#10: USC has promoted Executive Senior Assoc. AD for Student-Athlete Development Denise Kwok to Deputy AD for Internal Operations/SWA. Kwok will oversee athletics admissions, academic advising and support, personal and career development, student services and Title IX and DEI programming. She will also serve as the primary point of administrative contact for USC Athletic Medicine (sport psychology, nutrition, athletic training) and Office of Athletics Compliance and will serve as the sport administrator for beach volleyball. (link)
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#9: Loyola Marymount AD Craig Pintens plays Athletic Director Simulator 3000 with game designer and Extra Points publisher Matt Brown, with Pintens explaining why he made certain decisions, and the two discussing what was realistic or not. The playthrough covered mentoring and managing coaches, improving game day revenue, donor relations, angry parents, and more. How did he do? Well… let's just say Pintens is better at being an AD than playing computer games. (link)
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#8: An Ingham County judge has granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting former Michigan State Football HC Mel Tucker and his lawyers from releasing additional text messages from Brenda Tracy’s cell phone. Specifically, the judge ordered that Tucker's legal team is barred from "releasing, possessing, using, distributing, retaining any messages, calls, text, emails, and any other data and/or information from Ahlan Alvarado's cellphone…relating in any way to...Brenda Tracy” or anyone affiliated with Tracy’s Set The Expectation organization. According to The Detroit News’ Tony Paul, neither Tucker nor his legal team participated in the hearing. (link)
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#7: Now this is cool. At last Friday’s Blue & Orange Madness, Pepperdine President Jim Gash sank a half-court shot to give a student free tuition for a year. He was immediately mobbed by members of the men’s and women’s basketball programs and high-fived the crowd. According to the school’s website, for 2023-24, tuition will be $65,990. Nice shot, Mr. President. (link)
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#6: Colorado Football HC Deion Sanders is the focus of a new Time cover story by Sean Gregory, who notes CU’s online team store merchandise sales are up 892% year-to-date over 2022. Meanwhile, according to CU Chancellor Phil DiStefano, out-of-state applications have climbed 40%. Sanders: “People are drawn to hope, man. Shoot, we’re David. We ain’t got but a couple of stones here. We’re playing against Goliath every week. We were 1-11, and now you’re tripping about us? We’re pulling people in, man, that just want a chance to be seen, to be heard, to be noticed, to be recognized.” Sanders also says the changing landscape means student-athletes have to grow up more quickly: “They want to be treated like pros, but you’ve got to understand, now there’s scrutiny like the pros. There’s cuts. There’s dissatisfaction. So you can’t have a pity party and want it both ways. ‘Well, I’m still a kid.’ No, no. You’ve got a Benz parked outside.” Full profile. (link)
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#5: SBJ has released its 2023 cohort of New Voices Under 30, which includes RealResponse Director of Business Development for Collegiate Athletics Hannah Dewey. (link); Full list. (link)
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#4: NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan acknowledges Tulane Deputy AD for Operations and Capital Projects Kortne Gosha is a strong candidate to replace former Green Wave AD Troy Dannen: “He’s a rising star in the industry and has the support of many within the athletic department. How the search committee views Gosha’s role in the imbroglio that resulted in his untidy departure from FAMU amid troubling findings by independent investigators likely will determine his level of candidacy.” Should the university look outside the department, Duncan submits that it would be “difficult to find a better fit than [Penn State Deputy AD for External Operations] Scott Sidwell. As a Tulane graduate and New Orleans native, Sidwell is qualified for the job. He has strong contacts with the university and throughout the city. His 30-year track record as an administrator in major college athletics speaks for itself.” Duncan goes on to note that “this is not a job for a rookie. It calls for someone with experience and chops, someone with the networking bona fides to steward the athletic department in what is certain to be a chaotic future. … More than ever, Tulane needs someone who has the school’s best interests, not their own, at heart.” (link)
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#3: Barstool President Dave Portnoy announces Brick Watch Company, which he owns, will sell its watches at a discount ($2,400 to $2,000) with half of the proceeds going to the Ole Miss-focused Grove Collective. (link)
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#2: As for who could be next at Tulane, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports Green Wave Deputy AD for Operations & Capital Projects Kortne Gosha is a name to watch as the school searches for a new AD, noting Gosha “has strong support from the school’s coaches and (former) AD Troy Dannen has been grooming him for the spot for two years.” (link)
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#1: Washington has hired Tulane AD Troy Dannen as its new AD. UW President Ana Mari Cauce: “Troy is committed to excellence across all sports, as well as the success of our students off the field. I'm so thrilled to welcome him and his family to our Husky family because I know he has a deep commitment to student-athletes — enabling them to be champions in competition, in the classroom, and most importantly, in their lives after graduation. He's also a leader in the national conversations about the changing landscape of college sports, which as we move to the Big Ten will be invaluable to securing the long-term success of Husky Athletics.” (link); More from Dannen as Washington has released a This Is SportsCenter-inspired video to support Huskies QB Michael Penix Jr.’s Heisman campaign (and it didn’t take long for Dannen to settle into his new office!). (link)
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