NIL

Can UMass sell hope? Why college football’s losingest program believes it can win

Published

8 months ago

May 14, 2025

AMHERST, Mass. — It’s three hours before the spring football game, and tailgates have already started popping up.

Kirt LaFrance unfolds his camping chair on a strip of grass. Bob Casaceli stirs a pot of chili and plops sliders on the grill. Country music blares across the parking lot.

The Easter weekend crowd is predictably small — 228 fans in the bleachers at kickoff. But the despair from another losing fall subsided months ago, and winter, at last, has melted away. White magnolias are blooming, red buds are poking through branches and the football team has a new head coach.

Hope springs eternal. Even at UMass.

Since moving up from the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) in 2012, the Minutemen have been, by far, the worst program. Their 26-122 record (.176 winning percentage) in 13 seasons is almost one victory per year below the second-worst team, Kansas. Their scoring differential (minus-2,467 points) is 400 points worse than the Jayhawks, 600 worse than New Mexico State and 800 worse than UConn and UTEP.

“We’re a joke,” said Corey Schneider, a co-founder of the Minutemen’s now-disbanded football NIL entity, The Midnight Ride Collective.

Schneider hears the punchlines nearly every time he introduces himself as a UMass graduate. One of the school’s most prominent sports alumni, ESPN writer Dan Wetzel, has quipped about merging rosters with UConn. A YouTuber who has visited nearly every FBS stadium dubbed UMass’ venue the worst in the country in a video viewed more than 3 million times.

I’ve been to over 100 college football stadiums

I say with full confidence this is the worst one in the country pic.twitter.com/G9EQDcGn2v

— GFed (@GfedGoCrazy) July 5, 2024

Quinton Sales just shakes his head. As one of the captains during UMass’ FCS-to-FBS transition, he knew his team would ache through the program’s inevitable growing pains. But growing pains require growth, not double-digit losses to Buffalo and Northern Illinois like he withstood 12 years ago.

“No reason to be this bad for this long,” Sales said. “No reason.”

The explanation goes beyond the typical problems of losing programs: poor quarterbacking (UMass hasn’t had a passer with 10 touchdowns in a season since 2018), bad coaching hires (first-time flops Charley Molnar and Walt Bell, unsuccessful retreads Mark Whipple and Don Brown, who was fired last November), lackluster recruiting (one class ranked in the top 105 of the 247Sports Composite) and the instability of five coaching changes in 15 years. Deeper woes require deeper roots.

The trouble began, according to interviews conducted by The Athletic with more than a dozen UMass stakeholders, when a sliding FCS program jumped to the sport’s highest division without a plan, in a move its chancellor said might not last. The flagship university of the state with the nation’s highest median household income gave its front porch a bare-bones budget that made a future NFL head coach one of the lowest paid assistants in the nation. The Minutemen started from behind and never caught up.

Most losses by FBS teams since 2012

Wins	Losses	W%	Avg. margin
26	122	.176	-16.7
38	117	.245	-13.4
44	110	.286	-10.5
46	107	.301	-10.2
46	105	.305	-12.1
51	103	.331	-7.6
44	103	.299	-11.2
56	102	.354	-6.4
54	102	.346	-10.2
50	102	.329	-9.2
63	102	.382	-8.1

When UMass prioritized the other revenue sport, men’s basketball, it doomed football to the purgatory of independence and years of laughers against Penn State (63-0) and Pitt (51-7), FIU (44-0) and Toledo (55-10) and even FCS programs Southern Illinois (45-20) and Maine (35-10).

“Frankly,” said booster Marty Jacobson, whose name adorns the football performance center and press box, “a lot of us are tired of losing.”

And they’re starting to do something about it.

The potential for disaster was evident long before the jokes. The proof rests near the back of a nondescript box in the tallest building on campus.

It’s part of a task force report submitted to UMass’ chancellor in 1996 as the school considered moving its up-and-down program to Division I-A, now called FBS:

If a decision is made to implement the move to IA, the move will most likely meet failure without full support of all parts of the University including: academic, student, administrative, and staff.

James Madison supported its move to the FBS in 2022; according to figures submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, the Dukes entered the Sun Belt with the largest athletic budget in the conference. They are 28-9 over three seasons. Georgia Southern supported its jump, too; its students preemptively approved a $75 semester fee to fund a potential bump up and have watched their Eagles become a regular bowl team. Liberty started with the sixth-highest football budget ($22.9 million) in the Group of 5 and has never had a losing FBS season.

UMass didn’t want to listen. The prescient warning was cut from the task force’s final version and is buried on the last page of a minority report, now housed in the W. E. B. Du Bois Library’s archives.

Though the Minutemen did not leap to the FBS then, they probably would have been better off if they had. Their athletic department was still buzzing after John Calipari led the men’s basketball team to that year’s Final Four, and football was about to peak by winning the 1998 FCS national championship and playing for another in 2006.

“If you had the right people in place with the right forethought, I think it would have been a home run,” said ESPN analyst Rene Ingoglia, UMass’ All-American running back in 1994-95. “They went the opposite way.”

When a football-only invitation to the Mid-American Conference came in 2011, the Minutemen weren’t ready. On the field, UMass didn’t move up with the momentum or roster depth of James Madison (a perennial FCS power), Appalachian State (a regular FCS playoff team) or Sam Houston (two years removed from an FCS title). The Minutemen went 23-22 over their final four FCS seasons.

Off the field, UMass had not sufficiently prepared to join the highest division. The necessary support was missing. Schneider, then a recruiting/operations intern, said it felt like the Minutemen were simply in the FCS one day and the MAC the next because he witnessed so little build-up.

“I would say that I think the institution as a whole and the athletics department were surprised by the level of investment and commitment it took to be relevant in the Football Bowl Subdivision,” said athletic director Ryan Bamford, who took over in 2015.

Though the school increased its football expenses by almost $2.2 million from 2010-12, UMass started from behind. In Year 1, its $750,000 assistants salary pool was seventh-lowest nationally and third to last in the MAC (ahead of only Kent State and Bowling Green), according to USA Today’s database. The next year, it was $200,000 behind FBS startup Georgia State. By 2015, the total coaching salary pool was $1.43 million — ahead of only Buffalo in the MAC and almost $1 million behind P.J. Fleck’s Western Michigan staff, according to the Knight-Newhouse database.

“I think the truth and the reality is that there wasn’t a ton of investment and resources at the time when that transition was made,” said former UMass tight end Adam Breneman, now a Front Office Sports podcast host and analyst for CBS Sports and Yahoo. “When you have position coaches making under $100,000 a year, you’re not going to be able to keep anybody in college football if they’re good.”

UMass is 0-14 against teams from the SEC since 2012. (Eric Canha / Imagn Images)

UMass’ all-time leading passer, Liam Coen, earned significantly less than that in 2014. His starting salary ($64,500) made him the lowest-paid quarterbacks coach in the FBS, according to USA Today’s database. Coen left his alma mater after two seasons to become an FCS coordinator at Maine. He developed into one of the hottest names in the NFL’s last coaching cycle and is now the first-year head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Other facets were similarly behind. Media guides list only four new staffers during the 2011-12 transition: a recruiting grad assistant, an assistant strength coach, an academic counselor and administrative assistant. Even with the additions, the Minutemen still had four fewer support staffers (11) than MAC colleague Northern Illinois.

UMass didn’t break ground on a football operations center until two years after the FBS move was announced. Sales and his teammates trained for a higher level of competition in the same weight room with the same strength coach.

“It just felt like a different mission in the same room,” Sales said.

UMass since its FBS jump

Season	Record	Scoring Off	Scoring Def	Wins
2024	2-10	110th	125th	Wagner, Cent. Conn. St.
2023	3-9	96th	133rd	Merrimack, Army, New Mexico St.
2022	1-11	131st	104th	Stony Brook
2021	1-11	126th	130th	UConn
2020	0-4	127th	122nd
2019	1-11	118th	130th	Akron
2018	4-8	35th	127th	Liberty, UConn, Charlotte, Duquesne
2017	4-8	47th	93rd	BYU, Maine, App. St., Ga. Southern
2016	2-10	110th	108th	Wagner, FIU
2015	3-9	108th	92nd	Buffalo, EMU, FIU
2014	3-9	78th	105th	Ball St., EMU, Kent St.
2013	1-11	123rd	98th	Miami (OH)
2012	1-11	124th	121st	Akron

The school’s on-campus home, McGuirk Alumni Stadium, was nearing 50 years old and didn’t have the press box or other infrastructure required to support a high-level program. The Minutemen chose to relocate games two hours southeast to the Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough.

The move was intended to reacquaint the program with Boston-area alumni while playing in one of the finest venues in the country. At the time, then-athletic director John McCutcheon called Gillette Stadium the football team’s home “for the foreseeable future.” Fourteen years later, Bob McGovern calls the decision a “disaster.”

“You ripped the team away from its fan base,” said McGovern, a 2005 UMass graduate who covered the program for the Maroon Musket.

Attendance figures reflected that. UMass’ average crowd (10,901) was fourth-worst in the FBS in 2012. The finale against Central Michigan drew an announced attendance of 6,385, meaning more than 90 percent of the 68,000-seat stadium was empty. UMass stayed in Foxborough the next season and continued playing select games there until 2018.

Football never got full support from academics, either. The faculty senate formed a committee to scrutinize the FBS budget and discuss alternative uses for the new expenses. If the program needed a vote of confidence after a 1-11 inaugural FBS season, then-chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy chose not to provide one.

“It’s a very easy matter,” he told The New York Times in 2012, “to one day say we won’t do it anymore.”

Though the school never pulled the plug on football, UMass’ powerbrokers pulled back during a fork-in-the-road moment a year and a half later.

A clause in its deal with the MAC essentially gave the school two options: become a full-time member of the conference or leave. Full membership would stabilize a 2-22 FBS program but push its men’s basketball program away from the Atlantic 10, a strong mid-major league that was poised to earn a record six bids in the upcoming 2014 NCAA Tournament (including UMass).

“At the time,” Jacobson said, “we looked at ourselves as a basketball elite.”

So UMass prioritized basketball, forcing football into independence. Difficulties swelled.

Seven years after the FBS transition, eight of the 10 on-field assistants made less than $90,000. A director of player personnel made less than $30,000 in base pay. A director of football operations earned less than $40,000.

UMass lagged behind in everything from dorms to travel, one former assistant said. The difference between UMass and Conference USA felt bigger than the difference between Conference USA and the SEC.

“It was frustrating to get blamed as a coach when everybody in the building knows it’s a resource issue, not a coaching issue,” said the former assistant, granted anonymity in exchange for his candor. “You’re really resourced like an upper FCS team.”

Lacking conference TV revenue, UMass helped fund the program by loading up on paycheck games against power-conference opponents — 19 of them over eight seasons as an independent (excluding the 2020 season that was shortened by COVID-19). The Minutemen lost them all by a combined score of 842-287. In 2016, UMass played Florida, Boston College and Mississippi State in the first four weeks and traveled to South Carolina in October.

“How do you expect to survive a season doing that?” asked Scott Woodward, a staffer from 2015-18 and backup quarterback on the 2006 FCS finalists.

Independence brought other challenges; there’s a reason Liberty, Army, BYU and New Mexico State have all joined leagues since 2022. Inconsistent schedules made it hard to forge rivalries or build rapports with regular officiating crews. Game-planning was trickier without common opponents to study or previous years to reference. With no real independent peers — Notre Dame is in a class by itself, and UConn’s football budget is 69 percent larger — there are no helpful comparisons. No best practices in staffing or infrastructure, no barometers to measure yourself against.

“It’s no-man’s land,” Bamford said, “and it’s lonely.”

The early-bird tailgaters never got much company outside McGuirk Alumni Stadium before last month’s spring scrimmage. The vibe before kickoff was relaxed enough that a woman could walk her dog behind the goalpost not long before kickoff. A stadium pulse video board graphic tried to enliven an audience of empty bleachers. Students had cleared out for the long holiday weekend, but that didn’t stop the farmers’ market from drawing a comparable crowd at the downtown common.

This isn’t a punchline. It’s the reality of a program that went 18-82 as an independent and, as new head coach Joe Harasymiak said, has left its fans “beat down for so long.”

It’s also a reality the Minutemen are confronting.

“We couldn’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results,” Bamford said.

New UMass coach Joe Harasymiak has been an assistant at Minnesota and Rutgers since leading Maine to the FCS semifinals. (Kevin R. Wexler / USA Today Network)

Shutting down the program was never an option, Bamford said, regardless of how many times outsiders asked him about it. Neither was dropping back to FCS. In addition to damaging UMass’ brand, it would have hurt the institution’s bottom line; the school’s contribution to football is $2.5 million less in the FBS than FCS.

Bamford spent years searching for a football-only spot in a conference, but nothing materialized. UMass’ two viable considerations were full-time membership in Conference USA or the MAC. That meant revisiting the basketball-or-football debate at a campus where you’ll still find Marcus Camby jerseys (even at the spring football game).

Though football is the premier program at most schools, the Camby-Calipari basketball heyday remains UMass’ most prominent athletic success (the 2021 men’s hockey national title is up there, too). March Madness still gives mid-major schools a path to national relevance in a way MACtion does not, which is something broadcaster Josh Maurer said the school must consider.

“UMass has been that school in the past, and I don’t think it’s impossible to think that they can be again in the future,” said Maurer, the “Voice of the Minutemen” from 2008-18.

The Minutemen considered it, then rejected it. A decade after prioritizing basketball at football’s expense, they made an about-face.

As bad as the football program has been, the sport’s national popularity still gives it the most upside as a university marketing tool. UMass’ neighbor, UConn, was similarly dreadful (4-32 from 2018-21) but won the Fenway Bowl last year. If the Huskies can play postseason football and make the NCAA tournament in basketball and hockey, why can’t the Minutemen be at least competent in all three? Why can’t UMass become competitive in the fluid MAC, which has had five different champions in the past five seasons?

Besides, focusing on basketball ignores how much the hoops landscape has changed. UMass’ glory days are almost 30 years in the past. The program hasn’t made the March Madness field in 11 years, and power conferences are squeezing out mid-majors. This season’s Atlantic 10 was, like the MAC, a one-bid league.

“We’re kind of leaning into being more of a football school,” said Patrick MacWilliams, the founder and director of The Massachusetts Collective, a hoops-first entity that absorbed football NIL late last year. “I think every school across the country is leaning that way, too.”

Whether UMass succeeds depends on how strongly the program is receiving the full support necessary to avoid more failure.

There are early reasons for optimism. Instead of entering the MAC with one of the smallest budgets, the Minutemen will rejoin with a financial advantage. Harasymiak will be among the MAC’s highest-paid coaches (average salary over five years: about $1.4 million). The overall coaching pool salary, Bamford said, will be the highest in the conference by about half a million dollars. UMass’ NIL budget — $2 million this season, $3 million next — is more than six times what it was in 2024 and expected to be tops in the MAC. The Minutemen launched a new fundraising initiative, the Script U Scholarship Society, to gear up for the revenue-sharing era expected to begin this year. Their 10-year-old football building is in the middle of a $2 million locker room renovation, and Harasymiak has revamped the nutrition program while hiring about 25 of the 30 football staffers.

“Those things don’t happen overnight,” Bamford said, “but that lack of success helped us go make the case (for change).”

Changing the biggest eyesore — a 17,000-seat stadium supporters concede is decades behind the times — won’t happen overnight, either. But the renderings sitting on Bamford’s desk show upgrades are a priority. The Minutemen are considering a short-term fix ($10 million in cosmetic renovations) while the university pursues a nine-figure public-private partnership to overhaul the venue and surrounding area.

“I’ve got to put asses in the stadium first,” Harasymiak said. “You’ve got to get people to come. That’s my job.”

Though none of UMass’ last four coaches won more than three FBS games in a season, Harasymiak has a profile that makes sense. The 38-year-old led another program in the region, Maine, to its first FCS semifinal appearance in 2018, then did more with less as the coordinator of top-20 defenses at Rutgers and Minnesota. He went to school 30 miles south at Springfield College and has recruited the East Coast for years. He’s embracing UMass’ reputation as a top-30 public institution by mining the nearby Ivy League in the transfer portal.

Most importantly, he has help. Harasymiak sensed it during the interview process when the athletic director, trustees and school chancellor who was inaugurated last year stressed how important it was to finally get football right.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be fighting alone,” Harasymiak said.

Even with that backing, the fight won’t be easy. There were more signs on campus for an undergraduate research conference than the spring game. A nonconference schedule set to lighten in future years has trips to Iowa and Missouri this September. Getting New England fans excited about playing directional schools in the Midwest will be a challenge. The stain of a dozen dreadful seasons won’t fade easily.

But look past the gravel road behind the Spartan home of UMass football, and you can envision a path toward respectability. There are buds of hope poking through at the worst program in the country.

“I say this kind of jokingly, and I’ve said this to a lot of people,” MacWilliams said. “We can’t get worse.”

(Top photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)

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Miami’s Beck, Ole Miss’ Chambliss take different paths to College Football Playoff

Published

19 minutes ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

By JOHN MARSHALL

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Miami’s Carson Beck is the prototypical power-program quarterback, a former four-star prospect with a massive NIL portfolio who knows what it’s like to play on the big stage.

Mississippi’s Trinidad Chambliss nearly gave up football, won a Division II national championship and has shined since being unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight.

Their paths will converge in the desert at Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl, with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

“Only four teams have the opportunity to go play this week,” Beck said. “I’m super grateful for that.”

Beck has been building toward this since starring as a high schooler in Jacksonville, Florida.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound pro-style passer won a national championship in 2022 — the Bulldogs’ second straight — as a backup to Stetson Bennett IV, learning as he went. Beck took those lessons onto the field, throwing for more than 7,000 yards and 52 touchdowns in the next two seasons while leading Georgia to 24 wins.

A knee injury kept Beck out of the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff loss against Notre Dame in early 2025 and, after initially declaring for the NFL draft, he opted to transfer to Miami, a school with a potent offense and plenty of NIL cash to throw around.

He’s been a perfect fit.

Poised and steady, Beck has thrown for 3,313 yards and 27 touchdowns on 74% passing with 10 interceptions. He led the Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) to wins over Texas A&M and Ohio State in the playoffs and is 36-5 as a starter as he winds down his college career.

“He’s very experienced, he’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said. “He’s always had his teams competing at a championship level and being in the playoffs.”

Chambliss’ career took a different trajectory.

With no Division I offers out of high school, the quarterback from Grand Rapids, Michigan, opted to play at Ferris State, where he redshirted the first two seasons — the second due to respiratory issues. He considered transferring to a Division III school to give college basketball a try, but chose to give football one more shot.

Good decision.

Chambliss led the Bulldogs to the Division II national championship in 2024, leading to offers from numerous Division I programs. He chose to play at Ole Miss, figuring he would be a backup but at least have the DI experience.

Chambliss’ fate changed when starter Austin Simmons went down with an ankle injury during the second game of the season. Chambliss took off and kept going, throwing for 353 yards against Arkansas in his first start and playing so well he kept the starting job once Simmons was healthy.

The dual-threat quarterback put pressure on defenses all season, rocketing passes into tight windows with his strong arm while extending plays with his legs.

Chambliss has thrown for 3,660 yards and 21 touchdowns with just three interceptions on 66% passing, adding 520 yards and eight more scores rushing. He led the Rebels (13-1, CFP No. 6 seed) to a win over Tulane in the CFP opening round and picked apart Georgia in the quarterfinals with 362 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-34 win.

“He’s a limitless football player,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “Certainly, you could see on the sideline and watching some of the stuff on TV, his leadership skills and the way people gravitate to him. He’s had a tremendous impact on the program and plenty of respect for him.”

So has Beck, setting up a showdown in the desert.

___

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Trinidad Chambliss addresses if he considered following Lane Kiffin, transferring to LSU

Published

1 hour ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Trinidad Chambliss is set to return to Ole Miss next year pending an eligibility waiver, but there was a chance he was going to follow Lane Kiffin. Or, so it seemed.

Kiffin left Ole Miss and Chambliss prior to the College Football Playoff for LSU and people started connecting the dots. If Chambliss was able to return to college football in 2026, the Tigers would be a logical landing spot considering he’d reunite with Kiffin and likely command a sizable NIL deal.

But, Chambliss put those rumors to bed on Monday when he joined SportsCenter. Plus, he’s focused on Miami in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

“I mean, I guess, but not really,” Chambliss said. “I mean, I knew that was right. And you know, I always had trust in, you know PG, and you know Coach Judge. And you know I gotta give thanks to coach Kiffin, coach Weiss as well for giving the opportunity to play that Ole Miss. But I know, I knew that this was the right choice.”

Chambliss opted to stay with Ole Miss as long as his waiver for a sixth year is granted. But speaking with ESPN host Matt Barrie, he was again asked if LSU specifically was a possibility.

“Like I said, like I guess so,” Chambliss said if LSU was a possibility. “But you know, at the end of the day, I just made the right decision, and that was, you know, to stick with my gut. And you know, Ole Miss has been good to me, and I feel like I owe it to Ole Miss. And you know, I just love it here, and I love the community, so that was, you know, the right choice.”

In total, Chambliss has completed 66.4% of his pass attempts for 3,660 yards and 21 TDs this season, while only throwing three interceptions. Though Chambliss spent four seasons at Ferris State, he only played in two of them.

He redshirted in 2021 after seeing no action. He didn’t make any appearances in the 2022 campaign, either. Chambliss is seeking a medical redshirt for that season, claiming he battled respiratory issues, which ultimately led to the removal of his tonsils.

“I deserve it,” Chambliss said Dec. 30 at Sugar Bowl media day. “I’ve only played three seasons of college football. I feel like I deserve to play four. I redshirted in 2021. That was my freshman redshirt. Then I medically redshirted in 2022. Played in 2023, 2024 and this is 2025.

“… I have records from an ear, nose and throat doctor that I was getting treated for the issue that I had in 2022. … I was in communication with Ferris (State), doctors, all of that.”

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Trinidad Chambliss strikes NIL deal with Ole Miss, awaiting NCAA decision

Published

2 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Superstar quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has signed an Name, Image and Likeness deal to stay at Ole Miss that is if the NCAA will allow him another season.

Yes, yes, verily verily I say unto you as much as the NCAA shouldn’t continue to be a part of the Rebels’ future success it somehow always creeps back up again. There is a history here dating back to the days of Jerrell Powe where the NCAA dragged its feet on a decision only to stymie Ole Miss. Those long held memories and grudges from recruiting violations and investigations from the Hugh Freeze and Houston Nutt eras were an albatross for years in Oxford as well.

While the media and sources can say whatever positivity there is, the Cup is in the camp of “we’ll believe it when we see it.”

Chambliss is seeking a waiver for a medical redshirt from one of his seasons at Ferris State and is now under the legal counsel of Tom Mars (a name any long time Ole Miss fan will know). A sixth year of eligibility is not unheard of, and a denial of the waiver from the NCAA could open a can of worms into a lawsuit much like the efforts of Diego Pavia at Vanderbilt this past season.

The commitment of Chambliss to Ole Miss and from the Rebels to its starting QB is the first step or domino to fall, however. He is not ready to jump on the first train to Baton Rouge after the season ends giving the fanbase at least some assurance he could be in red and blue in 2026.

Chambliss came into the starting job after an injury to Austin Simmons who has announced his intentions to transfer. The senior from Grand Rapids, Mich. immediately provided a spark offensively and held onto the starting job for the rest of the season guiding Ole Miss to its first ever College Football Playoff berth. Then, as everyone in the country has seen, Chambliss won back to back playoff games to get Ole Miss in the national semi-final against Miami this week.

His 3,660 passing yards, 520 rushing yards and 29 combined touchdowns were good enough to get him to eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting. A return would easily put him among the favorites in 2026 after the incredible exposure of the CFP first round and quarterfinals.

Chambliss’ attorney is making the case on social media that dozens of pages of medical documents have been submitted to the NCAA to provide for future eligibility. Ole Miss can now do nothing but wait and hope.

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Trinidad Chambliss strikes NIL deal with Ole Miss, awaiting NCAA decision

Published

3 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Superstar quarterback Trinidad Chambliss has signed an Name, Image and Likeness deal to stay at Ole Miss that is if the NCAA will allow him another season.

While the media and sources can say whatever positivity there is, the Cup is in the camp of “we’ll believe it when we see it.”

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College Football Playoff Predictions: Nick Saban’s Coaching Tree on Display at Semis

Published

4 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Sith Lord Nick Saban is responsible for all of this — the four College Football Playoff teams, and their respective head coaches, left standing in this year’s postseason action.

Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Miami’s Mario Cristobal and Ole Miss’ Pete Golding: Those are Saban’s former assistants at Alabama that became head coaches at Power 4 programs across the country. Those are men he recruited, developed and, as he often says, “left to go somewhere else” so that they could bring themselves closer to calling their mentor and boss a peer.

It’s not just that the 2025 CFP national champion will be a program that hasn’t worn the crown in at least 25 years (Miami) — or even once (Indiana, Oregon) — but also that none of their head coaches have either.

So it is with some glee, I’m sure, that Saban will watch one of these men lift the national title trophy and applaud them for winning their first. Leave it to me to remind that one apprentice who will ultimately clutch glory in a couple weeks: He’s got six to go before he even equals Sith Lord Saban (and Kirby Smart already has two).

[2025 College Football Playoff Odds: Lines, Spreads for Each CFP Semifinal Game]

Now, people of college football’s Galactic Empire, here are my latest CFP bracket predictions for the semifinal games:

CFP Predictions: Semifinals

Fiesta Bowl: No. 10 Miami vs. No. 6 Ole Miss (Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Winner: Miami

(Photo by Michael Chang /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)

Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal has put together one of the most devastating defensive lines in the sport. That defensive line, led by edge rushers Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, has faced some of the most talented signal-callers college football had to offer in 2025: from former South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown, to former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway to Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed.

And the Canes’ defense beat them all.

Still, even Cristobal acknowledged during his first media availability ahead of the Fiesta Bowl that none of those quarterbacks bring the level of improvisation and outrageous acts of escape fit for Cirque Soleil that Ole Miss’ Trinidad Chambliss does.

“We’ve faced some really good [quarterbacks] throughout the course of the year, especially in the last couple of weeks,” Cristobal said. “Watching him on film, he’s on a different level.”

[College Football Playoff Predictions: Ole Miss Has Momentum Ahead of CFP Semis]

Chambliss is the hottest passer in the country, the former Division II hero who toppled one of college football’s mythic-like giants in the Georgia Bulldogs defense. He did it with a Herculean act of labor — 362 passing yards, two touchdowns and one awe-inspiring drive to lead Ole Miss in a comeback win to take the Rebels as close as they’ve ever been in the last 64 years to winning the national title.

“He can do it all. He has excelled in every aspect of the game. He certainly brings a ton of energy to their team. He’s a limitless football player.”

And I’m still picking Miami.

That Canes defense bullied and dizzied No. 2 Ohio State’s offense like a Rubik’s Cube does a fully-functional adult. Perhaps Chambliss the rare nerd — like me — who memorized the algorithm to beat the Rubik’s Cube. But it took me three months. He’s got seven days. Good luck.

Peach Bowl: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 5 Oregon (Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET)

Winner: Indiana

(Photo by Melinda Meijer/ISI Photos/ISI Photos via Getty Images)

Perhaps it’s as simple as this: Among the good (Lane Kiffin?) and great (Kirby Smart!), it’s Indiana coach Curt Cignetti who took notes and listened to everything Nick Saban said simply so he could replicate it, just as the new era of college football ran Saban off to TV land and allowed Indiana’s head coach to pull out the 55-gallon drum of whoop-ass and pour it all over the sport.

For Cignetti, it’s no coincidence that all four head coaches in the CFP semis were assistants at Alabama for Saban at one point in a 15-year span — 2007 to 2022.

[The Big Picture: Is a CFP First-Round Bye Actually a Disadvantage?]

“I think everybody learned a lot from Nick,” Cignetti said at his first media availability ahead of the Peach Bowl. “He was a great mentor, very organized, detailed; had a plan for everything. Manage, lead, how to stop complacency, game day, recruiting, in recruiting evaluation, player evaluation. I mean, he had it all. And if you were serious about your career and wanted to be a head coach one day, you took great notes or great mental notes.”

“So I felt like after one year with Coach Saban,” Cignetti said, “that I had learned more about how to run a program than I maybe did the previous 27 as an assistant coach, and stayed with him for three more years. So there’s a lot of disciples out there doing well, and that’s why he’s the greatest of all time.”

Cignetti joined Saban’s staff in 2007 and left it in 2011 to become head coach at Indiana University-Pennsylvania, and he’s only held the title of head coach since. See that, kids? Sometimes, the right internship does prepare you for the job you want. But, like Cignetti at Alabama, make sure they pay you handsomely for your time. Your labor ain’t free.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.

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Kirby Moore Adds Brad Larrondo, Seven Assistants to Cougar Coaching Staff

Published

5 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

PULLMAN, Wash. (Jan. 5, 2026) – Washington State University Head Football Coach Kirby Moore Monday announced that Brad Larrondo has been named the program’s Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director / General Manager, while also naming seven more assistants to his first coaching staff in Pullman.

Larrondo is a veteran of college athletics for more than two decades. Larrondo brings a wealth of experience to Pullman having spent the previous three seasons working closely with Moore at Missouri. For the 2024-25 seasons, Larrondo served as the CEO of Every True Tiger Brands, an NIL Marketing and Branding agency for Missouri athletes. The NIL marketing and brand agency has established itself as a leading collective in college football. Larrondo spent the 2023 season as an assistant athletic director/director football external relations & recruiting at Missouri. Prior to Missouri, Larrondo was the football chief of staff for Bryan Harsin at Auburn for two seasons and served in a similar role under Harsin at Boise State.

“This is a transformational step for Washington State Football,” said Moore. “The work required to manage a roster, including contract negotiations, player evaluation, strategic planning, recruiting and retention requires full time focus. Brad’s extensive experience in the SEC will help us improve our process and program. I look forward to working alongside Brad as we look ahead to great things for WSU Football.”

Of the seven new assistant coaches, three will be on the offensive side of the ball and four on defense. The 2026 Cougar coaching staff will include Jack Abercrombie (offensive line), Andrew Browning (rush/defensive run game coordinator), Greg Burns (secondary/safeties), Derham Cato (run game coordinator/tight ends), Eti Ena (defensive tackles), Derek Sage (wide receivers/special teams coordinator) and Brandyn Thompson (cornerbacks).

“Adding these seven members to our staff is an exciting step for our program,” said Moore. “Each of them brings experience, energy and a clear commitment to developing our student-athletes on and off the field.”

Last week, Moore announced both coordinator positions, Trent Bray (defensive coordinator/linebackers) and Matt Miller (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), as well as Malcolm Hardmon (director of football athletic performance).

Below are brief overviews for the seven new assistant coaches:

Jack Abercrombie – Offensive Line: Spent past three seasons working alongside Kriby Moore at Missouri, the last two as assistant offensive line coach… in 2025, Missouri rushing offense ranked eighth nationally at 234.1 yards per game, led by consensus All-American running back Ahmad Hardy…has also coached at VMI, Mississippi State and Gannon.

Andrew Browning – Rush/Defensive Run Game Coordinator: Arrives in Pullman after spending previous eight seasons at California, last seven as defensive line coach…Cal’s defense posted 24-plus sacks in five of those seven years…also coached at UTEP for five seasons…began coaching career at Boise State in 2010, where he spent three seasons when Moore and Miller were teammates.

Greg Burns – Secondary/Safeties: A coaching veteran with nearly three decades working with defensive backs at both the professional and collegiate levels…has coached throughout the west, including stops at USC, UCLA, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State and most recently, San José State…played at WSU from 1991-95 under coach Mike Price and was a part of two bowl teams.

Derham Cato – Run Game Coordinator/Tight Ends: Begins his Cougar coaching career after spending previous three seasons working alongside Kirby Moore at Missouri, the last two as tight ends coach…also has coaching stints at Washington, Davidson, Vanderbilt and his alma mater, Dartmouth…following college, played professionally in NFL Europe, the CFL and Arena League.

Eti Ena – Defensive Tackles: A veteran coach with two decades of collegiate experience…spent the past two seasons at New Mexico State preceded by two years at Hawai’i…member of Eastern Washington staff from 2016-21 as the Eagles reached the 2018 season championship game and 2016 semifinal…a native of Inchelium, Wash., graduated from Eastern Washington.

Derek Sage – Wide Receivers/Special Teams Coordinator: Has spent two decades coaching collegiately, most recently working with tight ends at Toledo the past two seasons…making his second stint in Pullman after coaching outside receivers on Mike Leach’s staff in 2017…has also coached at UCLA, where he was tight ends/special teams coordinator, Nevada, New Hampshire and Wyoming.

Brandyn Thompson – Cornerbacks: Thompson arrives in Pullman after spending the 2025 season coaching cornerbacks at Cal Poly…also has coached at Sacramento State and Sacramento City College…2011 seventh-round selection in NFL Draft by Washington after playing at Boise State, where he was a teammate of Kirby Moore…played one season in Washington and then five in CFL.