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The UCLA football program has a coach with a losing record, losing seasons in six of the last nine years, a losing bowl record, and a losing-their-minds fan base.
This is a disappointing outfit desperately in need of a field leader, a staunch huddle general who can command loyalty and model integrity and win the battles.
So what do they do?
They hire a deserter.
They hire a kid who just quit on one of the country’s top programs, who fled during the worst possible time because his monetary demands weren’t met, and who was booted out before he changed his mind.
UCLA, meet your new quarterback, Nico Iamaleava, a 20-year-old Long Beach kid who walked out on Tennessee one day before their recent spring game reportedly in hopes of earning a $2-million raise on his reported four-year, $8-million contract.
Quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who reportedly left Tennessee after a dispute over a name, image and likeness pay increase, is transferring to UCLA.
Tennessee decided he wasn’t worth it. Then Iamaleava decided Tennessee wasn’t worth it.
Thus began a vicious journey during which Iamaleava became college football’s first big holdout, then college football’s most ill-timed walkout, then college football’s first unofficial player firing, then … hello UCLA!
Few schools wanted to touch him at this late date and at anything close to that price, but the Bruins embraced him. Few schools felt they could trust him with their most valuable possession, but the Bruins threw him the keys.
The kid signed with the Bruins this weekend for reportedly much less than the $4 million he was seeking and even less than what he was currently making, all to play in a half-empty stadium for a team bereft of SEC-style title aspirations.
Iamaleava lost. But so did UCLA.
It is a match made in modern college football hell, a renowned learning institution cast as beggars, a misguided football player portrayed as the chooser, and, yeah, the whole thing stinks to Rocky Top.
Undoubtedly there will be dialogue about how this column represents just another old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn. I’ll be deemed as hopelessly antique and asked, why am I picking on some poor kids who are just trying to get paid what they’re worth?
On the contrary, I agree that these athletes deserve the money. I agree that they have earned the money, probably even much more than they are being paid. I am completely in favor of the college sports machine sharing billions with the folks who are actually earning it.
And I’m in favor of these athletes being allowed to go anywhere they can pick up that check. The transfer portal is much-needed and has been long overdue. If coaches can skip out after a season with no retribution, why can’t the players?
On paper, the economic transformation in college athletics has been breathtaking, liberating, inspiring.
But it’s been messy. Very messy. No rules, no handrails, no police, no governing body. One day soon the courts will change that, but not yet, and until then, this leaves the ethics of each situation in the hands of the players and the school.
Tino Sunseri is looking forward to reinventing UCLA’s offense, utilizing some of the methods that helped Indiana reach the College Football Playoff.
In the case of Iamaleava and UCLA, both badly fumbled.
Iamaleava certainly had the right to leave Tennessee during the transfer portal periods. Last season more than 3,700 FBS players transferred, and exercising their freedom of choice was a fair and healthy thing.
Iamaleava also certainly had the right to ask for more money, even reportedly making the outrageous request of doubling his money after leading Tennessee into a first-round College Football Playoff blowout at the hands of Ohio State. Here’s guessing dozens of coaches asked for giant raises after successful seasons, and many received them.
The problem with Iamaleava is that, while he could have conducted all of this business during the winter transfer portal after Tennessee was eliminated, he waited until the spring transfer portal when the 2025 game plan had already been built around him. Then, he decided to skip practice, thus unofficially becoming college football’s first holdout. And Tennessee quickly responded, unofficially becoming college football’s highest profile firing.
“I want to thank him for everything he’s done since he’s gotten here, as a recruit and who he was as a player and how he competed inside the building,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel told reporters of Iamaleava. “Obviously, we’re moving forward as a program without him. I said it to the guys today: There’s no one that’s bigger than the Power T. That includes me.”
While Iamaleava showed gratitude to the people of Knoxville in his farewell Instagram post, he has yet to explain his side of his departure and, for his sake, UCLA should encourage him to do so.
Obviously, if Tennessee thought Iamaleava was worth it with his 19 touchdowns, five interceptions and a quarterback rating of 145.3, they would have paid him. Iamaleava was working without an agent, and this undoubtedly led to some tough negotiations.
But at some point, a player making $2 million a year needs to act like a professional, even if he is still only in his second year of college. At some point in this new lucrative player-empowered world, the players have to be held accountable for their costly actions.
Iamaleava quit, then he was canned, and rightfully so, and that’s certainly not the scenario envisioned by all those impoverished college athletic pioneers of years past.
Which drops this issue on the lap of UCLA, which committed its own ethical blunder in taking Iamaleava’s damaged goods.
You see, the Bruins already had a starting quarterback. He transferred here in December to play his final year of college football. His name was Joey Aguilar, he came from Appalachian State, and in the last two seasons he’s thrown for 6,760, 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions. Plus, he can run, scoring five touchdowns with 456 rushing yards.
Aguilar spent all spring establishing himself as the one of the Bruins’ offensive leaders. He traveled cross-country and upended his entire young life for this last chance.
Reporters who cover their teams on a daily basis predict how the first round of the 2025 NFL draft will unfold in The Times’ beat writers’ mock draft.
Now, just like that, before even taking an official snap, he’s gone, kicked out by the appearance of Iamaleava, and back into the transfer portal he goes.
He reportedly is joining Tennessee, but he’s once again starting from scratch learning a new offense and meeting new teammates.
It is understandable that coach DeShaun Foster would be thrilled to add a five-star talent Iamaleava while moving some eyeballs to a program desperate to create some buzz in his second season.
But at what price? Will future potential transfers such as Aguilar want to pay that price? Will potential donors who will have to fund questionable talents such as Iamaleava want to pay that price?
College sports is a wonderful activity that has finally ponied up to give its long-ignored participants a piece of the pie.
College sports has also become a mercenary mosh pit, and today UCLA football and Nico Iamaleava are rolling around in the filth, both making big money, both noticeably poorer.
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