Parents Of TU Football Players Allege Broken NIL Promises

Parents of Tulsa football players Myles Jackson and Cooper Legas say they feel deceived, alleging unfulfilled promises of name, image, and likeness (NIL) payments totaling tens of thousands of dollars.

Monday, December 2nd 2024, 10:32 pm

By: Erin Conrad

TULSA, Okla. -

The parents claim former TU head coach Kevin Wilson verbally promised NIL money to the players, but they have yet to receive it. Under NCAA rules, NIL funds are managed by third-party organizations, not universities. TU’s NIL policy states the university cannot directly handle or promise NIL compensation during recruitment.

“We're really disgusted,” said Veronica Jackson, Myles’ mother. “The kids are really just... it feels like no one is really in their corner.”

Jennifer Legas, Cooper’s mother, echoed the sentiment, saying, “He chose this school over others. And part of the reason was the promise of the NIL money.”

NIL payments at TU are managed by Hurricane Impact, a separate organization that collects donations and distributes funds to athletes across all sports. Both families say they never interacted with Hurricane Impact and instead relied on verbal commitments made by Wilson.

“The huge disappointment is the fact that since the coach has actually been let go, there are no answers,” Jackson said.

Wilson was terminated earlier this season. The Athletic Director Rick Dickson retired in April and current Athletic Director Justin Moore was hired in July.

The University sent News on 6 this statement:

“The University of Tulsa continues to provide scholarship and academic support to football student-athletes whose eligibility has expired should they elect to earn their degrees. The Department of Athletics is unaware of any promises of NIL payments made by the former head football coach to student-athletes completing their eligibility.”

Coach Kevin Wilson sent News on 6 this statement after the story aired:

"We have worked and funded the Case Fund for academic success through the Alston Fund allocated by the NCAA. Our players received the max amounts of that fund allocated by the NCAA. We are one of two AAC schools that use the Alston fund, but that is not NIL funds. The previous Athletic Director was pushing for NIL donations to help the 2024 team. With the AD change, the new administration wanted to wait until the end of the season before allocating the NIL funding. I was not able to allocate any NIL funding during my two seasons at Tulsa. As I have stated several times - no TU football player has received NIL during my tenure at TU."

Erin Conrad

Erin Conrad returns to the newsroom as a reporter and fill-in-anchor at News On 6. She’s a passionate journalist who is excited to tell stories again!