Oregon’s Olympic gold medalist is coming home.

As universities began directly paying athletes on Tuesday as part of the House v. NCAA settlement, increased scholarships and revenue opportunities will become the norm under the landmark NIL ruling.

Former USF Athletic Director Michael Kelly told The Oracle that the settlement also paves the way for another opportunity for USF to be invited to a power conference.  

Per the settlement’s ruling on June 6, universities are now allowed to pay athletes directly. It includes a multitude of guidelines for revenue sharing, including a spending ceiling of $20.5 million. 

The American Athletic Conference, of which USF is a member, is the only conference to implement a revenue-sharing floor. Each school, except for Navy and Army, must allocate $10 million in athlete compensation through 2028. 

With the increase in scholarships, per Kelly, the settlement could also pave the way for USF toward an opportunity to join a major athletic conference.

Related: Kelly says USF will be an ‘aggressive’ House v. NCAA settlement adopter

USF finds itself in the Group of 5 conference. G5 schools are smaller athletics schools, typically with less funding than Power 4 schools.

“You can see a huge wave of momentum going in the direction of being much more like a Power 4 than not,” Kelly said.

Kelly cited USF’s strong athletic performances in track and field over the years, as well as its introduction to the Association of American Universities in 2023.

USF men’s track and field brought home their second straight conference title in 2025. The Bulls also brought home an individual national title for the 4×400-meter relay. 

A conference like the Big 12 generates an average of  $77 million in revenue per school, per year. In contrast, the AAC — in which USF resides — averages just $13 million of revenue per school, according to the NCAA. 

Still, USF generates over $20 million in revenue, placing it only second in the AAC behind Memphis. 

Kelly said he believes that Power 4 conferences will look at revenue when realignment comes to the table. 

But USF has received the call before. Just last year, the Bulls turned down an opportunity to join the PAC-12, a power conference, and reaffirmed their commitment to the AAC. 

“Over the next four or five years, there’s going to be a lot of looking in on who’s making the investments,” Kelly said. 

Related: USF men’s basketball rounds up roster with latest commits

Yet, the settlement doesn’t just give USF a leg up in realignment talks. Almost every single NCAA sport, men’s and women’s, will see an increase in the number of allowed scholarships.

For a sport like track and field, the old limit sat at 12.6 scholarships allowed per school. Now, the NCAA permits schools to grant up to 62, according to the NCAA.

“It’s over 100 new scholarships that are going to USF student athletes that didn’t exist before,” Kelly said. 

While other universities, such as Washington State, have consolidated their Olympic sports because of the change, Kelly affirmed that no sports would be dissolved at USF. 

But with the new settlement, Kelly said that paying international athletes could be tricky.

As the scholarship limits increase, international athletes have a greater chance to be on an even playing field in terms of compensation, even if they can’t directly receive pay, Kelly said. 

“Even if they’re not eligible for revenue sharing, giving [the program] a deeper part of the roster to be able to support either full scholarships or greater percentage scholarships makes them much more competitive.”

As USF navigates uncharted territory, Kelly said the Bulls are in good hands when it comes to dealing with change as it arises in the future. 

“If things change in the next couple of months, USF will be really well equipped because of the structure we have in place,” Kelly said. 

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — The Cuban women’s national volleyball team was denied a chance to play in a tournament in Puerto Rico following the new visa restrictions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Cuban Volleyball Federation said last week that the team, comprising 12 athletes, a referee, and several coaches, had their visa request denied and will be unable to attend the tournament later this month.

“The disappointment is huge because I train every day, every hour of training is leading up to this and dedicate myself to it,” national team player Laura Suarez told The Associated Press. “It’s really disappointing not to be able to participate in the competition, which is what I’ve been preparing myself for.(asterisk)

Cuba was scheduled to play in the NORCECA Women’s Final Four tournament in Manatí, Puerto Rico. The tournament includes the host nation, Mexico and Costa Rica and it awards ranking points toward qualification for the Volleyball Nations League.

“We were focused on the competition because it’s right there,” said Dayana Martínez, another player. “Arriving at the embassy and being denied the visa affects us a lot because that competition gives us points to improve our ranking,”

The Cuban team’s coach, Wilfredo Robinson, said the decision means his team is likely to miss out on the Nations League.

“The competition grants points for each match and at the end it all adds up,” Robinson said. “In September we have another tournament and if we get there needing to achieve 80 or 100 points we are not going to be able to do it.”

The United States added Cuba to a list of 12 countries with restrictions for entering the U.S. or its territories, effective from early June. It includes nationals from Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Iran, Venezuela, and other nations.

“Denial of visas is part of a racist and xenophobic list of visa restrictions,” Cuban foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez wrote on his X account.

In a message sent to The Associated Press, the U.S. Embassy in Cuba stated that, according to its privacy policies, it could not comment on specific cases but that directives were being implemented to secure the borders and protect U.S. communities and citizens.

The Cuban women’s national team won back-to-back world championships in 1994 and 1998. It also won three Olympic golds in a row in Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000.

The U.S. measures are likely to impact many more Cuban athletes who depend on international competitions, including some on American soil to qualify for major championships and the next Olympics scheduled to be played in Los Angeles in 2028.

Image used for representation
| Photo Credit: Reuters

GRAND FORKS — The UND track and field team will be losing arguably the best thrower in school history this offseason: Kenna Curry.

Curry was named the Summit League Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year, plastering her name throughout the Fighting Hawks’ records books in her final season. She holds the school record in the indoor shot put (52-0), the indoor 20-pound weight throw (75-0.5), the outdoor shot put (53-8.25) and the outdoor hammer throw (223-7).

Typically, losing an elite athlete like Curry might be a blow to the overall talent pool of a team. But with a collection of top-end talent returning and a strong incoming class, Jim Vahrenkamp believes he’ll enter his fifth season as head coach with a team that’s just as gifted, if not more, than this year’s squad.

“We should have more talent on our team this coming year than we have ever had,” Vahrenkamp said. “Looking at who comes in, how fast their PRs are, what they’ve done.”

The Summit League Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year, Jadyn Keeler, headlines the list of returning athletes. Like Curry, she boasts several school records, including the indoor mile run (4:44.03), the indoor 3,000-meter race (9:17.58), the indoor 5,000 (15:28.29), the outdoor 1,500 (4:20.03), the outdoor 5,000 (15:33.59) and the outdoor 10,000 (32:06.70).

“Jadyn and Kenna are consummate competitors,” Vahrenkamp said. “So much of what we do is predicated on buy-in, and those two have bought in and have done an incredible job.”

Grand Forks native Ethan Thomas will be a strong returner on the men’s side. He put together a stellar freshman campaign, capping it off with a second-place finish in the shot put at the USATF U20 Outdoor Championships (68-7.75).

Thomas and Keeler’s continued progression, as well as the development of the team as a whole, play a large role in Vahrenkamp’s optimism about the coming season.

“We are maturing as a team,” Vahrenkamp said. “There are kids on the team that are doing stuff as good or better than some of the (athletes) that left as seniors. Everybody’s progressing.”

Some of the newcomers also seem poised to make a splash in their first season at UND. Gabriella Ruggeri, who’s from Toronto, has a personal record of 2:09.53 in the 800-meter dash. Mya Phippen, another incoming recruit from Canada, holds a PR of 2:11.46 in the 800.

For context, UND’s Brooklyn Brouse notched a time of 2:10.65 for first place at this year’s Summit League Indoor Championships.

Till Woldrich, who’ll make the trek from Dresden, Germany, has a personal record of 49.28 in the 400-meter dash and 1:49.76 in the 800. The best 400 time at the Summit League Indoor Championships was 47.23, while the best 800 time was 1:50.82.

Shewaye Johnson, a transfer from Texas A&M, finished 10th in the 10,000 at the 2025 SEC Outdoor Championships.

The group of incoming athletes hails from different provinces, states and even countries, but Vahrenkamp believes they all fit the program’s desired mentality,

“We want people who want what we have, who we don’t have to beg and convince and cajole to get here,” Vahrenkamp said. “All those people that are coming in are people that are excited about it. They’re not trepidatious.”

In Vahrenkamp’s mind, athletes like Curry, Keeler, Thomas and a bevy of others who’ve competed for the Hawks in recent years have played an essential role in making this coming crop of recruits possible.

“Everything we do is on the backs of the people that came before us,” Vahrenkamp said. “We are able to recruit the talent that we are recruiting because the people before them bought into the system and bought into what coaches have been able to do.”