All Hokie, All the Time. Period. Presented by First Bank & Trust Company

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fordham OP
Jan 27, 2026 at 04:02 PM ET
It’s a good thing we are teaching the yutes that contracts are
Completely worthless. Bodes well for the future

49 Replies

1
133182Hokie
6mo
Integrity and self-servitude are mutually exclusive, only one value...
of which drives an individual's behavior.
Beerman Beerman
6mo
Contracts aren't worthless. Neither are they unbreakable.
Break a contract, pay a penalty. If there is no penalty, then was there ever really a contract?
J
jdkhokie
6mo
Its time they leared.
sacramento hokie sacramento hokie
6mo
Roflmao*
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
Yes...we need more teachers like Lane Kiffin.....
F
fordham OP
6mo
Lane was at the end of his contract and never signed
The extension. Facts matter totally different situation
reestuart reestuart
6mo
Says here he was under contract through 2030.
"Lane Kiffin contract details Kiffin's current contract with Ole Miss runs through Dec. 31, 2030. According to USA Today's list of coaching salaries, Kiffin makes $9 million annually. He is eligible for a max of $2.6 million in bonuses during the 2025 season. Per the database, Kiffin's buyout is $36.6 million. The way that Kiffin's contract is structured gives him an automatic one-year extension if his team reaches seven wins. This happened last season when the Rebels beat Arkansas last November to reach seven wins" Another link saying it automatically extended to 2031. https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/ole-mi... ** Edited by reestuart at 1/28/2026, 9:37:17 AM
N
NokieHokie
6mo
Don't let facts get in the way of bad faith posters. :)
F
fordham OP
6mo
So lane had a buyout which was paid. As I understand it Mensa did
Not have that language in his contract
reestuart reestuart
6mo
We don't know what was in his "contract". There were probably no guarantees
at all for either side. ** Edited by reestuart at 1/28/2026, 10:53:41 AM
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NokieHokie
6mo
That's completely not what you claimed the "facts" were in that post. Don't
try to move the goal posts now that you were exposed...
F
fordham OP
6mo
You got me. Oh darn. My day is ruined
F
fordham OP
6mo
Except it’s not the same situation. I was wrong
On lanes contract length. From what I have heard reported there was no out clause in men’s as
N
NokieHokie
6mo
You are wrong... a lot. But at least you admitted it, this time. :)
1
1947Sunbowl
6mo
Key is tight contracts AND follow the process
Contracts are not slave labor, candidate needed to file his intent to void the agreeement and follow arbitration, the agent didnt do it,. THe parties negotiated arbitration and settlement. That was signed before. For Clemson, alot of the problem with the player leaving for Ole Miss, Clemson is new to NIL and did not have solid contract and expectations and solid NIL office. With vulnerabilities in documents, agents will take advantage. Thatis why VT NIL (and Franklin had it at PSU). Nothing personal, its business for all arrangements.. more than just signing a scholarship
MP4VT2004 MP4VT2004
6mo
Exactly - college football is now a business, and that's why I quit caring.
BG Hokie BG Hokie
6mo
Yet you're here posting on a message board dedicated to the something you
don't care about.
MP4VT2004 MP4VT2004
6mo
Because part of me naively hopes it will return to "the way it used to be".
But I'm mostly here because I enjoy the TSL community.
2
2hhoop3
6mo
The differences now......
boil down to a lot more money above the table in public view. The way it used to be was less money, mostly cash and out of public view under the table.
Gobbler Guru Gobbler Guru
6mo
With one massive other difference.
When players had to sit out a year after transferring, you didn't see anything close to the current volume of annual roster raiding. College football could have survived the portal with no NIL. Or it could have survived NIL with no portal. The current bubble is completely unsustainable and when it ends, a lot of irreparable damage will have been done to the sport. One could argue it already has.
Beerman Beerman
6mo
Which year, exactly?
Major college sports has been a business longer than you have likely been alive
E
EDGEMAN
6mo
Does getting paid more than 90% of VT career working stiff equate to...
..."slave labor?" If so, then sign everyone up to receive "slave wages."
1
1947Sunbowl
6mo
Funny no one complains about Bezos Musk or the other multi billionaire
He makes more income than .005 of population but assumes most of the nation's wealth
F
fordham OP
6mo
The names you mention built thriving businesses
And took on a lot of risk to do it and if they fail they lose it all. That is the problem saying business owners are paid too much. They take on all the risk. Alot of the population will not take on the risk
H
hokie4life2
6mo
what a take; this is the epitome of what is wrong with late stage capitalis
SpaceX had and still has utterly zero risk. Even in its startup days, Elon did nothing and was set to walk away from it all within a week if the government didn't give him billions in tax payer dollars. You should read the legal documents and the minutes from various senate meetings with John McCain before you talk about "taking on risk." Same with Starlink. He just invaded the federal government and fired everyone in any agency that was posing risk to Tesla (and there were SIGNIFICANT SIGINIFICANT risks that would result in billions in fines and potentially shut down the government). Amazon was started with another "small loan" from Bezos's parents. There was almost 0 risk. As a general matter, laws are structured so that companies have not taken on "true" risk for a long time. Laws and regulations allow and, actually, support this through various corporate-friendly hiring and firing laws, which limit exposure and risk (likewise on bankruptcy). Please read relevant information and articles before we chastise young men while glorifying companies that took on zero risk to squeeze workers out of their money and charge "rents" to absorb more "profit." Not saying that young men shouldn't learn the value of honor. But America gave up on honor a long, long, long time ago. These "kids" learned the game; they aren't making the rules.
1
1947Sunbowl
6mo
Sorry, I not symphathetic to Musk and Bezos, their capital they lose nothin
E
EDGEMAN
6mo
Not sure of your argument.
Are you also saying they're getting paid "slave wages?"
reestuart reestuart
6mo
I'd say there are no safeguards with NIL contracts either way. The school
is just as likely to pull payments and cancel with no notice as a guy is to enter the transfer portal.
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
Correct.
F
fordham OP
6mo
All the responses are valid. But this stupidity is not sustainable. Anybody
With half a brain can figure that out
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
Schools created this mess with their refusal to treat athletes as employees
They didn't want to treat them as employees and now they have to deal with the legal ramifications of independent contractors walking around...just like in the real world.
F
fordham OP
6mo
Problem. Make them employees. Are all students employees? Are all
Athletes employees ? If so then why would an employee pay tuition? But even making only the athletes employees means tuitions would have to increase to massive amounts and or state funding go way way way up. Employees are very expensive in benefits alone. Never mind the salaries
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
I spent a year teaching at a D1 school and had to pay tuition for a class
It happens. Yes, employee benefits are expensive but so are coaching buyouts and Athletic Department staff making 6 figures and coaches making 7 figures. There is enough money to pay the student athletes as employees.
F
fordham OP
6mo
The issue remains you can’t just pay football plsyers
And the costs would make any college sports not possible as most schools would have to drop out
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
Yes you can pay athletes. Coaching salaries need to be reduced.
Athletic Department salaries need to be reduced. NCAA Football needs to get inline with NFL pay "standards" where NFL players receive nearly half of all revenue (48%). Every team’s payroll is built directly from that revenue share. Player salaries typically total $250–$300M per team per year. Meanwhile, most teams spend $20–$35M on coaches and football staff combined. For college, for over a century, players received no salary and no share of TV or ticket revenue. Where did the money go? Head coaches: $5–$12M Coordinators: $1–$3M Strength staff: $500k–$1M Recruiting departments + analysts: millions more Many Power Five programs spend $25–$40M+ annually on non‑player payroll alone. Even with NIL, most player compensation comes from third‑party collectives, not schools so the schools still still spend far more on coaches than athletes. Result: College football’s cost structure is built around expensive adults, not players.
2
2hhoop3
6mo
The college athletics model......
is a perfect example of what happens when a business model is subsidized and artificially propped up with other advantages. What is going on now only partially addresses the subsidization and artificial props and is in reality more a redistribution of revenue from one area of the business to another.
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
Nailed it there
reestuart reestuart
6mo
That's not remotely true. Schools have way more money than they let on.
** Edited by reestuart at 1/28/2026, 11:42:18 AM
D
DurhamHokie
6mo
Yes and no...
The money that schools have is typically earmarked for specific things... they may have a substantial endowment, but can't use that money for certain things... and they may have an athletic department flush with cash and a coach that makes >$5M while their academic departments are poor and are being consolidated or canned altogether. Or some departments are wealthy while others are broke - and faculty in some disciplines make hundreds of thousands while those in others make peanuts. It's a mess. The way money flows into and around universities is really, really complicated.
reestuart reestuart
6mo
I'm talking about the athletic departments and should have included that.
They have a ton of ways to "hide" the money legally. By funneling money through booster organizations, the schools only have to report the revenue passed through. If the booster organization doesn't send all money they collect to the athletic department, then it isn't revenue. They want to keep revenue/expenses as close to even as possible, so they can beg for more.
2
2hhoop3
6mo
Somewhat related to your.....
current employee discussion and also to yesterday's Rutgers story is another potential imbalance. In that story it was reported that fringes(health and retirement) constituted 79.2% of salary due to the NJ situation. If players become employees that likely creates a whole other concern and cost to be tackled. This situation is likely to get worse, maybe much worse, before it gets worked out.
D
DurhamHokie
6mo
Agree...
And in some states graduate students are unionizing to get more pay + benefits and it now costs so much for a faculty member to support one that they just won't do it. It's cheaper in the end to hire a technician. In this example, I worry these 'greedy' graduate students are pricing themselves out of existence... and perhaps less well-funded football schools will have the same problem, not being able to afford this pay-to-play model.
S
saret
6mo
Just as an aside, the Virginia law re: NIL specifically says athletes
will NOT be considered employees.
2
2hhoop3
6mo
Good point and .....
I was aware of that. My question was asked with an eye toward if it became a federal determination how that might impact things? We are fortunate so far that the Virginia cost structure is not significantly out of control like New Jersey.
S
saret
6mo
I knew you were aware. I probably should have posted it under
@fordham .
2
2hhoop3
6mo
It's all good.....
this situation is like an onion or an old house restoration. Every time you peel another layer something else jumps out at you. I find the Rutgers situation really interesting. I realize that in the grand scheme of New Jersey corruption and fiscal mismanagement RU may be down the list but, a $500MM+ deficit is still real money and based on the AD's comments I do not believe they can see the bottom of the hole even if their contention that it will eventually not grow as fast proves to be true. A contention, I might add, that I view with skepticism.
reestuart reestuart
6mo
Tell that to the schools. They don’t want to fix it.
J
JACHokies
6mo
I think there is an industry of attorneys and agents ready for this.
AirborneHokie96 AirborneHokie96
6mo
It's no different than Super PACs and lobbyists...