UNIVERSITY PARK – Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics concluded the 2024-25 season with a 16th place finish in the Learfield Directors’ Cup Division I standings, announced on Thursday.

The 2024-25 year was highlighted by wrestling’s 12th national title in the past 14 tournaments and women’s volleyball’s eighth national championship. In the Fall, football reached the College Football Playoff semifinals and finished No. 5 in the AP poll. The Winter season included men’s hockey’s first appearance in the Frozen Four. The Spring season was highlighted by men’s lacrosse’s appearance in the NCAA semifinals.

The Nittany Lions tallied 335 points in the Fall, led by women’s volleyball’s 100 points and football’s 75 points. Women’s soccer collected 73 points after advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. Women’s cross country notched 60 points, while men’s cross country picked up 27 points.

Penn State collected 415 points in the Winter championship season, paced by wrestling’s 100 points and men’s hockey’s 83 points. Men’s gymnastics finished fifth at the 2025 NC Men’s Gymnastics Championships to earn 73. Fencing placed seventh at the 2025 National Championships, notching 72 points. Women’s gymnastics hosted an NCAA regional and contributed 45.5 points. Women’s hockey won its third-straight AHA title and earned 25 points. Men’s indoor track & field contributed 16.5 points.

The Blue and White picked up 143 points in the Spring championship season, led by men’s lacrosse’s 83 points. Men’s volleyball earned 60 points by advancing to the national quarterfinals.

Penn State (893 points) placed fifth among Big Ten schools behind USC (1,253.75; 2nd), UCLA (1,149; 5th), Ohio State (1,032.25; 8th) and Michigan (928.5; 13th). Oregon (879.75; 18th) and Nebraska (849.75; 21st) are also ranked among the Top 25. Texas led the country with 1,255.25 points, followed by USC, Stanford (1,251), North Carolina (1,195.25) and UCLA.

Led by Cael Sanderson, Penn State wrestling topped its record-setting performance from 2024, won a fourth-straight NCAA Championship and its 12th in the last 14 tournaments. Mitchell Mesenbrink and Carter Starocci were crowned National Champions and Starocci became the NCAA’s first ever five-time Division I champion. PSU became the second team in NCAA history to have 10 All-Americans in the same tournament (joining Minnesota in 2001). PSU ran away with the team title, posting a record 177 points.

Led by Katie Schumacher-Cawley, the first female head coach to win a Division I women’s volleyball championship, Penn State women’s volleyball knocked off Louisville, 3-1, in the national championship match. The Nittany Lions closed the season at 35-2, claiming Big Ten and national titles. The run to the national title included wins over Delaware State, North Carolina, Marquette, Creighton and Nebraska. Jess Mruzik was named Most Outstanding Player after tallying 29 kills, 14 digs, five blocks and one ace in the title match.

Penn State football, led by James Franklin, won a program-record 13 games while advancing to the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. The Nittany Lions earned a 38-10 win over 11th-seed SMU in the CFP First Round and followed with a 31-14 victory over 3rd-seed Boise State in the CFP Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The Nittany Lions finished No. 5 in the AP poll. Junior defensive end Abdul Carter became Penn State’s 15th Unanimous Consensus All-American, while senior tight end Tyler Warren was named a first-team All-American by two NCAA-recognized outlets.

Penn State men’s hockey, led by Guy Gadowsky, advanced to the program’s first ever Frozen Four after hosting and advancing out of the Allentown Regional with wins over top-seed Maine (5-1) and UConn (3-2). PSU was ranked No. 5 in the final USCHO.com poll, its highest finish in program history. Sophomore Aiden Fink became Penn State’s first Hobey Baker Top-10 finalist and its third All-American after setting program season records for points (53) and assists (30) and tying the season record for goals (23).

Led by head coach Jeff Tambroni, Penn State men’s lacrosse reached the NCAA semifinals for the third time in program history and the second time in the last three years. The Nittany Lions knocked off No. 15 seed Colgate (13-11) and No. 10 seed Notre Dame (14-12) to reach the semifinals, where they met top-seed Cornell. The win over Notre Dame featured an 8-0 run over the last two quarters to rally from a six-goal deficit. Senior Matt Traynor, freshman Hunter Aquino and junior Alex Ross collected USILA All-America honors.

In the Spring, head coach Mark Pavlik led Penn State men’s volleyball to its 37th EIVA Tournament title to punch its ticket into the National Collegiate Championships. The Nittany Lions took down Daemen in the opening round to earn a quarterfinals match against No. 2 Hawaii. Redshirt junior Ryan Merk was named an AVCA honorable mention All-American.

Under the leadership of Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Dr. Patrick Kraft, Penn State has one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful athletic programs, featuring 800 student-athletes across 31 varsity programs (16 men’s, 15 women’s). The Nittany Lions’ 31 programs are tied for the fourth-highest number of sports sponsored by a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) institution.

Penn State student-athletes have led the athletic department to 48 Big Ten championships and 16 NCAA National Championships since 2012. The Nittany Lions have finished in the top 15 of the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup 20 times in the last 31 years (the Directors’ Cup was not awarded in 2019-20).

The Flyers made some social media news on the eve of the NHL Draft by getting chatty with a couple of the top forward prospects late in the interview process.

OK, maybe it’s not so much newsworthy as encouraging to Flyers fans who know youthful skill that may soon project to the NHL ranks is something this organization still desperately needs.

Boston College’s James Hagens and forward Porter Martone from Brampton of the OHL are two teens who have had meetings with Flyers officials shortly before the bulk of top prospects landed in Los Angeles ahead of Friday night’s first round of the draft.

Of course, other teams have had late prospect chats, too. It just seems a touch more important for a Flyers team trying to build from the center position on out.

“It’s pretty well talked about early in the draft in the top 10, there are a number of centerman, which isn’t always the case,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said recently. “There are a few defensemen, a couple high-end wingers. There’s obviously a lot of different options there. We are well aware of our own needs, but at the same time, there’s some players, especially at number six, where we’re going to go with the best player on our board.”

For luck’s sake, then, focus on Martone, 18, who clocks in nicely at 6-foot-3, 207 pounds. He represents something in the Flyers’ latest iteration of a rebuild that’s somewhat rare – a guy with skill and size.

Budding star Matvei Michkov? Last year’s top pick Jett Luchanko? New acquisition Trevor Zegras? All central standouts on the cusp; exciting and capable players developing their games. And all need to be standing in skates to get past the six-foot mark.

Hagens is thought to have the potential to become a very effective scoring center. He had 11 goals and averaged a point per game in 37 games for the Eagles last season in the stingy ranks of Hockey East. But at an alleged 5-11, he’s another guy that trends smaller in stature.

“It’s something to consider,” Flyers GM Danny Briere said of the perceived need for size in his current central ranks. “Just like the skating, the hockey sense, (and) competitive edge, it’s part of it. It probably doesn’t play into it as much as how competitive (a prospect) is and the hockey sense. I think those things are probably more important.”

As for Martone, he’s big and competitive, but he doesn’t project to the middle. Rather, he’s a power forward. That would be fine, as the Flyers need as many of them in the feeder system as they can get, too.

Despite his age, Martone has been listed as a prospect who could be NHL ready in a short time. That makes him an attractive get to teams in need of offensive help. But the problem for the Flyers might be one of place … as in, they dropped two spots in the NHL draft lottery and are choosing sixth.

The draft’s top two prospects, defenseman Matthew Shaefer and forward Michael Misa, likely will follow form and go to either the No. 1 New York Islanders or second-selector San Jose. Beyond those two, the Flyers stand to wait for No. 3 Chicago, No. 4 Utah and No. 5 Nashville before getting a shot. So don’t be surprised if Briere makes a real effort to trade up for one of those aforementioned top talents, or even hold his spot and fish for other intriguing prospects.

Believed by many to be ranked just behind that top four are Swedish center Anton Frondell, a solidly built six-foot center who has the flexibility to score off the wing, Roger McQueen, a 6-5 center from Brandon of the WHL, center prospect Jake O’Brien of Brantford and Caleb Desnoyers, a center prospect who happens to be the brother of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ Elliott Desnoyers.

No matter what happens, the Flyers stand to get a very good offensive prospect by picking from that group. And if it requires a packaging of another pick or two for Briere to move up, so be it … beyond that sixth overall selection, the Flyers have two more first-round picks, three in the second round and more to burn.

“Traditionally, if you just have one pick in the second round, you’re getting really focused in on just a small group of players that you think are going to be there,” Flahr said. “This year for our group, because of what we have, we’ve spent a lot of time on a lot of different ranges. … We will gauge it, and if there’s players still available that we have in a higher layer, we’ll move up. If not, and we think we can get value and move back a couple of spots and still get the same caliber player, we’ll try to do that.”

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When the final horn sounded and the celebration began, CJ Hapward, MBA ’25, stood proudly on the ice at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton, New York. His professional minor league ice hockey team, the Binghamton Black Bears, had just won the 2025 Commissioner’s Cup Championship, and he was scanning the crowd of 5,000 screaming fans, looking for his parents.

“It was a night with a lot of emotions, and I was just standing there feeling lucky to be sharing it with my family,” says Hapward, a first-year back-up goalie for the Binghamton squad, which defeated the Carolina (NC) Thunderbirds, 5-2, in the Federal Prospects Hockey League title game in early May. “I’ve been playing hockey all my life and they have always been there to support me.”

Hapward is not the only Suffolk student-athlete has taken his playing career to the next level. Evan Cook, MBA ’25, a star point guard for the Rams men’s basketball team, crossed an ocean to find his new professional home, playing for the Dublin Lions of the Irish National Basketball League.

While competing at the pro level comes with adjustments, both say their time at Suffolk, where each earned an MBA degree, made the transition relatively smooth.

‘A real game-changer’

Hapward—who joined the Suffolk men’s ice hockey team in January 2024 after graduating early from Colby College—helped lead the squad to its most successful season (13-11-3) in ten years during the 2024-25 campaign. He started all 27 games between the pipes and posted a 1.99 goals against average and a .931 save percentage, good for 15th and 16th, respectively, in the NCAA Division III this past season. He was also named an All-Conference of New England second-team selection.

“CJ was one of the best goalies in college hockey, and a real game-changer for us,” says Suffolk Head Coach Shawn McEachern. “He was aggressive, competitive, and very professional. He’s a great person who has a bright future.”

Hapward’s impressive stats caught the attention of Binghamton coaches, who reached out to McEachern in February to recruit Hapward. As soon as his college hockey season ended, Hapward’s pro season began—with no pause in play. For the next two months, he lived a double life, driving back and forth from New York to Boston to train and compete with the Black Bears while finishing up his classes.

The move to Binghamton meant playing in bigger arenas before bigger crowds, alongside a team of experienced, talented hockey players who had already clinched their league title the previous season. “While it was an adjustment,” Hapward says, “my teammates are a great group of guys who made the transition super easy for me.”

Hapward started four games for the Black Bears and won them all. His best performance was a 4-1 road victory against the Athens (GA) Rock Lobsters, when he made 37 saves on 38 shots. In his first start at home, he made 22 saves in a 4-3 win over the Danbury (CT) Hat Tricks.

“The team gave me the game puck for my first win,” he says.

Jake Silverman joined Brown’s executive leadership in April 2021 as the Deputy Director of Athletics. In the summer of 2024, Silverman was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Athletics and Recreation, Intercollegiate Programs. Silverman oversees all intercollegiate and performance programs and serves on the University’s Executive Committee and the Ivy League’s Senior Leadership group.

Silverman leads the internal operation, which is focused on intercollegiate athletics and all elements of the student-athlete experience, including wellness and performance, student-athlete development, and recruiting and retention. He will also continue to lead the sport supervisors group to ensure consistent management and best practices for effective oversight of varsity programs. He serves as sport supervisor for football, men’s basketball, women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, and women’s ice hockey. 

Silverman arrived on College Hill in 2021 as the Deputy Director of Athletics for Administration. He reshaped relationships with Admissions and Financial Aid. He developed the Recruiting and Retention unit, delivering internal content and strategic messaging resources to aid all varsity programs in recruiting efforts. He partnered with university leadership to expand recreational access for all students, providing new intramural and group fitness opportunities at no additional cost. This led to Brown Recreation’s 92 percent engagement rate of undergraduate students in the Spring 2024 semester. 

In 2023, Silverman was named Deputy Director of Athletics for Intercollegiate Programs and Performance, providing leadership for the sport supervisor team, along with the student-athlete development and wellness and performance units. 

Over the past three years, Silverman led several successful head coaching searches and was the point person in launching program differentiator initiatives focused on enhancing coach development and the student-athlete experience. 

Silverman joins Brown from the University of Pennsylvania, where he served for 14 years, most recently as the associate athletics director for operations. He began his career at Penn by serving eight seasons with the football program as director of operations and assistant athletics director for operations before becoming the assistant athletics director for admissions and financial aid.

 

During his time at Penn, Silverman served as the sport administrator for 13 different programs — including football, golf, squash, and tennis — and held the position of athletics liaison for Penn’s dining and residential services. Additionally, he provided oversight to Penn’s 35 active club sports and membership racquet centers and was responsible for managing external partnerships and overseeing more than 200 events annually, including athletic camps and clinics.

 

Silverman graduated from Syracuse University in 2008, serving as a student assistant coach for the defensive line and completing an internship in football operations. Previously, he interned for the Philadelphia Eagles training camp and Comcast SportsNet.

 

He received a master’s degree from Penn in 2012 in organizational dynamics, earning additional certifications in organizational leadership and organizational development and change.

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When Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights were granted to college athletes in July 2021, it wasn’t a regulatory tweak—it was a seismic shift. In one swift policy change, the NCAA’s long-held amateurism model began to unravel. What started as a reluctant concession to legal pressure has rapidly evolved into an intricate, billion-dollar industry where college football players are able to profit off their brand.

Now, less than a decade later, the sport stands on the edge of full-blown professionalization. With direct school payments on the horizon, a wide-open transfer market acting as de facto free agency, and NIL collectives operating like front-office agents, the old “student-athlete” model is fast becoming obsolete. What’s emerging is a sport that looks, sounds, and operates more like the NFL every season.

How It Started: The Fault Lines of Amateurism

For over a century, college football operated under the illusion of amateur purity—an ideal forged in the early 1900s to keep athletes unpaid and universities in control. Athletes could earn scholarships, but monetizing their fame was off-limits. Yet anyone remotely familiar with the sport knew the under-the-table deals, car keys, and “uncles” paying rent were baked into the culture.

Still, the rules held firm until the courts stepped in.

Two landmark antitrust cases—O’Bannon v. NCAA (2014) and NCAA v. Alston (2021)—took a wrecking ball to the foundation. O’Bannon cracked the door by challenging the NCAA’s use of athlete likeness in video games. Alston kicked it wide open. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that NCAA restrictions on compensation violated federal antitrust law. The message was clear: amateurism is not above the law.

That ruling forced the NCAA’s hand, leading to the rapid introduction of NIL rights just days later.

From Reaction to Revolution: The Rise of NIL

The NCAA’s July 2021 “interim” NIL policy was pitched as a bridge to something more permanent. It allowed third-party endorsements—think autograph signings, social media deals, and local commercials—but prohibited direct school payments.

Predictably, it didn’t take long for loopholes to become superhighways.

Two NIL markets emerged almost instantly:

• “True NIL” deals based on commercial value and marketability.
• “Collective NIL,” where boosters pooled money to essentially “hire” players via roster-based incentives.

The NCAA tried to distinguish the two, but without real enforcement, performance-based compensation flourished. Between 2021 and 2024, the NIL environment morphed into a free-market feeding frenzy. The line between athlete and employee blurred. And then, the courts stepped in again.

House v. NCAA: The Death Certificate for Amateurism

The House v. NCAA settlement, announced in May 2024 and awaiting final approval in April 2025, is the final nail in amateurism’s coffin. Under the terms, schools can begin direct revenue sharing with players—starting with a cap of $20.5 million per institution in 2025-26, increasing to $32.9 million by 2034-35.

It also includes a $2.8 billion settlement fund to address past NIL claims.

What does this mean? For the first time, athlete compensation will be tied directly to the revenues they help generate. This is not NIL adjacent. It’s not a booster-driven workaround. It’s payroll. It’s professionalization.

Financial Fallout: New Economics for a New Era

College football’s money machine is no longer just about broadcast rights and ticket sales. Now, a significant chunk of that money flows straight to players.

Booming NIL Market

The market has exploded in just a few short years:

• From $917 million in 2021-22
• To $1.67 billion in 2024-25
• And projected to surpass $2 billion with direct payments in 2025-26

According to Opendorse, 64% of NIL dollars will come from brand endorsements, with roughly $730 million expected from commercial deals. But the social media ecosystem is booming too: the average football player NIL deal jumped from $1,297 in 2023 to $3,843 in 2024.

Player Earnings Soar

Top-tier players are cashing in. The average top-25 Division I quarterback is expected to make more than $1.3 million per year, factoring in scholarships, NIL deals, booster collective payouts, and revenue sharing.

What was once taboo—paying players—is now table stakes.

Looking Ahead: A Professional Model in All But Name

What comes next?

• Player unions are no longer hypothetical—they’re seemingly inevitable.
• Roster instability will persist as the transfer portal remains wide open, making roster management a year-round battle.
• Smaller programs will be squeezed out, unable to compete financially.
• Coaches will have to balance recruiting with retention, as NIL packages become negotiation leverage.

The entire infrastructure of college football is shifting from the bottom up. The old model—one rooted in discounted labor which was limited to tuition, room and board (and, maybe, a loaded handshake or two)—has collapsed. What’s replacing it is not just a more equitable system, but a new era where college athletes are finally treated like professionals.

And if you squint at the 2025 season, with quarterbacks making seven figures, schools cutting revenue checks, and collectives brokering free-agent deals—well, you’re not looking at college football’s future.

You’re looking at its present.

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