HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis is busy preparing his University of Houston track and field team for the biggest meets of the outdoor season. He’s also working to save the sport that turned him into an Olympic legend.

“Olympic sports are going to have to be in one category. Let’s figure out how we do that,” Lewis said. “Football and basketball are in another category. That’s where I think the future is, or there will be no Olympic sports.”

Lewis has emerged as a passionate advocate for the traditional model of NCAA sports that we’ve all known for generations, where college athletes are paid little or no money beyond the scholarship they use to earn a college degree.

The UH track and field coach believes the big money that has poured into college football and basketball through NIL threatens other sports like track and field, swimming and diving, and many more.

Lewis said the current system is “not sustainable.” He’s also adamant that he doesn’t blame anyone in football or basketball for taking money that is available.

“I’m all for it,” he said.

RELATED: ‘We’re all in’: UH ready to spend as judge decides the future of college sports

UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez recently reaffirmed that UH will join schools directly paying their athletes at the maximum total allowed by the NCAA, $20.5 million a year, starting on July 1.

At many schools, the majority of that money will be paid to football and basketball players, leaving other athletes out. Lewis believes that the system threatens the survival of sports like track and field.

“If anyone thinks it can continue to go this way, they’re fooling themselves,” he said.

Lewis is now promoting a split that would allow college football and basketball to have their own governing body. That would allow the rest of the sports to continue on their own.

“The number one objective of these college athletes is to get here to get a degree to get a job,” Lewis said.

Lewis points to his current roster on the UH track team as an example. He said that out of over 100 athletes on the UH team, three might be able to make a living as professionals in track.

The rest deserve the opportunity to compete in college so they can get a degree.

Lewis is convinced that the current system, that is still emerging under new rules, will leave schools around the country robbing “Peter to pay Paul and everyone’s gonna be broke.”

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By CLIFF BRUNT, Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — NiJaree Canady smiled broadly as she held up a gaudy championship belt with the Big 12 logo in the center.

Texas Tech’s star pitcher had dominated the conference tournament, throwing 16 2/3 shutout innings in three games to claim the Most Outstanding Player award.

Her smile was as much from relief as joy. Moments before that, she had described the challenges she has faced since her decision to transfer from Stanford shifted the college softball landscape.

The offseason provides a great opportunity to shake things up in the sports world. In recent years, we learned that power brokers in college football aren’t hesitating to make bold moves in the sport. Even though you and I cannot be on the Rules Committee when the NCAA decides how to change the college basketball replay system, we can at least discuss and debate what must be fixed as soon as possible.

KSR videographer Steven Peake is well-known for his outside-the-box thinking. It makes him the perfect person to reassess the best and worst rules in sports. He has a proposition that inspired others from the KSBoard community to share what rules must be changed.

In 2018, Texas A&M took down LSU 74-72 in seven overtimes. Rather than celebrating the jaw-dropping result, the college football rules committee decided to take matters into its own hands.

If a game remains tied after two overtime periods, the ball is no longer spotted at the 25-yard line. Teams must execute 2-point plays to extend the game. The decision was made under the guise of player safety, even though the new CFP has drastically extended the schedule.

Last year, we saw the grossest consequences of this change. Georgia Tech played admirably for four quarters and nearly knocked off Georgia between the hedges. They went to overtime and reached the 2-point period in OT3. It took six of these 2-point periods before Georgia ultimately won. Four of those were scoreless. It was an ugly result for a game that deserved better.

Peake argues that it’s actually a great rule. He is wrong. It is a stupid rule. If they want to limit overtime periods, move the ball back from the 25-yard line to midfield. It takes kickers out of field goal range, forcing teams to play more real football, instead of the bastardized version that is the 2-point period. When a CFP game is decided by one of these long overtime games with 2-point plays, that will turn the wheels of change to fix this stupid rule.

Scoreless Ties in Soccer

Not all of Peake’s ideas are bad. He sat through a 0-0 tie at a Louisville City match last week. That’s brutal. His proposition is simple: If a regular season match ends in a scoreless tie, it goes straight to penalty kicks.

One would argue that penalty kicks are soccer’s version of the 2-point period in college football. However, soccer teams play about four times as many games. Changing one result isn’t as impactful on a full season. It also rewards fans who sat through 90 minutes of soccer by allowing them to see what they paid to watch, goals.

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Other Potential Rule Changes

Allow me to share a few rules that our community at KSBoard loathes.

Fumbling Through the End Zone is a Touchback

It feels too punitive for the fumbling team. The big problem is that there is no clear alternative. Maybe they get the ball at the spot of the fumble? Either way, it feels like a rule you’d see in Pee Wee football, not the National Football League.

Alternate Possession in Basketball

Why must we rely on a switch to determine who gets a tied-up loose ball? While it might make sense to keep the game flowing at lower levels of basketball, where there are more tie-ups, it’s too consequential in college hoops. They should be like the NBA and let the players determine who wins the jump ball by actually having a jump-ball.

Eliminate Ties

The NFL is the richest sports league of the history of the world and hasn’t figured out a way to determine a winner if they can’t create an advantage during a shortened 10-minute overtime period.

Why can’t you shoot it from behind the backboard?

If it doesn’t hit anything, it should be fair game. After all, the degree of difficulty is crazy. If a player can make a shot from behind the backboard, they should be rewarded.

College Football Targeting

Does anybody actually know what targeting is? I don’t even think the refs know.

Got thoughts? Continue the conversation on KSBoard, the KSR Message Board.

Fitzpatrick repeats as an NFCA Region III All-Region First-Team choice while Kovach is an NFCA Region III All-Region Third-Team honoreee, as she is back on the list for the first time since 2023. 

Fitzpatrick was named the Liberty League Player of the Year after leading the conference in home runs, runs batted in, slugging percentage, innings pitched, and saves. She ranks sixth nationally in home runs with 15, the most in the conference in a decade, is 21st in slugging percentage at .843, and is tied for 38th in runs batted in with 44. She is also 43rd in total bases (97), one off the conference lead. As a pitcher, Fitzpatrick was sixth in the league in earned run average (2.08), second in strikeouts (90), fourth in victories (13), fifth in opponents’ average (.249) while also posting a 1.15 WHIP.

Fitzpatrick closed out her collegiate career having hit 24 home runs at the plate and striking out 333 hitters. 

Kovach, selected as a Liberty League All-Star for the third time in her four-year career with the Knights, hit .363/.397/.487 on the year, ending the season on a 19-game hitting streak, the second longest hitting streak in program history. She also posted 14 doubles, which was fourth in the conference, and tied the single-season mark at Clarkson. Kovach closed out her collegiate career fourth on the Golden Knights’ all-time list in hits (138), which included 32 doubles, the most in program history. Her 65 runs batted in place her eighth on the all-time list as well.