You are not eligible for participation in a sport if you have ever: Taken pay, or the promise of pay, for competing in that sport; Agreed (orally or in writing) to compete in professional athletics in that sport; Played on any professional athletics team as defined by the NCAA in that sport. – NCAA Bylaws 12.1.1 and 12.1.1.4.1
Thousands of student-athletes, according to a well-circulated NCAA commercial, will go pro in something other than sports. There are still many – around 300 in the NFL, up to 60 in the NBA, and a few thousand in MLB – that will see their dreams of playing professional sports realized. The NCAA’s commercial reflects an enduring spirit of the amateur athlete with a cautionary tale on the other side of the coin.
But as long as professional athletes receive million-dollar contracts, faces splashed on advertising across the nation, dreams of going pro in some sport will live on. The transition period, however, is where many dreamers can find themselves lost in the cracks.
The NCAA prohibits its athletes from accepting any sort of compensation – usually monetary – for play in their respective sports while attending school as a student-athlete. As a result, the question of amateurism looms as large as the big-money universe seen as the next step. Bridging the gap between amateurism and professionalism is traditionally done by player agents, who take a cut of an athlete’s salary (three percent is considered typical in the “big three” sports) in exchange for services negotiating with professional teams and sponsorship deals.
With the contracts and the handling of money comes the opportunity to take advantage of a famous athlete, in which investments are casually steered away to business deal that go bust or money is skimmed from unmanaged funds. The agent, close to both the athlete and the money, holds valuable cards.
Under those circumstances, students step into Bill Clever’s office.
You are not eligible in a sport if you ever have accepted money, transportation or other benefits from an agent or agreed to have an agent market your athletics ability or reputation in that sport. – NCAA Bylaw 12.3
Clever, the executive assistant athletic director in charge of compliances, has worked in the Oregon athletic department for 10 seasons. He estimates that he’ll see three students (and as many as 15 coaches) everyday, coming to him with questions about everything from eligibility to a possible transfer.

Clever also helps student-athletes deal with the initial steps toward turning professional in their sport.
“If you have the athletic ability that allows you to compete at that level, this could be one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make,” Clever said. “If you make a bad decision in this regard, the fruits of your labors will be lost or a disproportionate amount of money may be taken.”
So, at the beginning of every athletic year, the compliance office and coaches in every sport come together with the student-athletes for a discussion of NCAA rules and expectations. While it is inferred that not every athlete will be good enough to turn pro, concerns about eligibility must be known to all.
“The student-athlete is in charge of their eligibility. They have to be wise about making correct choices,” Clever said. “The longer kids are here, the more educated they become.”
The NCAA also requires student-athletes, for instance, to “report to your institution any financial aid that you receive from a source other than your institution,” as well as be enrolled full-time in school and in good academic standing. These are forces that all student-athletes have direct control over. The Oregon athletic department, among all these rules, has a vested interest in helping its student-athletes meet all of them, just as with agent education.
“It’s important for us because, to be a collegiate athlete and represent us outside intercollegiate competition, a student needs to be eligible in the sport in which they’re participating,” Clever said.
If a student-athlete is prepared, upon using up or forfeiting their remaining eligibility, to turn pro, the compliance office then sets them up and helps them in the agent selection process. If the athlete is good enough, of course, the agents will come calling. But why select one in the first place?
“Ultimately, if it’s a team sport in which they’re drafted, I think an agent (is) very helpful with negotiating with the team that drafts you,” Clever said.
Clever runs background information on athletic agents with an interest in a Duck player. Athletic agents are required to register with the state of Oregon as part of the Uniform Athlete Agent Act, and failure to comply can result in charges ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. Forty-three states have signed the UAAA into law, but California – a state in which many player agents operate and many collegiate teams exist – is not among them.
From there, an athlete and prospective agents can get down to business.
You are not eligible in any sport if, after you become a student-athlete, you accept any pay for promoting a commercial product or service or allowed your name or picture to be used for promoting a commercial product or service. – NCAA Bylaws 12.5.2.1 and 12.5.2.2
Jeff Hawkins, Oregon’s director of football operations, has worked at Dartmouth, Tulane and Chico State (with Mike Bellotti) as well as with the New England Patriots. Hawkins breaks down player agency for aspiring NFL players into four categories: the contract advisor, the financial advisor, the accountant and the marketing agent. The contract advisor is the one traditionally referred to as the “agent”; he must be registered with the NFL. Sometimes he also handles marketing duties. The financial advisor (who must be registered with the state) and accountant, Hawkins says, should not be linked closely with the agent, as autonomy can lessen the chance of corruption with an athlete’s finances.
“I was just in a meeting with an agent (for an Oregon student-athlete) and they said, ‘Oh, well, we prefer you find your own financial advisor,’” Hawkins said. “That was really refreshing, to hear them say that.”
Hawkins also has a list of questions prepared for student-athletes when they go to interview contract advisors and financial advisors. But he limits his involvement to preparatory matters and does not give his opinion on agents.
“I’m only there as an observer,” Hawkins said.
This approach may work for athletes in team sports, but athletes in individual sports – golf, tennis and track and field, in particular – have to carve out their own path. Oregon men’s golf coach Casey Martin, whose professional career started in 1998, will still instruct his players on NCAA rules but treats agent education differently.
“Golf’s different. Golfers don’t te
nd to hit their stride until the late-20s,” Martin said. “The guys agents recruit for college golf are the superstars.”
Martin knows firsthand the benefits an agent can provide. He suffers from a birth defect in his right leg known as Klippel-Trenaunay-Webber Syndrome, a congenital circulatory disorder, and sued the PGA Tour for the right to use a cart during tour events in 1998. The case made it to the Supreme Court, and Martin eventually won. With that Supreme Court case came a newfound fame and marketing appeal.
“When I was at the height of a lot of my attention, there was a lot going on,” Martin said. “Nike was great; they came, actually, to my aid. The other stuff, I had came through my agent. Companies liked what I stood for. I would do a lot of corporate outings for companies like Hartford Life – I would go play with their customers and talk about my experiences. They would use that and what I was all about to kind of promote what they were about.
“My golf success didn’t warrant a lot of (marketing) possibilities, but because of media attention I did.”
You are not eligible in any sport if, because of your athletics ability, you were paid for work you did not perform, were paid at a rate higher than the going rate or were paid for the value an employer placed on your reputation, fame or personal following.-NCAA Bylaw 12.4
The profit potential is so strong within professional sports that some agencies are willing to sink to ethical depths to cultivate a relationship with players. A recent phenomenon within the “big three” sports is the use of runners, employees of agencies (who are not licensed themselves) to create an “in” with student-athletes and get them to lean toward the agency in question.
“They’re very difficult to identify,” Clever said. “They (Ernie Kent and Mike Bellotti) are as nervous we are (about runners). They’re both very cognizant of the public perception of the University.”
One case of misuse of student-athletes’ trust that Clever cited was that of a strength and conditioning coach at an unnamed school who regularly held barbecues for players, a permissible act under NCAA rules. The coach, however, would bring a friend over who was a licensed player agent, helping his players develop a relationship with the agent – a violation of NCAA rules in addition to an ethical breach.
Martin competed collegiately at Stanford with Tiger Woods and Notah Begay III, both of whom were considered superstars in the amateur ranks. Begay is currently in qualifying school to regain his tour card after a three-year absence due to injuries from competitive golf; Woods is on the short list of golf’s greatest players.
“Things have changed. Had that team been now, it would have been a joke,” Marin said. “There would have been agents at every tournament, walking with us at every round, and recruiting us. That’s what I’m seeing from some of the top players. Guys like Notah had a lot of interaction. Certainly, Tiger was so big that the small guys didn’t even bother, but there were a lot of big fish.”
Begay, a full-blooded Native American, was distinctly marketable in a manner that greatly appeals to agents in individual sports.
“In the golf world, that’s what makes him marketable, is something different,” Martin said. “The different kinds of personalities, the guys that have some flair, the guys that hit the ball so far … a lot of those guys have opportunities that other guys don’t.”
In Clever’s 10 years as a compliance director, only one conflict with an agent has ever arisen: this past August, when offensive tackle Fenuki Tupou came forth and admitted that he had been treated to dinner and received money from an agent. Tupou came to Hawkins, who took him in to see Clever to clear up any and every compliance matter. Tupou was suspended for the Ducks’ opening game against Washington. (Tupou was unavailable for comment on this story.)
In a players’ meeting shortly after coming to Clever, Tupou asked Hawkins if he could speak about the incident. Each senior gave a short motivational speech at the meeting, and Tupou was the last to speak. His message: “Hold the rope.” Everyone has to hold the rope; everyone has to hold themselves accountable.
Hawkins is the chairman of the National Committee of Directors of Football Operations, and he is constantly seeking out new ways of improving agent education for football players. Tupou’s speech, to him, was moving in many ways.
“He taught them an education I could never teach them,” Hawkins said. “(Agent education) worked … he came forth.”
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