{"id":380813,"date":"2026-07-21T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380813\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:34:08","slug":"high-school-sports-central-texas-athletes-avoiding-nils-darker-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/380813\/","title":{"rendered":"High school sports: Central Texas athletes avoiding NIL’s darker side"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name, image and likeness has unleashed a \u201cWild West\u201d type of environment<\/a> on college athletics the last five years, and though it\u2019s slowly started to impact the high school level, Central Texas seems to have been mostly immune from the worst aspects.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Texas High School Coaches Association executive director Joe Martin said \u201cour kids are being abused and taken advantage of\u201d Sunday in Houston at that organization\u2019s annual July conference, coaches in the Austin area <\/a>said Monday that they haven\u2019t dealt with or heard of any local horror stories of unethical agents taking advantage of\u00a0players and their families<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think our parents have been smart, and we\u2019ve been fortunate not to get tied up with people that are saying they\u2019re representing (kids) from the standpoint of an agent,\u201d said Lake Travis coach Hank Carter, who has had multiple athletes sign with FBS schools since NIL became a reality in 2021. \u201cKids going to play major college football, whether that\u2019s Group of 4 or Power 4, those kids are going to get something. But as far as kids having leverage to go in and dictate and go in and kind of make demands, there is a super, super small number that would have that type of leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas high school athletes can sign NIL agreements with colleges once they turn 17, though they can\u2019t receive benefits while competing as a prep. The University Interscholastic League started offering advice on NIL agreements to coaches, parents and athletes after learning of some unethical agents who had athletes sign deals that weren\u2019t in the high schooler\u2019s best interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were concerned with athletes and parents \u2026 having very little knowledge of the agreements they were signing,\u201d Martin said. \u201c\u2026 There\u2019s been a strong push \u2026 to create an NIL agent registry, not only in this state, but nationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Carter, LBJ athletic director and football coach Joe Rauls said none of his athletes have had a negative experience with NIL agreements or dealing with agents, but that NIL itself does affect decision-making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been some choices based off of NIL more than the opportunity to be successful and the opportunity to play early and other opportunities,\u201d Rauls said. \u201cAt the end of the day, we as coaches try to make sure that our athletes understand that the educational part outweighs the financial gain that you might get initially. \u2026 Because you might be going to a place that doesn\u2019t have a great layout plan for you academically, athletically or personally for your success, along with what\u2019s going on with the team. So you might be setting yourself up for an NIL deal that may last for only a year, if that\u2019s the case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As to NIL in Texas high school athletics, that\u2019s receiving a negative reaction from coaches and athletic directors at the conference. According to Sports Illustrated, 38 states allow NIL, but Westlake athletic director Callan Nokes said everyone he\u2019s talked to in Houston is against it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s been a big topic of conversation, and it\u2019s something that all of us are concerned about,\u201d Nokes said. \u201cNo one really wants that to happen at the high school level, so we\u2019re kind of pushing back against it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Name, image and likeness has unleashed a \u201cWild West\u201d type of environment on college athletics the last five…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,2291,1227],"class_list":["post-380813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-high-school-sports","tag-high-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}