Name, image and likeness is taking college sports by storm, and it might take the government to slow it down.

After meeting with Alabama head coach Nick Saban Thursday, President Donald Trump is reportedly considering an executive order to regulate NIL deals in college athletics.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Saban told Trump the influx of money has hurt college sports. Saban does not want to halt NIL payments but wants them “reformed.”

In an appearance on Fox News Channel last year, Saban urged Congress to step in and make NIL “equal across the board.”

“And I think that should still exist for all players, but not just a pay-for-play system like we have now where whoever raises the most money in their collective can pay the most for the players, which is not a level playing field. I think in any competitive venue, you want to have some guidelines that gives everyone an equal opportunity to have a chance to be successful,” he said.

Saban said the NCAA “can handle” NIL and whatever changes are necessary, but Congress “needs to” add “national legislation.”

“Now, we just have the state legislation — and every state is different — that would protect the NCAA from litigation once we establish guidelines for the future of college athletics. But the litigation is what got us to this point right now,” Saban said. “We have to have some protection from litigation. I don’t know if it’s antitrust laws or whatever. 

“I’m not versed enough on all that to really make a recommendation. But I know we need some kind of federal standard and guidelines that allows people to enforce their own rules.”

The NCAA last week passed rules by which colleges would be allowed to pay athletes as a result of a multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement expected to go into effect this summer.

Earlier this week, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said “if anyone” can help regulate NIL, “it’s President Trump.”

Saban introduced Trump Thursday at an event for Alabama’s graduating students, where Trump gave a speech. In the speech, Trump raved about Alabama’s athletic programs, saying the school is a place “where legends are made.”

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan softball team wraps up the 2025 season on Saturday and Sunday, hosting Ohio. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., followed by a 12 p.m. start on Sunday.
 
All three games will be streamed live at www.wmubroncos.com/watch and live stats are available at www.wmustats.com. Tickets can be purchased at www.wmubroncos.com/tickets.
 
SPECIAL SATURDAY
Between Saturday’s doubleheader, the Broncos will take time to honor the 1984 MAC Regular Season and Tournament Championship team. The 1984 team went 39-19 overall and 10-2 in MAC play. The group brought in the program’s second-ever MAC Regular Season Championship and then the program’s first MAC Tournament Title.
 
THANK YOU SENIORS
Prior to the start of Sunday’s game, Western Michigan will honor its five seniors: Riley Dittmar, Jensen Gremillion, Payton Kelly, Kailey O’Connor and Taylor Wolfe.  The group has combined to appear in 494 games for Western Michigan, driving in 125 runs, hitting 21 home runs, recording 15 wins on the mound and three saves.
 
The group has also produced 81 victories for the Broncos over the past four seasons.
 
SCOUTING THE BOBCATS
Ohio heads into the weekend with a chance to win the MAC Regular Season Championship with a 34-15 overall record and 17-6 in conference play.
 
Sophomore Brenna Farmer leads the team with a .354 batting average, 56 hits, 12 doubles and is second on the team with 41 RBIs. Emma Hoffner is tied for the team lead with four home runs and is just ahead of Farmer with 43 RBIs. Ohio’s hitters have combined for 145 walks to just 154 strikeouts. The team has an on-base percentage of .773.
 
Anna Wise and Skipp Miller have each started 19 games on the season. Miller is 16-6 with 13 complete games and six shutouts. Wise is 10-5 and has a team-best 2.45 ERA.
 

Iowa men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum agreed to a six-year, $22.75 million contract that runs through the 2030-31 season, according to the memorandum of understanding he signed last month.

The document, obtained Friday through an Associated Press public records request, outlines a pay package that lists McCollum’s base salary at $500,000 each year with supplemental pay that increases annually. His formal contract was not available for release, the university said.

McCollum will earn $3.35 million in his first year, with his compensation rising to $4.1 million in the sixth year.

McCollum would be in line for six-figure bonuses if the Hawkeyes reach the NCAA Sweet 16, topped by $400,000 for winning the national championship. A Big Ten regular-season title would earn him $75,000 and a conference tournament championship $50,000. Additional bonuses are tied to his players’ academic performance.

He will have a salary pool of about $2.1 million for assistant coaches.

McCollum, whose hiring was announced March 24, led Drake to the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament championships and a win in the NCAA Tournament in his only season with the Bulldogs.

Athletic director Beth Goetz announced McCollum’s hiring 10 days after she fired Fran McCaffery and two days after McCollum wrapped up a 31-4 season with a loss to Texas Tech in the second round of the West Regional.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Copyright
© 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

TULSA, Okla. – Due to field conditions from previous weather, the Friday, 6 p.m. ET matchup between the No. 24 Florida Atlantic softball team and Tulsa will not go as scheduled.
 
Instead, the two teams will play in a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first pitch still scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. The second game will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the series opener. 
 
Sunday’s game remains at 1 p.m. ET. All games are on ESPN+.
 
For further updates, visit fausports.com or follow the Owls on social media @FAUSoftball.
 

The college sports general manager craze is bringing sweeping change to many sports including football and basketball.

Some of it looks cosmetic and can drive program interest, recruiting and fundraising. For instance, Sacramento State just named NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal as its general manager. It’s an unpaid, voluntary role. His son, Shaqir, also goes to Sac State. The elder O’Neal played his college basketball at LSU and has no connection to Sac State otherwise.

In other cases, there are general managers being hired to act as pseudo-NFL or NBA leaders. In this model, the GM is there to help manage recruiting, the transfer portal, name, image and likeness (NIL) and other functions.

The role is new, and many coaches and athletic departments are embracing the role, given the consumption of time between coaching, recruiting and monitoring the transfer portal. Plus, there is the upcoming implementation of revenue sharing, thanks to the House vs. NCAA settlement, which is still pending approval.

One coach that isn’t embracing the role — at least for now — is Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel.

Last month, Heupel had to manage some of the biggest drama in college football — the transfer of quarterback Nico Iamaleava. He wanted more NIL money from Tennessee. When the Vols said now, Heupel released him and he transferred to UCLA.

Heupel won universal admiration from his fellow coaches for the decision. But could a GM have helped him mitigate that problem before it became one? Heupel isn’t so sure.

He told attendees at the Big Orange Caravan on Wednesday in Nashville that he believes he has what he needs in-house to manage everything.

“We’ve got really good people that handle everything that goes into the recruitment process — our personnel side of it, what we’re doing on the high school side of it and portal side of it,” he said, as reported by the Knoxville News.

The idea isn’t dead. Both Heupel and athletic director Danny White say they’ll revisit after revenue-sharing begins. It could be a matter of keeping up with the rest of the conference. In the report, it was revealed that 11 of the SEC’s 16 teams have a GM for football.

It also doesn’t solve every problem, as two west coast schools have learned.

The GM is usually not the football coach’s direct report. But that’s the case at Stanford, where Cardinal legend Andrew Luck is the GM. He fired coach Troy Taylor earlier this year, who was under internal investigation for alleged bullying of members of the Stanford athletic department.

Also in California, another legend, Cal’s Ron Rivera has taken on the GM job. While he is not the boss of head coach Justin Wilcox, some boosters want him to be — and are willing to withhold NIL money to make it happen.

Frustrations with Iamaleava aside, it’s better for the Vols to know what they need before they dive into hiring a GM.

STARKVILLE – They don’t call her Big Game Blaine for nothing.
 
With two outs, two strikes and the series opener against in-state rival Ole Miss on the line, Mississippi State softball catcher Jessie Blaine stepped to the plate to produce late-game heroics at Nusz Park on Thursday night.
 
The senior communications major did not miss as she blasted a two-run home run deep into center field to secure the 3-1 walk-off victory over the Rebels under the bright lights in Starkville.
 
With the Maroon and White faithful screaming and her teammates crowding home plate awaiting her arrival from around the basepaths, Blaine sent everyone home with a story for the ages.
 
“I’m just really excited for her, really proud of her too,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “I thought she handled it well, but she was disappointed when she didn’t come through with the bases loaded earlier. She’s such a mature hitter that she really didn’t take that previous at-bat into her last at-bat, and she was really able to stay locked in with her plan. It was what she was looking for and you could tell she was right on it.”
 
Before the game, State’s graduates who will be unable to attend the commencement ceremonies on campus due to postseason softball were honored in front of a packed house. It was poetic that the two-time NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete came up to the plate for the Bulldogs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
 
Leading up to her storybook swing, her teammates awaited anxiously in the dugout. At the crack of the bat, every player in the dugout rose to their feet.
 
“I had my head down and I’m praying, and I just hear everyone screaming. I look up and everyone’s going nuts, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, she hit it over,'” senior pitcher Raelin Chaffin said. “I was super happy for her because I don’t know what inning it was but she struck out, and I was thinking in my head, ‘She’s not due now, but she will be due later.’ I was happy to see her in that moment.”
 
With her number 22 painted on the field between first base and second base, Blaine’s homer on Thursday night meant more than just securing a victory against MSU’s conference rival.
 
She was embracing one of her final regular season games in Nusz Park in front of her friends, family and the Bulldog fans.
 
“I was just being in the moment and trusted that I had the ability to hit whatever she was going to throw at me,” Blaine said.
 
Everyone in the dugout knew it was only a matter of time before she made an impact at the plate. That belief stems from her leadership and never-quit attitude that energizes the entire program.
 
Blaine’s walk-off homer stamped a statement on the scoresheet and cemented a new nickname fit for the Pike Road, Alabama, native who continues to shine in big moments.
 
“This is Jessie’s time right now, and she came through. We don’t call her ‘Big Game Blaine’ for nothing,” teammate Kiarra Sells said.