I felt, for some time now, that this NIL stuff would expand into areas that may be legal according to the definition and rules, but lackingreal integrity, moral standard and ethical strength. Leave it to the Utes to push the boundaries of what is actually legal against what might be unethical or disingenuous. But this is how things are done in that state so I am not surprised.
Giving away trucks with advertising on them is nothing more than a veiled effort to get rich while exploiting the system and situation. It’s not a lot different than the situation that occurred when my Dad lost mid to high six figures by way of a “legal” scam. It happens a lot in LDS trusting circles. It won’t be the last time I’m sure. Some group stands to GAIN a lot financially from this, all under the guise of being charitable and helping others.
Seen this kind of stuff way too much and now corruption has entered the college sports landscape, just like gambling has entered the sports world. It’s an epidemic.
This is only an opinion and I could be totally wrong but I don’t think so. The only difference is that booster stuff is all out in the open now, so what purpose do the NCAA enforcers serve now?
“If we want them to go around town to help with these causes, we need to provide them transportation,” Garff said. “How do we get these players around to create attention around these causes?” The answer: a Ram 1500 Big Horn truck wrapped in an advertisement for an app.
I literally laughed out loud when I read that. This Garff guy wants us to believe that every player will use his new $60k truck to drive around doing community service out of the goodness of his heart, and not use it to score girls and show off to his friends and family. I absolutely LOVE that guy’s quote. I don’t live in Utah and don’t know anything about Garff, but just reading that makes me know I have zero respect for the guy and would never buy a car from a liar like that.
Tip of the iceberg, JCoug. NIL is an ungoverned arms race, plain and simple. And it’s an arms race that BYU cannot win, and probably should not try to win.
Should I not write stuff about what I believe? You are the only person to respond and that makes me wonder why nobody else has an opinion. After all, this is only an opinion.
Dude, are you kidding??? I LOVED your post to start this thread! Being outside of Utah I had no idea that UofU was starting community service/meals on wheels program with a fleet of $65k pickup trucks. I mean, you can’t have college football players doing community service in their personal vehicles. If you have kids doing community service, you need to make sure that the initial impression is that they are better than the people they serve. Come on now.
PS I can’t wait to see the next UofU party bust with 50 of those matching bad boy rigs parked all over the neighborhood when the cops show up
I saw your dig on Utah…as you live in France, I mean Caly. You might live in a small nothern city, far far away from LA but you still live in the most F’ed up state in the country. When I visit my cousin who lives in San Fran. in March, I will for sure hope not to get mugged, step in the $hit everywhere and pray not fall on any needles in those tent cities. But stay in Caly, cause half of caly has already moved to Idaho-Utah and really messed our driving up big time.
As far as the Utes go. The NCAA wanted to do something about BYU’s Built Bar deal that paid for tuition and housing for every single player enrolled at BYU but then they don’t care so long as they fill their coffers. Money is money. A creative lease truck deal is just another way to entice players (keep in mind that only schollie players get that yearly lease) Think about Ken Garff, these kids will destroy those trucks, count on it. It is pure genius isn’t it?
Yeah, it was a dig. I haven’t been shy about my father losing a lot of money to some crooked mormons living in Utah. You have to acknowledge that the state is well known for pyramid start ups and lots of LLC’s that come and go like the wind. There are plenty of honest people there but that only serves to feed the massive numbers of crooked schiesters on every corner.
I agree this state is a mess, politically and socially but there is a reason you come here to visit cousins. Because the weather is so much better and you can do anything here. Problems exist but are avoidable. As for the driving? People here are more courteous than they are there, always have been. We don’t blame all our problems on people from other states, but everyone outside this state seems to think we are responsible for all of their problems.
Still trying to figure out how that works. Regardless, enjoy your visit next year. Maybe you can ask a Ute football player to drive you here and help with some community service.
dead on right about that. Love your response. “Have a Ute drive me down”. Made my day.
Anyone that trusts a Mormon with their money without research deserves to lose their money. I think Utah at one time was the 2nd highest foreclosure state in the nation. For some reason, Speeding and taking your neighbor’s money is not a sin here. I guess.
Pukes are trying to figure out how to win without a QB. for 10 years before Cam Reising Coach Whitt was trying to figure that one out.
Research is a two edge sword. You have google for 95% of the population. They don’t know how to research not know what to look for. The word pyramid scheme is mostly falsely defined. MLM is often associated with pyramid scheme but it’s not true. MLMs generally are multi-commission agencies while multi-salary corporations are not looked on as multilevel when they are. The corporate pyramid works if you are willing to move up the ladder by rejoicing in the misfortunes of others. People have to get fired, get sick or die for promotions. And, what chance do most have to get to the top?
The major defining things for illegal pyramids are:
Are the distributor fees paid out as commissions to those above the recruit? This is illegal.
Are most sales coming from internal sales with only distributors and not the general public? Herbal Life got caught on this one. You started to see storefronts show up in mini-malls.
Are claims of products legal. Will the pills sold really cure cancer, diabetes and so on?
Is the income potential claimed realistic and do the companies publish the average income per person. These are sales companies and most people will not sell the products to reach the income claims. There should be clear information on what it takes to earn the company claim or individual claims.
Other than that, innovation has always been a hallmark of a free society with opportunities. That is the U.S.
I’ve been saying for many, many years that any QB with other options who signs with UofU is out of his mind.
I love visiting my daughters in Utah but still wonder why everyone seems to drive 90 on I-15 despite constant road construction and traffic all around them.
I know for a 100% fact from the guys making the decisions that BYU is trying REALLY REALLY hard to find a balance between pure pay to play and using NIL to benefit kids who would be at BYU anyway. I’m proud of BYU for that. When you tell the world, “EVERYONE who signs with us gets a $65 thousand dollar truck,” the money becomes the primary message. I think it’s repulsive and I hope we are better than that, but we need to understand that no matter what the crooked liars at NCAA HQ say, there are NO FUNCTIONAL RULES anymore and you can pay ANY PLAYER ANYTHING YOU WANT to get him to sign. It will be interesting to see how BYU navigates the new pay to play world. If it blows up in the face of enough high profile recruits and teams, maybe our approach can win in the end.
Consider the following–I’m very confident in where I got this:
Utah has only taken delivery of about 4 of these trucks.
One player has already returned his truck after the players were informed that NIL benefits are earned income and subject to personal income tax (welcome to the real world, boys).
No clarity on who gets trucks first and it’s eating at team unity.
No clarity on who pays deductibles when there is a wreck, and what happens if there is a DUI resulting in injury.
Whittingham sick of the whole thing but won’t say it in public because he flexed so hard when UofU made the announcement.
Oh yeah, and BYU 100% could have had the same deal but told Garff “Thanks, but no thanks.”
