Former Florida State Basketball Players Suing Head Coach Leonard Hamilton Over Missed NIL Payments

In a lawsuit filed on Monday morning, six former Florida State players are suing Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton after he promised to pay them $1.5 million in NIL compensation last season. 

The complaint filed in Leon Country, according to Yahoo Sports, alleges that Leonard Hamilton promised players Darin Green Jr., Primo Spears, Cam'Ron Fletcher, Jalen Warley, De'Ante Green and Josh Nickelberry that they would receive $250,000 from the coach's business partners to play for the Seminoles. 

There are multiple text message conversations that are described in the complaint between Hamilton, the players and Will Cowen, who is an executive for one of the Florida State NIL collectives. The complaint notes that Hamilton promised members of the team that they would be paid. But one of the most interesting parts of this complaint is detailed of an instance of players walking out of practice. 

UPDATE: Florida State has released a statement regarding the lawsuit being filed, saying that they know of 'no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of of scholarships or other appropriate benefits. 

"Since the beginning of the name, image, and likeness era of collegiate athletics, FSU has maintained a comprehensive compliance education program for coaches and other athletics staff, and a clear expectation of ethical conduct by all on dealing with student-athletes," FSU said in a statement. "Upon learning recently of the allegations made by former men's basketball athletes, the University has worked diligently to determine what transpired last season. Though our inquiry is not yet complete, at this point we know of no unfulfilled commitments by FSU in terms of scholarships or other appropriate benefits or the Rising Spear Collective relative to NIL payments owed to the athletes. 

"We support Coach Hamilton's right to defend himself against these allegations and look forward to an expeditious resolution of this matter."

The complaint says that Florida State players boycotted one practice before the Seminoles played against Duke on February 17th. The claim says that the players ‘walked out of the gym’ during the practice in an attempt to show how upset they were over the NIL promises not being fulfilled, which would’ve then led to them boycotting the game. 

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 14: Primo Spears #23 of the Florida State Seminoles handles the ball against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Quarterfinals of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament  at Capital One Arena on March 14, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

In the suit, they claim that Leonard Hamilton gathered the players after finding out the details of potentially boycotting the game and promised the players that the money would be delivered by the following week. In messages that were submitted in the complaint, multiple players noted that they needed the money to pay their taxes, car notes and even rent. There are also messages where the players complain to Will Cowen that the entire situation is bothering them mentally. 

Now, the one question that will be talked about a lot in this matter is did the players have a written contract with the school's collective. If they did not, they are relying on the promises of a head coach, who technically cannot pay these players to play, which would be interesting to see unfold in a courtroom. 

What Are The Former Florida State Players Looking For? 

The six plaintiffs are not on the team currently, with four players transferring and the other two running out of eligibility. We have seen something like this before, and it came during this 2024 college football season. Former UNLV quarterback Matthew Sluka left the team after an argument with the school over a coach promising to pay him $100,000. He claimed that an assistant coach promised to pay him the money, which never came to fruition, and caused a massive ruckus for the Rebels. 

As for this lawsuit against Leonard Hamilton, it will be interesting to see how the court system handles this suit. The complaint alleges ‘breach of contract’, promissory estoppel (The recovery of promised damages), fraudulent misrepresentation and inducement, along with negligent misrepresentation. 

According to the lawsuit, players were told during a meeting in April 2023 that they would receive $250,000 at the conclusion of the 2024 season. There are text messages between the players and Will Cowen that allegedly demonstrate the type of financial situation they were in. The NIL executive would note that he was trying to scrape together money from FSU boosters, noting that he was having problems with boosters being willing to give enough money to help. 

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - DECEMBER 03: Head coach Leonard Hamilton of the Florida State Seminoles reacts to a play during the second half against the LSU Tigers at Pete Maravich Assembly Center on December 03, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Tyler Kaufman/Getty Images)

The players are looking for the court to award them $250,000 each, along with exemplary and punitive damages. Attorney Darren Heitner, who is representing the players, wrote on social media that he hopes people will learn from the suit not to take advantage of players with NIL. 

"My primary goal with this lawsuit is to obtain relief for several FSU basketball players who relied on promises from their Head Coach. Additionally, I hope this action causes everyone in the #NIL space to think twice before taking advantage of athletes."

This will be fascinating to watch unfold, especially if Leonard Hamilton did not correspond with these players via text message or email, which would actually provide proof of certain details. 

We will keep you posted on the latest from this lawsuit, as there will certainly be more to come.