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NIL

Alabama Baseball Head Coach Rob Vaughn Given Contract Extension

Alabama baseball coach Rob Vaughn, who has now finished two full seasons at the helm of the Crimson Tide program, has received a contract extension. The news was released by Alabama’s NIL collective on Tuesday night. Vaughn was hired away from Maryland in the summer of 2023. At that time, he inked a five-year pact […]

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Alabama baseball coach Rob Vaughn, who has now finished two full seasons at the helm of the Crimson Tide program, has received a contract extension. The news was released by Alabama’s NIL collective on Tuesday night.

Vaughn was hired away from Maryland in the summer of 2023. At that time, he inked a five-year pact worth $900,000 annually. This year, Vaughn led Alabama to its first 40-win regular season since the 2002 campaign.

Terms of his new extension were not initially disclosed, but it is highly likely that Tuesday’s agreement will push Vaughn over the $1 million threshold in terms of annual salary.

During his brief tenure, the Crimson Tide has not missed an NCAA Tournament regional, falling just short of hosting one this summer. Alabama is 74-42 overall since he took over, including 16 SEC wins in the 2025 regular season.

Alabama was 41-18 this season, checking in as the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional hosted by No. 16 national seed Southern Miss. The Crimson Tide went 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament, bringing an early end to a successful year in which it peaked at No. 8 in the D1Baseball Top 25.

Multiple high-profile jobs came open across college baseball in the short time since Vaughn has been Alabama’s head coach. Among them have been SEC gigs at Texas and Texas A&M. Mississippi State recently filled its opening by bringing on Brian O’Connor from Virginia.

Vaughn, still just 37 years old (he will be 38 on July 7), is a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year. One of his teams has hosted a regional: 2022 Maryland; he followed that season by leading the Terrapins to the conference regular season and tournament titles in 2023.

This story will be updated.



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Argument over ‘valid buisiness purpose’ for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement

Less than two weeks after terms of a multibillion-dollar college sports settlement went into effect, friction erupted over the definition of a “valid business purpose” that collectives making name, image likeness payments to players are supposed to have. The new College Sports Commission sent a letter to athletic directors last week saying it was rejecting […]

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Less than two weeks after terms of a multibillion-dollar college sports settlement went into effect, friction erupted over the definition of a “valid business purpose” that collectives making name, image likeness payments to players are supposed to have.

The new College Sports Commission sent a letter to athletic directors last week saying it was rejecting deals in which players were receiving money from collectives that were created solely to pay them and don’t provide goods or services to the general public for profit.

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A lead attorney for the players responded by saying those instructions went against settlement terms and asking the CSC to rescind the guidance.

“This process is undermined when the CSC goes off the reservation and issues directions to the schools that are not consistent with the Settlement Agreement terms,” attorney Jeffrey Kessler wrote to NCAA outside counsel Rakesh Kilaru in a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

Yahoo Sports first reported details of the letter, in which Kessler threatens to take the issue to a judge assigned with resolving disputes involved in the settlement.

Kessler told AP his firm was not commenting on the contents of the letter, and Kilaru did not immediately respond to AP’s request for a comment.

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Yahoo quoted a CSC spokesman as saying the parties are working to resolve differences and that “the guidance issued by the College Sports Commission … is entirely consistent with the House settlement and the rules that have been agreed upon with class counsel.”

When NIL payments became allowed in 2021, boosters formed so-called “collectives” that were closely tied to universities to work out contracts with the players, who still weren’t allowed to be paid directly by the schools.

Terms of the House settlement allow schools to make the payments now, but keep the idea of outside payments from collectives, which have to be approved by the CSC if they are worth $600 or more.

The CSC, in its letter last week, explained that if a collective reaches a deal, for instance, for an athlete to appear on behalf of the collective, which charges an admission fee, that collective does not have a “valid business purpose” because the purpose of the event is to raise money to pay athletes, not to provide goods or services available to the general public for profit.

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Another example of a disallowed deal was one an athlete makes to sell merchandise to raise money to pay that player because, the CSC guidance said, the purpose of “selling merchandise is to raise money to pay that student-athlete and potentially other student-athletes at a particular school or schools, which is not a valid business purpose.”

Kessler’s letter notes that the “valid business purpose” rule was designed to ensure athletes were not simply being paid to play, and did not prohibit NIL collectives from paying athletes for the type of deals described above.

To prevent those payments “would be to create a new prohibition on payments by a NIL collective that is not provided for or contemplated by the Settlement Agreement, causing injury to the class members who should be free to receive those payments,” Kessler wrote.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports



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Lane Kiffin calls out rev-share rules, says some teams ‘not staying within’ cap

While adjusting to the revenue-sharing era in college athletics, coaches have made their frustrations clear. Big 12 coaches called for transparency and clarity last week at the conference’s media days, and Lane Kiffin also shared his thoughts on the post-House v. NCAA settlement landscape. Kiffin called out the rules around revenue-sharing set under the agreement. […]

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While adjusting to the revenue-sharing era in college athletics, coaches have made their frustrations clear. Big 12 coaches called for transparency and clarity last week at the conference’s media days, and Lane Kiffin also shared his thoughts on the post-House v. NCAA settlement landscape.

Kiffin called out the rules around revenue-sharing set under the agreement. Schools are now able to directly share up to $20.5 million with athletes, and the first payments went out this month. That figure is set to increase annually under the 10-year settlement.

Rev-share offers cannot be sent to recruits until their senior years of high school, meaning Aug. 1 is a landmark date. As Kiffin looked at where things stand, he sees schools going above that $20.5 million cap. That adds to the questions he has.

“We get a lot of questions like, what’s it like now?” Kiffin said in his remarks Monday at SEC Media Days. “We’ve been operating – we have – under these cap guidelines of what was coming and what it was going look like. I think we’ve done a really good job of that. Obviously means you can’t sign as many players as you would like at times because you have a budget. So we’re obviously hopeful that will be rewarded by doing that.

“I think it’s obvious people aren’t staying within that cap, so I think the whole thing will be, what does that look like? That’s what we don’t know. What does it look like when you don’t and what are the punishments for that? Do you win and that comes later? So that’s remained to be seen, but already got the questions about the cap, what that’s like having to do that. We’ve been doing that for a while, operating on that.”

As the NIL era transformed college sports, Lane Kiffin was outspoken about its impact. He was also quick to make jokes on social media and recalled a quip about Texas A&M’s highly rated recruiting class in 2022 as dollars started flowing.

The cap set by the House settlement is for revenue-sharing from the school. Third-party NIL deals will be vetted by the Deloitte-operated clearinghouse, NIL Go, if they are worth more than $600. That has been the subject of frustration from NIL collectives in light of recent guidance from the College Sports Commission.

But when asked whether there should be a salary cap in college football – something Deion Sanders suggested a week ago at Big 12 Media Days – Kiffin said that’s the goal with the rev-share limit. But he stressed the need for clarity with regard to following the rules.

“I think that’s what we attempted. Doesn’t seem like that’s working very well,” Kiffin said of the $20.5 million cap. “So yeah, I mean, stating the obvious. That was the intention of what was going on because there were so many complaints when NIL started about, okay, everybody has different advantages, and different payrolls. Saw those a couple years ago. I was up here at one of these joking about a luxury tax based on A&M’s spending or whatever it was. So that was supposed to be being fix, and now it’s not.

“Again, we’ve tried to follow the guidelines because that’s what we were told we needed to do. I’m not saying they’re wrong for doing it – I’m not calling anybody out. If the system isn’t solid enough to prevent that, then we really don’t have a system. So you’re not operating on a salary cap.”



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Argument over ‘valid buisiness purpose’ for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement

Argument over ‘valid buisiness purpose’ for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement – myMotherLode.com   Link 0

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Louisville basketball in danger of losing top 2026 recruiting target to SEC giant

Louisville basketball made it clear over the weekend that their No. 1 target in the 2026 cycle is Tyran Stokes. The Cardinals appeared to be at multiple games of the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit while he competed at the Adidas 3SSB Palmetto Road Championship. However, outside of Stokes, a name that is becoming Kelsey’s […]

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Louisville basketball made it clear over the weekend that their No. 1 target in the 2026 cycle is Tyran Stokes. The Cardinals appeared to be at multiple games of the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit while he competed at the Adidas 3SSB Palmetto Road Championship.

However, outside of Stokes, a name that is becoming Kelsey’s No. 2 target in the 2026 cycle is Taylen Kinney, a native of Newport, Kentucky. The Cardinals are all-in on the elite guard after Kinney had a “great” official visit earlier in June.  

However, Louisville appears to be in an SEC battle for Kinney as some elite competition and a familiar enemy just entered the race for the 6-foot-2 point guard.

Related: Louisville basketball jumps Kentucky for 5-star PG in massive recruiting twist

Louisville basketball in danger of losing top 2026 recruiting target to SEC giant

According to Joe Tipton of On3/Rivals, Kinney has now scheduled an official visit with John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks. The Razorbacks made their offer to Kinney back in August 2024 and now has an official visit lined up to meet Calipari on September 26.

He has already visited the Cardinals back on June 5 and has also made official visits to Purdue on January 20 and Kentucky on June 24. In addition to his visit to Arkansas, he will also visit Indiana on August 29, Oregon on September 6, and Texas on September 12.

The Cardinals are considered the favorites to land Kinney’s commitment, but these official visits to big-time programs should have Kelsey on alert. Coach Cal will always be a threat to Louisville for 5-star recruits, as he has been recognized as one of the best coaches in college basketball history and is highly skilled at developing college players into NBA superstars.  

Kinney visiting these national brand schools and blue-blood programs is not a great sign for Louisville, but it doesn’t mean they are out of the race. Tipton reported that Arkansas is emerging as a legitimate contender, and Kelsey must continue to go all-in on Kinney.

If the Cardinals can win Kinney’s commitment, it would be a massive first domino to fall their way, and could lead to players like Stokes and other 5-stars to commit. It is reported that Kinney plans to announce his commitment sometime before fall.

Kinney has earned over 29 offers, and Louisville must pay what it takes to bring him to the Cardinals. Kinney ranks as the No. 1 point guard in the 2026 cycle and ranks as high as No. 11 in the nation.

However, with programs like Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, and others earning official visits from Kinney, it is clear the 5-star guard is going to be worth even more money than Kelsey thought. Louisville is hoping to land Stokes, as they are the favorites, but with Kinney taking more official visits, it may become clear that it will be challenging to secure both recruits’ commitments and meet their financial obligations.

Related: 2 Dream, 2 reach, 2 realistic 2026 5-star targets Louisville basketball could land

For all the latest on Louisville basketball’s offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.





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Several college basketball alumni teams to take the court in TBT 2025

The Basketball Tournament (TBT) 2025 is set to tip off this Friday July 18th, and once again should be an exciting dose of basketball in the dog days of summer. Since it first began in 2014, TBT has quickly grown into one of the premier basketball events of the offseason. This year’s event will feature […]

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The Basketball Tournament (TBT) 2025 is set to tip off this Friday July 18th, and once again should be an exciting dose of basketball in the dog days of summer. Since it first began in 2014, TBT has quickly grown into one of the premier basketball events of the offseason. This year’s event will feature 61 teams competing in a single-elimination bracket, with a $1 million winner-take-all prize.

While TBT features a mix of current and former professional players, the event is deeply rooted in, and has really grown because of its strong ties to the college basketball world. Many of the participating teams are college alumni squads, made up of former players from their programs. With its single-elimination format and rosters full of familiar faces from the college basketball world, TBT is the perfect offseason remedy for college hoops fans.

Elam Ending Format

The tournament will once again feature the Elam Ending, which is a unique format that has gained traction since it was first used in TBT in 2017. Since then, it has been adopted in events such as the NBA All-Star Game, NBA G League, and Unrivaled. 

Under the Elam Ending rules in TBT, the game clock is turned off at the first stoppage at or under four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. At this point, a target score is set that is 8 points more than the leading team’s score (e.g. If score is 78-72, Target Score = 86, first team to 86 points wins). Under this format, every contest ends on a “game winner” and it eliminates the long, drawn-out foul and free throw fest that can take place near the end of games, a part of college basketball that has become highly criticized as of late. 

College Hoops Connection

Now, assuming you’re here because you love college hoops, here are the teams with college basketball affiliations competing in TBT 2025.

  • Aftershocks (Wichita State)
  • All Good Dawgs (Butler)
  • Assembly Ball (Indiana)
  • Austin’s Own (Texas)
  • Best Virginia (West Virginia)
  • Boeheim’s Army (Syracuse)
  • Carmen’s Crew (Ohio State)
  • Court Street Kings (Ohio)
  • Dunkin’ Dogs (Louisiana Tech)
  • Forever Coogs (Houston)
  • Founding Fathers (James Madison)
  • Green Mountain Men (Vermont)
  • Happy Valley Hoopers (Penn State)
  • Herd That (Marshall)
  • JHX Hoops (Kansas)
  • La Familia (Kentucky)
  • Purple Reign (Kansas State)
  • Shell Shock (Maryland)
  • Shield 219 (Valparaiso)
  • Stars of Storrs (UConn)
  • Srtroh’s Squad (Bowling Green)
  • The Ville (Louisville)
  • War Ready (Auburn)
  • We Are D3 (Division III Players)

Full 61 team field here

Host Sites

This year’s field is divided into eight regions, each hosted by a college alumni squad. All regional hosts will have home-court advantage throughout the entire tournament.

  • Indianapolis (Butler/Indiana) – Hinkle Fieldhouse
  • James Madison (James Madison) – Atlantic Union Bank Center
  • Kansas City (Kansas/Kansas State) – Municipal Auditorium
  • Lexington (Kentucky) – Memorial Coliseum
  • Louisville (Louisville) – Freedom Hall
  • Syracuse (Syracuse) – SRC Arena
  • West Virginia (West Virginia/Marshall) – Charleston Coliseum
  • Wichita (Wichita State) – Charles Koch Arena

Schedule

First-round games will tip off Friday and Saturday (7/18–7/19). Following rounds will take place over the next two weeks, with the championship game scheduled for August 3rd.

  • First Round: 7/18-19
  • Second Round: 7/20-21
  • Round of 16: 7/22-23
  • Quarterfinals: 7/27-28
  • Semifinals: 7/31
  • Championship: 8/3

Select games will be broadcast on FOX, FS1, and FS2, while most of the action will be available to watch on YouTube.



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Players’ associations urge Congress to reject proposed bill granting NCAA antitrust exemption

Players’ associations for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL and MLS issued a joint statement Monday urging Congress to reject proposed legislation that would grant the NCAA and its members an antitrust exemption to address NIL issues. The statement was in response to the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, […]

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Players’ associations for the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, NHL and MLS issued a joint statement Monday urging Congress to reject proposed legislation that would grant the NCAA and its members an antitrust exemption to address NIL issues.

The statement was in response to the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, introduced last week by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. A markup on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

In their letter, the players’ associations warned that an antitrust exemption would permit the NCAA and its members to “collude to harm athletes.”

“Whatever progress the athletes have made has been a result of their use of the antitrust laws,” they wrote. “The SCORE Act would take that weapon away from them.”

The proposed legislation from seven Republican and two Democratic sponsors prevents athletes from obtaining employment status and mirrors many of the terms from the recent House vs. NCAA settlement. It would officially end most administrative restrictions on athletes’ NIL compensation, but it allows schools and conferences to establish what is and isn’t permissible. Should the federal legislation pass, it would override current state NIL laws, which vary from state to state.

Earlier Monday, two members of Congress from the state of Washington, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Republican Rep. Michael Baumgartner, issued a similar statement urging the House committee to delay the markup until there are significant changes.

“The bill appears to be a product of the richest conferences to cement into place the current power structure in college athletics that would leave only the wealthiest schools able to compete at the highest levels of college athletics,” the statement said.

All of the Power 5 conferences previously issued a statement endorsing the SCORE Act.

“In the absence of federal standards, student-athletes and schools have been forced to navigate a fractured regulatory framework for too long,” they wrote. “Following the historic House settlement, this bill represents a very encouraging step toward delivering the national clarity and accountability that college athletics desperately needs.”

Last week, the NCAA said in a statement that it “has made long overdue changes, mandating health and wellness benefits and ushering in a new system for Division I programs to provide up to 50 percent of athletic department revenue to student-athletes, but some of the most important changes can only come from Congress.”

“This bill reflects many student-athletes’ priorities, and the NCAA is committed to working with Congress to build a bipartisan path forward that ensures the long-term success of college sports and the ongoing opportunities they provide to young people,” wrote Tim Buckley, the NCAA’s senior vice president of external affairs.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey also praised the bill Monday.

“I think what’s happening in college athletics is a nonpartisan issue, but using the typical nomenclature, to have members of both of our major political parties willing to step out and introduce the SCORE Act, is a positive step,” he said.

The players’ associations’ letter noted that only two industries in the United States have antitrust law exemptions: railroads and Major League Baseball (partially).

“The NCAA should not have a blank check to impose (its) will on the financial future of over 500,000 college athletes,” they wrote.

Justin Williams contributed to this story.

(Photo of Capitol Building: Al Drago / Getty Images)





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