A group of former Florida State Seminoles basketball players filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against their former coach, Leonard Hamilton, over unpaid promises of NIL compensation that reaches a whopping total of $1.5 million.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Leon County circuit court in Florida, has six former Seminoles claiming Hamilton, a 37-year head coach with a career at Oklahoma State and Miami before taking the Florida State job in 2002, promised each of them $250,000 in NIL payments through “business partners,” per Yahoo Sports.
The plaintiffs are Darin Green Jr., Josh Nickleberry, Primo Spears, Cam’Ron Fletcher, De’Ante Green and Jalen Warley.
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Florida State Seminoles guard Primo Spears, #23, talks with Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Capital One Arena. (Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)
However, the lawsuit stated the players never received payment despite Hamilton making public promises during two team meetings as well as individual conversations with some of the players and their respective families.
In fact, some of the players transferred to the Seminoles program under the assurance they would be made NIL compensation.
The lawsuit also provides text chains among players, as well as threads between players and Hamilton. Will Cowen, an executive with one of the NIL collectives Florida State has, is also in text chains with players.
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What makes this lawsuit even more intriguing is that players claim they “walked out of the gym” during a practice before the team’s Feb. 17 game against Duke due to their frustration with unpaid NIL money. They also claimed they were going to boycott the game, though Hamilton discovered that plan and allegedly told the players that money would be in their accounts the next week.
Florida State ultimately played the game, losing to Duke, 76-67.
Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton on the sideline against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the second half at McCamish Pavilion. (Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)
“We support Coach Hamilton’s right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter,” the university said in a statement, via ESPN.
This lawsuit may be unprecedented, but this is not the first time fans have heard about NIL compensation being the root of a right between player and program.
There was Matthew Sluka at UNLV, who abruptly left the football team as their starting quarterback due to his coach allegedly promising him a $100,000 NIL deal that was never received. Then, there was Jaden Rashada, the former Florida Gators quarterback, who filed a lawsuit against head coach Billy Napier for an unpaid $13 million NIL payment he was promised during recruitment.
In this case, four of the players have since transferred away from Florida State due to not being compensated, while two others are no longer eligible to play collegiately.
Florida State Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton looks on against the LSU Tigers during the first half at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. (Stephen Lew-Imagn Images)
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“Every player on the 2023-24 FSU men’s basketball team roster relied on the promises that Hamilton made when they either decided to transfer to FSU or remain enrolled at FSU and play out the season,” the suit says, via Yahoo Sports. “However, as the season continued, many players, including the plaintiffs, became very frustrated by the continuous failure to perform on the myriad of promises issued by Hamilton.”
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