estrella is because Tennessee dangled a mid six-figure NIL deal at him. Weitsman is just trying to make Syracuse competitive with all the other P5 schools out there. Why doesn’t Carlson go dig in on that and find out what happened there and illuminate what SU is up against?

 

[Bayside44]

I wonder if the NCAA really cares about winning pending legal fights. They probably know they can’t. It might be more about creating the illusion of trying to rein some of this in.

Adding wording like “circumstantial evidence” and “common sense” to allow them to site infractions is one thing. they then double down by saying making the charge is an assumption of guilt and the burden of proof will be on the university. So, guilty unless you can prove your innocence.

Let’s hope that if charged, SU fights back this time.

Guilty until proved innocent seems to go against … stuff…

 

[Sherman20]

Bill Self, Will Wade and Sean Miller have all been caught on wiretaps and subpoenaed text messages talking outright about paying players. I’m sorry, it was illegal then, especially since it wasn’t under the guise of NIL, which didn’t exist. Kansas needs to be punished for that. The Self stuff is more than circumstantial evidence. The NCAA has massive unfinished business with all those schools that they refuse to address.

 

[OCESIP]

A couple of things here. I did talk with Adam this morning at length. I actually spoke to him several times earlier this week, and he noted the new SU NIL "rules." He gave me a lot of insights into this whole thing. He had a lot to say about Chris' article. I plan to talk in greater detail with Adam in the near future to do a comprehensive piece. I'm the first to admit that I have developed a friendship with Adam in recent months, and we trust one another, but at the same time, I've been a long-time journalist and am just speaking my own thoughts here, regardless of my friendship with Adam. The Carlson piece, to me, was imbalanced and involved a ton of speculation. There were inaccuracies in it. It was pretty one-sided. I like Chris and all of the Syracuse.com reporters. So not taking a shot at Chris here. But at the same time, Adam has been very transparent about what he's been doing with NIL. He has a great NIL attorney who advises him. He has gotten all of the rules from SU compliance. I personally think he's playing by the rules, even if those rules are murky to me at best. Also, I feel like since Adam is wealthy and in the spotlight, and he's doing the most out of anyone with NIL in CNY (it's not even close), he's an easy target. I hope to share more soon.

The challenge that Adam and other similar boosters are faced with is dealing with an NCAA that has narrowly (and poorly) defined what NIL is and how it is supposed to be applied. Tee shirts, autographs, public appearances, etc were the intended vehicles for redistributing a minimal amount of $$ to current college athletes. It was never intended to be a vehicle to facilitate a bidding war between fellow colleges and universities to attract athletes to their program and create what is essentially a pay for play environment. That is entirely foreign to the whole concept of what the NCAA supposedly stands for,

No where in their minds eye could they ever see how the NIL concept could be manipulated to include $$ to influence high school players in their recruitment process. Now they have to scramble to address what they see as an unsavory aspect of college athletics because they didn't dot all the I's and cross all the T's when they first rolled out the program.

How successful the NCAA will be remains to be seen, but unlike others I would not rule them out. I'm not sure college administrators are ready for the free-for-all that would ensue.

 

[HOFCeluck]

No where in their minds eye could they ever see how the NIL concept could be manipulated to include $$ to influence high school players in their recruitment process.

Perish the thought…

 

[MadNY3]

I read the article. Really wish someone who was a better writer tackled the subject.

Carlson stressed the importance of the NCAA rule change that finally allows them to take circumstantial evidence into account when performing investigations and says this could be a big factor in getting Syracuse into trouble with the NCAA.

And ignores the fact that Adam Weitsman has been exceptionally open on everything he is doing from day one.

This, IMHO, is what makes Adam fundamentally different from 99% of the people paying athletes today under the guise of NIL. And it makes the central point of his story, the importance of the policy change to consider circumstantial evidence, essentially moot.

Chris should have been impartial enough to discuss this in his story and should have had the impressive group of experts he interviewed for his story discuss this.

As well as the difficulty Syracuse and all other schools are encountering dealing with the NCAA. He should have discussed how the NCAA ignored NIL for an extended period, the vacuum this bizarre decision caused, and how the lack of oversight and guidance encouraged boosters to do anything they wanted.

Weitsman and other Syracuse boosters got involved in NIL because other schools were using it extensively to get better players on their teams. NIL was making a major impact on the Syracuse basketball program and if Syracuse was to remain competitive, he and others had to do something to level the playing field.

Trying to paint Weitsman as an extreme figure in NIL is easy because he is basically the only one doing this above board. But it is lazy and inaccurate and disingenuous.

Chris Carlson is very good.

Saying Adam is exceptionally open is naive. We don’t know all the stuff going on. No one does. Literally.

If Chris could have done anything better, he could have benchmarked Syracuse/Adam with a bunch of other schools across the country. But it’s a Syracuse-focused market.

I have zero problem with the article. If anything, we need to realize Syracuse isn’t Truman’s Show or a self bubble.

 

[MadNY3]

Don’t think you’d see an article like this coming out of Durham North Carolina or Lawrence Kansas. Pretty pathetic if you ask me

We elect to worship Newhouse when convenient but then shame it when it does journalism.

 

[Bayside44]

We elect to worship Newhouse when convenient but then shame it when it does journalism.

Could this and could that is a bit arbitrary.

 

[sutomcat]

Chris Carlson is very good.

Saying Adam is exceptionally open is naive. We don’t know all the stuff going on. No one does. Literally.

If Chris could have done anything better, he could have benchmarked Syracuse/Adam with a bunch of other schools across the country. But it’s a Syracuse-focused market.

I have zero problem with the article. If anything, we need to realize Syracuse isn’t Truman’s Show or a self bubble.

Regarding NIL dealings. Adam is exceptionally open. If you don’t realize that, it is worthless to discuss anything further on the subject with you.

I do agree it is too bad Chris didn’t at least mention what is going on with NIL at other schools and ran tat by his team of experts.

That would have made his article a lot more insightful and worthwhile to read.

 

[MadNY3]

Regarding NIL dealings. Adam is exceptionally open. If you don’t realize that, it is worthless to discuss anything further on the subject with you.

I do agree it is too bad Chris didn’t at least mention what is going on with NIL at other schools and ran tat by his team of experts.

That would have made his article a lot more insightful and worthwhile to read.

He’s open in that he talks about it Publicly. That doesn’t mean there are other things. Adam l-o-v-e-s attention. From all angles. No matter where.

Look, we all root for Syracuse, but that doesn’t mean we cannot question some of the things going on given 1) Adam is…interesting, 2) Syracuse changed NIL policies during this.

We also should realize this is a national not isolated macro issue. As someone that has done eight super minor NIL deals, I’ll also take a little benefit of th out knowledge here. This is the sketchiest business legal thing I’ve ever seen and yet, I’m super excited for something we are launching at Baylor on Feb 21.

In other words, feel free to stop “discussing this any further” but I‘m not the troll on this one.