Texas A&M Athlete Targeted in First NIL Investigations, Emails Show

At least one athlete at Texas A&M was among those investigated by the new college sports enforcement entity, according to emails obtained by Front Office Sports through a public records request.

The College Sports Commission was created in the wake of the House v. NCAA settlement to enforce the new revenue-sharing cap, roster limits, and NIL restrictions—which require all Division I athletes to submit deals over $600 for approval to a system called NIL Go; the CSC would then scrutinize them to ensure they offer fair-market value for a valid business purpose, rather than serve as pay-for-play in disguise. 

Earlier this year, the CSC began its first wave of “investigations” into NIL rules violations. The CSC’s initial round of investigations related to alleged unreported deals. 

On Jan. 15, CSC head of investigations Katie Medearis sent an email to Texas A&M director of athletics Trev Alberts informing him of an investigation into whether “a member of one of your institution’s sports teams failed to report one or more third-party Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals in accordance with applicable rules,” the emails show. The email thread shows that several athletic department officials scheduled a call with CSC officials; a separate internal email chain details complaints from athletic department officials regarding a lack of transparency in the CSC’s process. 

“We can confirm the CSC inquiry and have been informed that the answers provided were satisfactory,” a Texas A&M spokesperson said in a statement to FOS.

“The CSC regularly reaches out to schools to inform them of investigations,” a CSC spokesperson told FOS. “We have no further comment.”

The CSC has reached out to several schools across the power conferences; FOS has obtained records for LSU, Nebraska, and Oregon. Athletes at Kansas were also reportedly the subject of inquiries. In multiple cases, these deals have been resolved. 

The emails obtained by Texas A&M follow a pattern of those obtained by FOS at Nebraska and Oregon.

Also on Jan. 15, Medearis sent emails to various other schools’ athletic directors, informing them that the CSC was opening an investigation into a player or players for potentially unreported NIL deals. Then, Medearis would ask to set up a call with athletic department officials. In the cases of Nebraska and Oregon, the CSC and school officials worked together after this call to ensure players had submitted all requisite deal information, rather than issuing punishments. 

Transparency Questions

The Texas A&M emails also revealed that the CSC was cagey about the details of the inquiries before speaking with athletic department officials, marking a departure from the NCAA’s process. 

“I really wish they would at least let us know WHO and WHAT TEAM they’re talking about so that this meeting would be more productive rather than us coming in flat-footed,” wrote Brad Barnes, Texas A&M’s executive associate athletics director for compliance and risk management, to Alberts and Jamie Vaughn, the executive associate AD for internal operations of men’s basketball and football. “FWIW, I’ve asked the SEC what we can expect from these calls and if there’s anyway we can learn WHO they’re inquiring into ahead of time. In NCAA investigations, they give us notice of inquiry at some level of specificity, and in this it would seem we’re getting nothing until the call.”

Subsequent emails from Barnes also guessed at the basis for the CSC’s investigations. 

Zac Phillips, Texas A&M’s senior associate athletic director for NIL strategy and development, wrote to Barnes, Vaughn, and Alberts: “I’m interested to see if it’s based on research (like you said Brad – scouring social media, internet, etc.) for NIL activations that were possibly an activation that was part of the pre-July 1st stuff. I’m sure they are having trouble with that in terms of whether or not a student-athlete received new money or not and therefore the obligation to report.”