“I feel like I would have been throwing something away that I didn’t want to throw away,” forward Caden Pierce told the Daily Princetonian in November when asked about the possibility of transferring after the 2023–24 season. 

Fast forward to July, and Pierce joins former standout guard Xaivian Lee and former assistant coach Brett MacConnell as marquee departures from the Tiger squad. 

The former Ivy League Player of the Year in the 2023–24 season and second-team All-Ivy this past year announced on Instagram he will be sitting out his senior season to retain his final year of eligibility.

In the post, Pierce attributed significant change to Princeton’s team and the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) landscape in the NCAA as reasons to not play his final year. Top athletes in major sports, including basketball, now command hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on the open market.

“Whether that [change] is teammates and coaches that 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,” Pierce wrote.

Pierce expressed gratitude to the team and the Princeton community in his announcement. 

“I am forever grateful to Coach Henderson, my teammates, and the broader Princeton Men’s Basketball community for the opportunity they provided me these past three years.”

Pierce’s comments indirectly referenced his close friend and fellow star Xaivian Lee’s transfer to Florida in April and to the decision of Head Coach Mitch Henderson ’98 to move on from former Associate Head Coach Brett MacConnell. Both departures shook up Princeton Basketball this offseason after the Tigers’ heartbreaking loss to top-seeded Yale in the Ivy League Tournament. 

Lee and Pierce took the Ivy League by storm in their sophomore seasons, each averaging over 16.5 points per game. The two were the frontrunners for the Player of the Year Award, which was given to Pierce in the end. 

In this past season, the pair led the team again in scoring and demonstrated themselves as seasoned leaders despite the team’s struggles. Lee’s departure is a clear loss of an integral part of Pierce’s Tiger career. 

Recently hired by Stanford, MacConnell was the driving force behind Pierce’s recruitment and other previous Princeton stars as the team’s lead recruiter. The team’s choice to not extend MacConnell, well-respected and liked by players, adds more uncertainty to the upcoming season.

Henderson declined to comment on Pierce’s announcement and the upcoming season.

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By retaining his final year of eligibility, Pierce now possesses the opportunity to play a year of basketball as a grad transfer at a different school. Under NCAA eligibility rules, student-athletes have five years to complete four full years of sports. 

In the brief past since NIL was introduced, players at top academic programs like Princeton have had to weigh the value of a degree from their original school with the large sums available at larger programs with huge bases of alumni donors. The University has maintained the position that the value of a Princeton education outweighs the temporary NIL opportunities at other schools.

Pierce, by sitting out, tries a new strategy aimed at securing both benefits, and possibly the third gain of completing a graduate degree.

ESPN reports that Pierce intends to enter the transfer portal as soon as possible in the fall.

“It takes away the speed-dating process of the postseason transfer portal,” Pierce told ESPN. “It’s going to be more of a high school recruiting process, I’d like to think. Because I won’t be involved with the team, I can take some visits here and there, move at a slower pace, it won’t have to be so rushed.”

Pierce’s numbers dipped last year as he struggled with a hurt ankle — an injury he told ESPN he could have sat out more and recovered for last season.  Despite the down season, Pierce still remains a former Ivy League Player of the Year with a unique skillset that is sure to attract top schools.

He will get the chance to give teams a preview this summer as a part of Team USA’s U23 3×3 team. After that, however, Pierce will spend several months away from competitive basketball.

Without Pierce, the Tigers will not have a single senior on the roster this season, as transfers from Lee to Florida and forward Jack Scott to Duke left Pierce as the last man standing. The Tigers will need the crop of juniors and sophomores to step up to fill the absence of leadership and production.

Davis is the only returning player who played over 20 minutes a game last season. The Chicago native has demonstrated flashes of brilliance, putting up 17 points per game in the first five games of last season, but his minutes and production were inconsistent late in the season. 

“Everyday I’m doing my best to grow as a person and a leader,” junior guard Dalen Davis wrote to The Daily Princetonian. “Obviously with the departure of any player from our team, but especially three seniors, it requires everybody else to step up and mature a lot faster, which I believe we will be ready for.”

Forwards Jacob Huggins and Jackson Hicke round out the junior class. The two have been solid rotation players and will now inherit the bulk of the responsibilities on the wing and in the frontcourt for the Tigers.

The sophomore class, led by forwards Malik Abdullahi and CJ Happy and guard Jack Stanton, showed promise throughout the season in individual spurts, yet none played more than 15 minutes a game. With holes open on the roster, the three underclassmen will be thrust in the fire from the start of the season.

Pierce’s decision to forgo his senior season of basketball for the Tigers closes the door on the legacy of the 2023 Sweet Sixteen and begins a new period of uncertainty for a program accustomed to finishing in the top of the Ivy League and vying for NCAA Tournament appearance.

While Yale brought back everyone excluding seniors and Penn hired former Iowa Head Coach Fran McCaffery in addition to bringing in new transfers, Princeton has headed in the opposite direction. The Tigers will enter the season as a hefty underdog to win the Ivy League title.

“It was inevitable that at some point we would see the departure of those three guys. While it’s earlier than expected, we still have a bunch of guys who are here for the next few years and eager to get started,” Davis wrote.

Harrison Blank is a head Sports editor for the ‘Prince’.

Please send any corrections to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.

Data provided by Student Athlete Score

(July 8th, 2025) – From Olympic hopefuls to rising stars in the Big Ten, college athletes continue to land major NIL partnerships across sports and campuses nationwide. Last week’s top Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals highlight a growing mix of powerhouse brands and local supporters investing in female student-athletes. From Dick’s Sporting Goods to MSU Federal Credit Union, these deals reflect the evolving landscape of college sports marketing. Below, we recap the standout signings from the week of June 30th, 2025.

EA Sports College Football 26 is officially out. And as expected, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is nowhere to be found.

This wasn’t a surprise. News broke months ago that Sanders, along with North Carolina’s Bill Belichick, opted out of the game’s coaching license agreement. The two most brand-conscious coaches in football weren’t about to let EA use their likeness on terms they didn’t control.

So now that it’s real, we’re seeing exactly what that looks like in-game.

Instead of Sanders, Buffs players are led by “Kirk Patrick,” a fictional coach described as a level 40 recruiter with a spread offense and a 4–2–5 base defense. He’s got ties to East Texas and boasts an A+ coaching grade. What he doesn’t have: sunglasses, swagger, Hall of Fame resume.

Now that the game is live, it’s clear just how big of a hole his absence leaves in the Dynasty Mode experience. Colorado football under Coach Prime is a brand. It’s a show.

Prime is hard to replicate with a generic coach, no matter how good his digital recruiting skills are.

What stings a bit more is that Sanders had previously hinted at a possible collaboration. In a 2024 Well Off Media video, he joked with CU’s equipment staff about sending gear to EA and said directly to the camera, “EA Sports—we do business.”

Apparently not this time.

On top of coach’s absence, the player ratings have drawn the real heat. Colorado’s team overall sits at 83—on par with reality, maybe, but light on respect.

Freshman wideout Dre’lon Miller and sophomore breakout Omarion Miller were both rated 79 overall. That raised some flags, especially among us who saw Omarion’s 10-catch, 216-yard explosion against USC before his season was cut short due to injury.

Defensive back Preston Hodge, one of the best returning nickel defenders in the country, was rated an 82 overall—at strong safety. He didn’t play that position last season.

It’s not just fans upset about it either. Deion Sanders Jr. took to Instagram, calling out the EA team for “disrespecting” Colorado’s playmakers.

“You gotta stop disrespecting Om, bro,” he posted. “Don’t sleep on Drelon either. Y’all saw what those boys can do.”

The big-picture story however, isn’t just about Deion Sanders, but about the future of college sports video games in the NIL era. EA had to strike individual deals with every head coach.

More than 300 coaches agreed. Two didn’t: Sanders and Belichick.

And while some fans say it’s no big deal—especially since gameplay and recruiting are what matter most—others see it as a missed opportunity to include the sport’s most important personalities.

It also sets a precedent. If Coach Prime isn’t in this year’s game, and he’s still the biggest name in the sport, what does that say about how much control top figures are going to demand over their likenesses?

Ultimately, the Buffs are going to be one of the top played teams.

But that visual of Deion Sanders, pacing the sideline in CU gear, hyping his players, is missing. And it leaves a noticeable gap.

Whether he’ll be in College Football 27 remains to be seen. But for now, Buffs fans are stuck with Kirk Patrick—and a team still fighting for national respect.

FRISCO — Behren Morton has been at Texas Tech since 2021, practically a lifetime for quarterbacks these days. A lot has happened in Lubbock since he arrived as a teenager from Eastland. He goes back so far, he can even remember when the Red Raiders weren’t sitting on the front row of college athletics’ bold new era.

Which beats the back row, by the way.

“Being at Tech for such a long time,” Morton said, “I’ve seen the really bad of Texas Tech, and now I’m starting to see the good of Texas Tech.”

Here’s what it looks like from here: Red Raider athletes will make a reported $55 million in name, image and likeness deals this school year, apparently an NCAA record. And that doesn’t count the $5.1 million Tech just guaranteed a Mansfield Lake Ridge offensive tackle over three years. Once he actually graduates from high school, that is.

And let’s not forget the former Red Raider offensive tackle turned billionaire out to spend whatever it takes to make his alma mater a national contender while simultaneously making a case to save college football from itself.

If it sounds like a lot for a school that hadn’t made any waves since the Pirate sailed the West Texas plains, it is.

Consider the case of Cody Campbell, a 43-year-old billionaire who went from slugging it out in the offensive line under Mike Leach to hitting it big in oil and gas. Campbell is the face of the Texas Tech Matador Club, the collective financing most of those NIL contracts, including the million-plus that persuaded NiJaree Canady to leave Stanford and lead Tech to within one game of a national softball title.

Tech’s NIL profile is the reason the Red Raiders came in second behind only LSU in the latest transfer portal rankings after finishing no better than 25th in the previous three.

Case in point: Micah Hudson, a five-star receiver out of Lake Belton, who boomeranged from Tech to Texas A&M and back again.

“I think it’s going to be a great story,” Joey McGuire said.

Before getting to the story on the field, how about the one Tech made Tuesday in USA Today? Under the headline, “Meet Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster with plan to save college football,” the subject proposed a cure for college athletics. His solution would require the Big Ten and SEC to pool their media rights with the Big 12 and ACC. Why would the big boys do that when their payouts far outpace those of the Big 12 and ACC? Because, as a “high-placed” industry official told USA Today, the four conferences could double their current combined take of $3 billion in a single-payee model.

Campbell thinks he can make it work because of his relationship with the White House’s current occupant, a noted sports fan. Campbell apparently won’t need a commission like the one headed by a former MLB executive to vet NIL deals and police the market.

Per USA Today: “Campbell, for lack of a better explanation, will be the deal-maker — with the power of the presidency, the threat of antitrust law and a growing disdain for the evolving state of college sports behind him.”

The irony in all this is that a lot of folks who work in college athletics think Campbell is one of the problems, not the answer.

He’s aware of the irony, if you were wondering.

“The best thing that could happen to Texas Tech is the same system persists,” he told USA Today. “We are gaining ground on blue blood programs because we have donor money, and people willing to put it to work. Why would I do anything to fix things long-term? I have no reason to do it other than the system, and the opportunity to change the trajectory of student athletes’ lives and preserve the system long-term for more than 500,000 student athletes.

“This isn’t a hobby, this has become my calling.”

If it all seems more than little incongruous, Dallas’ Jim Sowell, a former chair of Tech’s Board of Regents, is a believer.

“The SEC and Big Ten dismiss him at their peril,” he told me.

First, of course, the Red Raiders need to demonstrate all the money boosters are throwing at them actually pays off in something more than the usual. Over the last four seasons, Tech has alternated seasons of 8-5 and 7-6, no better than what it’s averaged over the last 40 years. The Red Raiders will need to do better than that if they want to become one of the two or three top programs Brett Yormark says the Big 12 needs to make inroads in a national conversation.

Can the Red Raiders make such a statement? They’ve got the bank statement, as well as a veteran quarterback who’s finally healthy; a promising new offensive coordinator in Mack Leftwich; an embarrassment of riches at receiver and three members of the Big 12’s preseason All-Conference team, including linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the projected Defensive Player of the Year. It’s more than what we’re used to from Lubbock, all right. Spike Dykes would hardly know the place.

Welcome back:! See photos from Big 12 Media Day at Ford Center in Frisco

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Texas Tech QB Behren Morton looking forward to healthy 2025 after shoulder surgery

During Big 12 Media Days, Morton said this is the best he’s felt in a long time.

Jacob Rodriguez sets 2025 goals, says Texas Tech return was ‘smart decision’

After weighing his NFL options, the veteran LB will be a key player for the Red Raiders in 2025.

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

Scott Frost spent the 2024 season in the NFL as an analyst with the Los Angeles Rams. It marked a career shift for the former Nebraska head coach, who’s now back in the same role at UCF, where he worked from 2016-17.

Frost’s return to college football comes as the sport enters a new era. With approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, revenue-sharing officially arrived July 1. Schools are able to directly share up to $20.5 with athletes, and the majority of those funds are largely being directed toward football.

But when it comes to operating with a salary cap, Frost saw what life was like in the NFL. That’s why he, along with some fellow Big 12 coaches, called for clarity on rules during the league’s media days on Tuesday and pointed out issues he sees with the influx of NIL dollars as teams build rosters.

“I think there’s things that concern a lot of us. … At least in the NFL, you know what the rules are. You know what the salary cap is,” Frost said during a roundtable led by ESPN’s Matt Barrie. “Right now, at the end of the day, things are decided on the field. But way before that, they’re decided in bank accounts. That needs to be leveled out, like Coach [Dave Aranda] said. If there’s some enforcement and everybody’s playing by the same rules, I think it’s a better game.

“It’s a sad state of affairs in college football if he who has the richest boosters wins. And I don’t think that’s where anybody wants it or where it was intended to be.”

Scott Satterfield: The landscape is ‘ever-changing’

In addition to ushering in the rev-share era, the House v. NCAA settlement also brought roster limits and a clearinghouse to vet NIL deals. A system run by Deloitte, deals worth more than $600 will have to be submitted to NIL Go and approved.

The goal of the 10-year agreement is to bring stability to the college sports landscape, and football is front and center. The intersection of NIL and the transfer portal created questions about “guardrails” over the last four years.

To Cincinnati’s Scott Satterfield, the landscape changed so quickly once NIL came to college athletics. Now, he said, it’s time for stability – and it starts with enforcement.

“I think certainly … having some boundaries about what we have to do and what we can’t do,” Satterfield said. “I think sometimes, we sit here and talk and like, we’re in the profession and we don’t even know the rules.

“It’s difficult and it’s ever-changing, and there’s not anything that’s been very stable, really, since 2020. Things have changed so much and so fast. So hopefully, we can garner this and set some boundaries, some rules and then there are going to be some ramifications if someone does break the rules.”

‘Tell us where the sandbox is and we’ll play in it’

With regard to clarity, Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham took the same approach to his colleagues on the stage at The Star in Frisco. He simply wants to know what teams can and can’t do as the new era officially begins.

But when it comes to the monetary side of the equation, Dillingham’s mindset is more about developing players both on and off the field. That’s why he just wants answer, so long as it’s a level playing field and he can focus on football.

“Just to create some standards – whatever it is,” Dillingham said. “I don’t think anybody cares what the rules are. They just want to know the rules. Tell us where the sandbox is and we’ll play in it. At the end of the day, this a game. I know this is a business, I know it’s a profession to everybody. But if anybody who’s not in this to see a kid go from an 18-year-old kid to a 22-year-old man and enter the real world, is in it for the wrong reasons.

“I think people always focus on the negative and the changing of college football. The reality is we get to impact a lot of young people every single day, and we should do it with every single power that we have in our body to help these kids achieve success in life.”