Syracuse Coach Fran Brown Was Not Giving Into NIL Demands From WR Trebor Pena, Told Him 'You Got To Go'

Fran Brown found himself in a tough spot this week. Looking to build off a successful 2024 season, he will be doing it without wide receiver Trebor Pena, after deciding that Syracuse was not going to give in to his NIL demands, which led to him entering the transfer portal on Tuesday. 

While the college football world was fixated on the Nico Iameleava situation, there was another negotiation brewing within the sport that was about to see the light of day. 

For Syracuse receiver Trebor Pena, his head coach Fran Brown felt as though they had already done enough from a payment standpoint to satisfy the receiver's current market rate. 

"What I’ll tell you is this. We paid him enough. He was going to be paid more," Fran Brown said to Cuse Sports Talk. "There were different things that would go there. But there were some numbers that were asked of me that I didn’t feel I would be able to do and move on. Of course, I treated him right. I took care of him. Done everything that was needed. I just said, yo, you got to go. I prayed on it that night and I kept going through things, and it was like, why would I try to convince somebody to be somewhere when I know the offense works? Because at Baylor, there was a lot of success with these receivers that all went to the NFL. There was success at other places. I was just like, now I have to tell him he needs to go.

"And I seen this forthcoming before spring ball, and you just keep going because you care about someone so much. I think the team and I, we're in a good place. We talked about it. I discuss everything with my team, I'm very transparent." 

After finishing last season with 84 receptions for 941 yards and nine touchdowns, there was a lot of momentum for Tebor Pena heading into 2025. 

But, he'll have to accomplish that at another school. 

Fran Brown Saw It Coming, But Wasn’t Going To Pay A WR That Much

When asked about what else went into the decision for Pena to enter the portal, Fran Brown pointed out that he also worried about stuff that players shouldn't be involved in. 

"Trebor was not a coach, he's a player. So, he was worrying about things that players don't worry about. Players work, and that's what they do, and not worry about us. Trebor was worried about his future, like ‘I wanna make sure i go to the league and have a year like i had last year’. And I'm excited for the kid, I think he's gonna have a good year." 

The Syracuse coach would then go on to say that he had a fellow coach reach out about Trebor, with Fran Brown having nothing but nice things to say about his former wide receiver. 

But when it came down to the financial aspect of this ordeal, Brown was not going to be put in spot over NIL demands that he did not think Trebor was worth, giving an honest answer on the ordeal. 

"It didn't play into at all, but some people be asking for an outrageous number, right," Fran Brown mentioned. "You're not about to make more than every coordinator, like stop. You wanna make $2 million at wide receiver, that's the little homie over at Ohio State (Jeremiah Smith). Nobody else making that money. Ain't giving no wide receiver $2 million dollars man in college, nah. 

"That ain't me, I can't be doing that. Unless they tell me that we get a chance to have Travis Hunter, he can come back to college, and he can come here, play for us, then he's gonna get some of my check. I ain't paying nobody $2 million this year. I just said ‘yea, we aren’t giving anybody that.’" 

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 02: Trebor Pena #2 of the Syracuse Orange runs the ball during the third quarter against the Virginia Tech Hokies at JMA Wireless Dome on November 02, 2024 in Syracuse, New York. (Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images)

While this decision was not an easy one from a personal standpoint, given his relationship with Trebor, it did not make sense financially, as it could also set a precedent within the team. 

We're starting to hear more coaches speak out about some of the stuff occurring behind the scenes in college athletics. Just as we saw recently in Tennessee, sometimes things just don't add up from a financial standpoint, and you have to decide if it's worth the risk. 

For Fran Brown, it did not sound like this was hard of a business decision to make.