[M T]

Obviously, the widespread belief among players the program is going downhill would be a clear indication the coaches are unable to convince their team that the future will be better than the past. That is all by itself a leadership problem, "toxic environment" or not. This is an area where the unlimited transfers with no penalty applied really encourages players to leave. If you think you can go to a "better" team (and get playing time), why not? The fact others are jumping ship adds a powerful FOMO factor for those that have not yet done so. Thus the cascade.

You leave out the matter of money.  I haven't directly read the statements of the players, but I don't recall anyone saying that they're taking a cut in pay to leave, or for that matter, saying they are going to be able to get more money elsewhere.  (Ok, Agara did mention "investment in me", but that could be many things beside NIL.)

Does the fact (if it is a fact) that they aren't thanking their NIL providers mean that this is a problem of NIL (from the school or from 3rd party NIL)?

If they entered the transfer portal as a negotiation tactic to get more NIL money at Stanford, I'd think they'd be effusive of their current NIL providers.

[M T]

Obviously, the widespread belief among players the program is going downhill would be a clear indication the coaches are unable to convince their team that the future will be better than the past. That is all by itself a leadership problem, "toxic environment" or not. This is an area where the unlimited transfers with no penalty applied really encourages players to leave. If you think you can go to a "better" team (and get playing time), why not? The fact others are jumping ship adds a powerful FOMO factor for those that have not yet done so. Thus the cascade.

You leave out the matter of money.  I haven't directly read the statements of the players, but I don't recall anyone saying that they're taking a cut in pay to leave, or for that matter, saying they are going to be able to get more money elsewhere.  (Ok, Agara did mention "investment in me", but that could be many things beside NIL.)

Does the fact (if it is a fact) that they aren't thanking their NIL providers mean that this is a problem of NIL (from the school or from 3rd party NIL)?

If they entered the transfer portal as a negotiation tactic to get more NIL money at Stanford, I'd think they'd be effusive of their current NIL providers.