NIL

New tools help college coaches and GMs determine which players to acquire, which to keep …

I’m asking Brian Spilbeler and Drew Borland a question that Boise State coaches, administrators and donors probably asked multiple times last offseason. How much will it cost to keep Ashton Jeanty? But I want to tweak the question. What if Boise State had been in exactly the same situation — with the star back coming […]

Published

2 weeks ago

May 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

New tools help college coaches and GMs determine which players to acquire, which to keep ...

I’m asking Brian Spilbeler and Drew Borland a question that Boise State coaches, administrators and donors probably asked multiple times last offseason. How much will it cost to keep Ashton Jeanty?

But I want to tweak the question. What if Boise State had been in exactly the same situation — with the star back coming off an excellent sophomore season and expecting a transcendent junior season — but with the boosted dollar amounts for player pay that have come this offseason as schools prepare to start paying players directly based on the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement?

Borland taps his mouse a few times, and the living spreadsheet on my computer screen changes. I’m still looking at Boise State’s roster going into the 2024 season — and the evaluation of Jeanty is the one teams would have had going into last season — but Borland has adjusted the amount of money in the team budget to $20 million to simulate what a competitor trying to take away Jeanty might offer.

The total: $722,670.

Knowing what we know now — that Jeanty was the most dominant back in America as a junior — that number is still a bargain, even if it’s probably more than what Boise State had to pay to actually keep Jeanty last year. And it’s the kind of data crunching happening in every major college football program across the country as coaches and personnel officials try to manage their rosters going forward.

Spilbeler and Borland are showing me the product their companies have combined to create to help them manage all this data. Spilbeler works for Tracking Football, which began as a firm that matched documented track data with football recruiting data to help coaches find reliable information to judge players’ athleticism. Tracking Football has evolved into a much larger storehouse of data that builds platforms allow college personnel staffers to compare all manner of performance and evaluation data. Meanwhile, Borland works for SportSource Analytics, which provides data and analytics services to schools and professional teams in various sports.

The general manager tool they’re demonstrating has rolled out this spring, and it’s an evolution of the product the companies teamed up to create earlier this decade when the loosening of transfer rules created an explosion of demand for a way to quickly cut through the volume of data to identify which transfer portal players could be matches for schools.

It’s also not the only product in this space. Teamworks has created a general manager tool as well to help teams manage their payrolls in the revenue-share era. That product helps schools more on the financial side — allowing them to manage deals and even assisting in payroll services. The Tracking Football/SportSource Analytics collaboration is more of an evaluation tool designed to help schools that now need to run their personnel departments like NFL teams do but must be able to evaluate thousands more players on a smaller budget.

The tool uses Tracking Football’s data plus the FBS and FCS data compiled by SportSource. It also ties in data from subscription services all the schools use. Pro Football Focus data is included for schools that subscribe to PFF. Also, On3 and 247Sports recruiting evaluations are included as well as On3 NIL and roster valuations.

It’s a college football nerd’s dream, because it allows coaches and personnel staffers to customize the weighting of different data and factors to help them search for players who might fit in their programs. But now it also incorporates NIL valuation data to help those people answer three key questions:

Who can we afford to get?
Who can we afford to keep?
Who can we afford to lose?

“None of what we do is intended to replace you using intuition, you evaluating tape,” Spilbeler said. “It’s a supplement. It’s providing a framework to provide a starting point and help you defend the spend.”

The process begins with deciding what matters. How do you want to spend your budget? Will it mirror an NFL team? Or will the split be customized to your coaching staff’s preferences? Will you bump up the percentage you give your running back room? And if you do, what position group do you take away from?

If you’re seeking players in the transfer portal, recent production probably should matter more. So you might bump up the weight of the recent PFF score over the career PFF score. If you need help at a position now — which is probably why you’re looking in the portal in the first place — you probably want to boost game experience and experience level and you also probably want to weight more heavily whether someone has been an all-conference performer.

Or maybe you have a deep position group and know you probably can’t afford to keep everyone on the roster. Spilbeler and Borland allowed me to play with Florida’s roster since that’s my alma mater, and one of the situations I wanted to examine was how the Gators’ coaches and collective leaders might have decided which edge rushers to keep.

Florida ended the 2024 season with a really deep room at a position most teams need. That meant it probably wasn’t going to be possible to keep everyone.

Tyreak Sapp led the Gators in sacks with seven. T.J. Searcy, Kamran James and Jack Pyburn looked as if they could be capable SEC starters in 2025. George Gumbs Jr. started his college career as a walk-on receiver at Northern Illinois and had moved to tight end and then defensive end. In his first season at Florida, while still fairly new to the position, he’d finished second on the team in tackles for loss (8) and sacks (5). L.J. McCray, a five-star recruit in the class of 2024, looked the part and made significant progress as a freshman. Justus Boone had logged solid snaps in 2022, missed 2023 because of injury and probably was a victim of the depth in front of him last year.

Most teams would love to have two or three players matching any of those descriptions, which meant some competitive offers were going to be coming for any player considering a transfer.

I asked Spilbeler and Borland to show me the edge rusher group at the end of the 2024 season. Sapp and Searcy were rated the highest, and McCray, James, Pyburn and Boone were clustered closely together. Gumbs ranked lower, dragged down by his initial recruiting rankings. (Walk-on receivers at Northern Illinois don’t come into college with much hype.) But knowing Gumbs’ story — as Florida coaches obviously do — probably allowed them to make an easy upward adjustment.

As I expected, the Gators probably had to make some difficult choices as the collective made offers for the 2025 season. They kept Sapp, McCray, James and Gumbs. Searcy likely will start at Texas A&M. Pyburn likely will start at LSU. Boone transferred to Arkansas.

This type of situation, Spilbeler said, is why it’s important for staffs to know exactly what matters to them and weight the factors accordingly. That way, when a tough decision has to be made, staffs can decide on the best way to spend their budget. It also helps when a player’s agent is using other offers to drive up the price.

“It’s super tempting to be overly concerned with what representatives are telling you other teams are willing to pay for somebody and let that drive your decision making because you want to compete and you want to win,” Spilbeler said. “But if that’s how you’re going to continue to develop your strategy, I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

Conversely, being able to compare all this data — including across multiple teams or portal entries — should allow staffs to narrow down who they might want to add. And Borland points out that if the tool says that linebacker you like should be worth $250,000 and his agent is only asking $200,000, that’s money saved that can be put toward another player.

“There’s your Moneyball right there,” Borland said.

General managers and coaches across the country are trying to find ways to win on those margins. The tools are coming to help them do it.

NIL

Is NiJaree Canady’s $1M deal the best return on investment in sports history?: MoneyCall

Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic’s weekly sports business cheat sheet. (Want to get MoneyCall conveniently delivered to your email every Wednesday morning? Easy sign-up here.) Hot off the presses Wednesday morning: Andrew Marchand on ESPN’s muddled NBA Finals TV commentator situation, including exclusive new reporting on the future of Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson. Name-dropped […]

Published

24 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Welcome back to MoneyCall, The Athletic’s weekly sports business cheat sheet. (Want to get MoneyCall conveniently delivered to your email every Wednesday morning? Easy sign-up here.)

Hot off the presses Wednesday morning: Andrew Marchand on ESPN’s muddled NBA Finals TV commentator situation, including exclusive new reporting on the future of Doris Burke and Richard Jefferson.

Name-dropped elsewhere today: NiJaree Canady, Ryan Reynolds, Sam Presti, Saquon Barkley, Sha’Carri Richardson, Peyton Manning, Austin Ainge, Pablo Torre, Manute Bol and more. Let’s go:

Driving the Conversation

Let’s talk about return on investment

About a year ago, Texas Tech boosters offered (and paid!) $1 million to the best pitcher in college softball, NiJaree Canady, to leave Stanford and come to Lubbock.

The payoff? Canady has thrown every Red Raiders pitch during the program’s first Women’s College World Series appearance — which includes leading them past juggernaut and four-time defending champ Oklahoma on Monday to advance to the WCWS championship. (And, yes, one costly intentional walk gone wrong against Texas tonight.)

In a time with plenty of open spending on college players, that feels like the best $1 million invested in college sports this year, whether your metric is exposure for the school and program, setting a new bar of earning power for women’s college athletes or simply a wealthy booster getting to feel better than if they’d spent on, like, a bathroom reno.

That got me thinking about a couple of other pretty good ROIs in sports over the past few weeks:

The OKC Thunder: Before they play in the 2025 NBA Finals tomorrow night, let’s rewind to 2007. Thunder GM Sam Presti took on $8 million of the Phoenix Suns’ undesired player salary in exchange for two future first-round picks. Here we go …

One of those became Serge Ibaka … who eventually was in a deal that got OKC a draft pick that turned into Domantas Sabonis … who eventually was traded for Paul George … who was eventually the key piece of the trade with the Clippers … that yielded the Thunder its NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, along with a draft pick … that turned into SGA’s All-Star teammate Jalen Williams.

OKC went from being valued at less than $300 million in 2007 to more than $3.6 billion as of 2024, with this season’s trip to the finals assuredly tacking on substantially more. Not a bad ROI for eating $8 million.

Wrexham: Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought the team for $2.5 million in 2021. Three promotions later, it’s now worth more than $100 million and ready to spend bigger — with the chance to earn promotion to the Premier League. (Naturally, the popular TV show “Welcome to Wrexham” will be back for Season 5 to capture the effort.)

For more sports-investment analysis, check out my colleague Asli Pelit’s latest column, on the “multi-club organization” investment strategy accelerating in women’s soccer in the U.S. and globally. A clear-eyed, well-sourced look at the biggest trend in the sport.)

Michael Loccisano / Getty Images

Get Caught Up

Relax about the NBA Finals. Plus, a beloved show’s next chapter

Big talkers from the sports business industry:

“Small-market” NBA Finals — not a big deal! My colleague Mike Vorkunov had the best reporting and insights on this whole “concerning” (or concern-trolling?) sub-plot that two small-market finalists spells doom for the league or ESPN.
- Short version (but read the whole thing): Everyone will be fine. As usual, the longer the series goes, the better; and this is a great way to introduce fans to the aesthetically fascinating ways both the Thunder and Pacers play the game.
The end of NBA on TNT: The pioneering, decades-long relationship between the network and the league is over, but — it’s worth the reminder — “Inside the NBA” moves to ESPN. (Fans can only hope ESPN lets the “Inside” crew cook.)
Caitlin Clark even drives ratings when she’s not playing: Friday night’s Sun-Fever game on ION averaged 851,000 viewers, up nearly 120 percent from a year ago. Again: That’s with CC not playing.
- That could be welcome news for CBS, which is broadcasting the highly anticipated Fever-Sky game this Saturday in prime time, a contest that was poised to break the WNBA’s all-time regular-season TV record but now might “only” do 1-2 million.
Salary transparency in the PWHL: Players in the pro women’s hockey league voted to share their salary info with other players, agents and media, in the hopes of helping players navigate future negotiations with teams.
In memoriam: John Brenkus, who created a sweet spot for fans between sports and science with his award-winning ESPN programming. Gratitude to his family for including in their announcement that Brenkus battled depression and for promoting an overall destigmatization of significant mental health challenges.

Other current obsessions: MLB investing in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League … the Big Ten’s obsession with four auto-bids to the College Football Playoff … annoying ads shown incessantly on TV in Canada during the Stanley Cup … the $20,000 Manute Bol basketball card … Saquon Barkley on the Madden 26 cover doing this (with some help) …

Saquon hit his iconic reverse hurdle for the Madden cover

(via @saquon, @NFL, @EAMaddenNFL, @ari_fararooy) pic.twitter.com/yjfpfsfNvv

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 2, 2025

What I’m Wondering

Could anyone challenge the Premier League?

While we’re on the topic of “return on investment,” earlier this week The Athletic published a thought-provoking dive by my colleague Dan Sheldon into this fascinating question: Why has there never been a challenger to the Premier League like LIV Golf to the PGA Tour or the USFL/XFL/etc. to the NFL?

The answer turns out to be a combination of the Premier League’s “sheer popularity,” the “well-established history of its biggest clubs” and some significant structural barriers, including membership rules and massive broadcast revenues.

Part of it is that the Premier League itself was originally less of a challenger brand than simply a new organizing principle. Former league CEO Richard Scudamore noted:

“Nothing changed, right? It’s not like LIV Golf, the IPL (cricket’s Indian Premier League) or the proposed European Super League. The Premier League didn’t come along and say they were going to compete head-to-head with the existing structure of English football. The smartest thing about it was that it was all change, but nothing changed. It was really just a marketing arrangement. … so it disrupted only in a governance sense — it didn’t disrupt in a footballing sense.”

But could it happen? What would it take?

Charlie Stillitano, football’s “Mr. Fixer,” told Sheldon this about how a Premier League rival might emerge:

“Let’s be honest, there are enough billionaires in the world, and they might say, ‘Let’s scrap this relegation and promotion thing in England.’

“You need to have a country that is really robust. One country that you could do it in is the United States. Players would come here, you can pay them the money and they will have a good life, and it’s the biggest media market and commercial market in the world.

“But we also have sports fans who like football. You could get billionaires here together to do it, but you need the courage to do it.”

The entire story is well worth your time.

Grab Bag

Name to Know: Pablo Torre
The former ESPN talent, occasional “Morning Joe” co-host and full-time podcaster has made headlines in 2025 for his reporting on the Bill Belichick-Jordon Hudson story, along with plenty of more esoteric topics on his eponymous pod. My colleague Zak Keefer has a phenomenal profile of one of sports media’s most unique talents.

Investor of the Week: Sha’Carri Richardson
The Olympic track mega-star was announced as an “adviser-owner” of Athlos, a startup women’s pro track league co-founded by prolific women’s sports investor Alexis Ohanian.

Runner-up: Peyton Manning, who became a part-owner of NWSL Denver.

Data Point: $9.55M
What LAFC earned last weekend from a play-in victory to send the club to the FIFA Club World Cup.

(Open question: How much will qualifying U.S. teams’ players actually see of that bag? Answer: $1M per team, total, and the players are, rightfully, not happy.)

Branding of the Week: Orlando Magic
A- for bringing back the ‘90s-era pinstripes.

introducing a new generation of Magic basketball pic.twitter.com/V8DWuZdpSG

— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) June 3, 2025

Date to Know: June 1
When the calendar flipped last Sunday, Bill Belichick’s buyout to leave UNC football dropped from $10 million to $1 million. To clarify: That’s the number Belichick — who hasn’t yet coached a game — would have to pay to walk away, not what UNC would have to pay to fire him, which comes in around $30 million, a guarantee he gets the first three years of his contract.

Filed under ‘two things can be true’

The just-hired Utah Jazz president of basketball operations Austin Ainge has 16 years of solid experience working in an excellent Celtics front office.
His dad, Danny Ainge, is the CEO of the Utah Jazz, and this qualifies as what reasonable people could call a “nepo-hire.”

Beat Dan in Connections: Sports Edition

Puzzle #254

00:31

Hint: Fun, timely hockey theme! Try the game here!

Worth Your Time

Great business-adjacent reads for your downtime or commute:

Longtime friend of MoneyCall Joe Drape of The New York Times had an incredible feature this past weekend profiling an eighth-grade football star, his NIL opportunities and the moment we are living in when deals are coming for not just high school athletes, but even younger ones. Read it here.

Two more reads worth your time:

More football: Joe Rexrode with a dive into the world of “QB Dads” that has emerged with NIL dynamics (along with an amazing ending that goes in a totally different direction than you think it would, for the better!).
“Is it possible for Canadians to root for a rival?” As the Stanley Cup finals start tonight (perfect Red Light newsletter preview here), my colleague Dan Robson digs into that question: “If there’s ever going to be a moment for Canadian hockey fans to coalesce under a single NHL team banner, maybe we’ve found it.”

Back next Wednesday! Meanwhile, do you know what has a phenomenal ROI? Forwarding MoneyCall to a couple of friends or colleagues, with your personal recommendation to subscribe to receive it every Wednesday morning (totally free, as are all The Athletic’s other newsletters).

(Photo: Nathan J. Fish / The Oklahoman / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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NIL

Ryan Williams recalls reaction to learning he would be on cover of EA Sports College Football 26

One of college football’s breakout stars in 2024, Ryan Williams emerged as one of the faces of the sport. That high profile helped put him alongside fellow star receiver Jeremiah Smith on the standard cover of EA Sports College Football 26. But when the Alabama star found out, he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. […]

Published

39 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

One of college football’s breakout stars in 2024, Ryan Williams emerged as one of the faces of the sport. That high profile helped put him alongside fellow star receiver Jeremiah Smith on the standard cover of EA Sports College Football 26.

But when the Alabama star found out, he wasn’t quite sure what was happening. He received a text with the news, but his iPhone summarizes his texts. That led to some confusion about what exactly it said.

At the time, Williams was with his mom. That means she got to see the confused look on his face when he read the summary.

“I was just at home with my mom,” Williams told Rece Davis on the College GameDay podcast. “We were just spending some time together because that’s, like, my best friend. … I got a text, and my messages, they’re summarized. All my messages get summarized.

“So I got a text that said, ‘Cover 26.’ And I was like, ‘Huh?’ I thought someone was asking me the difference between Cover 2 and Cover 6. … So I tap on the message and I’m reading it, and my mom’s looking at me and she was like, ‘What? What’s wrong?’ I was like, they asked me to be on the cover. She was like, the cover of what? I was like, the cover of College Football 26. And my mom, she’s just a big fan of me. She doesn’t really know what’s going on, but she knows what’s going on because of me. So she was like screaming and super excited.”

For Williams, the chance to be on the cover of the highly anticipated video game proved another opportunity to represent his family, as well as Alabama. Being with his mom when he learned the news made it even sweeter.

“That moment pretty much summarized all my feelings going into it,” Williams said. “Because even though my mom doesn’t know what’s going on, she’s super supportive of me, and the rest of my family, they’re always super supportive.

“Just being able to represent them and my home state and my school, it just means a lot. I’ve just been super excited and blessed to even be able to be a part of this.”

More on Ryan Williams, Jeremiah Smith as cover stars

Ryan Williams and Jeremiah Smith both arrived as Five Star Plus+ recruits in 2024. Smith was the No. 1 overall player out of the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Williams came in as the No. 5 overall prospect and No. 3-ranked wide receiver from the class.

The two players are also some of the biggest names in college football. Smith has a $4.2 million On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks No. 3 in the college football NIL rankings, and Williams’ $2.7 million On3 NIL Valuation sits at No. 13. The duo also come in at No. 3 and No. 15, respectively, in the On3 NIL 100 – the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

EA Sports College Football 26 is the second installment since the franchise returns last year. It releases July 10.

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Will NiJaree Canady’s Million-Dollar Deal Start Trend for Other Non-Rev Sports?

Welcome to BamaCentral’s “Just a Minute,” a daily video series featuring BamaCentral’s Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up or film solo to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports. Watch the above video as BamaCentral’s Katie Windham discusses whether or not […]

Published

43 minutes ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Watch the above video as BamaCentral’s Katie Windham discusses whether or not NiJaree Canady’s $1 million will set a precedent for other non-revenue sports or programs in sports like baseball or softball for boosters and universities to spend high dollar amounts on individiual elite athletes in the hope of winning a national title.

There are still two games left to decide whether or not Texas Tech’s NIL investment of more than $1 million in star pitcher NiJaree Canady will result in a national championship, which would be the program’s first.

Canady started her career at Stanford and spent two seasons there as one of the best pitchers in the country. She tested the portal waters last offseason, and Alabama was one of the school’s she was interested in. Texas Tech was able to land the ace with a well-documented NIL deal of over a million dollars.

In one season, Canady has helped take Texas Tech from a program with no wins in Supers history to a Women’s College World Series championship series appearance. Alabama obviously has a much deeper softball history, but I think she could’ve taken the Crimson Tide to the same spot.

It seems like the investment in Canady has paid off from a success standpoint, but at the end of the day, softball is still a sport that doesn’t make money. Most athletic departments aren’t going to be willing to spend that kind of money on a softball player, but some individual boosters might for their favorite schools or sports.

Canady’s deal was unprecedented for a female athlete in a non-revenue sport like softball, but if it results in a national title for the Lady Raiders, will other schools follow suit?

Would you pay $1 million for one athlete on your favorite non-revenue college team? Let us know in the comments on social media

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Why is Patrick Mahomes at WCWS Game 2 between Texas Tech and Texas?

Why Texas Tech, Texas will win 2025 WCWS It’s a Lone Star State Women’s College World Series this year, and reporter Jenni Carlson breaks down one reason Texas Tech will win and one reason Texas will win the WCWS. Patrick Mahomes is a man of his word. One day after gifting Texas Tech softball with […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Patrick Mahomes is a man of his word.

One day after gifting Texas Tech softball with varsity letter jackets and shoes for making it to the Women’s College World Series for the first time in program history, the former Texas Tech and NFL quarterback is at Game 2 of the WCWS championship series on June 5 at Devon Park in Oklahoma City.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback was shown by ESPN’s cameras in what appeared to be an extension of the press box at Devon Park ahead of the game with his wife, Brittany.

Texas Tech is looking to even the best-of-three series on June 5 after dropping Game 1 on June 4 to Texas by a score of 2-1. Game 2 between the Red Raiders and Longhorns was briefly delayed due to inclement weather in the Oklahoma City area.

Here’s what you need to know on Mahomes:

Why is Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech-Texas WCWS game?

Though Mahomes has shown to be a fan and advocate of women’s sports in the past, as he is a co-owner of the NWSL’s Kansas City Current, he is at the WCWS on June 5 to simply root on his alma mater in one of the biggest games in program history.

Here’s another look at the Mahomes’ at the WCWS on June 5:

Ahead of Game 1 of the WCWS on June 4, Mahomes sent Texas Tech some merch in Oklahoma City. In a video posted by Texas Tech’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, Red Raiders coach Gerry Glasco called the Super Bowl champion quarterback the team’s “No. 1 fan.”

“You got a gift from your No. 1 fan, Patrick Mahomes,” Glasco said in a video clip shared on X. “(His) goal is to try and get here in person before this series is over. But he said to go ahead and give you this tonight, because he wants to be sure you get it.”

This isn’t the only time that Mahomes has shown his support for the Red Raiders during the NCAA softball tournament.

During Texas Tech’s first win in the Tallahassee Super Regional vs. Florida State, a video surfaced of Mahomes watching the Red Raiders’ game during a commercial shoot. He also tweeted about Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady — who is signed to Mahomes’ Adidas NIL team “Team Mahomes” — that day, writing “Big time!! Let’s go! Finish strong! @CanadyNijaree @TexasTechSB” on X.

He is also reported to have played a part in Texas Tech’s recruitment of Canady during last offseason, as she transferred from Stanford and became the first softball player to sign an NIL deal worth over $1 million. Mahomes also gave a $5 million gift to Texas Tech in 2024 for its football stadium renovations.

Where did Patrick Mahomes play college football?

Mahomes played college football at Texas Tech from 2014 through 2016, where he became one of the country’s most prolific passers in the country by his junior year.

Over the course of his three seasons in Lubbock, Mahomes completed 63.5% of his passes for 11,252 yards and 93 touchdowns. He led the country in passing yards during his junior season, as he finished with 5,052 passing yards across 12 games that year in then-Kliff Kingsbury’s system.

He was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Chiefs with the No. 10 overall pick.

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BYU signs men’s basketball coach Kevin Young to long-term contract extension

Associated Press PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU has signed men’s basketball coach Kevin Young to a long-term contract extension following the program’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 14 years. Terms of the deal announced Thursday were not released, with the school saying only that the contract would keep Young in Provo […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Associated Press

PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU has signed men’s basketball coach Kevin Young to a long-term contract extension following the program’s first run to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 in 14 years.

Terms of the deal announced Thursday were not released, with the school saying only that the contract would keep Young in Provo for the “foreseeable future.”

“My family and I have loved our first year at BYU, being surrounded by great people, at a great university with shared values,” Young said in a statement. “I’m excited to continue to build a program based on trying to help young men prepare for the NBA, win at the highest level and do it at BYU.”

Young was hired last year after coach Mark Pope left to become Kentucky’s head coach.

The Cougars had a superb first season under Young, finishing 26-10 and 14-6 in Big 12 play. BYU beat VCU and Wisconsin in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, earning its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 2011 and third overall.

Young also had huge success on the recruiting trail, adding highly touted recruit A.J. Dybantsa, projected as the possible No. 1 pick in the NBA draft once he’s eligible. Young has an extensive coaching career, including a stint as a Phoenix Suns assistant from 2020-24.

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll

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Joey McGuire blasts the SEC and Big 10 over College Football Playoff changes

The College Football landscape is constantly changing over the past few years as the transfer portal, NIL, and the College Football Playoff are constantly leading to changes. The College Football Playoff has been the hottest topic over the past few months as the Conference commissioners continue to propose changes to the format. Despite just one […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 6, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Despite just one year to evaluate under the 12 team format, the change has already been made moving to a straight seeding format rather than the 4 highest-ranked Conference Champions earning byes. While the format has been changed, there has already been talk about expanding the College Football Playoff.

The conversation has mostly been driven by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey but, the Big 10 and their commissioner Tony Petitti have been right alongside the SEC. The two conferences feel that they are far superior to everyone else around the Country, namely the Big 12 and the ACC. The proposals have been tailored to the two Conferences as the two conferences.

The Big 12 is starting to strike back as Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire appeared on SiriusXM’s Dusty & Danny making his feelings known about the notion that the SEC and the Big 10 are more deserving of the bids saying the following.

“We’ve got to take some of the bias out of conferences – that, ‘This is a tougher conference because of this and this and this.’ Let’s fight it out on the field.”

Joey McGuire

On one hand, the SEC and Big 10 do have a case they can make as recent history would tell us that the ACC and Big 12 are far behind the pack. On the other hand, each team has plenty of chances to prove they’re worthy of competing for the National Championship during the Regular Season and if they’re good enough it’ll be proven throughout the year.

All College Football fans want to see are the best teams competing for the chance to win the National Championship, regardless of which Conference they come from. All of the offseason politics have gotten extremely tiring for College Football fans, and it was only a matter of time before the Coaches felt the same way.