When Dan Lambert β the Miami Hurricanes booster and founder of a mixed martial arts team and gym β decided this past summer to offer every Miami Hurricanes football player on scholarship a $500 monthly payment to promote his business under new NCAA rules, he hoped to entice other companies to follow suit.
Alas, they didnβt, as the Canes stumbled to a 2-4 start en route to a 7-5 finish.
But Lambert β who gave $540,000 to Hurricanes players this year β said he intends to continue offering $500 monthly payments to all Canes scholarship football players next season, with the hope that other local businesses will help push that monthly number close to $1,000 per player.
NFL Matchup - Miami Dolphins βI think Iβm probably going to have to do the $500 a month myself next year because I donβt think Iβm going to get a ton of support unless something happens between now and then to change the narrative,β he said of the football programβs struggles. βAnd it will change.
βIf nothing happens and the environment stays the same, Iβll probably do 500 grand myself next year and hope it changes and I can then build on it. Itβs more than I wanted to do out of my own pocket, but the next 35 years Iβve got left as a Hurricane fan on this planet, if I had to do two years at 500 grand and the rest will fund itself, itβs not that much money per year spread out.
βWhen the winds change and we start to get some [wind] behind our sails, Iβm going to go out and try to raise the [expletive] money and give them a monthly stipend as high as I can get for these kids.β
Is the goal still getting each Hurricanes football player $1,000 per month?
βI would love to do $1,000,β Lambert said. βIf you can get some winning, it would be more than that, and the individual kids that rise to the top will get way more than that in individual deals. I look at $1,000 a month as a minimum we should be getting these kids.
βKids want to win, want to get developed for the pros, want to go to bowl games, want to play in front of their hometown fans if they can. But that last choice [playing at home] is behind those other things, and we havenβt been doing those other things. If we can do those things and get some good NIL deals for those kids, the kids will [expletive] come.β
Lambert was just getting started.
βThe geographic endowment Miami has with regard to recruiting grounds theyβre situated in, we should be a top-20 team every year if we had an average athletic department and staff,β he said. βIf
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