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Well, there's the old saying you can't teach height and at 7-3 Assane Mbaye just might be the tallest player in school history.


Let see what our good friend Jerry C had to say....

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1. He’s a shot-blocker​

The Patrick School’s national team went 27-4 this past winter. Mbaye appeared in about half the games, averaging 2.2 points, 6.4 boards and 3.4 blocks. New Jersey’s top talent evaluator Jay Gomes, publisher of the authoritative NJHoops.com, ranked Mbaye as the state’s No. 18 senior in the Class of 2024.

“He’s very intriguing," Gomes said by phone Friday. "He’s definitely raw, but you don’t find many 7-foot-3 kids who are that long and that agile walking around. He’s long as can be and he runs the floor pretty well. So I was a little surprised he wasn’t getting that much recruiting interest."

Gomes said Mbaye was part of the Patrick School's rotation this past season and got noticeably better from his junior year, which was his first at the school.

"I like his upside a lot," Gomes said. "He’s not a finished product by any means, but there’s something there to work with for sure. Seton Hall’s had luck with (finding and developing) rim protectors before – big guys who don’t have to score much, so I think he’s got a chance to help them out.”

2. He’s had a multinational journey​

Mbaye, who is 19 and will turn 20 in December, hails from the Canary Islands. He played on the under-18 club circuit in Spain in 2021-22, winning a title with the City of Badajoz Academy. He arrived in the U.S. two years ago after a stop in Senegal.

"His dedication and work ethic are throwbacks, and it's clear that he has a bright future ahead in basketball," Patrick School coach Chris Chavannes said. "It's wonderful to see how far he has come since arrival from the Canary Islands."

3. The Patrick School pipeline continues​

In addition to Holloway, the long list of St. Pat’s/Patrick School alums to play for the Hall include Sam Dalembert, Grant Billmeier, Jeff Robinson, Angel Delgado, Jordan Walker, Bryce Aiken, Jamir Harris, and Al-Amir Dawes. Holloway remains close to Chavannes, a longtime mentor.

Chavannes said Mbaye's recent workout with Holloway, his assistants, and outgoing postgrads Dawes and Jaden Bediako left a strong impression as they went over skill development, team strategies and offensive and defensive concepts.

"Assane and I discussed the potential for him to further his game at Seton Hall, emphasizing the importance of ongoing skill enhancement and physical strength in determining his contribution timeline," Chavannes said. "Overall, the pro-level workout showcased Assane's capabilities and highlighted his potential for growth and success at Seton Hall."



The Patrick School product (NJ) recorded 41 blocks in just 12 in-state games last season as The Patrick School went onto a 27-4 national record and 12-0 in those games.

Shaheen Holloway continues to reconstruct a Pirate roster that lost nine players to the Transfer Portal this offseason, including leading scorer Kadary Richmond.

Mbaye is the third class of 2024 signee, joining Jahseem Felton and Godswell Erheriene. But unlike his fellow future teammates there are little expectations that the 7-3 big man will see any quality time and in truth he was only recruited because of his enormous size and potential. Not many Big East teams are signing the 16th best senior in the state of NJ.



Credit the following to Adam Zagoria.....

Mbaye, who was born in Senegal and then moved to the Canary Islands, is fluent in Spanish and French. He is The Hall’s third class of 2024 signee, joining Jahseem Felton and Godswill Erheriene.

He played sparingly his junior season, but Patrick School coach Chris Chavannes said “he has since shown incredible growth and potential. His dedication and work ethic are throwbacks, and it’s clear that he has a bright future ahead in basketball. It’s wonderful to see how far he has come since arrival from the Canary Islands.”

Chavannes added: “Assane Mbaye has emerged as a standout player following a successful season and played a key role in the Patrick School’s season.

“Since the season concluded, Assane has been actively exploring opportunities with various local and national schools and has received multiple offers, with increased interest in recent times.

“Notably, his most recent workout was with Seton University under the guidance of Coach Holloway and his coaching staff, including graduating big man Jaden Bediako. Al Dawes also assisted after his workout. The intense session focused on skill development, team strategies, and both offensive and defensive concepts. Assane’s performance during the workout left a lasting, with Coach Holloway providing valuable guidance through a professional workout.

“Assane and I discussed the potential for him to further his game at Seton Hall, emphasizing the importance of ongoing skill enhancement and physical strength in determining his contribution timeline. Overall, the pro-level workout showcased Assane’s capabilities and highlighted his potential for growth and success at Seton Hall.”

Asked if he could contribute in a college game right now, Chavannes said: “I think the development of his body will dictate his timeline to contribute. Defensively he did give us an edge in many games this year.

“It’s very hard for freshmen to play in college in today’s game. I didn’t expect Assane to play last year. He not only contributed but he was a major factor in our success. With Assane’s work ethic I think you can’t count him out.”


Below is a short mixtape which highlights Assane's mobility but it also shows the needed work the 20 year old will have to put in at SHU to enhance his future capabilities.

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Clearly this is a throwaway commitment with the hope that down the road maybe it pays dividends. If not at least the Pirates have a practice player who can challenge the offense in the paint.

For that reason I cannot give this commitment more than a D.

Everyone has different opinions on the greatest Seton Hall games in memory, here is my list of the TOP 5 games that I've attended:

1. Seton Hall 79 vs ISU 77 - April 4, 2024 - Hinkle Fieldhouse. I know people will discount this game as it was "just the NIT". SHU had a lot to prove in this tournament and the result might have opened the door to more NCAA bids for the Big East. Playing at Hinkle is special, especially when you're playing in front of a hostile crowd for the chance to raise a banner. The comeback is what makes this game so memorable. Down 7 points with under 3 minutes to play, I doubt there was a breathing human who was confident that we'd rally to win the game. The next three minutes were history and we will raise a banner in November.

2. Seton Hall 69 vs Nova 67 - March 12, 2016 - Madison Square Garden. Beating Nova anytime is uplifting for the team and fanbase, doing so at MSG to win the Big East Tournament made it that much sweeter. I believe we helped Nova win the NCAA tourney with the MSG wake-up call. Beating the eventual NCAA champion in the conference tourney was validation for a relatively young team.

3. Seton Hall 103 vs Syracuse 70 - March 14, 1993 - Madison Square Garden. A total team effort lead by Arturus Karnishovas, Jerry walker and Terry Dehere. The game was played at MSG during a snowstorm and was Seton Hall's second BET championship in 3 seasons. Syracuse was a nemesis for SHU, we were 2-25 against the Orangemen in our prior 27 games. Our 103 point total and 33 point margin of victory remain the all-time record in BET history. Watching Boeheim scowl the entire second half was icing on the cake.

4. Seton Hall 95 vs Duke 78 - April 1, 1989 - Seattle Kingdome. The final victory in our Cinderella Story season. Duke was a team loaded with future NBA players, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Alaa Abdelnaby, Phil Henderson, and others. SHU was the clear underdog and quickly trailed by 18 points in the first half. Our team was loaded with seniors and PJ ran a tight ship, known for our blue color work habits and smothering defense. Our team had trailed in several games during the NCAA tournament run and were not phased by the early deficit. Our guys clamped down on D and the team came roaring back. A 35 point scoring swing lead to a 17 point victory over Duke, and a spot in the NCAA championship. What happened next was a travesty.

5. Seton Hall 84 vs Kentucky 83 (OT) - December 18, 2018 - Madison Square Garden. An early season non-conference game against the 9th ranked team in the country. Myles Powell shot 54% from the perimeter and the game was the best for TT in a Pirate uniform. Powell hit a 3 pointer with 1.5 seconds left in regulation, giving the Pirates a 3 point leading. A huge defensive lapse resulted in Kentucky tying the game at the buzzer. The eventually hero was Myles Cale who came through with a 3 pointer as the clock winding down.

Give us your list, only games that you attended.

GO PIRATES!!!

Praise the lord.

Polarizing umpire Angel Hernandez immediately retiring from MLB​

By Christian Arnold

Ángel Hernández, one of MLB’s most infamous umpires, announced he is retiring from baseball.

“Starting with my first Major League game in 1991, I have had the very good experience of living out my childhood dream of umpiring in the major leagues,” Hernandez said in a statement. “There is nothing better than working at a profession that you enjoy. I treasured the camaraderie of my colleagues and the friendships I have made along the way, including our locker room attendants in all the various cities.

“I have decided that I want to spend more time with my family. Needless to say, there have been many positive changes in the game of baseball since I first entered the profession. This includes the expansion and promotion of minorities. I am proud that I was able to be an active participant in that goal while being a Major League umpire.”

The surprising news ends Hernández’s 33-year umpiring career which has been marred by controversial calls and constant complaints about the job he had been doing.

Major League Baseball and the Hernández were negotiating a financial settlement over the past two weeks and came to an agreement during the holiday weekend, according to USA Today.

Hernández, 61, worked his last game back on May 9 as the home plate ump in a game between the White Sox and Guardians in Cleveland and hasn’t umpired a World Series game since 2005.

Hernández has been a lightning rod for controversy and is universally viewed as the worst umpire in the game by players, managers and fans of the sport.

The poor reputation he has dates back almost two decades with player polls by Sports Illustrated in 2006 and 2011 ranking him as the third-worst umpire and an ESPN poll in 2010 putting 22 percent of the respondents as viewing Hernández as the worst in MLB.

Hernández umped just 10 games during the 2023 season because of a back injury, but he got 161 calls according to Umpire Auditor.

The controversial ump once again found himself in the spotlight earlier this year on April 12 when Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford struck out on three straight pitches that were clearly out of the strike zone, and seven other pitches were called strikes that were outside of the zone in that game.

Hernández, a Cuban-American, had previously sued for racial discrimination back in 2017 claiming that he had been passed over World Series assignments and a crew chief position due to his race.

That lawsuit was dismissed in 2021 and an appeals court upheld that ruling last year.

“Hernández has failed to establish a statistically significant disparity between the promotion rates of white and minority umpires,” the appeals court wrote in its ruling. “MLB has provided persuasive expert evidence demonstrating that, during the years at issue, the difference in crew chief promotion rates between white and minority umpires was not statistically significant. Hernández offers no explanation as to why MLB’s statistical evidence is unreliable.”

Hernández began his career as an umpire at the age of 20 in the Florida State League and became a full-time MLB ump in 1993.

— Additional reporting by Joel Sherman

• Sunday, June 9, 2024
• 12:30 PM 5:00 PM
• Liberty Landing 80 Audrey Zapp Drive Jersey City, NJ, 07305

Our host, and captain, Michael Frungillo 92’ invites you to join him on the Vabbuo II for an afternoon on the water. Special guests Coach Holloway, John Fanta, and Bryan Felt will kick off the day with cocktails and conversation at Liberty landing before embarking on a cruise around the New York Harbor including views of the Statue of Liberty, NYC Skyline, the Financial District, the Battery, Governor’s island, and several historic sites. Supper is hosted at PJ Clarke’s Restaurant before returning to Liberty Landing.

$3,000.00

For those of you who ask "why did the Big East invite Connecticut to join the conference", this article has the answer.

One really interesting observation is that BE games (excluding UConn) that have a big 10 leading draw substantially more viewers. There has been some talk online that FOX's Big Ten content quote devalues BiG East content. The reality seems just the opposite. The combination of the two leagues enhances viewers.

For what it's worth, Seton did well, being in two or three of the top 10 games. Creighton appears to be the strongest after Connecticut, but that may have been due to the fact that they had big 10 lead in for those games.

Bottom line: This author is estimating a new contract of approximately $7 1/2 million per school. While that doesn't allow us to compete with the Big Ten and SEC of the world, it's a meaningful number that distinguishes us from the pack of non-P* schools. I was hoping for a little bit more, but that's an OK number. Less than that, is problematic.

Player profile



Godswill Erheriene, a 4 star center in the 2024 class committed to SHU Nov 14th of last year. The 6-9, 225-pound senior out of Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.) ultimately chose the Pirates over offers from Georgia Tech, Maryland, St and others.

Down the road this raw rookie has the ability and potential to be an absolute steal. Let's see what our good friend Jerry C had t say upon the signing....

1. He’s Nigerian.​

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound Erheriene arrived in the U.S. in January 2022. He quickly got the attention of the recruiting industrial complex. 247Sports rates him at three stars and the No. 115 player in the 2024 class. Rivals has him at three stars and No. 128. On3 has him at four stars and No. 108.

In recent interviews, Erheriene indicated that Ole Miss, Mississippi State and UMass were recruiting him hardest along with Seton Hall.

2. He’s a power player who knows his role.​

In late 2022, 247Sports talent evaluator Eric Bossi called Erheriene “easily one of the most intriguing post players” at the HoopHall West showcase.

“A 6-foot-9, 225-pound center who looks like he's already spent a few years in a college weight room…he's acclimated quickly and has been productive simply by playing to his strengths in the low post,” Bossi wrote. “That's playing with power, dunking everything he can, blocking shots and helping out on the glass.”

In late August, at the Will Barton Elite Camp, PrepHoops.com called Erheriene “the most dominant big in attendance. He used every bit of his 6-foot-9 frame to establish position in the paint and make himself available for entry passes, rebounds at both ends or altering shots around the rim.”

The evaluation continued: “He tried to dunk any touch that he had in the paint. When he wasn’t tearing the rim down, he was converting soft touch hooks over his left shoulder or earning second-chance points for his squad. He set punishing screens, pursued rebounds out of his area and his presence alone was enough to make opposing guards think twice.”

3. He can make an immediate impact​

Seton Hall has several bigs scheduled to return next season, but none of them are proven. Erheriene will have a chance to contribute right away.

After fits and starts, the Hall's staff is stringing together some successes in recruiting the high school ranks. As of now the Pirates don’t have any more scholarships available next year – postgrads Al-Amir Dawes and Jaden Bediako are the only current players whose eligibility expires – but obviously much can change in this transient sport.



I think Jerry nailed it. Sight unseen Erheriene has all the tools foreign players from his area seem to have. He strong, very athletic, plays hard but is raw. His D is far ahead of his offense to date and that's where experience is going to play a major part.

HS Mixtape

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Words from the player....


“Seton Hall fits what I’m looking for at the next level. The style of play, the way they utilize their interior player, that’s something I do really well. I believe I would become the best basketball player I can be playing under Coach Holloway and the coaches have all the resources I need to develop my skills and reach my full potential.

I’m a post player, play off the playmaker spot, defender, rebounder, and most importantly I play to win.”

He has a message for Seton Hall fans.

“For the Pirate fans, I’m thrilled to be a part of the Seton Hall family. I’m looking forward to working hard, improving my game, and making Pirate Nation a championship team. I’m excited to play in front of them. I can’t wait to step on the floor and represent Seton Hall with pride and honor. Go Pirates️.”

From the SHU athletic site......

Erheriene attends an elite Metropolitan Area high school in Long Island Lutheran in Brookville, N.Y., currently ranked as the No. 2 high school basketball team in the country according to MaxPreps. Rated as a four-star by On3, Erheriene is the No. 22 center in the class of 2024 according to 247 Sports and he plays for the NY Jayhawks and Riverside Church on the AAU circuit. Erheriene will look to join fellow countrymen Ike Obiagu and Mike Nzei as Pirates who have gone to NCAA Tournaments and competed for BIG EAST championships in South Orange.

"We haven't had an athletic big like Godswill in a long time," Holloway said. "He can run, he can jump, he can rebound, he can block shots and I think his best basketball is ahead of him."

Again, we hear the word potential. I believe the fan base will have to be patient. The ability is there but we might not see it this year. Of course that could well depend on who is the last commit Holloway brings to South Orange. If it's a player like Cook, minutes might come at a premium and that's where patience will become important. Both with the fans and the player.


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I'm going to cautiously give Erheriene the same B I gave Felton. But I am also going to say the same thing I said about his fellow freshmen teammate. If he stays on the roster down the road that B could very well be too low.

South Orange, N.J. — Sophomore pitchers Ryan Reich (Selinsgrove, Pa.) and Michael Gillen (Rochelle Park, N.J.) have been named All-BIG EAST First Team and graduate student pitcher Jackson Balzan (Medford, N.J.) has been named All-BIG EAST Second Team after turning in standout seasons on the mound for the Seton Hall baseball team, the conference office announced Tuesday.

Three pitchers on the All-BIG EAST teams are the most for the The Hall since four Pirate hurlers were named all-conference in 2018. Voting for the All-BIG EAST team and major awards was conducted by the league's eight head coaches who could not cast a ballot for their own teams.

Reich finished as the BIG EAST's strikeout champion with 89 punch outs, the most for a Seton Hall pitcher since Josh Prevost's 111 strikeouts in 2014. In conference games, Reich finished with the second-most strikeouts (51) and posted the third-lowest opponent's batting average (.194). A 2024 Preseason All-BIG EAST selection, Reich was named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week following a career-best performance at Georgetown where he struck out 13 batters in seven innings.

Gillen had the fourth-lowest ERA in the BIG EAST (2.31) and his 1.25 ERA in conference games was the second-lowest among BIG EAST pitchers that made a minimum five appearances. Opponents hit just .207 off of him in seven league games, which ranked eighth in the conference, and he picked up the winning decision in Seton Hall's walk-off win over UConn on May 4 and its extra inning victory against St. John's on May 11. Gillen led the Pirates with a 2.31 ERA and four winning decisions.

In his first season competing at the Division I level, Balzan had one of the best season's for a pitcher in conference play in 2024. He posted the fifth-lowest ERA in BIG EAST games with a 1.98 ERA and his .170 opponent's batting average was the second-lowest among conference pitchers. Balzan tied for third on the team with 18 appearances and made all five of his starts in league play. He was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll after fanning a season-high eight batters and allowing just two hits in six innings against St. John's on May 11.

A Medal of Honor winner.

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Angel Hernandez is officially retired. Thanks for the memories, king.

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Pete Thamel, ESPN

Nothing is easy in college sports.

And with the Power 5 conferences and NCAA board of governors voting Thursday to accept the settlement of three antitrust cases that create a new structure for the sport, the moment is layered in both historic change and looming ambiguity.

The more than $2.7 billion of back damages and a new revenue-sharing model that come with the settlement of House v. NCAA and two related antitrust cases mark a distinct pivot for college sports. Amateurism, long a fragile and fleeting notion in the billion-dollar college sports industry, is officially dead. College sports, long a fractured group of fiefdoms, came together in an attempt to save themselves, with the jarring sight of five power leagues and the NCAA together on a press release.

This is a necessary and important week for the business of college athletics, yet not a celebratory one for its leaders. It's a promising day for future athletes who are being compensated with revenue sharing expected to be more than $20 million per school.

And it's also a confusing week for the coaches and leaders on campus, who have no idea what the specific rules of engagement are moving forward.

There should be no trips to the chiropractor from self-congratulatory back pats for taking this step, as the business of college sports will remain messy. No one should be cheered for paying billions just to avoid paying additional billions.

The peace that NCAA and conference leaders hope they are purchasing with their billions in settlement money is seemingly tentative. While the settlement will make it harder for plaintiff attorneys to wield the threat of billion-dollar damages in the future, athletes will have options to keep challenging any restriction or cap on how they are paid. As the final yes votes were being collected this week, a separate federal case in Colorado -- Fontenot v. NCAA -- continued to march forward on its own track, leaving open the possibility that NCAA lawyers won't have time to catch their breath before fighting the next battle on capping athlete compensation.

The games on the fields and arenas of college sports remain wonderful, the television ratings in college football and the NCAA tournament for men's and women's basketball are all gangbusters. And the NCAA, behind decisive leadership from president Charlie Baker, appears to have bought increased relevance in the coming years by finding enough consensus to avoid a catastrophic financial loss from yet another court decision going against it.

But the reality of the culmination of votes on Thursday, which still need the approval of Judge Claudia Wilken, is that college leaders took the best bad option. Pay billions now and share the revenue or, lawyers predicted, lose a series of lawsuits, declare bankruptcy and start over.

How we got here is simple. As college sports roared from regional passion to national obsession through the 1990s and this century, NCAA leaders and college presidents clung to a business model that didn't pay the talent. (The coaches, not coincidentally, were compensated at significant levels because the players never commanded a salary.)

Just three years ago, the NCAA fought the notion of paying athletes a now-quaint $6,000 in academic-based awards all the way to the Supreme Court. So it's hard to overstate just how drastic the tenor change is surrounding college sports.

Somewhere along the way, as conference television networks formed, commissioner salaries boomed to $5 million a year -- for former Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, of all people -- and the television contracts rivaled professional sports', there was never a way to directly cut in the athletes. Until this week.

So what does this mean for college sports when revenue sharing comes as early as fall 2025? Where does this take us?

We've outlined the lingering questions that will need to be hammered out. Most of the decisions to this point have been guided by the NCAA, lawyers and commissioners, and there will be a point when the actual participants in the weeds of the sports -- the athletic directors and coaches -- have a voice in the process. Or at least they hope to.

Along with making it less financially appealing for plaintiff attorneys to challenge the NCAA in antitrust cases, college leaders are also hoping they can lay their new settlement at the feet of Congress as a show of good faith. In turn, they hope to spur some momentum for a federal law that gives them increased protection from lawsuits in the future. However, there are no guarantees the settlement will shake loose any votes on Capitol Hill, which has thus far been stagnant on NCAA-related legislation and will have most of its time occupied by November's election.

Without help from Congress, it will remain a bumpy road for the NCAA to enforce the kinds of rules it thinks are necessary to restore stability to college sports.

How does Title IX factor into the financial calculus? That looms as the biggest campus worry. How will rosters be constructed? Football coaches who have 130 players on their team -- 85 scholarships and 45 walk-ons -- are wondering if they need to cut a third of the roster with the expected inclusion of roster caps.

"This all is well intended, but I'll believe it when I see it," an industry source told ESPN. "There are three big issues looming that will determine how this goes: The Title IX strategy for the implementation of revenue distribution, enforcement issues surrounding residual NIL and how roster caps work."

If NIL remains outside athletic departments, as expected, who will police it? The NCAA's enforcement track record is nearly as poor as its legal record. Could there be someone -- perhaps a magistrate or special master appointed by Judge Wilken -- who is an arbiter of the interpretations of the settlement?

"You are going to need a new group to handle enforcement of NIL," another industry source said. "Not the NCAA, because the system is going to be completely different. An entity that looks like the NFL or NBA league office, because the issues that matter are different from the previous regulatory focus at the NCAA. It was all about amateurism. Now it's going to be much different, you effectively have a salary cap."

The problem with policing NIL is that separating deals based on endorsements from those that are thinly veiled payments for performance remains just as much of a subjective process as it has been during the past three years. It's unclear how any settlement terms will provide the tools schools need to shut down a thriving NIL market that is outside their direct control.

Athletic directors are facing the most significant decisions of their careers -- how do they find the money and slice it up? The only certainty is there will be unhappiness on campus, as the value of teams to their administrators will now include a dollar sign.

And that will come with much consternation, including the potential cutting of Olympic sports to help fund the roster of financial bell cows.

Be ready for a few months of ambiguity, as formal federal approval looms and then the real work of hammering out the details will begin.

Those are the questions being asked today by just about everyone in the industry. Coaches don't know how to recruit the Class of 2025, as the recruiting rules -- right down to how many players can be on the roster -- have yet to be determined.

Football players will go on official visits this month prior to their senior seasons and not know what to expect. Schools won't even know basic details like roster spots and available money.

So while history will come with the expected formalization of this settlement, the immediate future of what this looks like remains unclear. Which is fitting, as fixing decades of issues was always going to be a slog.

Because it remains true that nothing is ever easy in college sports.

By Bridget Reilly

Notre Dame had its statement ready in the wake of a bombshell NCAA settlement, and it wasn’t vague on its stance about potential athlete compensation.

On Thursday, the NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences came to an agreement to pay almost $2.8 billion to settle several antitrust claims.

It’s an agreement — which still needs a federal judge’s approval — that, in Notre Dame’s opinion, put the “great American institution of college sports” in jeopardy, as the ruling could potentially see millions being distributed to athletes’ pockets in a revenue-sharing plan directly from colleges.

“The settlement, though undesirable in many respects and promising only temporary stability, is necessary to avoid what would be the bankruptcy of college athletics,” said the university’s president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C in a statement. “To save the great American institution of college sports, Congress must pass legislation that will preempt the current patchwork of state laws; establish that our athletes are not employees, but students seeking college degrees; and provide protection from further anti-trust lawsuits that will allow colleges to make and enforce rules that will protect our student-athletes and help ensure competitive equity among our teams.”

The $2.8 billion settlement will be paid over 10 years to more than 14,000 former and current college athletes, who have said that now-defunct rules have prohibited them from earning an income from endorsement and sponsorship deals going back as far as 2016.

The decision will create a professional sports-like compensation system that brings about a revenue-sharing fund that will allow schools to share as much as $22 million a year to their athletes.

Questions still remain around the deal, including how this will affect Notre Dame and their independence from NCAA conferences.


“Even though it was only because of the overwhelming legal pressure, the NCAA, conferences and schools are agreeing that college athletes should be paid,” said former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma, according to the Associated Press. “And there’s no going back from there.

“That’s truly groundbreaking.”

— With AP

https://www.axios.com/2023/11/28/nikki-haley-koch-endorsement-2024-gop-primary

Haley gets a big financial boost. She is gaining momentum but needs to separate as a clear number 2 vs. Trump.

David Purdum, ESPN Staff Writer

NCAA president Charlie Baker wants state lawmakers to take steps to better protect student-athletes from harassment and coercion from gamblers and to combat threats to the integrity of the games as widespread, legal college sports betting takes hold in the United States.

The NCAA announced Wednesday that it will begin advocating for state laws to include increased penalties for bettors who harass student-athletes, mandatory reporting hotlines for gambling-related threats, a uniform minimum betting age of 21 and funding for the education of college students about the risks of betting.

The NCAA also is asking for input on what types of wagers are allowed at sportsbooks, citing prop bets on individual player performances as "especially vulnerable to integrity issues."

"The NCAA is making changes to help student-athletes make smart choices when it comes to sports betting, but given the explosive growth of this new industry, we are eager to partner with lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders to protect student-athletes from harassment and threats," Baker said in a release announcing the advocacy campaign.

The FBI has characterized threats by bettors to student-athletes as a growing issue, and betting scandals have popped up at multiple NCAA schools this year.

In May, Alabama fired its head baseball coach after he was linked to suspicious betting activity on a Crimson Tide game against LSU. Days later, authorities accused dozens of student-athletes at Iowa and Iowa State of betting violations.

Thirty-five states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have launched betting markets since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal statute that had restricted sports gambling to primarily Nevada. Florida, Maine and Vermont have passed sports betting bills.

The NCAA disclosed in July that there had been 175 sports betting violations by athletic department administrators, coaches and student-athletes since the 2018 ruling from the Supreme Court. The violations ranged from small wagers of $5-$10 to players betting on their own schools or providing inside information, Baker wrote in a response letter to U.S. Congresswoman Dina Titus on July 12.

"Some states have great policies on the books to protect student-athletes from harassment and coercion and to protect the integrity of the games, but as more states pass or amend laws, more needs to be done," Baker said in Wednesday's release.

By Zach Braziller

The avalanche began three years ago, with the advent of Name, Image & Likeness (NIL).

It has snowballed on the NCAA from there, with unprecedented freedom of movement for student-athletes in the form of the transfer portal and now Thursday’s monumental settlement for nearly $2.8 billion that calls for paying damages to thousands of former and current college athletes who were previously prevented from earning endorsement money and, moving forward, revenue sharing for athletes in the form of roughly $20 million a year per school, if they so choose to spend that much.

How that will look exactly years from now is uncertain.

College athletes could possibly become employees of schools and there is the potential of unionization and collective bargaining on top of that.

But what is crystal clear is that the NCAA’s archaic model of amateur athletics, going back over a century, is no more.

“It’s the professionalization of the college sports enterprise,” St. John’s athletic director Mike Cragg told The Post in a phone interview. “What does that eventually mean? It’s too early to tell, or how that shapes up. I would not say this marks the day that professionalization started. But that’s what I believe has been evolving over the last several years.”

The NCAA had no choice but to settle, facing mounting losses in three antitrust lawsuits. So the governing body and its five power-conference leagues — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — settled with a multibillion-dollar agreement.

It will play former athletes going back to 2016, and enable current and future ones to be paid directly by schools for the first time.

The settlement still has to be approved by Judge Claudia Wilken, who is presiding over the antitrust cases.

The new revenue-sharing model is expected to begin in the fall of 2025.

In the meantime, what this new model will look like is unclear.

Schools will have freedom to use the money how they see fit.

Title IX, it should be noted, was not addressed in the settlement.

It is a federal law that requires institutions to offer equal opportunities for male and female athletes.

NCAA president Charlie Baker has said Title IX only refers to opportunities not financial compensation.

In other words, he doesn’t believe it has to be distributed equally to men and women.

As part of the settlement there will be a reporting mechanism in place that will require athletes to report third-party NIL deals that are not part of revenue-sharing profits he or she receives from the school.

The deal has to be “fair market value,” which will be defined at a later date.

But, this could be a way for schools and/or boosters to go above the $20 million they can pay players.

It’s unclear who would be enforcing it. But NIL isn’t going anywhere.

“The NIL space is somewhat ironclad because there would be lawsuit after lawsuit,” an NIL industry source said. “It has everything to do with who you are as an athlete and your value and your marketability. … Your value is really subjective.”

NCAA leaders are looking to Congress to pass legislation that shields it from future antitrust lawsuits, enabling it to reshape college athletics with player compensation rules and a declaration that college athletes are not employees.

Mike Aresco, former Big East and current American Athletic Conference commissioner, suggested that could also include reining in pay-for-play NIL deals and limiting player movement.

“The NCAA and the conferences are hopeful that by agreeing to this, it increases their chances of getting a federal law with an antitrust exemption. I’m still skeptical that’s going to happen,” said Mit Winter, an attorney for Kansas City law firm Kennyhertz Perry who specializes in college sports law. “It’s a big deal going forward, for sure.”

Said Aresco: “The wild west had more laws and regulations than we do. This isn’t the wild west — it’s worse than the wild west.”

Lesser revenue sports are likely to take a hit.

A high-ranking power conference executive predicted “carnage” for Olympic sports, with schools dropping those that don’t bring in money and upping the budget for profitable sports such as basketball and football.

“There’s going to be a lot of cuts on these campuses,” the executive said. “Sports are going to get relegated or moved down to Division III or club. To protect the money-making sports, other things are going to suffer.”

That, of course, is speculation for now.

There remains so many unanswered questions about this new college athletics model. It’s brand new, with so many potential directions it can go in.

There is one certainty, however: Amateur sports at the collegiate level is a thing of the past.