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#10: The Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi credits Florida AD Scott Stricklin with showing patience when Gators Men’s Basketball HC Todd Golden was beset by misconduct allegations before the start of the season: “In today’s cancel-culture climate, the expedient path would have been to suspend or even dismiss Golden to mitigate potential reputational damage. After all, nobody had any inclination at the time that the Gators had a national championship-caliber team. However, Stricklin chose a different course – one rooted in the principles of unwavering support, due process and innocent until proven guilty. He put his own job on the line by allowing the investigation to unfold without prejudgment, allowing Golden to keep coaching his team despite the potential of the damning allegations being proven true.” Stricklin last week told Bianchi: “Both morally and legally, it was the right thing to do. Anyone can make an allegation, but it doesn’t mean it’s true. He [Golden] has rights just like the people who make allegations have rights. And so there’s a process and we followed that process. Todd has been completely honest and truthful since I first met him and I had no reason to think that was any different in this situation.” Stricklin added: “You’re investing in people. And I have a lot of faith in our people. Even successful people stub their toe every once in a while. As Billy Donovan once said: Great coaches know how to overcome adversity and not let it distract them.” (link)
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#9: Power 4 commissioners spoke at a reception to cap College Sports Day on the Hill, and Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger reports that Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said the House settlement “needs to be codified” with a federal bill and called the portal “unsustainable.” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips intimated that the commissioners “feel really good” about Wednesday's meetings and emphasized the importance of preserving Olympic sports. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey remarked that leaders must “keep pushing” for federal legislation and argued that the “downstream effects” of employment would be “substantial.” Finally, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said “access” and other benefits for athletes would “go down” in an employment model. (link)
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#8: SBJ’s Bret McCormick takes a look inside Populous’ design for the New York Liberty’s new locker room, which is less of a locker room than it is a players’ lounge with private suites instead of lockers. “The player suites (their dimensions haven’t been finalized) contain a seven-foot daybed for naps or relaxing, a desk at which Zoom calls with agents or potential brand partners could be conducted, and vanity mirrors for pre- and post-practice skin and hair care routines. Ample closet space, especially for shoes, was a specific request from Liberty players. Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb: “It just made so much sense from a recovery standpoint and privacy standpoint for our players. Then we figured why don’t we make that shared space in there the player lounge, so that they’re interacting and you’re getting team bonding, but also a reprieve.” The lounge is part of an $80M training facility in Brooklyn and Kolb adds: “When we’re trying to be efficient about our space, that should be a sanctuary for our players and no one else should step foot in it but the players. Then the imagination can wonder, if no one else is setting foot in there, what can we do with that space to make it different from anywhere else?” Have a look at some renderings. (link)
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#7: As expected, U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken did not issue a final ruling on the House case, but remarked when wrapping up the hearing: “Basically, I think it is a good settlement — don’t quote me. I think it is worth pursuing and I think some of these things could be fixed if people tried to fix them, and that it would be worth their while to try to fix them.” Regarding what she would like to see changed, Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger notes that “Wilken was clear: Change the roster limit situation or risk not having me approve the settlement.” Wilken explained that “my idea is to grandfather in” those currently on rosters. “It would save a lot of angst.” Dellenger also reports that Wilken “turned most of her attention to two concepts: the new roster limits and the settlement’s injunctive class. Athletes, even those not currently in college, are automatically part of the 10-year settlement’s injunctive class that releases any future legal claims that they might have.” Wilken called the latter a “difficult concept,” adding: “I’m having trouble with binding people who aren’t here and releasing claims for things that haven’t happened.” Wilken recommended that attorneys adjust language in the settlement agreement so that future athletes are only part of the injunctive class once they are provided an opportunity to object to the deal after joining a DI program. [NCAA/power conferences’ counsel Rakesh] Kilaru said the 10-year injunctive class is necessary and without it, “there will not be stability and there will not be a deal.” Wilken said to Kilaru: “See what you think you can do about all these issues. Maybe some you can fix or some you can’t but can give (me) a better explanation.” (link)
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#6: North Carolina has allocated a total of $19.312M for its football coaching staff, including $10M for HC Bill Belichick, $1.5M for GM Michael Lombardi, $1.3M for DC Steve Belichick and $1.15M for OC Freddie Kitchens. Full list. (link)
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#5: Arizona Women’s Basketball HC Adia Barnes will head to SMU for the same position, per On3’s Talia Goodman. (link)
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#4: Congratulations to Florida on bringing home the men’s basketball national championship. (link); Gators HC Todd Golden: “It's a heck of an accomplishment. I'm super proud of everybody in my program, top to bottom. My staff, been together for three years, worked incredibly hard to help get our players to this point. Our players, they've been the difference all the way along. Been incredibly consistent all year. Have worked with a great work ethic.” (link); Here’s this year’s One Shining Moment. (link)
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#3: With 843.25 points, North Carolina leads second-place Stanford (760.50 points) in the first winter Learfield Directors' Cup standings. Rounding out the top 10 are Wisconsin (693.70), Ohio State (683.75), USC (642.00), Texas (623.50), BYU (557), Penn State (548.50), Duke (542.50) and Tennessee (541.75). At the conference level, the SEC leads all Division I conferences with nine institutions in the top-25 – Texas (6), Tennessee (10), Alabama (13), Arkansas (17), Florida (18), Kentucky (20), Ole Miss (22), Georgia (23) and Texas A&M (25). (link, link – full standings)
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#2: Merrimack will hire TCU Asst. Vice Chancellor/Senior Assoc. AD Joe Foley as its new AD, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel. (link)
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#1: U.S. Representative Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) has filed a bill that would create a new association to replace the NCAA, known as the American Collegiate Sports Association (ASCA) and require all NIL money from schools & collectives to be distributed equally to athletes at ASCA schools. Kennyhertz Perry attorney Mit Winter breaks it down, noting the legislation would also “provide college athletes the right to transfer freely, require conferences to be composed of schools in the same time zone, require all athletics revenue to be equally distributed among schools and athletes, and limit coach salaries to 10x of school cost of attendance.” Here’s the full thread, which includes a number of eye openers. (link)
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