Former Alabama head football coach Nick Saban addressed growing speculation Wednesday about his possible involvement in a new college sports commission reportedly being formed by former President Donald Trump to address issues surrounding name, image, and likeness (NIL) rules.

Saban, speaking at the Regions Tradition pro-am golf tournament, confirmed he had heard about the effort but said he has not yet been formally asked to participate.

RELATED: Report: Trump creating commission on college sports to help solve NIL issue

Further reporting indicated Trump’s intention to create a commission on college sports to help to solve the issue and that Saban was going to be one of the co-chairs of the commission.

“To be honest with you, I don’t really know much about this commission,” he told reporters. “I don’t really know what this commission would do. I think we know what needs to be done. I just think we’ve got to figure out who’s got the will to do it…I’ve learned one thing about coaching for all these years that when you get into a subject like this that’s very complex, it’s probably good not to talk about it off the cuff. So I’ll find out more about it.”

RELATED: Tuberville: Trump and Saban could join forces to tackle NIL reform – hopes to talk tonight at UA

“If there’s something that I can do to help college football be better, I’m always going to be committed to do that. I was committed to do that as a coach, to help players be more successful in life. And I would continue to do the same thing now,” Saban said.

Charles Barkley is making waves on social media again amid a stunning admission over the limits of NIL funding for his beloved Auburn Tigers.

Barkley was a star player at Auburn in the 1980s before he embarked on a Hall of Fame career in the NBA and garnered additional fame as part of TNT’s Emmy-winning “Inside the NBA” studio show. He has always given back to Auburn, especially as the men’s basketball program has ascended to elite status under head coach Bruce Pearl.

Advertisement

But in a new interview with WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama, Barkley has called the “notion” that he will give “legal or illegal” millions each year to Auburn University “the stupidest thing” he has ever heard.

The UMass hockey team unveiled its 2025-26 schedule on Wednesday and a unique slate awaits the Minutemen next season.

Starting with a two-game set on Oct. 4-5, UMass will welcome Northern Michigan to the Mullins Center to kick off head coach Greg Carvel’s 10th season in Amherst. The Wildcats will be making their first ever trip to Western Massachusetts in the season-opening series. UMass last faced Northern Michigan in 1999.

The Minutemen’s non-conference portion continues the following week with an away game at Stonehill, one of the newest Division I programs in the country, on Oct. 10. The Skyhawks joined the top ranks during the 2022-23 season and are one of five independent teams nationwide.

UMass will then play its first of four games against Northeastern throughout the season the week after, on Oct. 17. Carvel confirmed during the offseason that due to American International College dropping its Division I program midseason last year, the Minutemen and Huskies decided to play an additional game against each other as a non-conference matchup. On Oct. 18, UMass will play Bentley for the second time in two years after beating the Falcons during its season-opener in 2024-25 in Waltham. Both games are set to be played at Mullins.

The Minutemen will make their longest journey of the regular season the following week when they head to Omaha, Nebraska for two games against the Mavericks. UMass will be making its first trip to the Cornhusker State since 2003. The Minutemen played Nebraska-Omaha during last season’s Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas and lost, 3-2, in overtime.

Continuing the theme of former in-season tournament opponents, Cornell will square off with UMass twice at Mullins over Halloween weekend. The Big Red beat the Minutemen during last season’s Desert Hockey Classic in Tempe, Arizona, 4-2. 

The month of November will be grueling for UMass as seven of its eight games will come against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2025. It starts with the second game against Cornell on Nov. 1, then two versus Maine — the reigning Hockey East champions – at home on Nov. 6-7. Next, the Minutemen will have their first home-and-home against Boston College on Nov. 14-15, before a Thursday-Saturday home-and-home with Providence starting on Nov. 20.

UMass will finish out its non-conference docket with a Black Friday showdown against Army in West Point, N.Y. on Nov. 28.

From then on it’s Hockey East play the rest of the way and the Minutemen will play games two and three against Northeastern in Boston to close out 2025 on Dec. 6-7.

Boston University will serve as UMass’ first opponent of 2026 on Jan. 9-10, before two against Merrimack on Jan. 16-17. Both will be home-and-home series for the Minutemen.

UMass then will make the drive up to Burlington, Vt. for the second year in a row for two against the Catamounts on Jan. 23-24.

The fourth and final contest with Northeastern is the week after on Jan. 30 at Mullins, then the Minutemen will have three consecutive games against in-state rival UMass Lowell starting on Feb. 1 before that stretches to another home-and-home on Feb. 6-7.

UMass will get a week off following its three against the River Hawks, then will have a pair of home-and-home series to close out the month of February. New Hampshire (Feb. 20-21) and UConn (Feb. 27-28) serve as the Minutemen’s two opponents in that stretch.

The Minutemen will close out their home schedule in early March with a bout against BC on March 5, then will head to Durham, N.H. for their regular-season finale against the Wildcats on March 7.

UMass’ 24-game Hockey East slate features three games against BC, UMass Lowell and UNH.

Anthony E. Montalbano

OBITUARY

Saugerties

Anthony E. Montalbano, 91, of Glasco Tpk. died Saturday, May 10, 2025, surrounded by his family. Born November 1, 1933, in Brooklyn, he was the son of the late Gesualdo and Josephine Montalbano. Tony graduated from Haaren High School in Brooklyn and Ulster County Community College in Stone Ridge, New York. He designed planes for Republic Airlines and Grumman Airlines, and retired as an engineer from Rotron in Woodstock, N.Y. Tony was an avid speed skater most of his life. In 1955, he received the Silver Medal (2nd Place) at the prestigious Silver Skates at Madison Square Garden. Tony also enjoyed many other sports, including basketball, and was the MVP of his high school basketball team in Brooklyn, NY. Tony enjoyed building and flying model airplanes, boating, kayaking, hunting (including raising and training his own hunting dogs), cycling, clamming, fishing (including making his own lures and flies), and playing bocce with the Italian American Club of Ulster County. He was a member of the Shandaken Seniors Club, Phoenicia Fish and Game Club where he was a contributing writer of their newsletter. All of his interests, too numerous to list, have been passed down to his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Tony and his late wife, RoseMarie, enjoyed bowling, dancing, playing tennis, and camping (including making his first camper out of an old Wise Potato Chip truck). Together they started an annual family vacation to Tony’s favorite place, the Charlestown Breachway, in Charleston, Rhode Island. For over 50 years, he enjoyed fishing, clamming, and swimming every year with his family. Tony cherished his time with his loving family, and that love was never more present than on Christmas Eve, when the entire family would gather and Tony would prepare a traditional Sicilian Christmas Eve Family dinner. He enjoyed watching his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren play ice hockey and basketball, and he was there to celebrate every birthday and special event. Tony was a parishioner of St John the Evangelist in Centerville, NY in which he was very much involved. He was a Eucharistic minister and lector. Participated in Cursillo and Marriage Encounter. More recently, he attended Saint Francis DeSales Catholic church in Phoenicia and was very fond of Reverend Father Thomas Wilhelm. Predeceased by his wife, RoseMarie; survivors include his children: Donna Arnold of Kerhonkson, JoAnn Nickels of Fair Haven VT, Edward Montalbano (Amy) of Saugerties, and Margaret Montalbano of Saugerties; brother: Ben Montalbano; ten grandchildren: Rachel, Steve (Deanna), Miranda, Jason (Nikki), Shane, Aurelia, Remo, Jacob, Angelo and Leah; eleven great grand-children: Jadalyn, Elijah, Julian, Evangeline, Angelo, Ty, Siena, Blaise, Chiara, Mason and Isaiah; nephews: Christopher Montalbano (wife Juliany and child Julia) and Michael Montalbano (wife Sherlen and children Olivia and Andrew) and many other family members and friends in the United States and Sicily. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at St. Francis de Sales RC Church (109 Main Street, Phoenicia) at 11:00 AM on Thursday, May 15. Burial will follow in the Blue Mt. Cemetery, Saugerties. Friends will be received on Wednesday, May 14, from 5 pm to 7 pm at the Seamon-Wilsey Funeral Home (corner of John & Lafayette Streets) in Saugerties. Expressions of condolence may be shared with the family at SeamonWilseyFuneralHome.com.

On Wednesday afternoon, we were greeted with Shannon’s new bat signal, which is him hoisting the third place national champ trophy, and while some Mizzou coaches haven’t quite gotten the timing down (sorry, Kellie), we didn’t have to wait long to see who it was.

Say hello to Illinois State grad transfer, Sara Wabi!

Per Road to Nationals data, the Chicago, Ill. native (Marist HS) competed in vault, floor and bars lineups for Illinois State during her senior season. Let’s take a closer look at her numbers, shall we?

Sara didn’t compete vault collegiately until this year (per a Redbirds’ FB post), when she randomly vaulted in a November and did so well, she stayed in lineups throughout the season! She earned a high score of 9.875 in early February on her Yurchenko Full. The Tigers have a lot of pretty solid YFs (9.95 SV) at their disposal already at their disposal, so I’m not sure if we’ll see her in vault lineups, but there’s always a chance. I do LOVE to see a stuck vault, something Missouri struggled with this season.

Wabi (pronounced like Robby but with a W) also competed on floor for Illinois State, earning four 9.875 and two 9.85 scores last season to go along with a 9.865 NQS, but with the team’s mighty floor depth, I’m not sure we’ll see her there. If you want to watch a routine, she uses the same floor music as Kaia!

Sara’s best event and where I think she’s most likely to make lineups is bars, as the Tigers have a couple holes to fill with the graduation of Mara, Kyra, Amari, Jocelyn & Abby. The MIC bars champion scored a career-high 9.90 in late February and also scored three 9.875 and a 9.85 in the 2025 season. In fact, she scored 9.80-plus in 9 of 14 meets, including a 9.80 as an individual entrant in the Washington Regional, so the Tigers are getting someone with postseason experience.

You’ll notice in the video below that she does the same giant to double tuck that Mara (sad face) competed.

How much eligibility does she have? One year, as she just graduated from Illinois State. I’m wondering if she was awarded a 5th year after not competing (possible holdover injury from her sr year of HS) her freshman season. Sara will join recently announced returners, Grace Anne Davis and Lauren Macpherson, vault specialist Dakota Essenpries, and bars specialist Makayla Green. (links go to my Rock M stories)

This puts the roster at 21, which is one over the proposed roster maximum. The total number of transfers I think will ultimately depend upon what’s decided in the House settlement, which is currently at odds due to roster size. But as with any other sport, “There’s always spots when you need ‘em.” I think that’s a Sam Snelling original quote right there.

Here’s how the roster stacks up currently. It’s looking MIGHTY, MIGHTY STRONG, y’all, and while some of the gymternet saw this as a more random addition for Mizzou, the overarching opinion seems to be one of happiness that top programs are looking at her as she’s “super underrated.”

Stay tuned for more Gym news here at Rock M. I suspect there will be more soon. Oh, and listen to the new ep of Majority Rules, which hit airwaves late last week.

#MIZ