CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State softball has completed the coaching staff ahead of the 2026 season, as announced by head coach Laura Berg.

Jenny Topping and Morgan Scott have joined the coaching staff. Scott will make the move from the College of Charleston (S.C.) while Topping joins from Cal State Fullerton.

Topping will make her way to Corvallis after a season with the Titans and carries a decorated resume that includes an Olympic Gold medal (2004) and was a four-time All-American with Fullerton and Washington. During her playing days, she led the Titans to three Big West titles and slashed .443/.573/.771 while holding top-five marks in doubles (44) and home runs (33) in addition to holding seventh place in runs batted in with 128.

After her time as a student-athlete, Topping represented the USA in the 2004 Olympics, a pair of World Championships and Pan-American Games. She played professionally for the Akron Racers, in Japan for the Toyota Shokki and was a NPF champion. In 2015, she was inducted into Cal State Fullerton’s Athletic Hall of Fame

In her sole season in South Carolina, Scott directed the Cougars to the Coastal Athletic Association’s upper echelon in pitching. The Cougars ranked second in strikeouts (238), fourth in shutouts (7) while allowing among the fewest earned runs (186) in the league. Scott mentored Mackenzie Mathis to three CAA Rookie of the Week nods on the way to second team All-CAA laurels.

Scott is no stranger to the Beaver State, having played for Oregon for two seasons following three at UNCG. In her time as a Duck, she was twice named NFCA All-Region and led the squad with wins in 2024 after being named to the Pac-12’s Second Team in 2023. While in North Carolina, she was twice tabbed the Southern Conference’s Pitcher of the Year in addition to the league’s 2021 Freshman of the Year nod. She closed her stint with the Spartans as their program’s all-time leader in strikeouts with 286.

The Beavers are coming off a 2025 season that saw seven student-athletes garner all-conference honors.

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Two seasons ago, Caden Pierce was named the Ivy League’s Player of the Year. Now, he’s benching himself ahead of his senior year with plans to enter the transfer portal.

Pierce, a forward on the Princeton basketball team, announced on social media that he plans to redshirt his final season with the Tigers while remaining at the school. After getting his degree, he’ll hit the portal.

In a thank you to Princeton fans, he informed the fanbase of future plans.

“What I am learning as I continue to grow is that the ‘only constant in life is change,’” he wrote in a statement. “Whether that is teammates and coaches who I came in with leaving, or the broader landscape of college basketball evolving, all of these factors have led me to sit out my senior year of basketball at Princeton this upcoming season to preserve my eligibility.”

An interesting piece of his announcement sticks out. Caden Pierce commented on the “broader landscape of college basketball evolving.” That, of course, centers around NIL.

Princeton offers NIL opportunities for student-athletes. Those offers are far less lucrative than what can be provided by the sport’s top programs.

In 2024, Princeton Alumni Weekly described NIL deals for Tiger athletes as being “modest.” There is no collective pooling money for players. PAW reported that “fewer than 100 of the University’s approximately 1,100 varsity athletes” had engaged in NIL deals in the 2023-24 academic year.

“There’s not that big of an [NIL] market,” said former All-Ivy offensive lineman Jalen Travis before transferring to Iowa State.

Meanwhile, athletic director John Mack said in an interview with the Daily Princetonian that being the highest bidder for prospective athletes is “never going to be our philosophy.”

“I don’t want student athletes on our rosters who are only here because we’re paying them… The vast majority of student athletes on any campus on any roster are there because it provides an experience to be a student and an athlete at the institution that they chose, not because someone threw tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars at them.”

-John Mack

Caden Pierce hinted that NIL played a role in his transfer decision. He’s looking to secure a payday while also finding the right fit.

NIL is hurting Princeton basketball.

Despite mid-major status, the program has secured some top college basketball talent of late. Unfortunately, like many Ivy League rivals, it’s finding it difficult keep those players on the roster.

Earlier this offseason, star guard Xaivian Lee opted to leave Princeton for a $6 million payday in the SEC. His teammate is now looking to capitalize on his market value.

Caden Pierce scored 11.2 points per game last year while shooting 46.5% from the field. He averaged 16.6 points and 9.2 rebounds as a sophomore.

That production should lead to interest from major programs. Heck, given the endless tampering that persists in college sports, he might’ve already been in contact with potential suitors. His transfer announcement will only increase the noise.

It’s already been reported that a number of SEC, ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12 schools have more than $10 million to spend on their rosters. Princeton simply can’t compete with those numbers.

That NIL disadvantage has resulted in the Tigers losing their top two players from last year’s roster. It will be interesting to see where Caden Pierce winds up, and if his decision to bench himself has a positive or negative effect on his future.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Saturday, across the Atlantic Ocean, a pair of former Virginia tennis stars took the court at Wimbledon. Emma Navarro advanced by defeating the defending champion, while Danielle Collins lost to top-seeded Iga Swiatek.

It was the latest example of what athletic director Carla Williams sees as the growing reach of the Cavaliers’ brand.

“This summer the V-saber was global with our swimmers in Paris,” Williams said. “It is a national brand because our sports teams, they’re on the ACC network, they’re on ESPN and ESPN 2 and so forth. It’s a national brand, in large part, because of the visibility of athletics.”

Speaking on a new podcast released by UVA entitled “Inside Virginia Athletics with Carla Williams,” the AD talked extensively about how the department is positioned in the post-House settlement world of college athletics.

Williams spoke about the importance of donor support as the Cavaliers look to fund their football and men’s basketball teams at levels that keep them competitive in the ACC and nationally, while also continuing to support the rest of their sports programs.

“This landscape has changed so quickly and the amount of resources needed grew exponentially,” Williams told co-host John Freeman and guest Gerry Capone, associate athletic director. “There’s no way we have these successful transfer portal classes without our donors. No way. It is impossible to do without our donors. They have stepped up in a major way.”

Under the House settlement, the resolution of multiple federal antitrust lawsuits against the NCAA that opened the door to college athletes being allowed to be paid for their name, image and likeness, schools must share their revenue with athletes.

Schools can pay up to $20.5 million, spread across all sports, though most are earmarking over 70% to go to football.

To supplement that, athletes can pursue third-party NIL deals. That’s where UVA is hoping the school’s recognition beyond the Charlottesville area can help its athletes cash in.

“Because we’re such a global brand, but more importantly, a state school, we want to be able to expand those borders and start to create opportunities outside of Charlottesville and the smaller market we’re dealing with,” said Lo Davis, executive director at Cav Futures, during a recent appearance on WINA’s Best Seat in the House.

Any deals valued at over $600 have to be cleared by the NCAA, which has partnered with Deloitte to create an NIL clearinghouse called “NIL Go.”

Davis said that system means athletes who don’t have obvious national name recognition and star power on their own will need to craft agreements that involve more actual work on their end – more appearances, commercials, billboards and clinics.

While UVA may be a national brand, none of its current players pack that kind of celebrity punch as individuals.

“We don’t have a Cooper Flagg or a Livvy Dunne at this point,” Davis said. “Until our teams are playing on that national stage, there’s a lot of networking that has to be done, a lot of storytelling that has to be done about these student athletes but on and off the field and the court.”

Davis shared more details about how third-party NIL deals will work for UVA athletes. He said all the contracts will be reviewed by the school’s compliance department, which will help advise athletes on possible snags their deals could hit when evaluated by Deloitte.

He also said the Deloitte system will flag any third-party deals where the business entering into a contract with an athlete is owned by a university booster. That won’t automatically negate the deal, but it will bring closer scrutiny.

Connecting athletes and companies – locally, regionally and nationally – to secure third-party deals is the focus for Cav Futures, Davis said.

“We have been working in this space from Day 1, where we were going out and creating these third-party deals,” Davis said. “Now, we’re in the process of basically putting that on steroids.”

Talking season in college football officially got started on Tuesday morning in Metro Dallas. The Big 12 began its two-day event with commissioner Brett Yormark giving his state of the conference address.

He came out swinging.

The 58-year-old Indiana alum called out Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti, doubled down on the league’s proposed 5+11 College Football Playoff model, and even threw what could be considered a shot at the SEC with a conference depth comment.

“Once again, I believe the Big 12 will be the deepest football conference in America,” Yormark said. “No league offers the competitive balance that we do. Last season, the Big 12 led the nation in fourth quarter lead changes and go-ahead scores in the final minute of conference games, and this year our star power (especially at quarterback) will be on full display.”

“We also boast one of the nation’s top coaching lineups, from Hall of Famers to rising stars. I fully expect the Big 12 to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids this year and to show once again that we can compete with anyone.”

Alrighty, then.

Talking season is the time of year where every roster is improved and all programs across the national landscape have optimism. That works the same for administrators. These lead-off speeches serve as way for conference leaders to speak directly to their constituents and explain why their conference is heading in the right direction. Yorkmark is quite the salesman and was even participating in chatting back-and-forth conversations with every media member that asked the Big 12 leader a question at The Star.

This is unlikely to be last time over the next three weeks that we hear college commissioners fire a jab at another league. At SEC Spring Meetings just over a month ago, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey took a perceived shot at ACC commissioner Jim Phillips after public comments about what to do with the future of the College Football Playoff.

“I don’t need lectures from others about good of the game. I don’t lecture others about good of the game,” Sankey said. “And coordinating press releases about good of the game, you know, OK, you can issue your press statement, but I’m actually looking for ideas to move us forward.”

This is talking season.