NIL

Travis Johansen says USD 'exceeded any expectations' with talented transfer portal class

VERMILLION, S.D. — Long before spring practice began and the chaos of the transfer portal during this period was in full swing, University of South Dakota head football coach Travis Johansen knew he had work to do. After losing numerous seniors to graduation last year, the freshly minted head coach knew he wanted to focus […]

Published

1 week ago

May 29, 2025

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Travis Johansen says USD 'exceeded any expectations' with talented transfer portal class

After losing numerous seniors to graduation last year, the freshly minted head coach knew he wanted to focus more on the spring portal period to reload the roster at the beginning of the year. However, following many departures during the spring, the task became that much more difficult.

“A small venture turned into a bigger one,” Johansen said.

There were multiple factors contributing to what kind of players USD wanted to bring in. Obviously, talent, scheme and culture fit are always important, but Johansen also said the NCAA House Settlement played a role as well. Under the settlement, college football rosters would be cut to 105 players, with many schools cutting 20 or more to hit that number. That saw a wave of entries into the portal, including players that Johansen said they recruited in the past.

USD also wanted to bring in a crop of players with multiple years of eligibility remaining. Many of the Coyotes’ additions have two, three and some with still a full four years left in college football. That was a major focus for Johansen and the coaching staff.

“We still want to stay true to who we are, and that’s a developmental program,” Johansen said. “Seeing the potential of players, getting it out of them and being able to keep them in our system for four years, we feel like we get the best out of guys when we do that.”

Two major needs for the Coyotes were the offensive and defensive trenches. With only a single returning starter on the offensive and currently none on the defensive line, USD went to work.

Even before the spring, the Coyotes added two linemen from the University of Iowa in Caden Crawford and Jeff Bowie. USD then went out and added former Washington State lineman Jackson Cowgill — brother of current USD tight end Mason Cowgill — who will have four years remaining.

Along with him, Nathan Laperi made eight appearances for North Texas during his true freshman season, collecting two tackles. Finally, 6-foot-7, 240-pound Calen Presser joins after two seasons at Arkansas State, where he didn’t see any game action, but Johansen said his frame and style of play will mesh well with USD’s system.

“To be able to find somebody and people talented enough to keep our aspirations online isn’t an easy venture,” Johansen said. “The way we went about it, we couldn’t be happier.”

The offensive line was another challenge, especially with the competitive market for depth in the offensive trenches. USD made headlines during the spring when Bryce Henderson, Joe Cotton and Jordan Larsen all departed for new opportunities. All three of them landed at Power Four programs and will likely be competing for starting nods.

USD added one lineman before the spring, former Merrimack College center Brandon Smith, designed to be a direct replacement for Joey Lombard. Despite those other departures, Johansen said that after the spring, the staff felt like the returning crop of talent was going to hold down the fort. Even so, USD made three additions that will boost the competitiveness in the room.

“We felt confident that we could go do it without the additions, but when we kind of got into the recruiting of it, and we were able to get (Wyatt) Lawson from FIU, Brock Woolf from Kansas State and Almarion Crim from UT-Chattanooga, those guys are all game-ready, talented players,” Johansen said. “We’ll be deeper than we ever have been with game experience and talent.”

There was also the issue of the defensive secondary. The Coyotes lost mainstays of the secondary, including safeties Dennis Shorter and Josiah Ganues. Along with those two, cornerback Mike Reid also graduated and all-conference cornerback Shahid Barros entered the portal. That left numerous gaps to fill.

Going down the list, the Coyotes added many defensive backs to the secondary, including standouts such as former Michigan State cornerback DJ Kennard, former Washington State safety Ashton Jett Paine, former Iowa Western cornerback Jaylen Boehm-Peterson and Lamar University safety DeJuan Lewis, among others.

One of the consistent factors, especially among the corners, is size and length. Kennard, Boehm-Peterson and Jett Paine all stand at least 6-foot-2. That lengthy defensive back type worked well with the 6-foot-2 Reid last season, who also earned an undrafted free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers largely because of his size.

Mike Reid pre-snap — Mike Reid lines up before a defensive play in a 2nd-round FCS Playoff game between South Dakota and Tarleton State in Vermillion on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.

While not specifically looking for length, Johansen said those bigger players give USD a lot of flexibility in the secondary, especially in the cornerback room.

“We’ve added guys with length that can be DBs, and maybe not just corners,” Johansen said. “Guys that can play in certain positions on third down and we don’t feel like they’re a liability. Anytime you get a DB, having positional flexibility helps; get your best players on the field. … That group of people, we feel confident. We felt confident in our top four leaving spring ball, but really looking at being eight, nine, 10 deep.”

USD has also brought in multiple offensive playmakers. That includes notable players in tight ends Dallas Holmes and Jackson Accuardi, running backs Jaylen Anderson and Reid Watkins, athletic dual-quarterback Ty Robinson and a few more additions that will be announced in the next few weeks.

Although it will be difficult to get a full judgment on who works out until they hit the field, Johansen said some of the additions that had the benefit of going through spring ball already appear to be well on their way to making major contributions next season.

South Dakota offensive lineman Brendon Crispe blocks Caden Crawford during a USD spring practice on Saturday, April 5, 2025 in Vermillion.

“From the guys that have been here, DeJuan Lewis on defense will certainly help us. Caden Crawford on defense will certainly be impactful for us,” Johansen said. “Feel very confident in Brandon Smith’s spring and what he did at center. The guys that were here with us in the spring that we were able to see, we feel confident in those guys.”

While the class isn’t fully complete yet, Johansen labeled this transfer period as a major success and provided more than he could have hoped for, both talent-wise and with how long the process took.

“Our staff did an incredible job, probably exceeded any expectations I certainly had of the way we would get the class together,” Johansen said. “I thought we would be working well into June and maybe get last takes late before (fall) camp started. But that’s certainly not going to be the case and we’re going to have a really productive summer because of it. I think we’ll all see it paying dividends in the fall.”

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

1 minute 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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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

16 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

20 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

39 minutes 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

54 minutes 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

1 hour 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.