D1.ticker Top Ten - The most clicked stories of the past week |
| |
|
Game One is a one-stop shop for premium intercollegiate athletic uniforms, apparel, footwear, equipment, facility needs, compliance solutions, and more. Its mission is to inspire and elevate the spirit and identity of teams. For more information about Game One's elite sales and service model, please click HERE.
|
#10: There were 24,105 fans on hand at FirstBank Stadium in Nashville to watch Montana State claim this year’s FCS national championship, the first FCS/DI-AA title matchup to go into OT. Hero Sports’ Sam Herder notes this was the seventh-most attended FCS championship game in history and largest since 1996. Congrats to the Bobcats! (link, link); Have a look at the winning extra point. (link)
|
#9: Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports on the process of attempting to lure high-level transfer portal quarterbacks through the lens of LSU’s failed pursuit of former Cincinnati student-athlete Brendan Sorsby and a potential $3.5M package. The school’s 11-page proposed service agreement “offers a fascinating window into the new world of college athlete compensation, where schools are using multi-media rights partners, marketing agencies, corporate sponsors and apparel brands to, perhaps legally, exceed the industry’s new quasi-salary cap. … The Sorsby contract proposal shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared. It could make for some anxious moments this spring, when the clearinghouse is expected to receive an influx in third-party contracts that have already been guaranteed to athletes.” One anonymous college sports official told Yahoo: “There’s going to be some rude awakening when these deals start to be submitted. This is going to end with a lot of these guarantees not being met.” More. (link)
|
#8: The College Sports Commission has “released interpretive guidance holding that deals that seek to later offset rev share pool effect based on future third party deals count fully towards the pool, regardless of if that offset happens,” per Boise State Asst. Professor Sam Ehrlich. Full CSC interpretation. (link)
|
#7: Penn State Senior Assoc. AD for Strategic Communications Kris Petersen steps down after nearly 20 years with the Nittany Lions. (link) |
#6: New Mexico State AD Joe Fields has initiated a major restructuring of the athletics department, effectively removing three senior leaders in Deputy AD/COO Braun Cartwright, Deputy AD for Strategic Initiatives and Leadership/SWA Amber Burdge, and Deputy AD for Sports Administration and Student Development/Chief DEI Officer James Hall. In an email sent Monday, Fields announced the "difficult decision to reorganize and repurpose several positions," stating the move was necessary to "better align resources with our goals and priorities." The Las Cruces Sun-News' Nick Coppola notes the shakeup clears out significant institutional knowledge, as Cartwright had been with the university since 2005, Hall since 2006 and Burdge had served as the Acting AD following the dismissal of former AD Mario Moccia in early 2025. Fields also noted NMSU will provide more information regarding "staff adjustments and organizational leadership" in the coming days. (link)
|
#5: Ohio State taps Baylor Executive Senior Assoc. AD for External Administration and Business Development Chris Park as Executive Assoc. AD for External Affairs and Chief Communications Officer. (link)
|
#4: If you want to see how men’s and women’s basketball programs stack up in a variety of metrics, including Wins Above Bubble, check out the D1.ticker Comparative MBB and WBB Rankings. (link - MBB, link - WBB)
|
#3: ESPN's Pete Thamel reports the college sports world is watching the Demond Williams Jr. situation with Washington intently, viewing it as a "litmus test" for the enforceability of contracts in the new era. “Williams' case speaks to a larger issue in which contracts around the sport -- binding schools to leagues, coaches to schools and players to programs -- are largely being ignored. The situation illuminates the system's flaws, including not having any single entity in charge of the inter-workings of contracts in a multibillion-dollar business. The Williams contract issue doesn't fall under the purview of the new College Sports Commission, which handles third-party name, image and likeness deals to meet legal settlement rules, revenue sharing from schools in relation to the cap and roster limits.” More key takeaways…
➤ An unnamed “high-ranking” official: “This is a very bright line. Are we going to respect each other's contracts? This is a very simple thing. If we can't protect this, nothing else matters.”
➤ One GM says: "It's extremely embarrassing the system allows this. There's no stability at all. How are people sitting around watching everything crumble? What are the leaders doing? What are the commissioners doing? How do we not get everyone in a room and not leave until there's a solution." ➤ A “prominent AD” adds: “This situation is a product of 2026 football. Where the story ends, this is one of the big moments in college football -- or really, college sports -- and what we do next." ➤ Another “high-ranking” official: “This is a very important moment in our space about how we're going to behave.” ➤ Here’s the full article. (link) |
#2: Must watch: Check out Georgia AD Josh Brooks congratulating Ole Miss’ Keith Carter after the Sugar Bowl thriller. Brooks’ main message: “Make sure you enjoy it… the first one, I never enjoyed it.” (link)
|
#1: We’ve all heard a bunch about Tulsa Football’s “Portal House.” Now we can finally take a look inside. (link) |
|
|
|
