Karen Weekly is going hard at tampering issues in college softball. Despite Tennessee’s immense success under her tutelage, the Lady Vols coach has an issue with where the sport stands in 2025.

Evidently, Weekly has no issue with NIL in itself, believing it’s a tremendous revelation that women can make money on their collegiate careers. However, her problem is with coaches and recruiters from other programs contacting players before they even enter the transfer portal. That has her calling out any and all tampering.

“I think we can all agree on two things: 1) Women making money in sports is awesome and long overdue,” Weekly posted on X on Friday. “2) Contacting players (directly or indirectly) before their season ends and signing them to NIL deals before they enter the portal is wrong. Money isn’t the issue, tampering is!”

If you’re a fan of college athletics, it feels like this was inevitable. We’ve seen rumors of tampering in a myriad of other sports, and it would’ve certainly been naive to think that college softball was immune to the problem.

Karen Weekly has been around the bend and found success as college softball has evolved on and off the field. This is one change she won’t stand for, and she’s fighting for justice. We’ll see if she calls anyone out by name or if the NCAA takes notice of the Lady Vols’ leader’s warning in the future.

More on Karen Weekly, Tennessee Volunteers

Moreover, Tennessee made the Women’s College World Series for the second time in the last three seasons under Weekly’s guidance. There are plenty of memories that come along with that run, even if the Lady Vols would have preferred to keep things going all the way to the top. Still, she’s grateful.

“My heart is full because of the young ladies to my right and the young ladies in that locker room. They’re sad for all the right reasons,” Weekly stated earlier this June. “It’s not about wins and losses. It’s about the joy they’ve experienced being together every single day, and I think people saw that in the way we played. They saw them bounce back. They saw how resilient, how gritty and tough they were.

“This has been a group that has been just so much fun to coach. Because they allowed us to coach them, and everything we asked of them all through the season, they bought in completely and just made it really, really fun. My office and our clubhouse is right by the front door. And every one of these guys, they walk in, they have a smile on their face and they greet you.”

All in all, Karen Weekly has been leading the Tennessee program since 2002 and has found plenty of success during her time there, going to the Women’s College World Series nine times. Now, she’ll go back to the drawing board and look to put together another great group of Lady Vols to compete for next season. 

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this article.

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Marshall University Women’s Basketball head coach Juli Fulks announced the signing of four transfers for the 2025-26 season.  

Emily Bratton, Ni’Kiah Chesterfield, Emari Doby, and Timaya Lewis-Eutsey come to Marshall with college basketball experience. 

The four join incoming freshmen Olivia Olson, who was signed last November by Fulks, and Zenthia Stowers, a six-foot forward with international experience playing for the New Zealand U18 National Team. 

Bratton made 18 appearances with the Miami RedHawks as a freshman in 2024-25. The finalist for Ms. Basketball Ohio averaged 23 points as a high school senior. 

“We’re excited about her future in a Marshall uniform.”

– @Juli_Fulks on @emily_bratton_ #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/pghjWFe0VH

— Marshall Women’s Basketball (@HerdWBB) May 12, 2025

Chesterfield has two years of college basketball experience at Tusculum. In 54 games across the last two seasons, the six-foot forward averaged over 15 points per game on 53 percent shooting, and six rebounds per contest.

It’s Official

Welcome @NikiahChesterf1 to our Family! #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/ItI1VLn8hG

— Marshall Women’s Basketball (@HerdWBB) May 6, 2025

Doby joins the Herd from Illinois-Springfield, and played at DI Denver University in 2023-24. She averaged 12.0 PPG and 5.0 rebounds per contest with UIS last season. 

It’s official, @Emari_JD is a part of The Herd! #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/I4eVfxJkVm

— Marshall Women’s Basketball (@HerdWBB) May 29, 2025

Lewis-Eutsey has three seasons of experience at VCU. Two seasons ago with the Rams, she finished on the leaderboard of the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage (.481), free throw percentage, and steals (45). She was named to the All-A10 Third Team in 2023-24.  

Got us one!

Welcome, @timayalewiss to The Herd#ALLIN pic.twitter.com/FfIPnyaZVW

— Marshall Women’s Basketball (@HerdWBB) May 13, 2025

For all the latest information about Marshall Athletics, follow @HerdZone on X and Instagram.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS and Android.

The 2025 Women’s College World Series came to an end late last week and a national champion other than the Oklahoma Sooners was crowned for the first time in five seasons.

The Sooners gave way this year to Texas and Texas Tech, both of which posted wins over Oklahoma on the way to the national championship series. In the end, it was the hated Longhorns putting their name on the WCWS championship trophy for the very first time, winning two of three games from a Texas Tech team that was making its very first trip to Oklahoma City and the WCWS.

The looming question in Sooner Nation after an atypical season by Oklahoma standards — the Sooners’ 52 wins in 2025 was the fewest since 2015 — was this just a temporary pause as Patty Gasso and Co. retool and readjust to the new world order in college sports to come back as strong as ever going forward?

More pertinently, can Oklahoma not only make it back to the WCWS again in 2026 — it’s almost as if the Sooners have a contract with the overseers of the WCWS that prohibits them from being excluded — but be in a position to win it all and begin an all new championship run?

The answer to the former is “yes,” and because of that, it’s also “yes” to the latter question. After all, history tells us that when Oklahoma makes it to the Women’s College World Series, it has a really good chance of taking home the championship trophy. The Sooners have made it to the WCWS 18 times since 2000 under Gasso, won the national championship eight times and finished as national runner-up twice during that span.

Oklahoma softball has what it takes to get back to the CWS next season

Until the Sooners don’t make it to Oklahoma City and the WCWS, it would seem pretty foolhardy to count them out. And the 2026 group looks really stacked and seasoned looking ahead to next season.

No one outside of the Oklahoma softball program or perhaps the state of Oklahoma could have imagined in their wildest dreams that a team that had to replace 14 spots on a 22-player roster this past season would be playing in the Women’s College World Series this season, let alone be one of the final four teams left standing and just three wins away from a record fifth straight national title.

Thirteen members of the 2025 Sooner roster were underclassmen, nine of those were freshmen, including three freshmen in the starting lineup. Typically, you wouldn’t consider a team with that many young and new players to be on a par with the best teams in the sport

No team has been more dominant in the past quarter century of college softball than the Oklahoma Sooners. OU has been to the WCWS 22 times in program history. Eighteen of those, including this season, have been since 2000, tied with UCLA for the most of any team over that span.

The Sooners aren’t the only team that brings back offensive firepower and lockdown pitching for the 2026 season. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the eight teams we see in next season’s Women’s College World Series have a very familiar look.

A couple of way-too-early projections we’ve seen have reigning champions Texas, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Oregon and Oklahoma returning to the big stage in OKC a year from now, and could 2026 be the year former Sooner Jordy Bahl makes her WCWS return, but in a different uniform?

Any coach or player will tell you it’s a very difficult road to get to the WCWS, and to be able to do it year after year — let alone win it all — is a truly remarkable accomplishment. Whatever happens next college softball season, it should be another strong year for Oklahoma softball. And let’s be brutally honest: It would be a big disappointment if the Sooners fail to make it back to Oklahoma City.

Cooper Flagg has been one of the big winners of the name, image and likeness (NIL) era in college sports, reportedly earning a staggering amount of money during his one year at Duke.

However, top recruits and NBA Draft prospects aren’t the only winners in the NIL era. At least 50 early-entry candidates withdrew their names from the 2025 NBA Draft ahead of the late May deadline with plans to return to school and cash in on NIL opportunities. 

“This year’s draft class, more than any ever, has been affected by the NIL and the new pay-for-play,” Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens told NBC Sports Boston in May. “The money can be higher in some of these schools than the bottom of the 20s in the draft. Good for them.”

The former Butler coach’s assertion seems to be correct when you look at On3’s most valuable college athletes entering the 2025-26 academic year.

Let’s take a look at the 10 most valuable players in men’s college basketball entering the 2025-26 season, via On3.

1. BYU F AJ Dybantsa ($4.1 million)

Dybantsa is the highest-valued non-football college athlete entering the 2025-26 academic year, coming in at No. 4 on the overall list. The incoming BYU freshman, who is ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the 2025 college basketball recruiting class (via 247 Sports), already has reported deals with Nike and Red Bull. But the bulk of his potential college earnings might have come with the deal he struck with BYU’s NIL collective, reportedly securing a deal worth around $7 million. That’s just scratching the surface on Dybantsa’s potential career earnings, though, as many prognosticators have him being one of the top few picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Toppin had Texas Tech on the precipice of its second Final Four appearance, leading the Red Raiders to the Elite Eight in 2024-25. As a result, the program rewarded him in order to ensure he wouldn’t enter the transfer portal or 2025 NBA Draft. It was reported that Toppin is expected to earn $4 million in NIL after he announced his decision to remain in Lubbock in April. Toppin’s reported deal with Texas Tech’s NIL collective is the only reported NIL deal he has. Toppin won Big 12 Player of the Year and was named a second-team All-American after scoring 18.2 points per game in the 2024-25 season. He’s the 12th-highest-valued player in college sports, per On3. 

Michigan not only got Lendeborg to remain in college for another season, but it also made him one of the highest-valued players in the sport. After the UAB transfer removed his name from the 2025 NBA Draft in late May, CBS Sports reported that Lendeborg received an NIL package from Michigan worth around $3 million. Prior to his decision to remain in school, Lendeborg was viewed as a potential first-round pick in June’s draft. Now, the two-time first-team All-AAC member will play his final year of college hoops in Ann Arbor, giving Dusty May’s Wolverines the No. 1 player in the transfer portal this offseason, per 247 Sports. He’s also the 20th-highest valued player in college sports, per On3. 

Fland also profited from his decision to remain in college, but transfer to a different school. The former Arkansas guard declared for the 2025 Draft, but removed his name from consideration and opted to head to Florida and receive an NIL package from its collective worth over $2 million, according to CBS Sports. Fland, who averaged 13.5 points per game as a freshman in 2024-25, was the 22nd-ranked prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle, via 247 Sports, giving the defending champs another player with high upside. Fland is also the 22nd-highest-valued player in college sports, per On3.

UCLA didn’t need to incentivize Dent to remain in school. However, Dent was incentivized to make the move from New Mexico to UCLA earlier this offseason. The 2024-25 Mountain West Player of the Year reportedly received a $3 million NIL deal to transfer to UCLA in March, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican. He received $2 million of that deal up front, while he’ll earn the other $1 million during the 2025-26 season. Dent, who is the 23rd-highest-valued player in college sports, averaged 20.4 points per game as a junior last season.

Quaintance is the youngest player on this list. Even though he won’t turn 18 until July, Quaintance already has a year of college hoops experience, playing at Arizona State this past season. After being named to the Big 12’s All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams, Quaintance entered the portal and landed at Kentucky. While he has a pair of reported deals with PSD Underwear and Panini America, Quaintance likely cashed in on Kentucky’s growing NIL budget, too. Kentucky is rumored to be one of the three-highest NIL spenders in college basketball for the 2025-26 season, helping Mark Pope land a talented transfer portal class. Quaintance, who is also ranked No. 26 in On3’s most valuable college athletes list, is rehabbing from an ACL tear, but he’s hopeful to be back on the court early next season as he seeks to be a top pick in the 2026 draft.

Smith decided to forgo early entry into the 2025 NBA Draft, opting to play one more season at Purdue. Smith, who has reported NIL deals with Hey Dude Shoes and The NIL Store, also has a reported deal with Purdue’s NIL collective, per On3. However, it wasn’t reported if Smith agreed to a new deal with the collective when he announced his decision to remain in college for another year. Regardless, the Boilermakers will have the reigning Bob Cousy Award winner, Big Ten Player of the Year and one of the Naismith National Player of the Year finalists back on their roster for his senior season. That’s something that was becoming a rarity in the pre-NIL era. Smith is ranked 28th in On3’s most valuable college athletes list. 

Another transfer, Thiam moved on from UCF to Cincinnati following his freshman season in 2024-25. Ranked 32nd in On3’s most valuable college athletes list, Thiam doesn’t have any reported deals with a brand, per On3. However, he inked a $2 million NIL deal to join Cincinnati, the Orlando Sentinel reported in April. Thiam averaged 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game this past season.

9. Purdue C Oscar Cluff ($1.7 million)

Purdue is the only team with multiple players on this list. Unlike Smith, though, Cluff transferred into the Boilermakers’ program in the offseason. The 34th-ranked player in On3’s most valuable college athletes list, Cluff doesn’t have any reported deals with any individual brands. However, Cluff’s junior college basketball coach insinuated that he turned down a school that offered more NIL money to join Purdue in an interview with the IndyStar. Cluff helped South Dakota State reach the NCAA Tournament this past season, averaging 17.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.

A year after making Coleman Hawkins one of the highest-paid players in the NIL era, Kansas State dished out another rich deal for a top transfer. Haggerty, ranked 35th on On3’s most-valued college athletes list, reportedly agreed to a $2.5 million deal ($2 million base, $500,000 incentives) with Kansas State, according to On3. That’s actually lower than what he was seeking, as his father believed he could’ve snagged a $4 million NIL deal, the Field of 68 reported. Haggerty doesn’t have any reported NIL deals with a brand, per On3. He was third in the nation in scoring this past season, averaging 21.7 points per game at Memphis.

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