“I’m Not Demonetizing, I Refuse to” – UCF Kicker Launches New YouTube Channel Amid Compliance Controversy

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2017/6/27/15876286/ucf-kicker-donald-de-la-haye-donaldo-deestroying-ncaa-compliance-youtube-td-loyalty

UCF “kickoff specialist” Donald De La Haye may be the new standard-bearer for athletes who won’t just roll over for the NCAA.

De La Haye recently launched from relative anonymity to prominence as a result of a developing NCAA compliance controversy. De La Haye operates a YouTube Channel (“Deestroying”) which has ads and from which De La Haye makes (presumably modest) revenue. UCF told him to stop profiting from his videos to avoid NCAA problems - NCAA bylaw 12.4.4 prohibits a student-athlete from establishing a business if the athlete uses his or her “name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation […] to promote the business.”

In a video last week, De La Haye said he’d continue, pledging, “I’m not demonetizing, I refuse to.”

The videos on this channel do continue to bear ads.

And now there’s a new wrinkle. De La Haye has started a new YouTube channel (“TD LOYALTY”) with a collaborator. It currently hosts a single video, a comedy skit titled “YOU KNOW YOU’RE BLACK IF,” that features De La Haye. Unlike De La Haye’s Deestroying channel, TD Loyalty – at least so far – does not reference UCF, football, or De La Haye’s “athletics reputation.” There’s also scant mention of De La Haye’s name. The channel’s logo includes his first name in tiny font and the video references only De La Haye’s Twitter handle.

It’s true that De La Haye has advertised the new channel on his Twitter account (which states that he is an “UCF Student Athlete”). But overall these choices suggest that the channel may be designed to minimize the risk of a problem under bylaw 12.4.4.

Interestingly, the channel does not have any ads anyway. Or at least it doesn’t as of this writing.

It’s an odd choice to keep the prior channel monetized while not (or at least, not yet) monetizing the arguably more compliant new channel.

Regardless, the controversy has been excellent publicity for De La Haye. It’s not like the “kickoff specialist” was overflowing with star power before this.[1] TD Loyalty has 10,091 subscribers, an average of about 2,000 new subscribers per day it has existed. Its single video is now over 15,000 views.

Likewise, the following for Deestroying has grown. When we last addressed the controversy, Deestroying had 53,762 subscribers. The channel is now at 75,830. It’s been a serious boost to De La Haye’s profile.

[1] But I’d be remiss to not share the rare De La Haye highlight:

Compliance and the Kicker: UCF Asks Player to Stop Profiting From YouTube Channel

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2017/6/13/15789352/ncaa-ucf-kicker-youtube-channel-donald-de-la-haye-placekicker-controversy-bylaws

Compliance can be a pain.

And right now, it’s UCF placekicker Donald De La Haye who is feeling the sting.

De La Haye reports that UCF asked him to stop profiting from his YouTube channel in order to avoid compromising his amateur status in the eyes of the NCAA. UCF’s concern centers on NCAA bylaw 12.4.4: “A student-athlete may establish his or her own business, provided the student-athlete’s name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation are not used to promote the business.”

De La Haye’s Youtube channel consists of self-produced videos. They range from autobiographical (“HOW I BECAME A D-1 FOOTBALL PLAYER”), to instructional (“HOW TO KICK AN ONSIDE”), to skits (“KICKERS BE LIKE”). He’s published 41 videos, and boasts 53,762 subscribers. The number of views for many of these are modest, but he has several videos with a couple hundred thousand views. De La Haye apparently makes a small profit from ad revenue.

De La Haye is as sympathetic an athlete in this position as there could be. He’s from Costa Rica and sends money to his family there who are “struggling” and have “tons of bills piling up and there’s no way for me to help.” “I thought I found a way,” De La Haye states in his most recent video (embedded above). And this isn’t an instance where an athlete is milking some obvious star power for his financial advantage. De La Haye is the kickoff specialist.[1] He’s not even kicking field goals in games (that’s the excellent Matthew Wright, of course). A lot of Knights fans probably couldn’t name him before the current controversy. So to the extent De La Haye is making some modest profit, it’s not coming because of who he is, but because he creates an entertaining product that people want to watch. Because he’s not trading on star power, I’d argue that this just isn’t the kind of problematic conduct the spirit of the rule is geared towards addressing. As De La Haye points out, “I’m not sitting here selling my autograph for money.”

It’s undeniable that De La Haye’s channel uses his “name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation,” but I wouldn’t be ready to roll over and concede these are being used “to promote” De La Haye’s “business.” Promotion ought to mean something separate and apart from “the business” itself – otherwise, the words “to promote” in the bylaws would just be meaningless surplusage. If it’s the channel itself that’s “the business,” the bylaws seems like the prohibition should be triggered by use of “name, photograph, appearance or athletics reputation” somewhere other than the channel.

Not that I’d expect that rationale to satisfy the NCAA. It’s not at all a stretch to imagine a skeptical NCAA citing De La Haye’s use of his “name,” “appearance,” and “athletics reputation” in his videos as a violation of 12.4.4 in and of themselves. In De La Haye’s words: “they probably don’t let you take a shit in certain locations. Who knows? They got that many rules.”

UCF’s desire to avoid having the fight is understandable. The Knights have only recently completed a period of probation arising from football and basketball recruiting violations in 2012 (tangent: I love UCF for choosing to step into the ring and successfully appealing the postseason ban the NCAA imposed as part of the penalty, rather than simply laying down for the NCAA juggernaut). Add to this the fact that some of De La Haye’s videos clearly take place in UCF’s indoor practice facility and capture obvious UCF logos on camera, which would probably add to UCF’s concerns. Being conservative, and asking De La Haye to be conservative, makes sense from UCF’s perspective.

Though De La Haye frames the issue as continuing to make videos versus continuing to play football, he’s not actually that limited. De La Haye could also chose to stop making money from ads to avoid running afoul of 12.4.4 (I appreciate why this option is not palatable for him, of course). In his most recent video, De La Haye says he’s undecided.

As of this writing, De La Haye’s YouTube videos still have ads.

[1] De La Haye played in every game last season, kicking off 73 times for 4,441 yards.

Top 10 Rushing Seasons In G5 History

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2017/5/22/15664266/top-10-rushing-seasons-in-g5-history-matt-forte-fcs-division-i-aa-record-ranking-kevin-smith-ucf

Top 10 AAC Wins vs Power 5 Opponents

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2017/5/5/15515618/top-10-aac-wins-vs-power-5-opponents-houston-ucf-east-carolina-temple-oklahoma-penn-state-g5-p6

UCF Head Coach Scott Frost Gets Extension Through 2021, $300k Raise Per Year

https://www.underdogdynasty.com/2017/5/4/15550934/ucf-head-coach-scott-frost-coaching-extension-contract-raise-ucf

UCF Head Coach Scott Frost has signed a contract extension through the 2021 season. He will now make $2 million annually, a raise of $300,000 per year. There’s also more money for assistant coaches now - the salary pool for them increased by $50,000 to $2.35 million in total.

Frost’s original contract contained an option for an extension following a 24-month review. His deal would have expired after the 2020 season.

UCF’s press release has all the typical nice sentiments from Frost . . .

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue building a winning culture and a winning football program at UCF," Frost said. "Ashley and I feel like we have found a home in Orlando and with the UCF community. I look forward to an extended tenure of creating a football program that matches the vision of university leadership, including President Hitt and Danny White. I thank them for their confidence and bold vision. My staff and I will endeavor to continue making Knight fans proud. Charge On!"

. . . and from Athletic Director Danny White:

"I couldn't be more proud to work with Scott Frost as we build a nationally-competitive football program, representing UCF and our community across the country," White said. "In my view, the turnaround he led has been nothing short of phenomenal. To that end, we remain incredibly excited about the direction of our football program under Coach Frost's leadership. Successful programs are built around consistency and continuity. As such, I am absolutely thrilled that Scott sees the vast potential of UCF and is committed to our bright future. 'Orlando's Hometown Team' is growing quickly and it's going to be an awesome ride!"

It will of course be a huge surprise if Frost stays at UCF for the duration of his contract. In his first season at UCF, Frost engineered a turnaround from 2015’s winless slog to a bowl game and an ultimate 6-7 record. It was a tremendous turnaround, and probably every Knights fan’s favorite losing season. Frost reeled in an impressive first recruiting class in 2016 (given what he had to work with) with numerous players who contributed immediately. This year’s recruiting class was the best of any non-Power Five school. Future success appears likely and would make Frost an attractive target for other schools.

His buy-out is the lesser of: (1) one half of the guaranteed salary for the remaining term or (2) $3 million.