What’s asinine is thinking the university itself is in any way affiliated in a provable way.
Ruiz is an independent operator, and can employ athletes, and they cannot be prevented from selling their services.
It’s called NIL.
The whole ******* idea is he is independent and separate from the university, otherwise it doesn’t work.
Unless the university is directing or affiliated in a provable way with Ruiz, they do nothing, especially publicly. Really stupid advice for UM to say anything other than they are not in control of Ruiz, if asked.
Respect first off. I'm not coming for you with this, just wanted to get that out of the way.
Everything is provable, you've just gotta figure out the where, how, and why.
Ruiz isn't independent of anything. We all know that and there's no burying our head in the sand about it. We know this, at least anyone who actively follows this forum.
You're right in that he can't be stopped on a surface level from employing persons for the purpose of a NIL deal.
Having said that, we have certain posters beating around the bush (not getting into specifics) with regards to recruits and purported NIL deals being offered prior to signing with is on the dotted line. There's nothing independent about that on his part and I'm not going to elaborate on it.
We're back to provable again. If guys on message boards are talking about our offers to recruits (remember, coaches aren't allowed to talk about who they're recruiting per NCAA rules), he's involved, then someone is talking on our end. Secrets in this game don't remain secrets for long and that's how things make it to the media and here.
The NCAA also doesn't work like a court of law. They can hand down sanctions anytime they like and whoever can challenge them while being stuck in limbo the entire time while you agree to or challenge said sanctions. It's rare as can be that much of anything is challenged and we all know why, schools don't want the digging.
Lastly, this isn't meant to be a f'Ruiz post or admission of anything, just keeping it real. I don't know what can, will, or should be done about anything. You're not a naive or unintelligent poster, but let's not collectively try and bury our head in the sand. I don't feel we're doing a **** thing anyone else isn't doing right now. It's the f'ing wild west out there but it they come after our gunslinger, how do we mitigate or challenge the opposition? Even operating through loopholes and as others are, it doesn't mean we might not have a **** storm heading our way.
Simply put, I recognize it for what it all is. Pay for play, no matter how it's dressed up. Again, we're not solo in this, but as history has shown, they may come after us.
