D1.ticker Top Ten - the most clicked stories of the past week |
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CSA Search & Consulting is pleased to welcome Amanda Gross as Chief of Staff. Amanda brings over 15 years of experience in higher education leadership, including service as Chief of Staff to both a Division I Athletics Director and a University President. At CSA, she will oversee internal operations, strengthen strategic planning, and guide brand management - further enhancing the firm’s ability to deliver best-in-class executive search and consulting services across higher education and intercollegiate athletics. Read the full release here. Discover how CSA’s expanding team and proven process can help your institution find the right leaders and strategies to succeed.
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#10: Mississippi Valley State has cancelled the remainder of its 2025 Women’s Soccer campaign due to “unforeseen health and safety concerns within the program.” Per a school release, the decision, effective immediately, was made in consultation with university leadership and medical staff and in accordance with NCAA guidelines. (link)
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#9: Join Tennessee AD Danny White and Chancellor Donde Plowman for a tour of some of the renovations to Neyland Stadium, including the widened concourses, modernized bathrooms (no more troughs), more varied amenities, new student section and more. Have a look. (link)
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#8: Auburn adds veteran senior leader Jim Booz as Executive Senior Assoc. AD for Compliance after serving as the Director of Collegiate Athletics Advisory Services at James Moore & Co since March 2024. (link)
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#7: In a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) confirms House leaders plan to bring the SCORE Act to a vote next week. Included in the letter is a table depicting how “some schools stand to be winners and losers in a viewership-based distribution system based on how often schools in the top conferences were participants in one of the top 100 most-viewed college football games of the 2023 or 2024 seasons. This chart also serves as a roadmap for likely future conference realignments. When television contracts are renegotiated, teams with the highest viewership in the ACC and Big 12 are most likely to get poached by the SEC and Big Ten, while schools with the lowest viewership across all conferences are in danger of losing their conference spots or equal revenue distribution.” According to the table, the SEC teams appeared in 148 of the 100 most-viewed games from the 2023 and 2024 seasons, followed by the Big Ten (121), Big 12 (49) and ACC (46). Cantwell continues: “As the gap widens, opportunity narrows for everyone but the schools raking in most of the media revenues. As the chart below demonstrates, the SEC and Big Ten have been able to leverage their disproportionate share of revenues to start dominating the Men’s Basketball Tournament. Since 2014, spending by SEC men’s basketball programs has increased by 76% as of 2023. Spending by the Big Ten has increased 69%. In March 2025, the SEC and Big Ten captured more at-large bids than all the other conferences combined. The SEC and Big Ten dominance in March Madness hurts smaller schools, including traditional basketball powerhouses that are unable to subsidize basketball through football revenues, meaning traditional midmajor basketball powerhouses cannot compete. This dominance also heightens the risk of the SEC and Big Ten demanding a greater share of TV rights revenue for the tournament when the current TV media rights deal expires in 2032, or even leaving the NCAA altogether. And it hurts fans who want to see Cinderella stories during March Madness.” (link, link); Full letter. (link)
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#6: Barstool Sports Founder Dave Portnoy announces he will not be on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff this weekend, adding: “No further questions at this time.” (link)
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#5: Coastal Carolina had 19 home sporting events last week and AD Chance Miller offered anyone who attended all 19 of them the chance to lead the football team onto the field during the season opener. Check out the video of “The Banana Man” doing just that. (link)
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#4: UC San Diego makes the hire of Andy Fee as its new AD official. Notably from Fee: “Our goal is clear: make UC San Diego the top D1-AAA athletic department in America, with basketball leading the charge and deepening our connections with the campus and San Diego community.” CollegeAD was among the first reporting the school was targeting Fee for the position. (link, link)
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#3: USF officially announced Higgins’ hire as Bulls Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford frames: “Rob Higgins has proven during his time with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission that he isn’t afraid to dream big. He’ll bring that same ambition to USF and we’re excited to welcome him back home to lead our next chapter.” Higgins: “I never imagined that an opportunity to volunteer as a young boy at USF basketball games would take me down a path to a career of over 20 years serving at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and now the opportunity to return to my alma mater as the first CEO of Athletics. Cliches are often rooted in some truth, but this truly is a dream come true. I could not be more honored to take on this responsibility and could not be more excited to get started.” CSA Search & Consulting assisted with the process. ESPN’s Pete Thamel broke the news. (link, link)
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#2: Ohio selects South Dakota State Deputy AD Slade Larscheid as its new AD. President Lori Stewart Gonzalez: “We had the opportunity to speak with several outstanding candidates over the past few weeks, which is a testament to the momentum driving Ohio University and our Department of Athletics. Ultimately, Slade has so many of the characteristics and experiences that we sought in a new Director of Athletics, including a demonstrated history of enhancing the student-athlete experience, valuing academics, winning championships and generating revenue.” Parker Executive Search assisted with the process. (link)
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#1: Cal State Bakersfield AD Kyle Conder is no longer leading the Roadrunners, per President Vernon Harper, who notes in an email to the campus community: “CSUB Athletics is an integral part of this university and the entire Kern County community. I want to underscore my commitment to our scholar-athletes, the Athletics Program staff, and to our incredibly loyal network of supporters, here on campus and beyond. As we look to the future of Roadrunner Athletics, I pledge to work with students, staff and faculty, as well as our community partners, to evolve and enhance our program while nurturing a culture of safety and respect, allowing our scholar-athletes to soar both in the classroom and in competition.” Assoc. AD for Development/SWA Sarah Tuohy will serve as Acting AD. (link)
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