Oregon Ducks Accused Of Tampering With Boise State Player

It’s a new era in college football, and increasingly, one dominated by issues and discussions about name, image and likeness. Especially during transfer portal season.

Any number of programs have been accused of blurring the lines around, uh, encouraging players to transfer to their school, and outgoing Boise State offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter this week discussed yet another example. Koetter appeared on KTIK Idaho Sports Talk this week to discuss the Fiesta Bowl and the ensuing fallout from the Broncos loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Including, the “fact” that, per Koetter, the Oregon Ducks immediately came calling for one of Boise State’s best players.

“I know for a fact that just last week, after the Fiesta Bowl, one of the key starters on defense got a call from the Oregon Ducks offering him $700,000,” Koetter said. 

Koetter continued by explaining that an offer that big is almost impossible to compete with for smaller schools like Boise State.

“Let’s get some numbers out there. Our salary cap is $2 million,” Koetter said. “And that’s up from maybe something like $1.6 million last year, but it’s around $2 million. Every calendar year, that’s what it is right now, and trying to grow it. But the people we’re competing against, maybe not in our current conference, but where we’re going and who we’re expected to compete against, it’s as high as $20 million.”

You can bet that the Ducks’ NIL budget is a lot closer to that $20 million figure than $2 million.

Oct 26, 2024; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning visits with players before a game against the Illinois Fighting Illini at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

Oregon Ducks Show How Big Programs Can Use The Portal

When you hear someone directly involved in a program like Dirk Koetter explain exactly how the NIL/portal negotiations work, a lot of the wild swings from certain players start to make more sense. It’s not just playing time or coaching fits, it’s that sometimes other programs come calling with an offer that’s impossible to refuse.

Assuming that a defensive player is receiving something like $350,000 in NIL deals from Boise State, which would be 17.5% of the school’s budget for one player, how could he be blamed for going out and getting double the amount elsewhere? How many employees would turn down having their salary doubled, especially when there’s no guarantee of salaries that high in their immediate future?

That said, the issue is that schools, quite obviously, are contacting players before they’ve entered the portal. It’s hardly an Oregon issue, this is a widespread problem throughout the sport. 

At some point, there will have to be some level of enforcement or discouragement of this behavior, but until it happens, these types of situations and accusations will become increasingly common. And so will your favorite player on your favorite team transferring to greener and more lucrative pastures.