One of Colorado’s former assistant football coaches reportedly went rogue — and to the Middle East — in an attempt to secure name, image and likeness (NIL) funding.
Trevor Reilly, the school’s ex-special teams coordinator, wrote in a resignation letter — reviewed by Sports Illustrated — this month that he tried to lobby Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund during the last holiday season to try to get money for Colorado’s 5430 Alliance NIL collective.
“You paid me $90,000 a year and let me handle special teams,” Reilly reportedly wrote. “I did all this work in your name and was told to pursue it. I burned through all my contacts in my Mormon community, which is worth about $3 trillion. Now, I can’t get these people to answer my calls because I just found out today that none of my endeavors will happen.
“I even went to Saudi Arabia and got a meeting with the Saudis, who were interested in pursuing business. I have email receipts to prove it, and you guys let it fall flat on its face.”
In the resignation letter, Reilly added that he did “nothing illegal” in his attempts.
A spokesperson for Colorado told CBS that, in Reilly’s own words, he acted on his own volition in trying to secure the money for the collective.
“According to Trevor Reilly himself, he acted on his own accord and is no longer an employee of the university,” the spokesperson said.
Reilly, a former Jets and Patriots linebacker, was a graduate assistant at Jackson State under then-head coach Deion Sanders before following him to Colorado last season as the special teams coordinator before resigning earlier this month.
Blueprint Sports, which operates the collective in question, said it did not direct Reilly to get funds from the PIF.
“We want to clarify that Trevor Reilly has never been authorized or directed to speak or advocate on behalf of 5430 Alliance in Saudi Arabia,” Blueprint told Front Office Sports. “Since our launch in March 2024, all funding and initiatives have been managed solely within domestic channels and are entirely unrelated to Mr. Reilly’s work. Any claims suggesting otherwise are unfounded and patently false.”
Reilly, according to The Athletic, resigned after he tried to widen the pool of fundraising for the collective and Blueprint decided to go against what he was offering.
He told ESPN 700 this week that he also spent time in Jordan — and his own dime — during his attempt during the holiday season to secure money for the collective.
“I spent two months and a lot of my own personal money and a lot of my time I sacrificed,” Reilly said. “I spent Christmas in a Turkish bathhouse in Amman, Jordan. Saying hi to my kids, ‘Hey, I’ll see you in a couple weeks.’”
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