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Inside Gymnastics Magazine | “It was always Oklahoma for me.” OU’s Elle Mueller Reflects and Looks Forward

Oklahoma’s Elle Mueller put on a SHOW every time she stepped on the floor during her freshman debut. Her musical interpretation, storytelling, larger-than-life choreography, and performance quality were stellar—creative, artistic, passionate—and it seems she’s got the college game very much in the palm of her hand.  The choreography and the music, “You Don’t Own Me” […]

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Oklahoma’s Elle Mueller put on a SHOW every time she stepped on the floor during her freshman debut. Her musical interpretation, storytelling, larger-than-life choreography, and performance quality were stellar—creative, artistic, passionate—and it seems she’s got the college game very much in the palm of her hand. 

The choreography and the music, “You Don’t Own Me” performed by Harley Quinn, suited Mueller perfectly. And together with OU head coach KJ Kindler, who gave her the confidence to embrace every note of music and perform, Mueller, like many of us, isn’t quite ready to let this routine go. 

“I guess I need to start looking for new music!” she told us. 

The routine was the one she’s waited for her entire career so far to perform, she said. So it’s totally understandable that while she’s excited to top it, she’ll always remember it as very special, beginning with the first moments she worked with Kindler to create it and discovering a different side of herself as an artist.

“Going back to Twin City Twisters, we had a dance coach that we would work with two, three times a week, and she was super chill. She would just bring out different dances in us, have us work on our facial expressions,” Mueller said. “I think that opened me up to the artistry.

“You’ve always seen KJ’s floor routines, and you’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I want one of my own!’ Just seeing her embody that character and who she wanted me to be allowed me to perform it. I embodied Harley Quinn because that’s where my music is from. It’s a routine style I’ve always wanted to do, so I took the chance and ran with it.”

Having her teammates just feet away and living every step of the routine with her week after week brought Mueller joy and confidence. Along the way, she grew from rookie to veteran overnight. 

“It was incredible,” Mueller said of her teammates’ support during her routine and throughout the season. “It really allowed me to get into my routine more and just do it for them because those are the people that I’m doing it for. You no longer do it for yourself; you do it for your team. That just gave me a little reminder of just how much support I really have.”

Described by Aly Raisman on air as “breathtaking,” our photographer, Lloyd Smith, captured Mueller’s routine during Four On the Floor, where she once again captivated the audience—her teammates included. 

See below for more of our chat with Mueller following the NCAA Championships in April, where OU took its seventh national title.



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IDA Chairman Expands on Deal with New Potential Owners for Elmira’s LECOM Event Center

“The place is beautiful, it’s been cleaned up, it’s been fixed. There have been a lot of improvements on it… I think with the turf [field] and the ice with the type of style of hockey we have, (which is more family-friendly), the Buzz team coming, youth program, 16U program, 18U program, I think it opens […]

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“The place is beautiful, it’s been cleaned up, it’s been fixed. There have been a lot of improvements on it… I think with the turf [field] and the ice with the type of style of hockey we have, (which is more family-friendly), the Buzz team coming, youth program, 16U program, 18U program, I think it opens up a lot of opportunity because those kids are going to be living in this community.  Their families are going to come here. They’re gonna spend money here, and I think that’s the exciting thing for the community. It’s going to have an economic impact on this community like it hasn’t been before,” said Margeson.



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Fallston resident Charlie Cerrato becomes NHL draft pick

When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick. That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise. “It was a funny coincidence because […]

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When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick.

That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise.

“It was a funny coincidence because the 49ers are all over our house, like all of his stuff,” the younger Cerrato said. “I mean, 49 is a number we use a lot. So it was definitely funny seeing that.”

Added the elder Cerrato, a sports talk radio host for 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore: “His agent thought he was going to go between 40 and 50, and he went 49, which is pretty cool.”

The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Charlie Cerrato. Shortly after enrolling at Penn State, he turned in an eye-opening season that resulted in him earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and then becoming the second-highest draft pick in school history.

Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said that the Hurricanes swooped up one of the more impressive players he has ever mentored.

“What he is going to add is an incredible competitor and I don’t care what team you are or what league, but everybody can use that no matter how good and successful you are,” he said. “He’s going to raise the competitive nature of that team. That, I can guarantee, and then I think he’s going to bring a lot of other things to the table, too.”

Football might have seemed to be a natural path for Cerrato. After all, his father played quarterback and wide receiver at Iowa State, served coaching stints at Minnesota and Notre Dame, and worked his way up the ladder to become the director of player personnel for San Francisco from February 1995 to July 1999 and Washington from July 1999 to January 2001 and then vice president of football operations for Washington from January 2002 to December 2009.

But growing up in Minnesota, Vinny Cerrato was an avid hockey player himself who met famed coach Herb Brooks when the latter was coaching the Golden Gophers in the late 1970s. He introduced Charlie to the sport when he was 3 years old, coordinating weekly 6 a.m. hockey sessions at a rink in Northern Virginia.

“Before he went to work, he would take me to McDonald’s — I’d always get pancakes there — and then he’d take me over to the ice rink and then drop me off at preschool,” Charlie Cerrato recalled. “It was totally normal.”

After Vinny Cerrato was fired, the family moved to Fallston, and Charlie began playing with club teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant round-trip drives of almost 200 miles after school, but also moments of father-son bonding.

Penn State's Charlie Cerrato (15) during the game with Notre Dame. The No. 18/18 Nittany Lions defeated the Fighting Irish, 5-3 in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening Feb. 14, 2025 in Pegula Ice Arena. (Photo by Mark Selders)
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit. (Photo by Mark Selders)

“We’d have to drive three days a week, and he’d be doing his homework in the car, and we’d get home at 10 o’clock and he’d be sleeping in the back,” Vinny Cerrato said. “We’d be driving to Boston, Toronto. So it was a lot of driving, but it was great.”

Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit as a sophomore and then the United States National Team Development Program as a junior and senior.

Initially worried about leaving home, Cerrato learned how to cook and clean, purchased his own gym membership, and bought a bike for travel.

“I think it was the best decision that me and my parents could’ve made because at 15, I grew up, and I learned how to live on my own,” he said. “I think it benefited me a ton because at 18 or 19 years old, most kids are moving away to college and they get homesick. But at 15, that was already done.”

For two years, Cerrato was committed to Michigan. But a coaching change there forced him to re-evaluate his options, and he chose Penn State.

In his first year with the Nittany Lions, Cerrato had 12 points by Christmas. After the holiday, he racked up 30 more points, ranked second nationally among freshmen in both assists (27) and points, won 57.2% of his faceoffs, and contributed to the team’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.

“He exceeded our expectations,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a quick learner, a quick study. I think he really took to heart a few of the suggestions that we had which were going to help him with his transition to college hockey, and I think he did a really good job with little things like playing without the puck and shift management.”

As winter turned to spring, Cerrato talked to 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams, including several occasions with 10 of those clubs. But he interviewed with Carolina only once, which added to his shock when the Hurricanes drafted him on June 28.

“It is so unpredictable how the NHL draft goes, and it was definitely a surprise, a great surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to be drafted by them, but I don’t know if I was expecting that.”

For Vinny Cerrato who spent many years delivering the good news to players selected by the 49ers and Washington, sitting on the other side of the draft process was a bit unsettling.



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Fallston resident Charlie Cerrato becomes NHL draft pick

When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick. That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise. “It was a funny coincidence because […]

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When the Carolina Hurricanes selected Charlie Cerrato in the second round of last month’s NHL draft, the Fallston resident smiled when he realized he was the 49th overall pick.

That seemed fitting considering his father, Vinny Cerrato, was a former executive of the San Francisco 49ers and Washington franchise.

“It was a funny coincidence because the 49ers are all over our house, like all of his stuff,” the younger Cerrato said. “I mean, 49 is a number we use a lot. So it was definitely funny seeing that.”

Added the elder Cerrato, a sports talk radio host for 105.7 The Fan in Baltimore: “His agent thought he was going to go between 40 and 50, and he went 49, which is pretty cool.”

The past 12 months have been a whirlwind for Charlie Cerrato. Shortly after enrolling at Penn State, he turned in an eye-opening season that resulted in him earning Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors and then becoming the second-highest draft pick in school history.

Nittany Lions coach Guy Gadowsky said that the Hurricanes swooped up one of the more impressive players he has ever mentored.

“What he is going to add is an incredible competitor and I don’t care what team you are or what league, but everybody can use that no matter how good and successful you are,” he said. “He’s going to raise the competitive nature of that team. That, I can guarantee, and then I think he’s going to bring a lot of other things to the table, too.”

Football might have seemed to be a natural path for Cerrato. After all, his father played quarterback and wide receiver at Iowa State, served coaching stints at Minnesota and Notre Dame, and worked his way up the ladder to become the director of player personnel for San Francisco from February 1995 to July 1999 and Washington from July 1999 to January 2001 and then vice president of football operations for Washington from January 2002 to December 2009.

But growing up in Minnesota, Vinny Cerrato was an avid hockey player himself who met famed coach Herb Brooks when the latter was coaching the Golden Gophers in the late 1970s. He introduced Charlie to the sport when he was 3 years old, coordinating weekly 6 a.m. hockey sessions at a rink in Northern Virginia.

“Before he went to work, he would take me to McDonald’s — I’d always get pancakes there — and then he’d take me over to the ice rink and then drop me off at preschool,” Charlie Cerrato recalled. “It was totally normal.”

After Vinny Cerrato was fired, the family moved to Fallston, and Charlie began playing with club teams in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That meant round-trip drives of almost 200 miles after school, but also moments of father-son bonding.

Penn State's Charlie Cerrato (15) during the game with Notre Dame. The No. 18/18 Nittany Lions defeated the Fighting Irish, 5-3 in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening Feb. 14, 2025 in Pegula Ice Arena. (Photo by Mark Selders)
Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit. (Photo by Mark Selders)

“We’d have to drive three days a week, and he’d be doing his homework in the car, and we’d get home at 10 o’clock and he’d be sleeping in the back,” Vinny Cerrato said. “We’d be driving to Boston, Toronto. So it was a lot of driving, but it was great.”

Charlie Cerrato attended Fallston High as a freshman. But with the backing of his parents, Vinny and Rebecca, he moved to Michigan to live with a host family and play for a club in Detroit as a sophomore and then the United States National Team Development Program as a junior and senior.

Initially worried about leaving home, Cerrato learned how to cook and clean, purchased his own gym membership, and bought a bike for travel.

“I think it was the best decision that me and my parents could’ve made because at 15, I grew up, and I learned how to live on my own,” he said. “I think it benefited me a ton because at 18 or 19 years old, most kids are moving away to college and they get homesick. But at 15, that was already done.”

For two years, Cerrato was committed to Michigan. But a coaching change there forced him to re-evaluate his options, and he chose Penn State.

In his first year with the Nittany Lions, Cerrato had 12 points by Christmas. After the holiday, he racked up 30 more points, ranked second nationally among freshmen in both assists (27) and points, won 57.2% of his faceoffs, and contributed to the team’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Frozen Four.

“He exceeded our expectations,” Gadowsky said. “He’s a quick learner, a quick study. I think he really took to heart a few of the suggestions that we had which were going to help him with his transition to college hockey, and I think he did a really good job with little things like playing without the puck and shift management.”

As winter turned to spring, Cerrato talked to 27 of the NHL’s 32 teams, including several occasions with 10 of those clubs. But he interviewed with Carolina only once, which added to his shock when the Hurricanes drafted him on June 28.

“It is so unpredictable how the NHL draft goes, and it was definitely a surprise, a great surprise,” he said. “I’m grateful to be drafted by them, but I don’t know if I was expecting that.”

For Vinny Cerrato who spent many years delivering the good news to players selected by the 49ers and Washington, sitting on the other side of the draft process was a bit unsettling.



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Blues prospect Justin Carbonneau chooses QMJHL return over college hockey

Blues first-round pick Justin Carbonneau will play junior hockey again in Quebec with Blainville-Boisbriand, the team announced on Friday afternoon. Carbonneau was weighing whether to return to the QMJHL or transfer to Boston College to play hockey collegiately. The 18-year-old winger will return to Blainville-Boisbriand after ranking second in the league in both goals and […]

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Blues first-round pick Justin Carbonneau will play junior hockey again in Quebec with Blainville-Boisbriand, the team announced on Friday afternoon.

Carbonneau was weighing whether to return to the QMJHL or transfer to Boston College to play hockey collegiately. The 18-year-old winger will return to Blainville-Boisbriand after ranking second in the league in both goals and points in 2024-25.

The Blues drafted Carbonneau with the 19th pick in this summer’s draft, adding the power forward to their stable of wingers in the pipeline. Carbonneau impressed Blues management with a strong development camp, and, with his decision to play junior hockey, will get more chances to do so in the near future.

Carbonneau will likely be part of the Blues roster for their annual prospect showcase against Chicago and Minnesota in mid-September, he’ll follow that with training camp participation and then NHL exhibition games.

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Carbonneau is also a candidate to sign his entry-level contract, as signing an ELC as a collegiate player would have ended his NCAA career. If Carbonneau shows enough in camp to make the NHL roster, he can play up to nine NHL games before using a year of his contract. 

None of those opportunities would have been afforded to him had he gone to college.

College hockey likely would have been a greater draw if Carbonneau wasn’t already listed at 6-1 and 205 pounds.

“College hockey is beneficial in some ways because of the training,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said at development camp. “You get to get bigger, stronger, more days in the gym, less games. He’s a big man, though, now. Junior hockey, to me, has a lot of benefits, too. If you’re on a good team, you get seven-game playoff series. In college, it’s one and done.”


First-round pick Justin Carbonneau impresses Blues brass during first development camp

The Blues’ 2025 first-round pick made an impactful first impression, dropping highlight-reel goals and displaying a physical side to his game despite the laid-back setting.


‘I’m not really scared of anyone’: Blues first-rounder Justin Carbonneau brings fearless mindset

The Blues drafted Justin Carbonneau in the first round on Friday night, picking the right-handed winger with the 19th selection of the evening.


Development camp is first chance to see Blues first-rounder Justin Carbonneau on the ice

The camp will be four days of on-ice work, beginning each day at noon and concluding with a three-on-three scrimmage session. It is free and open to the public.



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‘We’re all Penn State’ | Commonwealth campus closures erase years of athletics history | Penn State Sports News

Over the past several months, rumors have circulated about potential closures of several Penn State Commonwealth campuses. Those rumors were confirmed on May 22, as the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of the spring 2027 semester. Along with those seven schools across the Commonwealth, 58 sports […]

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Over the past several months, rumors have circulated about potential closures of several Penn State Commonwealth campuses.

Those rumors were confirmed on May 22, as the Penn State Board of Trustees voted to close seven Commonwealth campuses at the end of the spring 2027 semester.

Along with those seven schools across the Commonwealth, 58 sports teams will be discontinued following the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

“It’s almost like our legacy is going to die,” LeShawn Hammett, the Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball coach, said. “As the campuses close, we’ll have the memories, the banners will always hang in the rafters and the trophies will always be in the trophy case, but the Penn State program won’t live on.”

Some teams have experienced great success in the last few years, between national championships, athletes going on to play professionally and much more. Others have less to celebrate.

Regardless, the decision to close the seven campuses ended the athletic careers of some, caused many to transfer and closed the books on several historic chapters.

A team no more

Hammett came to Penn State Wilkes-Barre in 2016 to build an everlasting legacy.

“I dreamed of building my own Duke, my own Kansas, my own North Carolina,” Hammett said. “Where the tradition was rich, the players come back and they support the program. That is why we’re one of a kind, and we had that special product that we created.”

When he arrived at Wilkes-Barre, the Nittany Lions were a mediocre team with a record of 63-66 all-time. Over the last nine years, however, he’s brought the team to new heights with a record of 201-77 under Hammett and three national championships — the only school in the PSUAC with a national championship.

While Wilkes-Barre experienced success as a team, Hammett helped several players reach individual laurels as well. Fourteen players graduated from Hammett’s program and embarked on professional careers.







Penn State Wilkes-Barre, men's basketball trophies

Three trophies won by the Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball team under LaShawn Hammett’s tenure as head coach sit on the floor in the Penn State Wilkes-Barre gymnasium.




“I think the tradition and culture that I had at Penn State (allowed this to happen),” Hammett said. “We made professional athletes out of guys who probably would’ve never thought to be professional athletes.”

However, Hammett’s tenure as a coach at Wilkes-Barre was soon coming to an end.

When the university announced its plans to close Commonwealth campuses in February, Hammett figured he wouldn’t have his job at Wilkes-Barre much longer. Hammett left Penn State and accepted a coaching job at Paul Quinn College, giving the Penn State job to his assistant Mike Riddle.

“My first thought was trying to figure out how to resolve this,” Riddle said. “No one ever contacted Coach or I to ask how we felt, what we could do, for any insight.”

As Riddle began taking over for the team, talking to his players and understanding the effects of the campus closure, he realized Penn State wasn’t allowing him to recruit for the final season.

With a roster of five incoming seniors, two juniors and one sophomore, Riddle knew he’d be looking at a very small and maybe not even full team in 2026.

“I made a decision early to resign from that position to give those five seniors a chance to go look for somewhere else,” Riddle said. “I helped them with (transferring) and I helped the five who committed to get somewhere else.”

While Riddle ultimately gave his returning players a chance to finish their eligibility playing basketball elsewhere, the decision stunned many athletes who were leaving a career behind at Wilkes-Barre.

“It kind of was a curveball,” Dashon Lewis, a junior on the men’s basketball team, said. “(It) threw me off guard because I was planning on coming back.

Penn State’s decision to close Wilkes-Barre didn’t just close a university of around 350 students, but ended a legacy in the Penn State Wilkes-Barre men’s basketball program.

“I won a national championship with my father (coaching) in 2019 and got to win a championship with my son in 2024,” Hammett said. “It’s very heartbreaking to see it all fold now because it was the house that LeShawn Hammett built, and now it’s no one’s house.”

More than just family

Sisters Miakoda and Aiyana Young committed to Penn State Mont Alto to play their final years of softball together.

“Going to college with my sister is like such a big deal to me,” Miakoda said. “She’s my best friend, my role model, and us going to different colleges never felt right to me.”

After hearing of Mont Alto’s closure while at the USCAA Small College World Series tournament, Miakoda had a decision to make — take additional classes and graduate a year early with her sister or transfer away from Mont Alto and finish her softball career without her.







Penn State Mont Alto, softball bats

Aiyana Young stands at bat at the Penn State Mont Alto softball field on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 in Mont Alto, Pa.




“I will probably just continue to take summer courses to graduate early with my sister and just finish at Penn State Mont Alto,” Miakoda said. “It’s still upsetting though to know that I still had another year to play.”

However, the emotions started way before the USCAA tournament and the official announcement of Mont Alto’s closure. When the university sent a mass email regarding potential campus closures, the sisters had a feeling Mont Alto might be on the list.

“It blew my mind hearing the news right before we left for our opening tournament during spring break,” Aiyana said. “ It was truly gut wrenching for the president to release this information and throw us into a confused state of mind throughout the entirety of our season.”

For both of the sisters, playing at Mont Alto has been a dream come true between the campus, the athletics and the experience. Aiyana said playing for Mont Alto has “truly been a blessing” and has fallen in love with the atmosphere of the athletic program.

While the Young sisters were impacted by the school’s closure, several other athletes on the team have also faced struggles as a result of the campus closing.

Freshman Kassidy Nester committed to Mont Alto from Whitehall, Pennsylvania, a town over two hours away from campus.

Nester chose the Commonwealth campus over some of her other top schools, including James Madison. Like Miakoda, Nester will now graduate a year early and miss out on a year of softball because of the closure.

“I want to graduate where I started,” Nester said. “I want to play where I started.”

For the three athletes, Mont Alto’s campus has given them a softball experience in a more relaxing setting than Division I while still being competitive.

“We’re all very much a family and know what we’re fighting for,” Nester said. “It’s great fighting against these other (Commonwealth) campuses because we’re all Penn State.”

While Miakoda and Aiyana are actually sisters, the rest of the team has provided a similar feeling to Aiyana as she hopes to cherish that bond for the last two years.

“They’ve all been sisters to me on and off the field since I stepped foot onto this campus,” Aiyana said. “We’re gonna continue to make the best of these last two seasons together, and we’re gonna continue to work hard and work for one last championship in the PSUAC together.”

From the beginning to the end

Pat Lewis was working as a guidance counselor at Cameron County High School when he was asked to be the first head coach for Penn State Dubois women’s basketball in 2007.

When Lewis agreed to the position, he did so with the guarantee he could recruit locally. Since his arrival to Dubois, he has recruited only District 9 and 10 athletes — regions that are often too small to get much scouting — including his most recent recruit from Austin Area School District, the smallest district in Pennsylvania.

For many of the athletes on Lewis’ team, Dubois was the one school where they could continue their basketball career. According to Lewis, eight of the ten athletes were only recruited by him.

“As far as impacting kids from this area, we’re very rural,” Lewis said. “(The closure) has negative connotations for the rural students of north central Pennsylvania.”

While on his 110-mile round trip to campus for practice, Lewis never considered Dubois as one of the possible campuses to close due to its increase in enrollment and recent $17.3 million project to the gymnasium.

“I guess I might have been a bit naive, but I thought Dubois would be safe,” Lewis said. “I thought we had some unique things going on where we might have had a chance to remain open.”

Even Lewis’ athletes couldn’t believe the campus was closing after the success of the university and its athletics programs over the years.

“(We were saying) we did really good and we put our name on the map,” Hailey Theuret said. “It’s not like we were terrible and nobody knew who we were. We were the one team this year that people were like, ‘Look out for.’”







Penn State Dubois, women's basketball Theuret

Guard Hailey Theuret (4) dribbles the ball during a Penn State Dubois women’s basketball game.




Basketball is the primary reason many of the athletes went to Dubois or even college at all.

“There’s a high possibility that I never would have continued my education into college if it wasn’t for that opportunity to play basketball,” Frances Milliron said.

For others, that situation is reversed, with Lewis giving many athletes an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have.

“When I was in high school, I never thought that I would get the chance to play college basketball,” Theuret said. “It’s pretty disheartening, especially for the coaches who’ve built up this tiny program into something that has history.”

Over the 18 years Lewis has coached the team, he’s secured 10 PSUAC playoff appearances and helped the team to a No. 4 USCAA National Coach’s Poll ranking.

However, Lewis’ coaching abilities or success isn’t what stands out most to his athletes. It’s his love and passion for the game and for his team.

“He has so much passion for a program,” Milliron said. “He treats us like his daughters.”

While the campus closure is causing many athletes at Dubois to transfer to new schools or graduate early, its effect on Lewis is much more profound.

“I’ll be 71 or 72 when it’s all done, so it might be time for me to say I’m not going to be coaching anymore,” Lewis said. “Not by choice, but by necessity.”

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Rodriguez Gives Seal Of Approval To Revenue Sharing Rules, But New CFP Format Gets The Cold Shoulder | News, Sports, Jobs

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez waves before speaking during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero) FRISCO, Texas — West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez hasn’t spoken in front of the media in three months, and the rapid space of college athletics has seen massive […]

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West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez waves before speaking during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

FRISCO, Texas — West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez hasn’t spoken in front of the media in three months, and the rapid space of college athletics has seen massive changes in the time away from the podium.

At the start of June, revenue sharing was announced, and more guardrails were applied, with a new College Sports Commissioner picked, in charge of regulating NIL.

With over a decade of experience, Rodriguez’s witnessed the change of college athletics over the years and was vocal about how there needed to be a change. Now, there have been changes made, and Rodriguez gave his opinion at Big 12 Media Days.

“A lot better guardrails than a month ago,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, it was a cluster for the last three or four years. All coaches are complaining about it, but it was just a mess, and nobody knew how to really solve it right away. And I still think we got it a lot better now with the cap and the rev share. But there’s still a lot of work to do.”

The new ruling isn’t perfect, like Rodriguez said. Paying players directly is a step forward. The College Sports Commission could be too, but there’s no telling how much jurisdiction it’ll have over passing and denying NIL deals without lawsuits. Rodriguez still doesn’t have his one transfer portal window, either, arguably his biggest issue.

There’s still work to do. Rodriguez wants athletic directors and Congress to lead the charge on shaping the future of collegiate athletics.

“Hopefully, smarter minds than myself will get that together,” Rodriguez said. “I said this earlier today, I think they need to get the college athletic directors more input and more say in how college athletics is going to be run because these are the guys and the ladies that know what’s best for the schools and what’s best for the for the country in college athletics.”

West Virginia’s representative is athletic director Wren Baker. Baker and WVU athletics moved quickly on the new ruling, creating a revenue-sharing company, Gold & Blue Enterprise, to generate money. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yomark said WVU was the first school to integrate Venmo and PayPal to distribute revenue-sharing money. Baker is fully committed and determined that WVU athletics has everything necessary to compete at the highest level.

Rodriguez appreciates the work Baker’s done, and is glad he’s the AD of WVU.

“I’ve worked for a lot of really good ADs,” Rodriguez said. “One or two, I wasn’t sure about, but most of the ones I’ve worked with have been great. Wren has as good a grasp as anyone. I’m very fortunate. We’re in good shape with Wren Baker.”

The new court ruling isn’t the only news that’s emerged since Rodriguez’s last press conference after the Gold-Blue Game. There’ve been talks about moving to a 5-plus-11 and 16-team College Football Playoff model in the future, meaning the Power Four conference champions get a bid, the highest rated conference champion, and then 11 at-large bids. Some SEC coaches wanted a 4-4-2-2 system, where the SEC and Big Ten would get four bids each, and the Big 12 and ACC would get two each. The consensus, though, is the 5-plus-11.

Rodriguez cares a lot less about the College Football Playoff than NIL, revenue sharing, and the transfer portal.

“I don’t give a sh*t,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, my give a sh*t meter is a lot less than a lot of stuff. If you win the league, you’re going to be in. Just win the league, like 5-11, all that stuff, whatever. I’m worried about just winning. Let’s win the league. I ain’t worried about, well, this team’s going to vote here, what’s this team going to vote there? If you’re good enough to people will know you’re in the top 12, whatever, it’s good. We win all of our games. I guarantee we’re in the playoffs.”

Rodriguez still has his issues with college athletics, but he’s not alone. There are a lot of coaches in just the Big 12 that have problems. Rodriguez made it clear where he stands and what he wants: more guardrails and one transfer portal. Those changes are looking like they’re coming in the future.

Despite his issues, Rodriguez still loves his main job, coaching WVU to win football games.

“I think we’re in a better place now than we were a month ago,” Rodriguez. “There’s still some work to be done. We could complain as coaches, but hell, it’s still a pretty good gig. You know what I mean? These are good jobs. There are a lot tougher jobs than being a college football coach. So like I said, I’m fortunate and blessed to have what I have.”



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