Hopkins May Have Been Indirectly Responsible for Osobor Payout

A friend of the former Husky basketball coach's family provided a generous NIL donation.

Great Osobor gets a helping hand from his Utah State teammates. / Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports

Over the weekend, one of the University of Washington's leading football and basketball donors was lamenting how others across the city simply weren't stepping up and freely contributing to name, image and likeness efforts to fund Husky athletes, creating a huge challenge for the university as its athletic programs prepare to enter the Big Ten Conference.

He mentioned how money wasn't necessarily going to come directly from multi-billionaire Steve Ballmer either, someone who recently visited a UW spring football practice and spoke to the team, because as the owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers those actions could be construed as improperly trying to obtain players.

Yet early on Monday morning, ESPN broke the news that 6-foot-8, 250-pound big man Great Osobor formerly of Utah State and the Mountain West Player of the Year, will receive $2 million to play for the Huskies for one season -- making him the highest-paid player in college basketball.

So where did all of that money come from all of a sudden? Did the UW sell off a Husky Stadium parking lot for re-development? Or give up some of its choice Lake Washington waterfront property for a reasonable return?

Actually, according to those close to the basketball program, fired coach Mike Hopkins might be responsible for part of the Osobor payout, there's no verification of this either way with fund-raising arms not required to report anything regarding collected finances.

Last August, the ex-coach's father, William Griffith Hopkins, who grew up in Seattle and attended the UW and nearby Roosevelt High School, died in San Juan Capistrano, California, at age 85. He and his wife Sue had moved to Southern California and raised their three kids, including Mike. He had lived a good life.

To honor this man, one of the senior Hopkins' closest friends last fall supposedly donated $2 million to support UW basketball's NIL interests, according to sources. He apparently put a provision into his generosity that the money could be used only for player reimbursement.

Yet another UW-related source disputes that a Hopkins-related donation ever took place and that Osobor was a recipient. Yet in these days of no oversight regarding college athletic finances, it's hard to tell.

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