ACC notebook: Florida State coach Mike Norvell ‘extremely excited’
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Florida State coach Mike Norvell was so exuberant at Wednesday’s ACC preseason football media days that he was practically yelling during his news conference. “I’m extremely excited,” he said when asked about his enthusiasm. It’s easy to understand why in moving on from last year’s remarkable crashout....
SMU’s successful bid to join ACC leads to playoff berth, record donations — and more interest
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — SMU bet on itself when it made a bold bid to join the Atlantic Coast Conference — and it has paid off big time. Now the Mustangs are looking build on that momentum in Year 2. The Dallas-based school chose to forego nine years of media-rights distribution...
Big Ten notebook: Hoosiers ready to prove they’re no one-hit wonder
LAS VEGAS — After a surprising 10-0 start, a program-record 11 wins and a trip to the College Football Playoff, some believe Indiana is destined to take a step backward in 2025. Coach Curt Cignetti and his team, however, didn’t get the memo. “We’re not looking to sustain it, we’re...
ACC notes: Mario Cristobal blames defense for Miami’s collapse
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Miami Hurricanes were on a trajectory to reach the ACC championship game last season for the first time since 2017 after starting 9-0. Then came a late-season collapse that included losses to Georgia Tech and Syracuse that allowed Clemson to leapfrog them into second place in...
Big Ten’s Tony Petitti: No support for SEC’s at-large bid preference for College Football Playoff
LAS VEGAS — The Big Ten commissioner doubled down on the league’s preference for multiple automatic qualifiers in the next version of the College Football Playoff on Tuesday, increasing the likelihood of a showdown with the SEC when the format for 2026 is decided. At the league’s football media days,...
Trinity’s Mary Dunn to coach in Mid-American Conference
It’s a Dunn deal. Once a dominating presence around the rim and a now budding college coach, Mary Dunn will soon be teaching her post-up moves to players at Kent State. Dunn, a Trinity graduate, is joining the women’s basketball staff there after two seasons as an assistant at Alabama...
Kalen DeBoer is looking to escape Nick Saban’s shadow and lead Tide back to playoffs in 2nd season
ATLANTA — Four years without a national championship feels like a severe drought for veteran Alabama players. Similarly, one year of missing the College Football Playoff has second-year coach Kalen DeBoer feeling the pressure to restore the Crimson Tide’s status as one of the nation’s top teams in 2025. When...
NCAA fines Memphis $30K, places it on probation after softball players did hoops player’s schoolwork
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The University of Memphis’ athletic department has been put on probation for two years and fined $30,000 by the NCAA after an investigation found an academic counselor paid two softball players to help a men’s basketball player with schoolwork. The NCAA announced the mutually-agreed-to punishment Wednesday, saying...
They pulled off huge March Madness upsets. Now they’re opting out of revenue sharing
Saint Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson and Maryland-Baltimore County — three schools that have taken March Madness by storm at various points in the past decade — have declined to opt in to college sports’ new revenue sharing model. The newly formed College Sports Commission, which oversees revenue sharing following the House...
The wait is over for Texas and Arch Manning, though quarterback admits it wasn’t easy being backup
ATLANTA — Arch Manning amassed the largest crowd at SEC media days Tuesday, and it wasn’t particularly close. Neither was the competition for most devoted fan, that title belonged to 13-year-old Connor Petroziello. The Manning superfan arrived at the College Football Hall of Fame at 6:45 a.m., sporting a white...
Kirby Smart praises Gunner Stockton’s leadership but he’s not crowned Georgia’s QB1 yet
ATLANTA — Kirby Smart hasn’t officially named Gunner Stockton starting quarterback for the upcoming season at Georgia, but it doesn’t matter. Since stepping foot on campus, Stockton has prepared like the job is going to be his. Smart said Stockton’s commitment to preparation is one of the things he admires...
Argument over ‘valid business purpose’ for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement
Less than two weeks after terms of a multibillion-dollar college sports settlement went into effect, friction erupted over the definition of a “valid business purpose” that collectives making name, image and likeness payments to players are supposed to have. The new College Sports Commission sent a letter to athletic directors...
Sun Belt approves move to lure Louisiana Tech from Conference USA
NEW ORLEANS — The Sun Belt Conference has formally approved a proposal to extend a membership invitation to Louisiana Tech, a person familiar with the situation said. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity on Monday because the Sun Belt has not announced the membership offer,...
The SEC and Big Ten are currently at a standstill over the College Football Playoff format
ATLANTA — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey said Monday that, despite frequent conversations with Big Ten counterpart Tony Petitti, the two leagues have yet to agree on the College Football Playoff format after this upcoming season and could leave it at 12 teams. The disagreement doesn’t stem from a lack...
BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff transferring following tumultuous few months
PROVO, Utah. — BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff is transferring after a tumultuous few months that included being named in a civil sexual assault suit that was later dismissed. “After a lot of prayers, reflection and conversations with those I trust, I’ve made the difficult decision to officially withdraw from BYU...
New college sports agency rejects donor-backed collectives
The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools. Those arrangements hold no “valid business...
March Madness expansion to 72 or 76 teams floated; change could come as soon as next season
The committees for men’s and women’s Division I basketball met this week to discuss possible expansion of the March Madness tournaments but made no immediate decisions or recommendations. “The still-viable outcomes include the tournaments remaining at 68 teams or expanding the fields to either 72 or 76 teams in advance...
John Calipari heads into his second season at Arkansas trying to balance old and new
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — John Calipari admits he is still navigating the “new” college basketball, a world in which the 66-year-old’s traditional recruiting style is no longer the norm. But Calipari made it work last season, his first with the Razorbacks, and proved naysayers wrong. But the Arkansas basketball coach isn’t...
Colorado coach Deion Sanders declines to address health issues at Big 12 media days
FRISCO, Texas — Deion Sanders declined to address his health at Big 12 football media days Wednesday, which came during his extended absence from Colorado. “I’m not here to talk about my health,” said Sanders, who is going into his third season as the Buffaloes coach. “I’m here to talk...
NCAA’s House settlement era begins, shaking up college athletics as some schools opt out
The NCAA’s House settlement era opened Tuesday, with athletic programs across the country free to start paying millions to their athletes in the biggest change in the history of college athletics. The end of the NCAA’s longstanding amateur model is certain to cause headaches and disputes among powerhouse schools and...
NCAA’s House settlement era begins, shaking up college athletics as some schools opt out
The NCAA’s House settlement era launched Tuesday, with athletic programs across the country free to start paying millions to their athletes in the biggest change in the history of college athletics. It’s the death of the NCAA’s longstanding amateur model, certain to cause headaches and disputes among powerhouse and small-time...
Rebuilding Pac-12 gets its needed 8th football school with addition of Texas State
SAN MARCOS, Texas — Texas State is joining the Pac-12, giving the rebuilding conference the eighth football-playing school it needed to maintain its status as an FBS conference. The Pac-12 and Texas State announced Monday that the Bobcats from the Sun Belt Conference will join holdovers Oregon State and Washington...
National champion LSU hangs hat on pitching under Jay Johnson
OMAHA, Neb. — During its rise as a national power in the 1990s, LSU built its identity on prodigious home run numbers, a style coined “Gorilla Ball.” The game changed over the decades, and so did the Tigers. They still have plenty of offense, but pitching is the name of...
Rebuilding Pac-12 reaches deal with CBS for its football, men’s basketball games
The Pac-12 struck a media-rights deal with CBS on Monday that sets up the network to broadcast a minimum of four football and men’s basketball games per season on its main network and provide a cable and streaming presence for the reconfigured league from 2026-31. Financial details of the new...
LSU sweeps CWS finals for 2nd national title in 3 years
OMAHA, Neb. — LSU knocked previously unbeaten Coastal Carolina ace Jacob Morrison out of the game with a four-run fourth inning, and the Tigers won their second national championship in three years Sunday with a 5-3 victory in the College World Series finals. The Tigers (53-15) completed a two-game sweep...
