NIL

Houston Basketball Coach Says 'Nobody Controls College Basketball'

Published

1 month ago

March 31, 2025

Houston Basketball Coach Says 'Nobody Controls College Basketball'

That wouldn’t eliminate name, image and likeness money. But any NIL deals over 0 would need to be approved by a third-party entity, where that entity would ensure that the deals are for fair market value. That process is still ongoing. “We used to be in control of this game,” Sampson said to On3.com. “No. Nobody controls college basketball. We just sit and figure out what to do next. So right now, here’s what we’re dealing with. Next year, who knows where it’s going to take us. So, you never know.”“This game is going to tell us what they’re going to do,” he said. “Here’s your (revenue share) number next year. That didn’t come from a president or an athletic director or a coach. It came from the game. The game will tell you what we’re going to do, and all we’re doing is reacting to it.” After Houston dismantled the Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday, he clinched his third trip to the Final Four as a head coach. He led the Cougars to the Final Four in 2021, and before that he did the same with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2002.He said that he and this athletic director have already started having conversations about how much of a share of the revenue the basketball program would get. Give the Cougars’ resurrection as a program under Sampson, one would think they’re entitled to more than other programs. If the Cougars get past Duke in the semifinals, they’ll play in the national championship game on the same day that the House vs. NCAA settlement case is expected to be formally approved. That’s a day that could change Sampson’s career, both on the court and off. During the ramp-up to the Tennessee game, he talked about the changes his game is experiencing, one in which he’s been a head coach since he took over at Montana Tech in 1981.Houston Cougars basketball coach Kelvin Sampson has been down this road before as he takes another team to the Final Four. Sampson spent some time coaching in the NBA in between a hasty exit at Indiana and taking the Houston job nearly a decade ago. He’s used to dealing with professional players — or at least players that make money. The NIL aspect of the college game, only a few years old, was less of a transition for him than it was for other coaches that didn’t have his experience. Where next year could take the Cougars, along with every other Division I college basketball team, is revenue sharing. The House vs. NCAA settlement is set to allow participating schools to share up to an estimated .5 million in revenue with student-athletes, the lion’s share is expected to go to football. He’s won nearly 800 games and a spot in basketball’s hall of fame awaits him when he’s done coaching. A national championship next Monday would be the pinnacle for his long career. He’s only focused on this year, he said. As for next year, he’ll take it as it comes.

NIL

Cowgirl Basketball Adds Mandi Carver To Coaching Staff

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State’s women’s basketball team has added coaching veteran Mandi Carver as an assistant coach it was announced today by Cowgirl head coach Jacie Hoyt. “Mandi is a great fit for our culture. Her passion for basketball and developing women on and off the court shines through her. She had a very […]

Published

1 hour ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Cowgirl Basketball Adds Mandi Carver To Coaching Staff

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma State’s women’s basketball team has added coaching veteran Mandi Carver as an assistant coach it was announced today by Cowgirl head coach Jacie Hoyt.

“Mandi is a great fit for our culture. Her passion for basketball and developing women on and off the court shines through her. She had a very illustrious playing career and I know our players will greatly benefit from her knowledge and ability to develop them at the highest level,” Hoyt said.

“She has recruited and developed some of the country’s best talents in the last few years and I am positive she will do the same for us. Mandi is more than just a recruiter, she has a great mind for basketball and has been heavily involved in X’s and O’s at a very successful Fresno State program. She is one of the Swiss Army knives of our profession and we are proud she is a Cowgirl.”

Carver joins the OSU program after spending the past 11 seasons at Fresno State. From 2014-16, she served as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs before being elevated to associate head coach for the program. She helped guide Fresno State to three 20-win campaigns and five postseason appearances.

“I am honored and excited to join the Oklahoma State women’s basketball program. This is a university with a proud tradition and a passionate fanbase and I am eager to contribute to the growth, development and success of our student-athletes both on and off the court. I cannot wait to get to work alongside Coach Jacie and this incredible staff,” Carver said.

Individually, she coached 30 all-conference selections as well as 2015 Mountain West Co-Player of the Year Alex Sheedy, 2016 and 2017 Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year Bego Faz Davalos as well as back-to-back league players of the year in 2020 and 2021 in Maddi Utti and Haley Cavinder, respectively.

Prior to her stint in Fresno, Carver served as an assistant coach at San Jose State from 2011-13 and before that served one season as an assistant at Bakersfield. At both stops, she held the role of recruiting coordinator.

During the 2010-11 campaign, she helped guide CSU Bakersfield to a 22-win campaign as well as a berth in the Women’s Basketball Invitation championship game.

As a player, Carver signed as a free agent with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock in 2002 and played professionally overseas from 2002-09.

She helped lead her teams to championships in the French League, the Swiss Cup, Adriatic League, Bulgarian League, Latvian League, Arad Club and was a EuroCup Competition participant.

Carver picked up numerous individual honors, being tabbed as the Swiss League MVP, Latvian League MVP, as well as a two-time All-Star selection in Greece and the Arab Clubs Tournament MVP.

Carver was a collegiate standout at Idaho State, where she was a three-time All-Big Sky selection, the 2001 Big Sky Player of the Year, a three-time Academic All-Conference selection and was honored as one of the Big Sky Conference Top 25 Female Athletes.

A native of Dillon, Montana, she graduated as Idaho State’s all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots and as a senior in 2001-02 led the nation in rebounding.

Carver graduated from Idaho State in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in arts and communication. She also obtained a master’s of accounting and financial management in 2008.

NIL

Colleges consider unusual ideas to address NIL, transfer portal chaos

By MAURA CAREY, AP Sports Writer As the amateur model of college athletics disintegrates, a handful of unusual ideas have been floated as ways to reign in some of the chaos surrounding the explosion in name, image and likeness compensation and a transfer portal that sees thousands of athletes changing schools every season. Whether any […]

Published

3 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

By MAURA CAREY, AP Sports Writer

As the amateur model of college athletics disintegrates, a handful of unusual ideas have been floated as ways to reign in some of the chaos surrounding the explosion in name, image and likeness compensation and a transfer portal that sees thousands of athletes changing schools every season.

Whether any of the ideas end up being implemented is unknown and every school is awaiting a decision from a federal judge on whether a $2.8 billion antitrust settlement against the NCAA and the five largest conferences will take effect as early as July 1. If it does, that opens the floodgates for schools to share millions in revenue directly with their athletes amid a host of other changes.

Here is a look at some of the topics:

Athlete contracts

A formal agreement between an athlete and a school is not a new concept, but with the uptick of NIL deals the thought of pro-style contracts is becoming increasingly more common.

There are plenty of ways to get creative with contracts. Rich Stankewicz, operations director for Penn State’s NIL collective Happy Valley United, said he favors an incentive-based approach — essentially adding money for athletes who not only perform but stick around.

“I personally really like the idea of incentivizing performance in school, those kinds of things that would only be occurring in the season while they’re playing,” Stankewicz said. “If more money is paid out in those time frames, then that gives the incentive for the player to stay and see those dollars from their contract, rather than potentially collect up front and then decide the grass is greener somewhere else three months later, barely doing any school, you know, without playing at all.”

Transfers and buyouts

This topic is red hot at the moment. Entering the transfer portal comes with the risk of not landing in a better spot — or any spot — but athletes have shown every single season over the past few years that they are comfortable going anyway. Athletic departments are beginning to fight back.

Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek recently encouraged the school’s NIL collective to pursue legal action after quarterback Madden Iamaleava departed for UCLA after just five months in Fayetteville. Iamaleava allegedly collected significant money upfront and cited homesickness as his reason for following his brother to California.

This is a scenario Penn State hopes to avoid. And the importance of contract details is clear.

“Commonly, there’s nothing binding students in certain instances to the institution they’re with for the entirety of the contract,” Stankewicz said. “We’ve definitely looked into having measures in place to discourage transfers during the time of the contract. There are a bunch of different ways to do that, from buyouts to how you load the contract.”

Athletes as employees

Groundbreaking shifts in the landscape have sparked conversations about athletes becoming official employees of their universities.

It’s a controversial subject to say the least. Universities would become responsible for paying wages, benefits, and workers’ compensation and schools and conferences have insisted they will fight any such move in court (some already have).

Complexities go beyond the concept. While private institutions fall under the National Labor Relations Board, public universities must follow labor laws that vary from state to state and it’s worth noting that virtually every state in the South has “right to work” laws that present challenges for unions.

There is also a new administration in power now, said Michael LeRoy, a labor and employment professor at Illinois who has studied the NCAA and athlete rights.

“With the election of Donald Trump, and what that would mean for a new National Labor Relations Board, what that would mean for repopulating the courts with judges who are likely not congenial to that view, I no longer have much hope that we’ll get a ruling in the next 5-10 years that these are employees,” LeRoy said.

Despite the lack of employment status, LeRoy said, athletes should advocate for themselves and use the entertainment industry as a model. He said athletes currently are offered “take-it-or-leave-it” NIL contracts when a broader approach might have benefits.

“I think athletes should start to look at Hollywood and Broadway contracting arrangements that deal with publicity rights,” he said. “I think there’s a way to frame this collectively. The framework of collective bargaining and employment, I would say, the entertainment industry generally offers a blueprint for success.”

Playing for another school

Things are so chaotic right now that the very lines of who an athlete is playing for could get blurred.

Saying he was inspired by the NBA’s G League, University of Albany basketball coach Dwayne Killings is proposing a two-way contract for college players. Albany would welcome transfers from top-tier programs who need more seasoning and help them develop — with plenty of game time vs. sitting on the bench — before sending them back to their original program, where they’d be ready to compete.

“The best development happens on the floor, not necessarily on the scout team, given the new 15-man scholarship limits,” Killings told CBS Sports.

And then there is Division III, which recently approved an unusual pilot program: Athletes would play for one school but do their coursework at another school that does not sponsor varsity athletics.

The NCAA said the program, which would run during the next academic year, “will offer expanded pathways for student-athletes to pursue their academic objectives and complete their participation opportunity.”

“This program intends to address the changing, dynamic higher education environment we find ourselves in right now,” said Jim Troha, president of Juniata and chairman of the DIII President’s Council. “It recognizes existing academic programs and provides flexibility to expand participation opportunities for student-athletes.”

The program will be assessed before any decisions on whether to make it permanent or expand it.

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NIL

SB | Taylor Lane Closes Out Season with Final WCC Player of the Week Honor

Story Links SAN BRUNO, Calif. — After going 2-1 on the weekend to earn a share of the 2025 WCC Title, Saint Mary’s Softball will keep the celebration going as their offensive leader for the week, Taylor Lane, was named the final WCC Player of the Week for 2025. This is Lane’s […]

Published

3 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

SAN BRUNO, Calif. — After going 2-1 on the weekend to earn a share of the 2025 WCC Title, Saint Mary’s Softball will keep the celebration going as their offensive leader for the week, Taylor Lane, was named the final WCC Player of the Week for 2025. This is Lane’s first time winning this honor in her three years of competition for the Gaels, as she becomes the fourth different Gael (Sam Buckley, Mia Zabat, Tori Cervantes) to earn this award this year, and the third consecutive.

In the final weekend of the regular season, redshirt junior Taylor Lane had an offensive awakening, with five hits, including two home runs, and seven of the Gaels 20 runs driven in on the weekend. The Huntington Beach native reached base in every game against the LMU Lions. Her average climbed 23 points this weekend, and she tripled her season home run output.

Lane’s two home runs this weekend helped the Gaels close out their season with 43 on the year, a new single season program record.

T3 | SMC 5 – LMU 3

Victoria Castillo brings the Gaels within one, then Taylor Lane charges a ball to center to push SMC back ahead!#GaelsRise pic.twitter.com/cbc4ugszNk

— Saint Mary’s Softball (@GaelsSoftball) May 9, 2025

M4 | SMC 7 – LMU 3

Taylor Lane delivers again! A two out, two RBI single extends the Gaels lead to four. Sam Buckley scored on the play, giving the single season runs scored record, to go along with her home run and RBI records!#GaelsRise pic.twitter.com/QoOqnOTeUw

— Saint Mary’s Softball (@GaelsSoftball) May 9, 2025

M1 | SMC 2 – LMU 0

It;s Taylor Lane‘s world, we’re just all living in it! She launches her second homer of the series to dead center to push the Gaels ahead. She’s now driven in seven over the last two games!#GaelsRise pic.twitter.com/TM7vMK2HTT

— Saint Mary’s Softball (@GaelsSoftball) May 10, 2025

#GaelsRise

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The highest-paid special teams coordinators in college football: 2025 edition

Published

4 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

In our tour of college football assistant coaching salaries, the stop at Special Teams Depot is always my favorite. The variety of how head coaches deploy their special teams duties is fascinating. Most head coaches name a designated special teams coordinator who also coaches an offensive or defensive position — most commonly a low-volume position in terms of players on the field at one time, like running backs or tight ends — who will then delegate certain special teams units to another assistant coach. Some head coaches won’t even name a special teams coordinator, divvying up that duty amongst his staff. Some head coaches do that, but will funnel most of their efforts through an off-the-field analyst, though that blurry line has all but disappeared in today’s age of unlimited on-field coaches.

And then other head coaches hire a special teams coordinator who has no positional other positional responsibility and makes a lot of money doing it.

Regardless of how head coaches split up their duties, the work still has to get done: six separate units whose relatively low snap count often has an outsized impact on winning and losing football games. Special teams often touch the entire roster except the starting quarterback, and an injury to a starting cornerback, offensive lineman or tight end could affect multiple units without warning.

$1.2 million: Jeff Banks+, Texas

$950,000: Mickey Conn, Clemson*; Mike Reed, Clemson*

$850,000: Joe DeCamillis+, South Carolina

$800,000: John Papuchis+, Florida State

$775,000: LeVar Woods, Iowa^

$700,000: Joe Lorig, Oregon; Sharrieff Shah, Utah

$625,000: Mike Ekeler, Nebraska^

$575,000: Jay Boulware+, Kentucky; Grant Cain, Indiana

$560,000: Todd Goebbel, NC State

$550,000: Stu Holt, Virginia Tech; Kenny Perry, Texas Tech+

$530,000: Erik Link, Missouri

$450,000: Charlie Ragle, Arizona State+^

$400,000: Kirk Benedict, Georgia; Patrick Dougherty, Texas A&M; Cliff Odom, Mississippi State; Mike Priefer, North Carolina

$375,000: Jay Nunez, Alabama; Jake Schoonover, Ole Miss

$360,000: Keith Gaither, Virginia

$350,000: JB Brown, Michigan; Robby Discher, Illinois; Matt Mitchell, Wisconsin; Taiwo Onatulo, Kansas

$345,000: Bob Ligashesky, Minnesota^

$275,000: Karl Maslowski, Louisville

$225,000: Evan Crabtree, Tennessee; Doug Deakin, Oklahoma^; Andre Powell, Maryland

MISSING: Kyle Cefalo, Cal; Joe Houston, Florida; Chad Lunsford, Auburn; Craig Naivar, Arizona; Chris Petrilli, Washington; Sean Snyder, Oklahoma State

+ – Assistant/associate head coach

^ – Standalone special teams coordinator

No dedicated special teams coordinator: Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, LSU

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Otega Oweh remains undrafted in ESPN’s post-lottery update

Worried a bizarre night at the NBA Draft Lottery that saw the Dallas Mavericks win the right to the No. 1 pick — and, in turn, Cooper Flagg — would impact Otega Oweh‘s decision to keep his name in the field or return to Kentucky? Don’t be — not yet, anyway. The star guard, who […]

Published

5 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Worried a bizarre night at the NBA Draft Lottery that saw the Dallas Mavericks win the right to the No. 1 pick — and, in turn, Cooper Flagg — would impact Otega Oweh‘s decision to keep his name in the field or return to Kentucky? Don’t be — not yet, anyway.

The star guard, who earned All-SEC honors in his debut season in Lexington, was once again not included in ESPN’s latest mock draft released following Monday night’s lottery.

With clarity finally here with the draft order, Koby Brea was the only Wildcat listed in the final update before the NBA Combine ramps up this week in Chicago. The 6-7 sharpshooter sits at No. 54 overall, projected to be selected by the Indiana Pacers.

In ESPN’s list of best available prospects, Amari Williams is the next Kentucky player under consideration at No. 59 overall, followed by Oweh at No. 72 overall — well outside the draft range. Jaxson Robinson is next at No. 76 while Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Ansley Almonor were not included to round out the top 100.

Take a look at the latest lottery projections after the top-14 draft order was revealed on Monday:

Cooper Flagg – Dallas Mavericks
Dylan Harper – San Antonio Spurs
Ace Bailey – Philadelphia 76ers
VJ Edgecombe – Charlotte Hornets
Jeremiah Fears – Utah Jazz
Tre Johnson – Washington Wizards
Khaman Maluach – New Orleans Pelicans
Kon Knueppel – Brooklyn Nets
Collin Murray-Boyles – Toronto Raptors
Kasparas Jakucionis – Houston Rockets
Derik Queen – Portland Trail Blazers
Egor Demin – Chicago Bulls
Jase Richardson – Atlanta Hawks
Carter Bryant – San Antonio Spurs

The new mock draft comes following the NBA G League Elite Camp, one that saw Williams, Butler and Carr all participate — plus Kentucky signee Jaland Lowe, who was also not included in the 59-pick mock, nor was he listed in the top 100 of best available draft prospects. Meanwhile, the NBA Draft Combine began on Sunday in Chicago, which will run for seven days. Oweh and Brea will both participate in the five-on-five scrimmages set to begin Wednesday, beyond all measurements, testing and drills.

Oweh has until May 28 to make his stay-or-go decision, looking for a first-round guarantee to keep his name in the draft. If not, a return to Lexington for one final season of eligibility is the expectation as the NIL money will be too good to pass up compared to fighting for a two-way deal as a late-second-rounder or going undrafted.

Another step in the right direction, but the real updates will come throughout the week in Chicago. From there, the 2025 NBA Draft is set for June 25-26 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

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NIL

NIL lawyer says NCAA eligibility rules could reach the Supreme Court

May 12, 2025 By Dan Morrison, On3 Sports: Former Charleston forward Ante Brzovic has been denied his request for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA to allow him to play a fifth season after spending one year at the JUCO level. That decision is coming from the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (4th Circuit). Now, […]

Published

5 hours ago

May 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

May 12, 2025

By Dan Morrison, On3 Sports: Former Charleston forward Ante Brzovic has been denied his request for a preliminary injunction against the NCAA to allow him to play a fifth season after spending one year at the JUCO level.

That decision is coming from the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina (4th Circuit).

Now, NIL lawyer Darren Heitner has weighed in on the decision, cautioning that this issue will likely find its way to the Supreme Court. That’s because other districts have had significantly different decisions in similar cases, relating to the NCAA’s eligibility rules and the Five-Year Rule.

Read the full story…

NIL lawyer: NCAA eligibility rules could reach Supreme Court