On one hand you’ve got Texas Tech, poster program for college football’s new big bucks era, and its coach, Joey McGuire, claiming the good thing about players in contract years is at least you can expect their best.

On the other hand, you’ve got Mike Locksley, Maryland’s coach, saying he had to choose which players to pay last year and lost his locker room as a result.

Ask any football coach, and if he’s honest, he’d tell you straight up:

Paying players was simpler when it was under the table.

On July 1st, any athletic program that opted in to the House settlement also could kick off revenue sharing. Or rev share, in the new lingo. The cap is $20.5 million per school, to be divvied up however each sees fit. Every school in the SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 is pledging the limit in the hope that, by shifting payments from collectives, administered by boosters, and instituting a national clearing house that would both vet and police NIL deals as well, colleges might rein in the excesses.

Good luck with all that.

Coaches will tell you the new College Sports Commission, run by a former MLB executive who’d been in charge of investigations, is a needed first step. But they’re dubious as to how this will work. For one thing, there’s no guarantee players will fess up about all their NIL deals.

And how, exactly, will the CSC police what one Big 12 coach called “the wild, wild West”?

The NCAA spent decades trying to run down all the crooks, and the only school it caught in its net was poor little SMU.

A sports culture primer: From the days of leather helmets, players got paid one way or another. Many drew salaries for summer jobs they didn’t actually work. Boosters forked over cash in envelopes or hundred-dollar handshakes. Annuities, hard to track, were all the rage in the ‘80s. But nobody got rich. Texas A&M got busted in the ‘70s for giving a basketball recruit’s mom a washer and dryer.

The fleet of cool cars driven by SMU players? Mostly leases, with one exception: Eric Dickerson’s gold Trans Am, a gift from Aggie boosters, which he drove from College Station to the Hilltop. Ron Meyer called it his “Trans A&M.”

The old Southwest Conference formed a reputation in the ‘80s as the cheatingest league in the land when, in truth, it was no more criminal than the rest. Certainly no worse than the SEC. A former Alabama player once told me about parties hosted by a Crimson Tide booster. He tied rubber bands around thick wads of cash and threw them into his pool while players dived in after them.

SMU got in trouble because its sins were over the top for the era, and Texas and A&M, already at each other’s throats, had their hands full without having to worry about the little guys, too. Once the Mustangs were in jail, as Bum Bright told me then, they squealed on everyone else.

The “hit list,” they called it.

A Dallas newspaper war, largely waged between rival sports departments, raised the stakes. Those days are long gone. But college coaches now take the same approach.

No matter how bad the actor, you don’t turn in your peers, mostly out of fear that one day he might turn in you.

The level of mischief in college athletic programs now far exceeds anything we could have imagined back when we chased Danny Robbins’ revelations in the Dallas Times-Herald. Poaching hasn’t reached the level of Texas high school football before the UIL, when West Texas roustabouts suited up for different teams on successive Friday nights. But it’s more lucrative now.

For instance: Taulia Tagovailoa, Tua’s little brother, went to his Maryland coaches after the 2022 season and told them he’d need more money after getting a $1.5 million offer from an unnamed SEC school. Locksley scrambled boosters, who came up with a six-figure deal to get Tagovailoa to stay.

But, as the Terps’ offensive coordinator, Josh Gattis, told CBS Sports, coaches still have to keep their heads on a swivel.

“Because of the nature of college football and the quarterback market,” he said, “you think no one should talk to your kids, but this word ‘tampering’ is not enforced.

“There’s all different ways that people get in contact with players.”

Gattis’ boss told ESPN he “lost” his locker room last year because he didn’t have enough resources to pay both his veteran players as well as transfers and ended up with a room full of what he called “haves and have-nots.”

“You go outside my locker room 1753389237,” he said, “and I have a sign that says, ‘Leave your Louis belts, leave your financial statements and your car keys outside of this locker room, because in here we’re all going to pay the same price for success or failure.”

Locksley hopes rev share will make it easier on coaches now that they don’t have to recruit boosters for collectives. But other coaches say it won’t do anything to level the playing field.

“Some schools are not gonna let it happen,” an anonymous Big 12 coach told The Athletic. “They’ve done it one way, and they’re gonna keep doing it that way.

“They don’t want the gap to get closer.”

Crashing that gap, of course, is Texas Tech, behind the billions of Cody Campbell and his Matador Club collective, which will pay Tech athletes across all sports a whopping $55 million in NIL money and rev share in 2025-26. How big is that number? One Big 12 coach told The Athletic that the Red Raiders are offering three times what others are bidding.

Another coach said McGuire’s players are getting 10 times what he’s paying his roster.

“I do think,” Joey told The Athletic, “people feel a little threatened.”

Welcome to the new reality. Doubtful even Sherwood Blount, the booster behind most of SMU’s shenanigans in the ‘80s, could keep up. A hundred-dollar handshake? Million-dollar recruits would probably just hand it right back.

Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN

Find more college sports coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

In the late-night hours on Dec. 27, 2024, the Trojans danced to the sounds of cheers and Elvis Presley music under a shower of cardinal and gold confetti. 

Marking the biggest comeback in USC bowl game history, the Trojans concluded the season with a dramatic 17-point comeback victory defeating Texas A&M 35-31. 

“In some ways it was kind of a poetic ending to the season,” said USC head coach Lincoln Riley. “I’m incredibly proud of this group. The resiliency that they’ve shown. I told them there’s a toughness and a hardness developing in this program right now. You can look at a lot of different points throughout this season and certainly tonight and you see that. I have a lot of excitement about that. Our motto is ‘Fight On!’, and this team really embodies that.”

With an exclamation point to close out the season (and yes, the Trojans were 2-0 against the SEC in 2024), the USC football team and the Trojan faithful eagerly looked ahead to 2025. 

And sometimes in the surge forward, one must take a glance back to the past. 

The Trojans can look back to the 2002 team for inspiration. While most of the USC roster was not yet born, this iconic Trojan team, led by Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu, could serve as motivation for the season ahead. USC entered a season coming off a 6-loss campaign. That Trojan squad rebounded by going 11-2, capturing the league title and winning the Orange Bowl. 

The 2025 USC team certainly has the elements to put together a similarly successful run.

Now in those 23 years, the college football landscape has changed dramatically. From NIL to the transfer portal, college football has become increasingly more complex than ever before. Riley spent the entire offseason ensuring that the program would be taking the correct steps forward into the new age of college football. 

“We’re not content with any part of this program being average or even being good. That’s not our mentality,” Riley said. 

The Trojans welcomed Chad Savage as USC’s tight ends/inside receivers coach. Savage, one of the nation’s top recruiters, most recently served as the wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator at Colorado State from 2022-24. He was named the Mountain West Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports for three consecutive seasons (2022-24). Savage primarily recruited Southern California and Arizona and was instrumental in signing over 25 players from the Greater Los Angeles area to play at Colorado State. USC made another splashy hire with NFL legend Rob Ryan as the assistant head coach for defense/linebackers coach. With over 35 years of coaching experience and two Super Bowls rings to his name, Ryan is one of the most accomplished defensive coaches in NFL history. He has coached some of the NFL’s top players, including numerous Hall of Famers and All-Pro selections, and has been an NFL defensive coordinator for 15 years. Finally, Trovon Reed, most recently serving as the cornerbacks coach at UCF with the reputation of an exceptional recruiter, was named USC’s cornerbacks coach. A rising star in the coaching profession, Reed was the only cornerbacks coach in the nation to have two of his players compete in the 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl. 

USC also welcomed new Director of Football Sports Performance Trumain Carroll to the coaching staff. Carroll most recently served as  the director of strength and conditioning at Kansas State where he helped oversee a culture change within the program. Throughout his time in Manhattan, Kan., the Wildcats recorded a combined 36-17 record, collected three bowl victories and the 2022 Big 12 Championship with a 31-28 overtime victory over No. 3 TCU. Since Carroll began working with the Wildcats prior to the 2021 season, K-State was one of only five Power 4 teams to win at least nine games in each of the last three seasons (2022-24) with at least one conference championship in that timeframe. This summer, Carroll has made developing a strong team culture within the program a priority.

Additionally, USC brought on Chad Bowden to serve as the program’s general manager. Bowden, a nationally renowned college football administrator with proven success constructing championship-caliber rosters, was recently named the 2024 FootballScoop Player Personnel Director of the Year for his outstanding roster construction and exceptional utilization of the transfer portal while the general manager for Notre Dame. 

USC bolstered its personnel staff and front office with new hires by Bowden as well as promotions from within. This internal reorganization has allowed everyone to utilize their specific roles and skillsets to chase championships together. 

“Our coaches are still certainly going to have a big role in evaluating and certainly going to still have a big role in recruiting,” said Riley. “But [Bowden’s] department is going to spearhead scouting. It’s going to have a heavy role in recruiting. It’s going to have a heavy role in how we construct our roster. It’s going to have a heavy role in our salary cap and how we manage that, how we strategize…there’s a lot of synergy but there’s also separate responsibilities, and it really is going to be kind of its own department within our program. And we wanted to build a team of people that allows us to operate at a higher level where we can evaluate more players, we can recruit more players  efficiently and we can manage the roster. We can take a few things off of the coaches so the coaches can really dive heavily into coaching and developing our team and allow our people in personnel, scouting and recruiting to do their jobs at a high level.”

As USC moves into the new era of college football, Riley knows that these moves will propel the Trojans to the top. 

“I fully believe when it’s all said and done — and I don’t say this lightly — I think it’s going to be the best personnel, off-the-field staff in the country,” said Riley. 

Spring football has come and gone, and USC continues to make the summer headlines. Whether it’s discussion about the recruiting momentum, being ahead of the curve in front office transformations or entering its sophomore season in the Big Ten, the nation awaits to see the show that the Trojans will undoubtably put on this fall. 

2025 SCHEDULE

After a year of new – new opponents, new travel and new stadiums – USC enters its second season in the Big Ten.

The Trojans will play seven home games in 2025. Troy will welcome league opponents Michigan State, Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa and UCLA to the Coliseum as well as non-conference foes Missouri State and Georgia Southern. USC will visit Purdue, Illinois, Notre Dame, Nebraska and Oregon on the road. 

USC will have byes on Oct. 4 and Oct. 25.

The Missouri State Bears will visit the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to open the 2025 football season on Aug. 30, 2025. While Missouri State is currently in its final year in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (FCS), it will officially join Conference USA for the 2025-26 athletic season, thus making it an FBS program. This will be the first time ever that USC has faced Missouri State.

The Trojans then welcome Georgia Southern of the Sun Belt Conference to Los Angeles on Sept. 6. The Eagles, who are coached by former USC head coach Clay Helton, are another new opponent for the Trojans. 

USC opens Big Ten Conference play on the road at Purdue on Sept. 13. The Trojans are 3-1 all-time against the Boilermakers, last facing them in 1998 when USC won 27-17 in the Coliseum. The Trojans then return home to the Coliseum to host Michigan State on Sept. 20. USC is tied 4-4 in its series with Michigan State, last falling to the Spartans 16-17 in the 1990 John Hancock Bowl in El Paso, Texas. The Trojans wrap up the month of September by traveling to Champaign, Ill. on Sept. 27 to challenge the Fighting Illini. USC holds an 11-2 record all-time against Illinois, last defeating them in the 2008 Rose Bowl 49-17. 

After enjoying a bye-week on Oct. 4, USC hosts Michigan in the Coliseum on Oct. 11. The Trojans lead 6-5 all-time in their series with the Wolverines, most recently falling to them 24-27 in Ann Arbor, Mich. in 2024. Michigan has not played in the Coliseum since 1957, when the Wolverines defeated the Trojans 16-6. USC then travels to South Bend, Ind. to challenge Notre Dame on Oct. 18. The Trojans are 37-52-5 all-time against the Fighting Irish (not including Troy’s 2005 victory that was later vacated due to NCAA penalty;  original record: 38-52-5). USC will then take its second bye on Oct. 25 to prepare for its final five-game stretch of the regular season. 

USC will kick off the month of November with a trip to Lincoln, Neb. to challenge the Cornhuskers on Nov. 1. USC is 5-0-1 against Nebraska and is 2-0 versus the Cornhuskers on the road. The Trojans return to Los Angeles to host Northwestern on Nov. 8. USC remains undefeated against the Wildcats boasting a 5-0 record, having last faced them in the 1996 Rose Bowl where the Trojans secured a 41-32 victory. Another home game awaits the Trojans as USC welcomes Iowa to the Coliseum on Nov. 15. USC is 7-3 all-time against the Hawkeyes, most recently falling to them 24-39 in the 2019 Holiday Bowl. A familiar road trip looms as the Trojans travel north to Eugene, Ore. to take on the reigning Big Ten champions, the Oregon Ducks on Nov. 22. USC holds a 38-23-2 all-time lead in its series with Oregon (not including 1 win vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 39-23-2), last falling to the Ducks 27-36 in Autzen Stadium in 2023. USC wraps Big Ten play by challenging crosstown rival UCLA on  Nov. 29 at the Coliseum. USC leads its series with UCLA, 51-34-7 (not including Troy’s 2004 and 2005 victories that were vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record:  53-34-7). 

The 2025 season will conclude with the annual Big Ten Football Championship Game on Dec. 6, which will feature the top two teams in the overall conference standings at the end of the regular season, with the winner earning the Big Ten Championship. Tiebreaking procedures will be announced at a later date. 

ROSTER

In all, 68 USC squad men return from 2024 (including 44 who saw action), 17 having started at least once last season. Joining them are 15 promising true freshmen and 12 highly-regarded transfers who enrolled at USC for the spring semester and participated in spring practice. Another 13 outstanding freshmen and 4 transfers joined the Trojan squad over the summer.

The College Sports Commission (CSC) was established post-settlement to become the NCAA’s enforcement agency for NIL payments. Two weeks ago, this organization sent out guidance for how rules would be forced and how third-party NIL deals would be approved. Those rules did not last long.

Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports that the CSC and House settlement plaintiffs have met in the middle in an effort to not totally eliminate collectives.

“Attorneys for the House plaintiffs have struck an agreement with the power conferences and NCAA officials to amend the decision-making from the industry’s new enforcement arm, the College Sports Commission, related to how booster-backed collectives can compensate athletes,” Dellenger reported on Tuesday. “Multiple sources spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity.”

“As part of the agreement, the College Sports Commission is expected to treat collectives or any ‘school-associated entity’ in a similar fashion as other businesses when determining the legitimacy of third-party NIL deals submitted to the CSC’s NIL Go clearinghouse.”

That is different from the memo that the CSC sent out on July 10 where the commission stated that a “valid business purpose” was needed for any NIL deal to be approved. That essentially told collectives that they could not operate like normal. As always, the attorneys went to work.

Instead of a hard cap with the $20.5 million that school had allotted to revenue share with athletes, this creates what is essentially a soft cap. Athletic departments will still have collective money available to supplement their player payrolls. This additional compensation will allow some heavy hitters to continue to go above and beyond to create the best rosters money can buy.

There are now some guardrails regarding player compensation but they aren’t very enforceable yet. That will remain the case until there is collective bargaining or the SCORE Act is passed in Congress. The latter is a bill that “codifies the settlement, grants liability protection, preempts state NIL laws & includes anti-employment clause” which will give the NCAA and the CSC the teeth it needs to potentially combat collectives and truly eliminate pay-for-play occurring through booster-driven fundraising. But until that happens, collectives will continue to operate. The SCORE Act is currently moving through stages on Capitol Hill and could be up for a floor vote soon.

There is also a chance that an executive order could be passed that could give college athletics some temporary authority power. As always, things remain fluid as college athletics attempts to find stability post-settlement.