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Shaw AD George Knox is no longer leading the Bears after five years in the chair. (link)

Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger provides this summary of congressional Democrats’ news conference: “Either of the two introduced college sports bills – the Republican-authored SCORE Act & the Democrat-authored SAFE Act – is unlikely, in its current form, to pass Congress by the mid-term elections next November. Authors and sponsors of the Democrat-backed SAFE Act have *not* held productive discussions with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over a third piece of bipartisan legislation to govern college sports (though Cruz does continue to hold dialogue with others).” (link)

Illinois Springfield AD Mike Hermann sits down with College.town’s Anthony Grassi at the 2025 NACDA Convention to recap his first year leading the Prairie Stars and setting the course for the future. After a year in the chair, Hermann’s three areas of emphasis are providing a great student-athlete experience, enhancing facilities with a focus on UIS’ outdoor facilities and community engagement with a goal of becoming a premier program in the Midwest. To reach that goal, Hermann points to both facilities and mindset, noting of the latter: “How can we become that premier program? How can we have that culture where our athletes feel like they're well prepared and can come out on top of the competition? We have some great programs in the Midwest … so we don't have to look very far. So if we can get to the top of our conference, then we're likely to be at one of the top programs in the Midwest. So we see where the mountain is and we measure ourselves in that progress. We're middle of the pack this year in the Commissioner's Cup in our conference. We talked about that at our end-of-the-year meeting and we're going to lay out steps to move forward.” On reaching that ultimate goal, Hermann: “Evaluate where you are and put a strategy together about where you want to be. How are you going to improve over this year? What steps can you take? And to be mindful of what the ultimate goals are and make sure that everyone understands what you're trying to do, and share that out with the staff about where we're headed in every area so they're clear about the steps that are going to be taken. Sometimes I think coaches and others get frustrated with, well, we said last year we're going to do this, and we didn't make it to the goal, but that's okay. I mean, in fact, you want the goal to be so aspirational that you're not going to quite make it there. You want to make progress, but you might not make it to the goal. So that might indeed be your goal the second year as well and that's okay, but you want to be continuing to head in the right direction and that’s the important part.” More on BOSCA. (link, link)

Of note from DI: The NCAA has sent messaging out to members that the 5-for-5 eligibility rule change that has been circulated isn’t coming to college sports for the foreseeable future. From the NCAA’s message: “The Division I Cabinet determined that, for the remainder of the current academic year and for the rosters competing during the 2026-27 academic year, it will maintain existing eligibility rules as they pertain to student-athletes competing in no more than four seasons of athletics competition in a particular sport over a consecutive five-year period. The Cabinet is studying these policies, along with several related eligibility rules, and will later consider what changes, if any, to implement for future academic years.” More. (link)

It’s Personnel…
➤ West Alabama announces a number of staff changes: Asst. AD Lamont Seward to Assoc. AD for External Operations & Community Engagement, Asst. AD for Academics Michael Jones to Assoc. AD for Academics and Internal Operations and Interim Head Athletic Trainer/Asst. Professor Joni Maddox to Interim Asst. AD for Athletic Training. (link)
➤ Minot State promotes Track & Field HC Jordan Aus to Assoc. AD for Revenue and Ticketing, with Aus to serve in both positions until a new HC is hired. (link)
➤ MSU Moorhead Assoc. AD for Athletic Training Services Shannon Curtin has been tapped as SWA. (link)
➤ Lewis names Florida Tech Assoc. Director of Compliance Brian Darden as Asst. AD of Compliance. (link)
➤ Truman State Asst. AD for Operations/Business Manager Peter Young is no longer with the Bulldogs. (link)

Deal Digest…
➤ Hudl has made its 18th acquisition by adding Athletic Data Innovations to its portfolio, per SBJ’s Joe Lemire, who notes ADI Founder Andrew Gray will join Hudl’s team. As part of the arrangement, ADI’s IP will be incorporated into Hudl Signal, the firm’s athlete management system that launched last April. (link) 
➤ Bowie State and Embry-Riddle are the latest to partner with Influxer to provide personalized NIL merchandise. (link, link)
➤ Angelo State and Lenoir-Rhyne are two of 11 FloSports partner schools using the new FloSports Production Suite, which includes higher quality video, an upgraded graphics package and “a major boost in uptime reliability.” (link)

The NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee has announced the Top 30 honorees – 10 from each division. In DII, honorees include Point Loma Soccer student-athlete Bethany Arabe, San Francisco State Volleyball student-athlete Kimberly DeBoer, Slippery Rock Cross Country/Track & Field student-athlete Anna Igims, Alaska Fairbanks Cross Country/Skiing student-athlete Kendall Kramer, Illinois Springfield Tennis student-athlete Carmen Llopis Fabra, Azusa Pacific Soccer student-athlete Jacqueline Maze, Findlay Golf student-athlete Mary Kelly Mulcahy, UT Tyler Softball student-athlete Sam Schott, Concordia-St. Paul Volleyball student-athlete Teagan Starkey and Columbus State Soccer student-athlete Avery Williams. (link)

We offer our deepest condolences to the Millersville community following the passing of Women’s Golf student-athlete Sydney Barnes. (link)

Lee Men’s Golf student-athlete Drew Zielinski becomes the first DII student-athlete to ever earn an exemption to a PGA Tour event after winning the Bermuda Invite this week. Zielinski will compete at next month’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship. HC Evan Spence: “You recruit guys to play for you and you can't even dream about them accomplishing things like this when wearing your logo. For him to have this opportunity is what dreams are made of. That's what makes college golf the best thing.” (link)

Union Women’s Basketball HC Mark Campbell will retire at the end of this season, his 27th at the helm, and be succeeded by Assoc. HC Sean Blackburn. (link) 

Caoches.wire…
➤ Tampa removes the interim tag from Women’s Volleyball HC Brian Imperiale. (link)
➤ This morning’s edition of Coaches.wire is ready for your review. (link)

In case you missed it: Tuesday’s CRO.ticker featured a deep dive into how AI is transforming the CRO role, including analysis from the people experiencing the evolution; the “potentially revolutionary” ticketing changes being considered by the NFL; the continued rise of ultra-premium seating in sports venues (complete with candy rooms); which fast food chain has the speediest drive-thru; how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are consuming media content and more. Check out yesterday’s edition. (link); If you’re not signed up for CRO.ticker, we invite you to join here. (link)

Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring a potential sale of some or all of its media holdings after reportedly rejecting Paramount’s second offer for the company, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Joe Flint and Lauren Thomas. WBD CEO David Zaslav: “After receiving interest from multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our assets.” The company did not further specify the interest. Warner Chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. says the company will still move forward with a split between its streaming and cable properties: “We continue to believe that our planned separation to create two distinct, leading media companies will create compelling value. That said, we determined taking these actions to broaden our scope is in the best interest of shareholders.” Flint and Thomas note that Comcast is “expected to explore the Warner assets” while Netflix “was seen by some industry observers as a potential suitor for Warner’s entertainment assets, though the streaming company’s co-chief executive Greg Peters played down the idea” earlier this month. (link)