The newly top-ranked overall prospect in the 2025 college football transfer portal has now been linked to a major college football program and a rival of his former team.

Penn State defensive end Chaz Coleman is entering the NCAA transfer portal ahead of the 2026 football season, and reigning national champion Ohio State has emerged as an early school to watch for his forthcoming decision, according to On3 Sports.

Ohio State made a late push to earn the commitment of the in-state edge rusher back when he was a recruit, but he ultimately chose the Nittany Lions, where he got some early, and very promising, exposure.

Now, as that program embarks on the post-James Franklin future, it appears Coleman is looking for an exit, and their Big Ten rival is an early contender to pounce on him.

Early production

A former four-star prospect from Warren, Ohio, the edge rusher was given playing time at Penn State as a true freshman this past season, notching 8 stops with 3 tackles for loss, adding 1 sack, a forced fumble, a pair of fumble recoveries, and a pass defense in that time.

Coleman was considered the No. 25 ranked defensive and the No. 8 prospect from the state of Ohio as a high school player, according to a consensus of the national recruiting services.

Top-ranked transfer

Following news of his intention to transfer, Coleman quickly shot up to the No. 1 position nationally as the best player in the portal, according to the latest 247Sports Composite standings.

“Chaz Coleman has been one of the most dynamic true freshman pass rushers in college football this season,” Rivals scouting director Charles Power said in an assessment of the player.

That early production and continued promise is expected to cost a school considerable money, as Coleman is projected to command a seven-figure package wherever he lands as a transfer, according to the On3 report.

How the college football transfer portal works

College football’s transfer portal officially opens on Jan. 2, but that hasn’t stopped a flurry of players from entering their names for consideration at a new school right now.

The new 15-day transfer portal window from Jan. 2-16 and the elimination of the spring transfer period has condensed the timeline for players and programs to make their moves.

The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.

A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school’s compliance office.

Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player’s name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.

The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.

The database includes the player’s name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.

Once a player’s name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.

Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him.

And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn’t have to give him another scholarship.

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The Athletic has live coverage of Tulane vs. Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff first round.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in October and has been updated ahead of Ole Miss’ College Football Playoff game against Tulane.

A few days after leading Ferris State to its third Division II national championship in four years, Tony Annese was on his way to Tampa to watch Michigan practice before the ReliaQuest Bowl against Alabama.

Annese’s phone rang. It was the family of Trinidad Chambliss, Ferris State’s star quarterback, calling to say Chambliss was receiving offers to enter the transfer portal.

“I was like, ‘Technically speaking, that’s tampering, but maybe you should test the waters,’” Annese said.

Chambliss was reluctant. He’d gone to Ferris State, a Division II power in Big Rapids, Mich., as a 170-pound quarterback recruit with no FBS offers. He waited his turn, backing up two other quarterbacks during the Bulldogs’ championship seasons in 2021 and 2022. The opportunity to play Division I football was a dream, but his heart was at Ferris State.

In late December, Chambliss made up his mind. He was staying.

“January, February passed,” Annese said. “Around March, people were starting to hound him. To me, there’s always a certain level of money that might be life-changing. I just said to him, ‘If people are going to give you a lot of money, maybe you need to see what they’re going to give you and get in the portal.’ And the rest is history.”

Chambliss ended up becoming one of college football’s surprise breakout stars of 2025. After stepping in for the injured Austin Simmons against Arkansas on Sept. 13, he led Ole Miss to an 11-1 record and No. 6 seed in the College Football Playoff, where the Rebels will host Tulane in the first round.

A second-team All-SEC pick who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy vote, Chambliss passed for 3,016 yards, 18 touchdowns and three interceptions and rushed for 470 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season. Fans in Oxford have taken up the banner by waving flags of Trinidad and Tobago, a dual-island nation in the Caribbean.

Chambliss has become such a phenomenon that a reporter from Trinidad and Tobago joined an October conference call to ask about his connection to the Caribbean. He doesn’t have one — or he didn’t, until recently — but his breakout season has been good for international relations.

“I drive downtown near the square and see some of the flags from the houses and whatnot. It’s just cool,” Chambliss said. “I’m sure a lot of people from Trinidad are wondering why so many flags are being ordered to Oxford, Mississippi.”

🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹@TrinidadChambl1 x #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/Ei9npIf7Oo

— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) October 11, 2025

Chambliss said his name was inspired by the Holy Trinity, not by any family connection to the country. Though that’s true, there is another part to the story. His parents, Trent and Cheryl, had an agreement: If their child were a girl, they would go with Cheryl’s preferred name, Trinity. If their child were a boy, Trent would get to choose. Trent liked the connection to the Trinity, and he also happened to be a fan of the boxer Félix Trinidad.

“I kind of took a liking to that name,” Trent Chambliss said. “It does have that spiritual connection, the Holy Trinity. It stood by itself, a pretty strong name. I just figured that was a good fit.”

The name captures a duality that makes Chambliss who he is. He’s grateful for the providential path that took him from playing road games in front of 500 fans to beating LSU in front of nearly 68,000 in Oxford, plus millions watching on TV. He’s also a fighter who can punch above his weight class.

“Fate kind of gave him an opportunity,” said Eddie Ostipow, who coached Chambliss at Forest Hills Northern High School in Grand Rapids. “We all know how talented he is. He’s gotten an opportunity and really ran with it.”

Chambliss was entering his junior season when Ostipow got the job at Forest Hills Northern. He’d shared time at quarterback the previous season but was known mostly for his exploits on the basketball court, where he was a star point guard.

The perception at the time was that Chambliss would play basketball in college. He grew up attending basketball camps and playing in tournaments around the country, which meant he didn’t get as much exposure as a football recruit. When he got the chance to be a full-time quarterback, he flourished. He had a natural throwing motion and easy mechanics, Ostipow said, but his best trait was the vision to anticipate plays that other quarterbacks couldn’t see.

“As a quarterback, you have to distribute the ball, find zones in the defense, find matchups and take your matchups with wide receivers throwing down the field,” Chambliss said. “In basketball, as a point guard, that’s basically the same thing.”

Ostipow saw Chambliss as a Division I prospect, but the nearby Mid-American Conference programs didn’t see him the same way. At 6 feet and 170 pounds, he didn’t have the size that bigger schools wanted in a point guard or a quarterback. But he was a perfect fit for Ferris State, a program known for developing athletic quarterbacks.

Annese, 64, has a 152-21 record in 13 seasons at Ferris State, including a 15-0 mark this year with a spot in the D-II national title game on Saturday. He’s made a Hall of Fame career out of developing overlooked recruits, including Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Zach Sieler, a seventh-round pick in 2018 who signed a $64 million contract extension in August.

It speaks to the depth at Ferris State that Chambliss, a player torching SEC defenses, didn’t become a full-time starter until his fourth year on a D-II campus. The Bulldogs had other quarterbacks in front of him, and he needed time to add about 30 pounds to fill out his point guard’s frame. When he got his chance to start in 2024, he exploded for 51 touchdowns, nearly 3,000 passing yards and more than 1,000 yards on the ground while leading Ferris State to a 14-1 season.

Chambliss also caught the eye of quarterback-hungry teams in the FBS. He wasn’t looking to leave Ferris State, but name, image and likeness offers were difficult to ignore.

“It’s every child’s dream to be able to play at the Division I level,” said Trent Chambliss, an assistant principal at Wyoming High School near Grand Rapids. “With NIL, you end up having that dangling carrot, a large sum of money. It kind of moves people. You’ve got to be strong enough to not move on the emotional charge that you may get.”

Chambliss initially decided not to enter the transfer portal and spent the spring at Ferris State. When programs started calling him again in March, he decided he owed it to himself and his family to listen. Annese gave his blessing and apprised him of the risks and benefits of transferring.

Trinidad Chambliss led Ferris State to the D-II national title last year. (Adam Vander Kooy / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Transferring to a bigger school could mean exposure and development for the NFL, along with the not-insignificant money available through NIL and revenue sharing. Though the amount Chambliss is being paid is undisclosed, CBS Sports reported that Chambliss’ deal with Ole Miss is believed to be more than $500,000, a number The Athletic confirmed with a person familiar with his transfer recruitment.

This risk of leaving was that Chambliss would be giving up a chance at the Harlon Hill Trophy, the Heisman of Division II, with no guarantees of seeing the field. When Chambliss visited Ole Miss, coaches made it clear that he’d be coming in behind Simmons, a four-star recruit who was the Rebels’ backup quarterback last season behind New York Giants rookie Jaxson Dart. Chambliss decided to bet on himself, knowing there was a chance he wouldn’t see the field.

“There’s a risk that you don’t get enough playing time to be seen by the NFL,” Annese said. “That was my concern for him. If Austin Simmons didn’t get hurt, how was it going to be?”

Ferris State lost eight starters from last year’s team who transferred to Division I programs. The list includes Bryce George and Lawrence Hattar, reserve offensive linemen at Iowa and Michigan, respectively, and running back Kannon Katzer, who has yet to record a carry at West Virginia.

Annese said he’s happy for the transfers who have carved out roles and sad for the ones who aren’t playing. Heading into the season, it wasn’t clear which category would apply to Chambliss. Even with Chambliss throwing for more than 300 yards in wins against Arkansas, Tulane and LSU, there was a question of what Ole Miss would do once Simmons got healthy.

That question took on more weight after the Rebels had a close call against Washington State in a 24-21 win. Chambliss threw for 209 yards but struggled to get the offense in gear, prompting a blunt pep talk from coach Lane Kiffin.

“Let’s not go back to that Division II stuff,” Kiffin told him, as he recounted to ESPN at halftime.

“Let’s not go back to that Division II stuff”

Lane Kiffin was very honest with Trinidad Chambliss after his first few drives of the game 😅 pic.twitter.com/9KmW7UvaMl

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) October 11, 2025

But Chambliss held on to the job as he became a viral sensation. The legend will only grow if he takes Ole Miss on a Playoff run after Kiffin’s departure for LSU.

The decision to leave Ferris State wasn’t easy, but it’s earned Chambliss a fan following that stretches from West Michigan to Oxford, Miss. — and even as far as the Caribbean.

“I get so many texts and calls from back home from my friends, people I’ve grown up with, people that supported me before I even got to Ole Miss,” Chambliss said. “It’s just good to have a community behind you while you’re chasing one of your dreams.”

— The Athletic’s Sam Khan Jr. contributed to this report.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Mario Cristobal was in the middle of his postgame interview in the manic moments after Miami’s 10-3 win over Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Out of nowhere, Hurricanes legend Michael Irvin appeared in the shot, grabbed Cristobal’s arm, and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.

“It was disgusting,” Cristobal said later, laughing. “I couldn’t find enough wipes to clean myself.”

That kiss almost didn’t happen. This win almost didn’t happen. And it had nothing to do with the gritty nature of the game, which felt like the Aggies were going to win multiple times. For weeks, Miami was engaged in a resume debate with Notre Dame and Alabama about its worthiness for College Football Playoff inclusion. Even as the game played out — and offenses struggled — there were plenty of people mocking the CFP Committee for taking Miami.

But Miami, which “wasn’t even good enough” to make the ACC Championship Game, went on the road and knocked off Texas A&M, a team that started the season 11-0 and was ranked in the top three of those very CFP rankings at the end of November.

Miami now faces Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It continues its chance to win the program’s first national title since 2001. But even as the journey continues, Miami has made clear that this program is going to be a problem nationally for years to come.

“I think it was important first to get into the Playoff,” Cristobal said. “Then to go and win at a place like this, right? It was 100,000-plus people on the road, a team that was arguably top two or three until their last game, and to get it done in this type of environment. We needed that. If you could draw it up the way we wanted it, we wanted to go there. We wanted to come here and do it against a great football team.

“What does it mean for us? Continued progress. The vision. We have never altered the course or been deterred despite all the challenges that come with it. That’s part of it. I am really proud of our players. It’s all about them and that staff, because, again, 40-plus days ago, we were lower than low. We found a way to bring a different level of energy every single day and lift each other and the program up. And here we are with a chance to keep playing. That’s all that matters now.” 

For much of that game, things weren’t pretty. Miami missed a few field goals in the first half, and offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t call his best game, giving in to the temptation to run atypical plays to get the ball into the hands of his best player — true freshman Malachi Toney.

Toney fumbled the ball near midfield with seven minutes remaining in a 3-3 game, making it seem like the Aggies were going to steal this one at home. But Miami’s defense came up with a stop, got the ball back, and rode running back Mark Fletcher — who carried it 17 times for 172 yards — deep into Aggies territory. Then it was Toney, affectionately known as Baby Jesus, who took a shovel pass from quarterback Carson Back for 11 yards to the house, giving the Hurricanes a seven-point lead with 1:44 remaining. 

There was a debate about whether Toney should have scored or fallen short of the goal line to milk the clock and set up the Hurricanes for a game-winning field goal as time expired. The debate grew more heated as Texas A&M drove down the field inside the Miami 10 with less than a minute remaining. But Aggies quarterback Marcel Reed threw an interception into the end zone to freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, ending the game. 

Those who don’t think Miami should have been in the CFP to begin with will tell you it was two bad teams on the field Saturday. It raises the never-ending debate about whether Notre Dame would have made things look easier, which is ironic given that this game featured two teams that beat the Irish earlier in the season.

After the game, Cristobal was asked whether he felt this game validated the CFP Committee’s decision to include Miami. His answer knocked it out of the park.

“Regardless of what the result was today, they made the right decision,” Cristobal said. “Last year, we had to go to court, I felt. We had a case, other teams had a case, but it was fuzzy. It was muddy. This year, there was nothing fuzzy about it. We had common opponents with another football team — that I’m sure would be great in the Playoffs – but we did better against those common opponents and we won the head-to-head win.

“God forbid we should ever get away from the meaning of head-to-head. Look out there today. How many guys were helped off the field? How many guys had to be carried or had to limp off, had to get on crutches? How many guys are seeing the doctor right now? For competing head-to-head. Let us never ever devalue the importance of head-to-head competition please.”

Through all the CFP discourse, Miami was repeatedly torn down. We heard over and over about its losses to Louisville and SMU, about how it played in a weak conference, how it didn’t make it to Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game and how it wasn’t worthy of this stage.

During that discourse, we forgot how this Miami team is built. Sturdy on the lines of scrimmage, punishing on defense — as illustrated in College Station on Saturday. It has a young phenom receiver in Toney and a reliable back in Fletcher who can move the sticks in close games. It also has two veteran players who have been here through Cristobal’s entire build: edge rusher Rueben Bain and offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa. It is built to compete against these teams.

Now we’ll spend the next 10 days debating whether these Hurricanes are equipped to compete with Ohio State, the team that beat them in the national title game in Tempe, Ariz., more than 20 years ago. That game, some say, marked the end of Miami’s reign of dominance.

The Hurricanes get another shot, not just at Ohio State but also at college football relevance. What happened in College Station was a massive step, but the job for national acceptance is far from over.

And who knows? Maybe Miami will shock the world in Dallas the way the Buckeyes did in Arizona in 2002. Remember, that’s why they play the games. The results matter and hypotheticals are irrelevant during this time of year.

Miami is making the most of the ones it’s been afforded the opportunity to keep playing.

If you thought the NIL transfer market in college football already was out of control, just wait until the upcoming battles next month for the top quarterbacks looking to switch schools.

ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel believes the dollar figures during the January cycle could be as much as $5 million for one season.

“This market looks robust already, guys,” Thamel said Friday on College GameDay ahead of Alabama’s playoff win over Oklahoma. “You’ve got Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby at [the top], Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, TCU’s Josh Hoover went in [this week], you have Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, Florida’s DJ Lagway.”

“So I made some calls today, guys, and sources told me the tip-top of this quarterback market, financially, could reach $5 million for one season. Look, it’s supply and demand. You have all those guys. Sorsby’s been linked early to Texas Tech. Dylan Raiola, there’s some smoke to Louisville, although maybe a [College Football Playoff] team jumps in late there. There have been early links between Indiana and Hoover, assuming that [Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza] goes pro.”

Thamel also noted that CFP programs such as Oregon and Miami are likely to be looking for a new quarterback for 2026, as well as LSU, with new coach Lane Kiffin looking to make a splash.

Late one night, Sundance Wicks scrolled through a spreadsheet containing 3,500 names. 

The Gillette native and University of Wyoming men’s basketball coach was hunting for something his competitors might not see — a player hidden in plain sight, undervalued by the market, waiting to be discovered.

He applied an algorithm designed to identify under-the-radar talent, as described in the best-selling book and hit 2011 film “Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt about how the Oakland A’s built their rosters with players no one else wanted.

Wicks found Damarion Dennis at Texas A&M Corpus Christi. 

A freshman backup averaging seven points in 17 minutes per game, he wasn’t a starter and he played at a backwater school. Every other team in the Mountain West Conference likely scrolled right past him.

But the algorithm told Wicks a different story.

“We looked at the numbers and we recruited him as a human being, knowing that he loves to compete,” Wicks said. “He wanted to come up a level and play more minutes at a competitive place, willing to take less money because he wanted to come up a level. 

“And he was the most efficient player in the transfer portal, per the money that he could make.”

Heading into 2026, this is the reality facing the University of Wyoming: To maintain its major Division I basketball and football programs, it needs to generate revenue that is then paid to players.

As much as that disappoints many UW alumni, there is no turning back, according to Wicks and others adapting to the pressures of professional college sports in the age of Name, Image and Likeness deals that have turned college athletics into a pay-to-play system. 

Compete With The ‘Big Dogs’

The question is whether Wyoming can compete with programs that have far deeper pockets — and whether an approach borrowed from professional baseball can help level the playing field.

“Look at the movie ‘Moneyball,’” Wicks said. “It’s a great movie. Every time you watch, you get goosebumps because you’re going, ‘Man, every one of us can relate to being the Oakland A’s at some point in their life where we’re having to compete against big dogs.’”

Wicks digs into his spreadsheet, crunching numbers like minutes played, effective field goal percentage, turnover percentage, rebounding, steals, blocks — all the things that indicate whether a player helps a team win, not just whether he scores points.

“We look at the person over the position,” Wicks said. “We always preach minutes over money because I still think valuing to play the game of basketball should reign supreme. 

“And if you’re finding a kid or a player that’s worried about money over minutes, then he’s probably not very competitive.”

With Dennis, Wicks said Wyoming found exactly what it was looking for. 

“This is a guy we have to have,” Wicks recalled thinking. “We believe that he can come in and help Wyoming win while nobody else will value him.”

Here’s the question that keeps Wicks and others at UW up at night: Will athletic talent continue to value the University of Wyoming when other, better-financed schools offer bigger paydays? 

Now that Division 1 athletes are able to profit from their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and revenue sharing with their chosen school, is the “Moneyball” approach enough to maintain a winning edge? 

Will Wyoming keep up as rivals like Colorado State and BYU build war chests to pay for top players?

Shifting Landscape

Athletic Director Tom Burman has watched Wyoming’s position evolve rapidly since NIL became legal in 2021, and again after the landmark House v. NCAA settlement opened the door to direct revenue sharing this past July. 

Initially, the response from Wyoming donors was discouraging.

“We struggled from the time NIL started really in ’22 until the end of June this past year,” Burman said. “We struggled getting people — Wyoming fans, alumni, donors — to invest in the collective or provide money through our third-party portals. It’s just not something Wyoming people embraced.”

The resistance, Burman believes, reflects regional culture. 

“It’s kind of funny. You look at schools around the country that had success with those things,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The areas along the coast did really well with it — the Californias, the Washingtons, Oregons. 

“The middle of America struggled with it. I think it has a little bit to do with a conservative nature and style. They just were like, ‘I’m not sure who I’m giving this money to. I don’t feel comfortable with it.'”

But attitudes are changing. 

“Now we are seeing people say to us, ‘OK, if I can give the money to Cowboy Joe (the UW booster club), I’ll up my annual Cowboy Joe donation,’” Burman said, adding an optimistic spin. “If you ask me where we are a year from now, we’ll have caught up significantly to our competition.”

The structural disadvantages, however, remain. UW is an isolated school and the state lacks the corporate base that funds competitors. 

“I was just visiting with some people in San Diego,” Burman said. “There’s companies there that have $3- or $4-million ad budgets. For them to spin off 10% to support the Aztecs is kind of a no-brainer.

“In our case, a big ad budget for a company in Wyoming is $500,000 to $600,000. So they spin off 10%, that’s $50,000. It helps, but it doesn’t change the formula.”

Just Business

When Josh Allen returned to Laramie in November for his jersey retirement, Burman had a chance to discuss the NIL landscape with Wyoming’s most famous football alumnus.

“He’s like, ‘I didn’t have it,’” remembered Burman, noting how Allen’s college career ended before pay-for-play kicked in. “He didn’t say he doesn’t like it. He just — it’s just weird to him.”

Allen’s perspective mirrors that of many former players.

“Guys like him see what the business side of football is,” Burman said. “I’ve had this conversation with Frank Crum and Dewey Wingard. They’re like, ‘You know, this is business. It’s not nearly as fun anymore.'”

That business reality has Burman contemplating scenarios that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago.

The best outcome is Wyoming develops what Burman called “a really magical scenario” where Wyoming leverages all it has to offer — great degree programs, a cool college town and enough money for players so top talent keeps picking UW. 

How To Stay Division I

This allows the Pokes to continue to be competitive against its rivals and prevents UW from dropping down into the Football Championship Subdivision of Division 1 play where the Big Sky Conference and teams like Montana and Idaho compete. 

Instead of dropping down, Burman envisions another possible scenario. Like other fans and officials across college sports, Burman wonders about a future where Wyoming always has a shot at playing at the highest level.

To do that, a productive combination of smart recruiting and revenue generation needs to blossom for UW, he said.

Burman also recognizes that fans could see, “The top 40-ish spin off — basically the Big Ten, SEC. And they invite a few others that have great television markets and maybe some with great traditions, but a lot will be left out. 

“Whether that number is 40 or 60, I don’t know. But I think that happens someday. And then the rest of us recalibrate and build what I would call a more traditional college model.”

A relegation system, similar to European soccer, could be looming on the horizon. 

“There could be a relegation model created for Division I athletics, even within conferences,” Burman said.

In such a scenario, the current Football Championship Subdivision — home to Idaho State, Montana State, North Dakota State — could merge with programs left out of the super league. 

“Maybe there’s a scenario where the level of play goes up because all of these teams that got left out of the top 40 Premier League come together,” Burman said.

In the meantime, Burman and the rest of UW’s athletic department want to remain competitive as television revenue and the financial side of college sports continues to reshape football and basketball. 

“We have 400 student athletes here at the University of Wyoming, and revenue sharing might really affect a small portion of that,” said Alex Jewell, UW’s assistant athletic director for development. “The majority of our student athletes are the same student athletes that were here 10 years ago, 15 years ago, 30 years ago.”

The rising costs affect everyone, though. 

“Scholarships cost more than they did 20 years ago,” Jewell noted. “Nutrition, team travel, uniforms.” 

Then there’s health insurance and travel. 

The goal isn’t just recruiting, he said, it’s retention.

“If we can help them with revenue sharing, in conjunction with all the other great things that we think we excel in compared to some of our competitors — like our class sizes, like our educators, like the coaches we have here, like the fan base we have here — all of those things, combined with some revenue share, helps us retain some great student athletes,” Jewell said.

Cultural Resistance

For all the urgency from athletics officials, a stubborn resistance among some Wyoming fans complicates the path forward, according to those keeping tabs on the intersection of money and athletic talent drawn to Laramie. 

“A lot of fans, especially the older ones, are really late to the game,” said Cody Tucker, founder of 7220Sports.com and one of the state’s leading voices on Cowboys athletics. “They’re still in the mindset like, ‘Hey, these guys have scholarships, they get free room and board.’ They do not want to pay players.”

Tucker recalled hearing about a donor who made a $15,000 contribution to the Cowboy Joe Club, designating $5,000 for NIL. The donor had one stipulation: “I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to know who it goes to.”

“Some people just cannot live with the idea that they’re paying a player and giving them a scholarship,” Tucker said. “I get the sentiment. But it is what it is, man. You either get on board or you’re going to get left behind.”

The resistance extends to corporate partnerships. 

When Wyoming announced a $90,000 sponsorship deal with Ramos Law, a Denver-based firm with an office in Cheyenne, to put its name on the 25-yard lines for the final home game, fans revolted, calling the attorney an “ambulance chaser” and complaining about Colorado money on their sacred field.

“You can’t have it both ways, man,” Tucker said. “It’s the new order.”

Fans don’t always know what they missed, Tucker noted, as recruiting battles play out and Wyoming loses quietly. 

“There’s another school that offered more,” he said. “Those are the stories we don’t often hear.”

Tucker noted structural advantages enjoyed by rival Colorado State, home to around 34,000 students.

“Wyoming has, like, 11,000,” he said. “Those student fees alone are incredible.”

How might UW close this funding gap without hiking student fees in Laramie? A booster in Gillette has a plan. 

A Tourism Tax For Athletics?

Alan Stuber, a Gillette Police Department patrol officer and lifelong Wyoming fan, has a novel idea that he believes holds promise. 

“What I want to do is find somebody in the Legislature that would be willing to sponsor a bill to come up with some sort of resort tax,” Stuber said. “So, you would hit like the Brush Creek Ranch down in Saratoga or your big resorts in Jackson. 

“If there was some sort of a resort tax, it doesn’t come out of my pocket unless I go stay there.”

Stuber, who wrestled in college at Dakota Wesleyan and remains a diehard Pokes booster across several sports, understands the political challenge in tax-averse Wyoming. 

Campbell County, he noted, “is the only county in the entire state that doesn’t have a local lodging tax.”

But as a father who travels around Wyoming for his kids’ activities, Stuber sees the appeal. 

“I am more than happy to spend $20 a year on that tax staying in Casper, staying on the other side of the mountain for football, for wrestling, for swimming — and have that money go towards NIL,” he said. 

The best part in Stuber’s mind? Visiting fans would fund Wyoming’s competitiveness.

“How great would it be to sit there and shake these people’s hands and say, ‘Hey, thanks for coming. Thanks for traveling with your team to Laramie,'” Stuber said. “Oh, yeah, by the way, because you’re staying here, you’re getting taxed. You’re paying our players to play against you.”

Thunder Model

Back on the hardwood in Laramie, coach Wicks has built a payment structure modeled on one of the NBA’s most analytically sophisticated franchises: the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“The Oklahoma City Thunder are a great team to study,” Wicks said. They use what’s called the Gini coefficient, which is named after an Italian statistician. 

Wyoming’s basketball budget this year started at roughly $550,000 for a roster of up to 15 players. 

“All our guys sign non-disclosure agreements,” Wicks said. “That’s a big deal for us to have in these days, because I think that’s the first thing that becomes divisive in the locker room.”

Under the Gini coefficient, the best player on the roster makes 20% of the budget. 

“The next best player makes 18%, the next 16, so on and so on all the way down,” Wicks said. “Because if you overspend for one player, then you hurt the back end of your roster. And your chance to be successful drops if injury happens.”

For a program operating with such constraints, every dollar matters, and so does knowing what opponents are spending.

“Every single team that we play outside of Air Force — because Air Force is government — has a bigger budget,” Wicks said. 

When asked about upcoming opponent Grand Canyon University, he offered a stark assessment: “They’re a for-profit university. I’ll be completely honest with you. I don’t know the exact numbers, but they may have the most expensive roster in the Mountain West.”

Wyoming, by contrast, may have “one of the least expensive rosters at the mid-major-plus level,” Wicks said. “And we’re producing results. That means we’re doing our job.

“We’re a conservative, fiscally conservative state,” he said. “We spend wisely around here. And that’s why I say it’s a value-based approach to all this stuff. There has to be value for us. There has to be value for them. And then we have to meet in the middle somewhere to make sure this all works out.”

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.