Six former Florida State University basketball players are suing head coach Leonard Hamilton, claiming he promised them $250,000 each in name, image and likeness payments.
In the shocking lawsuit, the players reportedly walked out of practice before a game against Duke on February 17, 2024, enraged by unfulfilled promises.
The players only attended the game because they had received assurances from coach Hamilton that they would be paid by next week.
According to ESPNthe plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Darin Green Jr., DeAnte Green, Camron Fletcher, Josh Nickelberry, Primo Spears, and Jalen Worley.
The promise of NIL payments reportedly dates back to April 2023 during a meeting called the “NIL Conference.” At the time, the coach was said to have promised players that they would receive their pay by the end of next season in March 2024.
These promises were built into the decision-making process for every player on the team regarding whether to transfer or transfer to a school, the lawsuit alleged.
The suit also alleges that coach Hamilton “panicked” over the player's boycott threat, and that the coach said an unspecified business partner would continue to receive the funds.
“I'll tell you the sad truth…”
Yahoo Sports reported text messages showing the players have been in contact with Will Cowen, an executive with one of Florida's NIL collectives.
“I work hard every day for you. I will be meeting with top donors from across the booster organizations on Friday to try to raise as much money as possible each day,” Cowen said. told the players.
In another message, Cowen told Green: “I believe we can shake it off for at least 10 minutes.” [thousand] For you tomorrow. ”
The executive also reportedly told Spears, a 6-foot-3 guard, that despite Coach Hamilton's promises, “there's not a penny in.”
“The sad reality is that none of the promises made to us over the past month have been fulfilled,” Cowen said.
Other text messages between players reportedly also showed growing anger toward FSU, with one text saying, “[They] I made a big fuss when I said I was getting 200,000. ”
The claims against Hamilton Coach included “breach of contract, estoppel (promised recovery of damages), fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, and negligent misrepresentation.”
All plaintiffs are seeking damages of $250,000 with interest.
Blaze News reached out to the FSU basketball public relations team and Coach Hamilton and received the following response from Derek Satterfield, assistant athletic director for Florida State athletics.
“Since the beginning of the Name, Image and Likeness era in collegiate athletics, FSU has maintained a comprehensive compliance education program for coaches and other athletic staff to ensure that all act ethically when interacting with student-athletes. I clearly expected that.
The university has been working diligently to uncover what happened last season after recently learning of the accusations by former men's basketball players. Although our investigation is not yet complete, at this time there are no unfulfilled promises by FSU or the Rising Spear Collective with respect to NIL payments owed to the players regarding scholarships or other appropriate benefits. there is no.
We support Coach Hamilton's right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to a speedy resolution of this matter. ”
None of the players named in the lawsuit are still committed to FSU. Green Jr. and Nickelberry have lost their college eligibility, Spears is playing at UTSA, Fletcher is with Xavier, Green is playing at South Florida and Wally is redshirting Gonzaga.
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