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The football program at the University of Colorado has attracted an unprecedented amount of attention since hiring Deion Sanders to lead the program, and it’s making headlines once again thanks to a former coach who admitted to heading to Saudi Arabia to try to squeeze some NIL money out of the country’s Public Investment Fund.
At this point, I feel like most people are familiar with the controversy surrounding Saudi Arabia’s efforts to use the virtually unlimited funds at its disposal to attempt to become a notable player in the world of sports thanks to the launch of LIV Golf, the acquisition of Newcastle, and efforts to lure notable names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar to soccer clubs in the country.
Those ventures have been made possible by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, a massive stockpile of oil money worth close to $1 trillion. However, they’ve also been subjected to plenty of backlash due to people who’ve accused the country of engaging in “sports washing” by spending billions of dollars to rehabilitate a reputation marred by an abysmal human rights record and links to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
As a result, some athletes and organizations are wary of entering into a partnership with Saudi Arabia—but it doesn’t sound like the man who resigned as the special teams coordinator at Colorado just a month before the start of the 2024 college football season is one of them.
Former NFL linebacker Trevor Reilly served as a graduate assistant under Deion Sanders at Jackson State before heading to Boulder after Coach Prime was hired to helm the Buffaloes, and there were more than a few questions surrounding his decision to resign at the start of August.
However, we now have some insight into that decision courtesy of Sports Illustrated, which recently interviewed Reilly about his departure and stumbled upon some surprising revelations in the process.
The former coach admitted “he was at odds with a few people in Colorado’s administration,” and based on what he had to say, those issues appear to stem from the school’s inability to capitalize on NIL opportunities he attempted to arrange.
According to the resignation letter the outlet obtained, his efforts included a trip to the Middle East in the hopes of getting a piece of the PIF pie, as he noted:
“I even went to Saudi Arabia and got a meeting with the Saudis, who were interested in pursuing business. I have email receipts to prove it, and you guys let it fall flat on its face.”
It’s worth noting Reilly says he took that trip on his own initiative as opposed to being directed by the school (which declined to comment on the matter), and it’s not a stretch to assume the backlash Colorado would’ve been subjected to for following through played a role in the proposal going nowhere.
It’s also kind of hard to believe Reilly (who stressed he “did nothing illegal” by pursuing that opportunity) is the only person in college football who’s realized Saudi Arabia’s PIF could be a beneficial source of NIL funds, and it will be very interesting to see if any other programs end up taking the plunge.