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PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray will retire at the end of the academic year after 29 years leading the conference. Shippensburg President/PSAC Board of Directors Chair Charles Patterson: “Steve Murray’s years of service to the PSAC have been defined by steady leadership, thoughtful growth, and an unwavering commitment to excellence. Under Steve’s guidance, the conference successfully expanded its membership while continuing to uphold the conference's longstanding tradition of competitive success and academic achievement. His impact will be felt for years to come, and we are grateful for the leadership and integrity he brought to the conference throughout his distinguished tenure.” (link)

Belmont Abbey AD Stephen Miss is no longer leading the Crusaders after serving as AD since 2012. Deputy AD Paul Lyon will serve as Interim AD. (link)

Ahead of today’s business session, the DII Executive Board recommended referring the fifth year of eligibility proposal back to the Executive Board, with the board to “report back to the membership in time for sponsorship of legislation for the 2028 NCAA Convention.” The board and Management Council approved an allocation of nearly $12M, $4.1M in a supplemental distribution to the membership and close to $7M from reserves for future initiatives. The Management Council approved a pair of noncontroversial legislative items: eliminating the June 15 intent to transfer notification deadline and exempting out-of-region basketball opponents from counting as in-region for championship selection. Looking to the 2027 Convention, the council approved a proposal to eliminate the 60 award limit on men’s sports outside of football and basketball. (link)

The referral of the fifth year of eligibility proposal back to the Executive Board passed during today’s business session. Of the other 16 legislative proposals on the docket, 11 passed and five were defeated. Those five: increasing the daily and weekly hour limitations during baseball’s nonchampionship segment, increasing the maximum number of baseball contests from 50 to 52, starting the soccer preseason practice schedule with a four-day acclimatization period, limiting softball’s 56-contest limit to the championship segment and adding four competition dates in another segment and directing the DII governance structure to revisit the football championship date formula resolution and align it with the FCS and DIII championships. (link)

NCAA members voted for acrobatics and tumbling, STUNT and DII women’s bowling to become championship sports and added women’s flag football as an emerging sport. President Charlie Baker: “This moment reflects the growth of college sports, as schools continue to provide a record number of scholarships and opportunities across the NCAA. By expanding championship opportunities, we celebrate the remarkable momentum of women's sports, ensuring more student-athletes have the chance to compete for national titles, represent their institutions and inspire future generations.” (link)

NCAA President Charlie Baker in his annual State of College Sports address highlighted several achievements from the past year, including increased scholarships and unprecedented direct financial benefits for student-athletes, record-breaking participation, new championships, fiscal responsibility and enhanced storytelling through media rights partners like ESPN. Baker also underscored the need for a collective response to address ongoing challenges such as eligibility-related lawsuits, sports betting and prediction markets. Here are some of the takeaways…

➤ On benefits to student-athletes: “We grew the number of opportunities for student-athletes to compete to 556,000 Association-wide, which happens to be the most ever.  This marks eight consecutive years of increases. In DI, the total number of opportunities to compete grew to its highest level in 40 years. And DI is on track to continue this growth — despite cost pressures we know are wildly difficult to manage. …   Student-athletes are on track to receive over $1 billion in new, direct financial benefits from their schools this year. Combined with scholarships and other aid, that adds up to about 50% of (Autonomous 4) revenue — going right to the young people we serve.  And, on top of this, we worked together to completely reform how DI operates by doubling student-athlete votes on our boards."

➤ On the industry’s biggest challenges: "There is no better rule or quick fix that solves the problems we face — not without tremendous downside. We should all beware of those quick fixes. There's usually a middleman who stands to gain. And beware of the solution that works for only 5% of the student-athletes we serve and would come at a steep cost to the other 95%. It's our job collectively to consider the future Olympians and the future leaders we serve just the same. … The attacks on the rules are not only coming from outside the membership. It's a tiny fraction of the membership, to be sure, but they are destabilizing 100% of our athletics programs. There is no more perfect rule or bylaw that can overcome that. That's not to say we can't make progress — we have to, and we will."

➤ On the need to work with Congress: "In Congress, I believe there is common ground around the period of eligibility, academic standards, reasonable transfer policies and other bedrock principles. Through targeted intervention on only the narrowest of issues in Congress, combined with our continued internal transformations, I think we can build the system today's athletes require. Now, I have been a part of a lot of difficult efforts to craft legislation on difficult issues. Sometimes, to make progress, we have to break issues up, make incremental progress where we can, and then come back to what we can't. But we will get nowhere, regardless of the issue, if we as college sports leaders are not on the same page." 

➤ On sports gambling: "We need federal guardrails to protect the integrity of the game. And, in addition to the areas mentioned previously, this need is particularly urgent as it relates to sports betting. Legalization has brought with it a host of threats to our games and to student-athletes. In response, the NCAA built the largest integrity monitoring program in the world. We educate hundreds of thousands of student-athletes about the rules and the risks of sports betting. We find and report threatening messages athletes receive online. We teamed up with Venmo because student-athletes were getting harassed by bettors with gambling debts. Our enforcement team uncovered student-athletes who manipulated their performance to win bets. We caught coaches trading inside information. We took action and banned those responsible. But the sports betting industry's response has been a shoulder shrug. … That's why today we petitioned the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to pause all college sport commodities offerings until the agency can develop the same regulations that legal sportsbooks operate under. Whether it's transfer windows or prop bets, the answer cannot be the status quo. We need one set of fair, transparent standards.”

➤ Full address. (link)

The NCAA secured another legal victory when U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell Jr. denied a preliminary injunction in Patterson v. NCAA, blocking a bid by Vanderbilt (DI) LB Langston Patterson and other plaintiffs to secure a fifth year of eligibility for the 2026-27 season. Campbell, who previously granted an injunction for Vandy QB Diego Pavia, ruled that plaintiffs failed to show that the NCAA's procompetitive benefits could be achieved through "substantially less restrictive means" and cautioned against the court second-guessing "degrees of efficiency" in eligibility limits. With this ruling, the NCAA has now won 26 of 36 injunction decisions in eligibility disputes. (link); Heitner Legal Founder Darren Heitner offers more context: “The decision leaves open the possibility that the plaintiffs could prevail on a more fully developed record at trial, but signals that some courts remain hesitant to dismantle longstanding eligibility rules without compelling evidence they're patently stricter than necessary.” (link)

In a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 20 men have been charged as part of a point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 college basketball players on 17 NCAA Division I teams, resulting in more than 29 games being fixed, per ESPN’s David Purdum. Overall, 20 of the 26 defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons, while some have played this season. (link).

Walsh has been awarded the DII Award of Excellence for its Cav Salute programming to honor veterans and service members. Johnson C. Smith and USC Aiken finished in second and third, respectively. (link)

Clark Atlanta names Alabama State (DI) Director of Football Operations and Chief of Staff/former Bethune-Cookman (DI) Football HC Terry Sims as the Panthers’ new HC. (link)

Coaches.wire…
➤ American International names high school HC Keith Campbell as the Yellow Jackets’ next Men’s Lacrosse HC. (link)
➤ Cal State San Marcos Cross Country/Track & Field HC Torrey Olson steps down to pursue a role outside of athletics. (link)
➤ College of Staten Island hires high school HC Mark Biancoviso as the Dolphins’ next Softball HC. (link)
➤ Minot State selects club and high school HC Josh Wastvedt as the Beavers’ new Women’s Volleyball HC. (link)
➤ Saginaw Valley State welcomes Saint Mary (NAIA - KS) Women’s Flag Football HC Amber Clark-Robinson as its first flag football HC. (link)
➤ St. Mary’s (TX) taps Winona State Interim HC Kristine Pelky as its next Women’s Volleyball HC. (link)
➤ Check out dozens & dozens of additional coaching staff moves from across the country in this morning’s Coaches.wire. (link)