Luke Combs has an estimated net worth of approximately $20 million. He has yet to give a single dollar to App State for NIL.
The 36-year-old country music singer refuses to donate to his quasi-alma mater.
It’s not that Combs is unwilling to support the Mountaineers. His (lack of) financial pledge is tied to the current broken system of college football.
Luke Combs almost graduated from App State.
Combs, a native of North Carolina, enrolled at Appalachian State University in 2008. He initially chose to study business but he later switched to criminal justice with the plan to one day become a homicide detective.
And then he started to sing between set breaks for a local musician, Adam Church, at the college bar where he worked as a bouncer around 2011. They went viral on YouTube with a Luke Bryan cover around that same time.
One thing led to another. Combs started booking gigs of his own at local venues. His big break came as a senior when he convinced the manager of the Town Tavern to let him perform as the headliner. He sold 200 tickets at $1 each.
Combs ultimately taught himself how to play guitar at the advice of his grandmother, dropped out of college just a few credits short of graduation and moved to Nashville to pursue music full-time. The rest is history.
Unlike Eric Church, who actually graduated from App State but only shows allegiance toward UNC, Luke Combs continues to rep the school from which he did not graduate. College GameDay even had him on as the guest picker in 2022.
Sure, he also roots for the Tar Heels but he claims the Mountaineers first.
He will not donate NIL money to college football.
Although Luke Combs still supports App State as a fan, he does not do so financially. In an era of college sports where money can buy championships, the university’s most prominent (almost) alumnus has not donated a single penny to the NIL collective.
He told Bussin’ With The Boys that he will not donate any money toward NIL until the current system undergoes significant change.
“I’m not donating,” Combs said. “I need some concessions. I need some assurances.”
His donation is contingent upon contracts. More specifically, two-year contracts.
“Have to have it,” he said. “One year’s not enough.”
The system is so lopsided that Combs would actually like to see the Mountaineers drop back down to FCS so they have a legitimate chance to win a national championship. He knows that is a hot take and he knows there will be people who come out against him because of it.
However, it seems to me like Combs just wants things to go back to the way they used to be. Before NIL money determined success. Before the 12-team playoff reluctantly included the highest-ranked Group of Five champion. He wants to know his money will be spent on players who are going to stay where they are and he wants them to play for a national title.