STILLWATER – Oklahoma State wrapped up a Big 12 series sweep against UCF with a 10-6 win Sunday afternoon at O’Brate Stadium.
 
The win was OSU’s second Big 12 series sweep of the season as the Cowboys improved to 10-11 in conference play and 22-21 overall. UCF fell to 24-23 and 6-18 in the league.
 
The offensive effort was led by the trio of Colin Brueggemann, Jayson Jones and Brock Thompson. Each homered and combined to drive in nine of the 10 Cowboy runs.
 
Sean Youngerman made his fourth start of the season for the Cowboys, pitching five innings and striking out six while allowing two runs, one earned. The right-hander earned the win, moving him to 3-1 on the season and bringing his season ERA to 1.99.
 
Matthew Brown recorded the final two outs of the game, working out of a bases-loaded jam, to pick up the first save of his collegiate career.
 
Youngerman was dominant in the second inning, striking out the side, and the Cowboys’ bats followed suit with a two-out rally in the bottom of the frame.
 
Kollin Ritchie got things started by reaching on an error, and Beau Sylvester followed with a walk. Thompson then came to the dish and battled his way to a full count, fouling off five pitches in the process. On the 10^th pitch of the at-bat, the freshman lifted a ball into the visitor’s bullpen for his third home run of the series to give the Cowboys a 3-0 lead.
 
The Pokes had another loud inning in the third, starting with a Nolan Schubart one-out walk. Brueggemann then deposited a ball into the right-field bleachers, extending the lead to 5-0. Up next, Jones matched Brueggemann with a deep shot over the left center-field bleachers, with the back-to-back homers pushing the lead to six.
 
Youngerman got into some trouble in the fourth inning as UCF loaded the bases with one out. He induced a ground ball to shortstop, but an errant throw to first allowed two runs to score to make it a 6-2 game.
 
OSU got those runs back and then some in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with nobody out. The third inning culprits, Brueggemann and Jones each had RBI singles, with Brueggemann driving in a pair. Ritchie joined the action with an RBI single to right field to make it 10-2.
 
Hunter Watkins took over for Youngerman in the sixth inning and pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, one of them earned. The Knights scored three runs in the eighth, making it a 10-5 game, but Brennan Phillips came in and retired the final two batters to escape further damage.
 
Brown inherited the bases loaded with one out in the top of the ninth and hit the first batter he faced to make it a 10-6 game. But the freshman then induced Braden Calise to ground into a game-ending double play to secure the win.
 
Up next, the Cowboys travel to Waco, Texas, for a Big 12 series against Baylor. First pitch for Friday’s opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 

When Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart sit down to talk about what makes a college coach truly great, you know you’re getting more than just a list of names; you’re getting a real, unfiltered look at the business of college basketball.

Their conversation about Rick Pitino and the broader landscape of elite coaches is a masterclass in how the game has changed and how they best adapt or get left behind.

Pitino’s fiery energy and accountability in the NIL era

Brunson started it off with a question about Pitino’s legacy.

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“Rick Pitino has always been an amazing coach, right? He’s always been up there, but I feel like to do what he’s done in another conference with another team… What does this do for you guys for him and like the conversation? In terms of like elite college coaches, like are you surprised to see them there?”

“No. No, but the thing I think this is really cool about that is… you seen little clips of him talking to his players and it’s still that fiery Rick Pitino energy. It’s not like… the climate I was seeing in college is different where you kind of have to do a little bit more babying and coddling and recruiting your own players and doing that. He’s still… he’s adjusted to it. Yeah, he’s still doing a good job of, you know, going at guys and holding guys accountable and those kind of things, so that’s what I think is really cool,” Hart explained.

Pitino’s adaptability is the story. He’s the only coach in Division One history to win a regular season conference title with five different schools, a feat that speaks to his ability to evolve and keep winning no matter the era or the roster.

“I mean, I think it’ll go down as what I was gonna say, obviously a top coach, but that’s not for sure,” Hart said. “I’m Jay Wright. Who do you know? John Wooden. Okay, to a while ago, pretty far back. Coach K. The last three spots are tough,” he then added.

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Related: “I knew my days with the Celtics were over” – Larry Bird admits his love for Boston ended when the team traded his favorite teammate

The difference between great recruiters and great coaches

But the conversation quickly turns to the difference between coaching and recruiting. “There’s a couple of guys. I don’t think they were great coaches. I think they were great recruiters. And I say Roy Williams, though. I think he was a great recruiter,” Hart chimes in. “Recruiter. [Jim] Boeheim. [Jim] Calhoun. I feel like we’re missing a lot. Yeah, I’m gonna say Boeheim was great. I’m gonna say Calhoun just because there’s more championships. Mark Few, I think he cracks the top ten. [Billy] Donovan had a great run, the repeat, two-peat, two-peat, repeat. He’s not top five, but Bill Self is up there. Bill Self is a hell of a recruiter.”

The new era of NIL and the transfer portal has only blurred the line further. Coaches are now part recruiters and part CEOs, managing rosters that turn over every year and competing not just on the court but in the marketplace.

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Some of those whom Hart and Brunson named adjusted to the new environment, and some didn’t. Boeheim is one of the coaches that decided to give up and retire, rather than fight the battle he can’t win. Bill Self and Rick Pitino are still going strong, showing the ability to keep up with the time and the new NIL deals and transfer portal.

Pitino’s ability to stay relevant, keep that “fiery energy,” and hold players accountable while also navigating the chaos of modern college hoops is what sets him apart. Some coaches win with X’s and O’s, others with charisma and recruiting pitches. The truly elite? They do both and they do it year after year, no matter how the game changes. For Brunson and Hart, that’s the difference between a great recruiter and a great coach. And in today’s college basketball, you better be both.

Related: Mike Bibby has a clear stance on recruiting players since NIL: “If that’s the first thing the kid asks about, I don’t want it”

President Donald Trump was in Tuscaloosa over the weekend to deliver the commencement speech for the spring graduating class from the University of Alabama. Trump was introduced to the crowd by legendary former Alabama Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban. Saban has stayed in the limelight in college sports as an analyst and commentator on the landscape of college football.

Many of Saban’s comments on the current state of college football are related to name. image, and likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal. Saban is not a fan of either program, or at least in their current state. He has long stated that he thinks NIL needs to be regulated and it creates unfair advantages for schools with deeper pockets and a stronger alumni base supporting their schools NIL war chest. Now it appears Saban has brought his complaints to the Office of the President and Trump has listened.

““I personally think we probably need some national legislation to make the rules the same in all the states because right now, different rules govern each state in terms of what you can and can’t do with players. I think it’s up to the NCAA to sort of [say], we’ve gone overboard a little bit to give these players all these opportunities. You have to have contracts.

“If you have a contract, you have a responsibility, and you have to fulfill the contract. … It’d be for coaches and players, and the players should make money. I’m not against the players making money. They should make money. But they should have a contract and a responsibility to fulfill, just like a coach does, and there’s some penalty if you leave a team and you have a contract. Just like most coaches have buyouts, and they pay them if they leave. … I think the NCAA is afraid of lawsuits, so they need some legal protection from litigation for this to get fixed.”

– Former Alabama HC NIck Saban

After meeting with Saban, the President indicated that he was going to have his aides look into drafting an executive order to regulate NIL. NIL came to existence over four years ago after the Supreme Court ruled, in a 9-0 ruling nonetheless, that the NCAA was violating the rights of player to utilize their own images for profit. The Supreme Court argued that the fact that the NCAA was able to profit off of the name, image, and likeness of college athletes to the tune of billions of dollars in revenue, was akin to modern day slavery.

If Trump truly wants to wade into the waters of NIL regulation, he is sure to face litigation and court interference. The absolute irony here is Nick Saban being the coach that champions fairness and equity on college football. While never proven, there were whispers for decades of improprieties on the Alabama football team. In another ironic twist, NIL seems to have actually brought parity back to college football. The days of SEC teams dominating the college football playoff system appear over. Maybe that is the real reason Saban is screaming so loudly on this issue.

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