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The college sports system is “irreparably broken, yet more popular than ever,” per the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy, who recently sat down with NCAA President Charlie Baker and outgoing Knight Commission member/former Northeastern/Dartmouth AD Peter Roby to discuss today’s college sports environment…

➤ Baker: “I think to say that the power conferences don’t care about education is wrong. …  I worry a lot about the transfer stuff having an impact on graduate rates, but the transfer rules we had were taken away from us in a court decision in West Virginia a couple of years ago. … Most of the student-athletes I talk to really want to be students first and want to play sports. They do not want to be employees. That’s not how they want to roll. … The thing that people don’t see that I get to see all the time is the kids. They make me glad I am in this role. They are smart, proud, accomplished. The lessons they learn playing sports about teamwork and putting your own interests aside and being able to take constructive criticism and do the grind. They’re applicable everywhere for the rest of their lives. … There’s a lot about [his job] that’s frustrating. But I spent most of my career in healthcare and government, and those can be frustrating environments, as well.”

➤ Roby: “Schools continue to complain about rising costs and the need for more revenue, yet they are paying out multimillion-dollar buyouts for fired coaches and hiring coaches at $12M per year. The way things are trending, the NCAA will not exist in its current form in the next few years. It will only manage sports championships. … It’s time to separate [schools with the biggest school-based NIL programs] from schools that believe in the primacy of education and the personal development of young people. … Let’s create another division within Division I to allow like-minded schools to compete on a more level playing field academically, philosophically, and athletically.” More. (link)

Wisconsin-River Falls AD Crystal Lanning sat down with The Left Hash Call’s Seth Howard to discuss the momentum for the Falcons. “I think when we got that first national championship in the current era, it had been a while – 2008 we got a women's track and field championship. So, it had been quite a while, but I think that put River Falls on the map and kind of like, ‘Oh, what's happening over there,’ and maybe raised some awareness. When they got the second one, it was like, ‘Oh, let's dig into it and see what's really happening at River Falls.’ But I think it's been a culmination of things. So, the Falcon Center opened in 2017. That was life-changing in so many ways for those of us that have been here long enough and knew where we came from to what we have now. That was a big stepping point. So now recruits can come in and see a place that we're proud of and we're proud to show that off to recruits and others. So then when the teams started raising their level, what I'm seeing across the board is other teams are seeing that competitiveness; they can see that women's hockey wins national championships, so why can't I win national championships? Now football's there and we're getting some track and field athletes winning national championships, so it's just a snowball effect that breeds success. So all the foundation is in place and now we're actually reaping the awards from it so it’s really fun to see.” (link)

Ahead of this weekend’s Stagg Bowl, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini chats Wisconsin-River Falls Football HC Matt Walker and AD Crystal Lanning about the changes that helped the Falcons break through, with Walker noting: “I can say ‘joke’ now, but I joke I should’ve been fired three times. Those were some long, hard nights and years.” In addition to the schematic changes for the team, UWRF also changed how they recruit. With most WIAC peers leaning on the greater Chicago area, Walker and his staff found more talent in Minnesota and in other areas of the country with easy access to the airport. Overall, 67 student-athletes are from Minnesota and seven are from Arizona, including key contributors for the Falcons. Walker: “We’re the only ones in our league with the airport that can truly do it, so let’s try it. The flights to Arizona were direct and affordable, without Division III there. This became an easy decision to try Arizona.” (link)

After Baylor (DI) added former 2023 NBA Draft pick James Nnaji mid-season, NCAA President Charlie Baker on the potential of granting eligibility to men’s basketball student-athletes who’ve previously signed NBA contracts, remarks: “The NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an NBA contract (including a two-way contract). As schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising discretion in applying the actual and necessary expenses bylaw to ensure that prospective student-athletes with experience in American basketball leagues are not at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts. Rules have long permitted schools to enroll and play individuals with no prior collegiate experience midyear. While the NCAA has prevailed on the vast majority of eligibility-related lawsuits, recent outlier decisions enjoining the NCAA on a nationwide basis from enforcing rules that have been on the books for decades -- without even having a trial -- are wildly destabilizing. I will be working with DI leaders in the weeks ahead to protect college basketball from these misguided attempts to destroy this American institution.” (link)

Augsburg cross country/track student-athlete Mohammed Bati chatted with The Minnesota Star Tribune’s Chip Scoggins after he was recently ruled ineligible after receiving $6K from a GoFundMe. Bati: “I’m just sad because [people] helped me and seeing this as if they did something wrong. When someone helps you, they’re not supposed to see that as a wrong thing. They don’t deserve that.” Bati has qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in the marathon and Scoggins adds: “Augsburg can file an official reinstatement request to the NCAA. Those requests are typically granted, and one imagines Bati’s case would be a lock to get approved. Augsburg’s indoor track competition season begins Jan. 10. Bati said Monday that he’s ready ‘to move on.’ He’s frustrated that he’s even in this position and must plead his case for reinstatement. He also feels unwanted as a competitor. I never give up,” he said. ‘I’m not the kind of person.’ He intends to keep training because his passion for running has not been diminished.” (link)

Coaches.wire…
➤ John Carroll Football HC Jeff Behrman departs for the same role at Bucknell (DI). (link)
➤ Delaware Valley Men’s Lacrosse HC Will Lawlor departs to become an AC at Haverford. AC Spencer MacQuarrie will serve as Interim HC for the upcoming season. (link)
➤ Football plus 15 other sports had coaching staff changes over the past week. Check them all out in this morning’s edition of Coaches.wire. (link)

Bloomberg’s Beth Kowitt analyzes the results of the 11th annual "Women in the Workplace" study by McKinsey & Co. and LeanIn.org, which found the "ambition gap" between men and women is at its widest point in the survey's history. While women remain committed to their work, only 80% expressed a desire to be promoted to the next level compared to 86% of men. That gap widens significantly at the entry level (11 percentage points) and senior executive (eight percentage points) tiers. Kowitt attributes this to a perceived betrayal by employers, noting that while 88% of companies cited gender diversity as a priority in 2017, that number dropped to 78% last year, with 20% of firms now admitting it is a "low or no priority." Crucially, the data shows the ambition gap disappears entirely when women receive the same managerial backing and sponsorship as their male counterparts; however, amid a rollback of DEI initiatives and flexible work arrangements, McKinsey Senior Partner Alexis Krivkovich observes: "It’s logical that you would start to see ambition drop as women lose faith that corporate America is there for them. They feel it viscerally in their day-to-day experiences.” (link) 

Puck’s Dylan Byers surveys 173 C-suite and executive media insiders on the future of the industry and highlights a decisive pivot toward audience revenue as the primary driver over the next five years. Specifically, 34% of respondents expect subscriptions/memberships to eclipse advertising (27%) as their biggest revenue stream, with nearly half (43%) favoring "focused niche" strategies over the "one big product" flagship model. Other key findings include: 

➤ ESPN’s Future: The industry is split on ESPN, with one-third predicting joint ventures will define its next chapter, while equal shares (24% each) bet on either the resilience of linear carriage or the rise of a flagship DTC product.

➤ Video/Streaming Dominance: 40% identify video/streaming as the biggest growth area in advertising, far outpacing contextual targeting (31%) and podcasts (7%).

➤ The End of Social Distribution: Only 17% expect social platforms to be their strongest audience relationship in five years, compared to 53% for owned-and-operated platforms.

➤ Warner Bros. Discovery Skepticism: 45% view David Ellison's pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery as logical consolidation, but 36% fear it's a "risky overreach" given debt loads and streaming uncertainty.

➤ AI Anxiety: Respondents overwhelmingly cited "diminished content quality" (39%) and "misinformation risks" (33%) as their top concerns regarding AI's impact, with one insider predicting "A.I. experiments will flop and disintegrate into A.I. slop." More. (link)