From NBC Sports: ...Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman went from UCLA to the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, and after all the success he’s had, he wanted to give back to the UCLA football program by contributing to a player getting money from the name, image and likeness fund. He now thinks that was a mistake...
“I gave money to a kid. I won’t mention who,” Aikman said. “I’ve done it one time at UCLA. Never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you note. It’s one of those deals to where I’m done with NIL. I mean, I wanna see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.” ...
But then there is this from the LA Times: Troy Aikman said he’s “done with NIL” after writing a check to a UCLA football player who never thanked him and went on to leave for another school after one season. There was a reason for that lack of gratitude, according to one person familiar with the Bruins’ football name, image and likeness operations from that time not authorized to discuss donor information publicly. The player in question didn’t know who funded his NIL deal, only that it was coming from the team’s collective, Men of Westwood. It was standard practice for players not to know which donors or alumni contributed NIL funds that were distributed to the team...
Aikman [also said] he believed that players should be able to leave one school for another amid coaching turnover but should have to otherwise stay with the program paying them. “There’s got to be some leadership at the very top that kind of cleans all of this up,” Aikman said. “Starting with players that accept money. There’s got to be some accountability and responsibility on their behalf, to have to stick to a program.” ...
Full story at https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2025-12-10/why-troy-aikman-didnt-get-thanked-by-that-ucla-football-player.
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