Hall of Fame football coach Lou Holtz offered high praise on Thursday for women&#8217;s sports advocate Riley Gaines.
Holtz, who famously led six different college football teams to bowl games, said that Gaines is &#8220;standing up for fairness&#8221; and had strong words for men who &#8220;lie&#8221; about their sex to play sports with women.
&#8220;80 years ago, men lied about their age to serve our country. Today, they lie about their sex to compete in women’s sports. It’s time to honor Title IX and protect women&#8217;s rights. [Riley Gaines] is standing up for fairness!&#8221; Holtz posted on X.
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80 years ago, men lied about their age to serve our country.
Today, they lie about their sex to compete in women’s sports.
It’s time to honor Title IX and protect women&#39;s rights.<a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Riley_Gaines_</a> is standing up for fairness! <a href="https://t.co/wsOHl3k6GP">pic.twitter.com/wsOHl3k6GP</a>
&mdash; Lou Holtz (@CoachLouHoltz88) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachLouHoltz88/status/1811449639733735855?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Gaines is a former University of Kentucky swimmer who tied with trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas for fifth place at the 2022 NCAA championships. Gaines left the competition that day <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/04/swimmer-who-tied-lia-thomas-taken-aback-in-trophy-handling/">with</a> a sixth-place trophy after officials decided to give Thomas the fifth-place trophy.
In the years since, Gaines has been a vocal advocate for women&#8217;s sports, arguing that biological men who identify as women should not be allowed to compete against women or use their locker rooms.
She has spoken out against the Biden administration&#8217;s rewrite of Title IX, the 1972 federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at schools receiving federal funding.
“In a nutshell, the new rewrite means, men can take academic AND athletic scholarships from women,” Gaines <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/riley-gaines-says-biden-has-abolished-title-ix-breaks-down-what-this-means-for-women">said</a>. “Men will have FULL access to bathrooms, locker rooms, etc. Men could be housed in dorm rooms with women.”
“Students and faculty MUST compel their speech by requiring the use of preferred pronouns,” she continued. “If the guidelines above are ignored or even questioned, then YOU can be charged with harassment.”
Critics have brought up several serious concerns about biological males playing alongside women and girls.
Some female competitors have said they missed out on opportunities and scholarships because they lost to trans-identifying males.
Also, high school girls have been injured playing with trans-identifying males. Last year in North Carolina, a female high school volleyball player <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/female-high-school-volleyball-athlete-suffers-serious-head-injury-after-transgender-player-throws-abnormally-fast-ball/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suffered</a> severe trauma to her head and neck after a trans-identifying male player spiked a volleyball that hit her head.
Holtz&#8217;s storied career includes a long list of college football teams including a decade coaching the Fighting Irish at Notre Dame, which now has a statue of him on campus.
He also coached the teams at William &amp; Mary, North Carolina State, University of Arkansas, University of Minnesota, and University of South Carolina. Holtz had a brief foray into the NFL in 1976 as well, coaching the New York Jets for less than a year.

SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio At 2016 PGA Merchandise Show – Day 1

‘Standing Up For Fairness!’ Famed Football Coach Lou Holtz Praises Riley Gaines

Famed Football Coach Lou Holtz Praises Riley Gaines

College Football

Football

Riley Gaines

Sports

Women

Women's sports

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/video-games" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EA Sports</a> released the official trailer for their new &#8220;College Football 25&#8221; video game on Thursday, the first time in more than a decade that the company produced the game after a lawsuit was filed in 2013 over name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights.
The game will be available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S starting on July 19 and will allow players to play all 134 FBS schools in all modes of the game, including Dynasty, Road To Glory, Road to the College Football Playoff, and College Football Ultimate Team.
“EA SPORTS College Football is BACK! We’ve felt the passion and anticipation of college football fans every step of the way since we first announced this game, and we’re ecstatic to finally be able to show everyone what we’ve been building,” said Daryl Holt, SVP and Group GM, EA SPORTS. “College Football 25 is built with authenticity at its core, inspired by experiences our fans have loved from our games, and fully evolved to reflect modern college football – all of which will immerse them in the sights, sounds, and true-to-life gameplay of the sport they love.”
The official trailer released by EA Sports showcases the major advancements made in the game since the last time the studio released the game.
The game&#8217;s cover features the best players in college football, including  Michigan running back Donovan Edwards, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, and Colorado wide receiver/defensive back Travis Hunter.
Top commentators broadcast the game, including Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, and David Pollack.
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WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Bring Glory Home.
Coming July 19. Pre-Order Now 
🔗: <a href="https://t.co/sJ7cJ5NXLj">https://t.co/sJ7cJ5NXLj</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFB25?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CFB25</a> <a href="https://t.co/iJWl5ZxVQl">pic.twitter.com/iJWl5ZxVQl</a>
— EASPORTSCollege (@EASPORTSCollege) <a href="https://twitter.com/EASPORTSCollege/status/1791483861718663547?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 17, 2024</a></blockquote>

Colorado v UCLA

EA Sports Revives Highly Popular College Football Video Game

General

U.S.

Video Games

Adapted from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/deion-sanders-vs-ex-players-here-s-the-truth-guest-brad-crawford-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Crain &amp; Co.,”</a> May 1, 2024.
Deion Sanders is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/coach-prime-catches-heat-again-over-the-transfer-portal">catching heat once again</a> because he told Xavier Smith, one of his now-former players, he needed to transfer during the off season. Smith didn&#8217;t transfer and then said Prime never gave him a chance during the spring.
It’s time we get something straight. I haven&#8217;t heard anyone else discuss this, but it needs to be said: College football isn&#8217;t a daycare. 
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nick-saban-on-college-footballs-monumental-changes-coaches-have-lost-leverage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">College football</a> is a very competitive and lucrative business. If a coach gives you a heads up that your best next action step is to transfer and you don’t, that’s on you. You don’t have a right to reps. Reps are earned.
<div id="attachment_731559" style="width: 419px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-731559" class="size-full wp-image-731559" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed.png" alt="Screenshot. Twitter/X." width="409" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed.png 409w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed-240x300.png 240w" sizes="(max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px" />Screenshot. Twitter/X.</div>
Players wanted in the business, and they got their wish. In fact, players are getting even more than they asked for, and they (and young people in general) need to learn there are two sides to being in the business.
You don&#8217;t always get your way, Marie Antoinette. You can&#8217;t have your cake and eat it too. Life isn&#8217;t fair. You can&#8217;t cry about wanting in the business, then cry because you don&#8217;t like the negative side of it. You can get paid to play now, even on top of a full ride scholarship. Not only that, if you are getting paid, you’re getting paid as an 18-year-old, so you&#8217;re open to criticism. If you don&#8217;t perform well, that&#8217;s the way the world works.
If the high schooler who runs the cash register at the Chick-fil-A gets told they aren&#8217;t doing a good job, then the 18-year-old wide receiver who&#8217;s getting paid should be open to the exact same criticism. That&#8217;s life.
And to be honest, it&#8217;s a pretty damn good life lesson for some of these young people. If your boss says you&#8217;re not going to get any hours due to poor performance, you should probably go find another job. It happens in every other walk of life because that’s the real world.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/deion-sanders-vs-ex-players-here-s-the-truth-guest-brad-crawford-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Crain &amp; Company on DailyWire+</a></h4>
It&#8217;s amazing that the 18-year-olds who stormed the beaches of Normandy during World War II didn&#8217;t complain nearly as much as this soft generation of individuals we have today. Child actors get their performances graded — and graded pretty harshly. I don&#8217;t see them moaning or complaining as much as some of these players today.
We have to stop treating people who are entering adulthood and getting financially rewarded like little babies. It&#8217;s not good for them or society.
Now, some would make the argument that not every player is getting paid, to which I would counter and say, that is the cost of your peers wanting in the business. Nobody is forcing you to play. If you don&#8217;t like it, then leave.
That doesn&#8217;t mean anyone needs to be a jerk or criticize just for the fun of it. But acting like these 18-year-old and older players are beyond critique while getting paid is a practice in futility. It&#8217;s one of the reasons so many young adults have a warped view of the world; they never get told no, and they never get told they didn&#8217;t do a good job.
Most coaches are going to defend their players at all costs — because they have to. They are with them every day, and that’s smart. But the best thing you can do for a young person is to tell them the truth. Do I always approve of the way Deion Sanders goes about it? Sometimes I don&#8217;t, but he isn&#8217;t wrong. Maybe if more people took those same steps, we wouldn&#8217;t have the situations we see today all over college campuses.
So, you wanted in the business, and now, you&#8217;re in it. If you can&#8217;t handle <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/coach-prime-catches-heat-again-over-the-transfer-portal">the heat</a>, then get out of the kitchen. As one of my favorite coaches used to say, “Go ahead and quit. I&#8217;m sure your mom will still love you.”
* * *
Jake Crain is co-host of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Crain &amp; Company.”</a> the Daily Wire’s sports show hosted by former athletes and coaches: Jake Crain, Blain Crain, and David Cone. Follow him on Twitter @JakeCrain_
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Colorado v Utah

College Football Isn’t A Daycare

College Football Isn't A Daycare

Colorado

Crain and Company

Deion Sanders

Readers Pass

Adapted from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/deion-sanders-vs-ex-players-here-s-the-truth-guest-brad-crawford-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Crain &amp; Co.,”</a> May 1, 2024. 
Jake Crain: Deion Sanders is catching heat once again because he told a player he needed to transfer during the off season. Then the player didn&#8217;t. Now, that player is saying Prime never gave him a chance during the spring.
Nobody&#8217;s forcing anybody to play. I remember when coaches used to gray shirt and blue shirt guys just to be able to have extra guys on the roster and all of a sudden players got cut. I didn&#8217;t see anybody crying when Nick Saban was doing that like they&#8217;re doing with Deion Sanders. I&#8217;m not the biggest Deion Sanders fan in the world, but Xavier Smith transferred from Colorado to Austin Peay. It&#8217;s not like he transferred to another Power Five or somewhere like that.
I don&#8217;t know Xavier Smith, but, buddy, you better toughen your ass up or this world is going to chew you up and spit you out like you were never there.
<div id="attachment_731559" style="width: 419px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-731559" class="size-full wp-image-731559" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed.png" alt="Screenshot. Twitter/X." width="409" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed.png 409w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/05/4SANDERS-unnamed-240x300.png 240w" sizes="(max-width: 409px) 100vw, 409px" />Screenshot. Twitter/X.</div>
Blain Crain: Where does he think he is? I don&#8217;t even know how he made it to this point. Did he get babied through middle and high school? Deion Sanders is doing him a favor. Sometimes, back in the day, you wouldn&#8217;t even get this favor; you wouldn&#8217;t even get talked to. You would just slowly walk your way through maybe two years, and then go.
If you&#8217;re not good enough and he knows it, he&#8217;s giving you an outlet to go play the sport that you love. Smith should be saying, “Thanks for telling me this. Now, I don&#8217;t have to waste two years working my ass off when I know I&#8217;m not good enough to make it.” If anything, this is a good thing from Deion Sanders, and it is a coach&#8217;s job to know the finesse of both ways: know how to beat a guy down, but also bring him up. Hell on the field and heaven off of it. It&#8217;s a good mix and the best one knows how to do it.
But how many times has Nick Saban said this to a guy? How many times has Kirby Smart said this to a guy? It&#8217;s not as blown up, obviously because it&#8217;s not Deion Sanders, but I don&#8217;t think this is a bad look from Deion whatsoever.
Jake Crain: I don&#8217;t think it is at all. Now, what Shedeur said is a totally different situation. He was defending his dad and put on social media that he basically couldn’t even remember Smith, and he was mid at best.
Listen, just because you think something doesn&#8217;t mean you should tweet it. All I heard last week was Spencer Rattler dropped to the fifth round of the draft because of a documentary that came out when he was 17. Well, if you’re an NFL scout, I want y&#8217;all to keep that same energy with Shedeur Sanders, with him coming out and saying this about another player.
Now, it&#8217;s probably the truth, but it&#8217;s a bad business decision. If I&#8217;m somebody who’s thinking about drafting Shedeur Sanders, I know he&#8217;s talented, but I&#8217;m worried about the people around him who are facilitating him and giving him business advice because this was just a bad strategy.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/deion-sanders-vs-ex-players-here-s-the-truth-guest-brad-crawford-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Crain &amp; Company on DailyWire+</a></h4>
Blain Crain: That’s the Caleb Williams effect. How much does your talent outweigh your attitude? 
David Cone: That&#8217;s a question as old as time when it comes to guys who&#8217;ve had a lot of success in the sports arena, especially when you&#8217;re talking about paying them tens of millions of dollars to go to the professional level.
Another thing to consider when a coach tells a guy he’s not playing well enough and should transfer, a lot of times that is just motivation to get them to play better. Oftentimes, a coach will say that, not because they want the player to actually transfer and leave, but because they’re going to do whatever they can to make that player understand he&#8217;s not performing. They’ll stop saying those things when he does start performing up to the standard they’re trying to set, especially as a new coach and a new place.
Jake Crain: Some people accuse me of bias here, but I think Bruce Pearl has one of the best quotes when it comes to this. He tells his own players, “It&#8217;s my job to out recruit you. It&#8217;s my job to keep recruiting better and better players.” It’s a player who knows that up front with a coach who says, “You’re not good enough to play here. I think if you really want an opportunity to play and to have an impact, you probably need to transfer somewhere else. I&#8217;m not going to tell you where, but I&#8217;ll help you and do as much as I can to get you to a place where you can play.” As opposed to telling a player, “Hey, I know how good you are. I know how good you can be. But if you don&#8217;t start performing to the level and reaching your potential, then there&#8217;s not going to be a spot for you here eventually.” To me, there are nuanced ways to handle it, and Prime can be a little bit brash, but, at the end of the day, I would much rather have a coach that tells me I probably need to transfer as opposed to telling me I’m good enough just so the coach has a good third stringer they don’t have to give a bunch of practice reps.  I&#8217;ve seen coaches do that too. At least Prime is taking the high road in that sense.
David Cone: There are multiple things to consider, especially when you&#8217;re not the starting player, including what school would be best. Luckily, I was fortunate to play for a lot of great coaches who I felt like had my back as a person, but their job also depends on having successful football players who win football games.
And everyone grew up in a hometown where there was a guy who was the recreational coach of a baseball or football team who was a really great athlete himself. But he had a son, and he wanted to coach his son. He wanted his son to be the starting quarterback, or he wanted his son to be the starting pitcher. He didn&#8217;t really care about the other players on the team. He may not have known their name. And guess what? In five years, when his kid&#8217;s not playing rec league anymore because he&#8217;s moved on to middle school or high school, he&#8217;s not a little league coach anymore.
I think that&#8217;s Deion Sanders, just on a seismic scale right now. His kids are going to go to the NFL. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a coincidence that Deion Sanders just started coaching college football randomly right when his kids got a chance to play. Maybe I&#8217;m wrong. Maybe he will coach for a long time, but they won one game before he got there.
A large part of Deion Sanders’ responsibility involves resetting the culture. I don&#8217;t care for the way he goes about a lot of things in doing that. But at the same time, they have to get going now.
* * *
Jake Crain is co-host of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crain &amp; Company,</a> the Daily Wire’s sports show hosted by former athletes and coaches Jake Crain, Blain Crain, and David Cone. Follow him: @JakeCrain_
Blain Crain is co-host of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crain &amp; Company</a> at The Daily Wire and a former wide receiver for Western Colorado University. Follow Blain: @Blain_Crain
David Cone is a co-host and producer of the Daily Wire’s sports show <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crain &amp; Company</a>, as well as a contributor to Morning Wire. David is also a former quarterback for the University of Michigan. Follow him: @davidadamcone
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Birmingham Stallions v Arlington Renegades

Coach Prime Catches Heat Again Over The Transfer Portal

Opinion

A former Villanova University football player was found not guilty on Thursday of attempting to sexually assault a classmate back in 2019.
The football player, who will not be named by The Daily Wire because his accuser is not being named by other outlets, was found not guilty after a three-day trial in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The jury made the determination on the same day the trial ended, The Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/crime/iyanu-solomon-attempted-rape-villanova-football-acquittal-20240329.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
While the prosecution maintained that the female accuser was traumatized, defense attorney Daniel Bush provided text messages showing the woman continued to spend time with the accused student-athlete after the alleged traumatizing assault. Bush noted that the two shared Uber rides and that the woman invited the accused to her dorm days after the alleged incident.
Bush argued that the woman only made the allegations after the two had an argument.
“A rape allegation is not a sword you pull out of your pants and swing around every time you get mad,” Bush said in his closing statement, according to the Inquirer. “That’s what she did.”
The woman testified that the accused had asked her for nude photos over Snapchat and that she went to his room alone on September 2, 2019, <a href="https://www.delcotimes.com/2024/03/27/alleged-victim-testifies-in-nova-attempted-rape-trial/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Delco Times</a>. She claimed she told a friend to get her if she was not back in 30 minutes. She alleged that the accused pulled her onto his lap and she protested, saying she had a boyfriend. She claimed the accused kept her from leaving by holding her wrists and laying on top of her on the bed. She also said she was so afraid she started to recite the Lord’s Prayer, prompting the accused to finally let her go.
The accused, who is the son of Nigerian immigrants, testified that the woman sat on his lap, and he thought she wanted to have sex but that he stopped when she seemed uncomfortable. He also denied that he kept her from leaving, saying he walked her to the front door of the building.
Friends of the woman testified that she told them about the alleged encounter within days, but she also continued to spend time with the accused.
The accused testified that after riding together to a party, the woman became angry with him and accused him of turning her friends against her after the two had an argument. A text message exchange showed in court revealed that she later texted the accused, giving him an ultimatum. The next day, she reported the alleged rape to a resident assistant, who reported it to police. At that time, the woman declined to press charges.
But two years later, she changed her mind, claiming the accused student was following and harassing her. The accused student’s attorney argued in court that campus police could not substantiate the woman’s stalking claims.
Bush, the defense attorney, said that his client had asked the woman to stop spreading rumors that he was a “registered sex offender.” A day after he sent this text, the woman went to police to file rape charges.
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After this woman came forward, two others claimed the accused sexually assaulted them back in 2019 as well, the Philly Voice <a href="https://www.phillyvoice.com/villanova-football-player-sexual-assault-charges-iyanu-solomon/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Later this month, a status meeting will be held to determine how to proceed on those allegations.
The accused student was removed from campus and kicked off the football team. After the jury verdict, his attorney said his client would need to rebuild his life.
“This case shows that mere accusations do not mean that someone actually committed a crime, but accusations alone can destroy a person’s world. Law enforcement needs to be more diligent on who they actually charge,” the defense attorney said. “[The accused] has maintained his innocence from day one, and fought hard to prove it.”

Law And Justice

Former Villanova Football Player Found Not Guilty Of Attempted Sexual Assault

Crime

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

Sexual Assault

Adapted from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/nick-saban-s-candid-thoughts-on-alabama-players-chris-marler" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Crain &amp; Co.,”</a> March 7, 2024. 
Jake Crain: ESPN’s Chris Low <a href="https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39623503/how-alabama-moved-nick-saban-kalen-deboer-49-hours" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a profile</a> on Nick Saban just yesterday, and in it, Saban basically said the quiet part out loud. The truth is, with the way college football is structured right now, after all these monumental changes, coaches have lost a lot of leverage. And when you lose leverage, you lose a lot of control — control over being able to know who&#8217;s coming back consistently, control over being able to construct a depth chart due strictly to who practices better and who has earned it. You lose a lot of your ability to cultivate long lasting program culture, which takes the result even further out of your hands.
In the interview, Nick Saban said, “So I&#8217;m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn&#8217;t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ Now, I&#8217;m not saying that&#8217;s bad. I&#8217;m not saying it&#8217;s wrong. I&#8217;m just saying that&#8217;s never been what we&#8217;re all about, and it&#8217;s not why we had success through the years.”
I agree that players should be paid for NIL, but with no guardrails and no balance, it goes from a part of the motivation to the main motivation. Now, that isn&#8217;t a brand new concept. Guys have been motivated by making money in the NFL for a long time, but you didn&#8217;t get that reward until you finished college — outside of what the boosters slid in before you committed. So one can want players to get rewarded, but are we trading the most valuable lesson of college football for valuable pieces of printed paper?
Saban sustained success for so long for many reasons, but his best poker play was being malleable even when he was at the top because he had control. And a great poker player knows when to hold them, knows when to fold them, knows when to walk away, and knows when to run to your $17 million island that you just bought because you can&#8217;t control all the variables anymore. And he’s smart to do it.
The game has changed, and we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time with this NIL situation with no guardrails. They let the monster out to attack the villagers. And you&#8217;ve seen coaches lose that control. And it&#8217;s really hard right now to be able to consistently have a roster that you feel like you have molded the piece of clay as much as you possibly can. You&#8217;re basically only co-parenting now, and it&#8217;s tough.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/nick-saban-s-candid-thoughts-on-alabama-players-chris-marler-member-exclusive">WATCH: &#8220;Crain &amp; Company&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
David Cone: Let&#8217;s not forget that Nick Saban is 72-years-old. That&#8217;s the primary reason for him retiring. If he were 50-years-old, I don&#8217;t care what the players did after the Rose Bowl, he was going to whip the thing into shape and come back next year.
I do find Low’s interview with Saban very telling though, and all of the reactions that I saw to this interview fell into one of two categories. Either, one, Nick Saban is exactly right: Money is ruining college football. The game is not the same and I&#8217;m done with it. Or two, Nick Saban is just mad that he&#8217;s not the only one who can pay players anymore and he wants to exploit their talents, so go on and be gone and good riddance. I think it&#8217;s low resolution on either side of those arguments.
Yes, this has ushered in a new wave of college football without any sort of guardrails, and any time the NCAA has tried to put some rules in place, we&#8217;ve gone to class action or antitrust lawsuits like we&#8217;ve just seen at the University of Tennessee. The NCAA has brought a lot of this on themselves.
But we can have leadership in college football without everything falling off the rails. Nick Saban needs to take a leadership role in college football. I know he&#8217;s going to go work at ESPN and I know he&#8217;s going to be on television, but he can help bring about some positive change.
We can solve a lot of these problems and college football can still be great, even if players are able to capitalize monetarily in some aspects. 
* * *
Jake Crain is co-host of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22">Crain &amp; Company,</a> the Daily Wire’s sports show hosted by former athletes and coaches Jake Crain, Blain Crain, and David Cone. Follow him: @JakeCrain_
David Cone is a co-host and producer of the Daily Wire’s sports show <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22">Crain &amp; Company</a>, as well as a contributor to Morning Wire. David is also a former quarterback for the University of Michigan. Follow him: @davidadamcone

2023 SEC Media Days

Nick Saban On College Football’s Monumental Changes: Coaches Have Lost Leverage 

Nick Saban

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers announced on Tuesday that the College Football Playoff would expand from four teams to 12 teams starting this upcoming season.
The new 12-team format will now include the five highest-ranked conference champions which guarantees that at least one team outside of the Big 12, ACC, Big Ten, and SEC will make it to the playoff.
The College Football Playoff Selection Committee will then pick the next seven highest-ranked teams for the remaining at-large spots.
&#8220;This is a very logical adjustment for the College Football Playoff based on the evolution of our conference structures since the board first adopted this new format in September 2022,&#8221; <a href="https://collegefootballplayoff.com/news/2024/2/20/5-7-format-confirmed.aspx">said</a> Dr. Mark Keenum, president of Mississippi State University and Chair of the CFP Board of Managers. &#8220;I know this change will also be well received by student-athletes, coaches and fans. We all will be pleased to see this new format come to life on the field this postseason.&#8221;
The original playoff called for including the six highest-ranked conference champions but the College Football Playoff (CFP) Board of Managers revised the number down to five, likely due to the Pac-12 Conference dissolving.
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&#8220;Under the 12-team playoff format that begins this fall, the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and each will receive a first-round bye, while teams seeded five through 12 will play each other in the first round on the home field of the higher-ranked team,&#8221; the College Football Playoff said in a statement. &#8220;The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in the New Year&#8217;s Six bowl games, the national championship game will continue to be at a neutral site. No conference will qualify automatically and there will be no limit on the number of participants from a conference.&#8221;

2024 CFP National Championship – Michigan v Washington

College Football Playoff Expands To Include More Teams

NCAA

Playoffs

Adapted from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/why-brian-kelly-won-t-leave-lsu-for-michigan-ron-slay">“Crain &amp; Co.,”</a> January 24, 2024. 
Jake Crain: Brian Kelly would be clinically insane to leave LSU for Michigan. Why? Not because Michigan isn&#8217;t a fantastic job or that there&#8217;s anything wrong with Ann Arbor, but because he&#8217;s already at a place where, believe it or not (at least in my opinion), it&#8217;s easier to establish dominance than at Michigan.
Brian Kelly left Notre Dame, which is an established brand in college football, to go down to Baton Rouge. He saw what Bama looked like in the tunnel before they got run over in the National Championship when he was the head coach of the Fighting Irish. He wanted to be able to recruit and sign the best of the best, a true even playing field. Louisiana is a state filled with talent every year to the brim from the top to the bottom, from the east to the west. And LSU is the only power in that state. There is no Sparty and nobody’s spurning LSU to go to Louisiana Tech. (Sorry guys.) But Kelly has already found success there, and he&#8217;s building a monster in a place where the biggest monsters roam. He’s compiled an elite staff around him, and he just had the Heisman winner. Why would you leave Baton Rouge where you have all of this momentum to go follow the greatest season ever in Michigan history? There&#8217;s nowhere to go but down.
Michigan&#8217;s going to remain relevant regardless of what Harbaugh does, but the best chance to win bigger for longer is at LSU. Some will say the SEC is the toughest conference in the country. That is true, but the Big Ten just added Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. It&#8217;s not getting any easier, and there’s no division, which will create more division. Ryan Day is trying to put the new Justice League together at Ohio State through the transfer portal, and Brian Kelly has already shown that he can succeed in the SEC. He won the West in year one and the emperor Nick Saban just left Tuscaloosa. 
The fact of the matter is you can&#8217;t make work-place decisions based purely on emotion and fandom. And though Kelly&#8217;s accent may be fake, his chance to dominate is not. While some may believe the smoke if Harbaugh does leave to go to the Chargers or the Falcons, it smells like a Jimmy Sexton special to me, which is always a good play.
Harbaugh hasn&#8217;t gone anywhere yet, but we keep hearing that for Brian Kelly, it&#8217;s a dream job. Michigan is an incredible place. They just won the National Championship. Nobody&#8217;s saying that Michigan is a bad job. But when LSU gets hot, they can get hotter than just about anyone. For Brian Kelly, he’s already there. He’s already established. He’s gotten the hard part out of the way. He won early, he won the West. Yes, he lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship game, but he beat Alabama’s Nick Saban. Then in year two, his defense got run through like a finish line, but he had the Heisman winner. He has an elite staff, he’s recruited really well, and it seems like a pretty good fit.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/why-brian-kelly-won-t-leave-lsu-for-michigan-ron-slay-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: &#8220;Crain &amp; Company&#8221; on DailyWire+</a></h4>
David Cone: Brian Kelly is not leaving LSU. No way. I agree that this feels like a Jimmy Sexton special to try and get a bigger contract or a new extension. It’s not because I view LSU as that much better of a job than Michigan. I see them both as the top six or seven jobs in the country.
I do find a couple of things interesting though. First, Brian Kelly is the winningest coach in Notre Dame history. He left and gave that up to go to LSU for a lot of the reasons we always talk about; you can put a fence around that state and the high school recruiting is better there in that state. Also, from a historical and traditional perspective, Notre Dame and Michigan are very similar. So I think it&#8217;s interesting Brian Kelly had to watch Michigan go undefeated and win the National Championship. That is what Jim Harbaugh was able to do at a very similar Midwestern school that Kelly was not able to accomplish while he was at Notre Dame. Then, two of the last three coaches at LSU have been rumored to be leaving LSU. The Les Miles thing was a caveat, and I think it&#8217;s a completely different situation.
Ultimately, we still don&#8217;t even know if Jim Harbaugh is going to leave. Harbaugh may remain at Michigan — even though the news could break any minute that he&#8217;s going to be the next coach of the Chargers. So we&#8217;ll have to see. But from my perspective, Kelly has gotten the hard part out of the way. He already built the foundation at his new place, he took the risk which paid off early, he won the SEC West, and he just landed the number one quarterback in the 2025 class. I don&#8217;t see Brian Kelly going anywhere.
* * *
Jake Crain is co-host of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/%22https://www.dailywire.com/show/crain-and-company/%22">“Crain &amp; Company”</a> the Daily Wire’s sports show hosted by former athletes and coaches Jake Crain, Blain Crain, and David Cone. Follow him: @JakeCrain_
David Cone is a co-host and producer of the Daily Wire’s sports show Crain &amp; Company, as well as a contributor to Morning Wire. David is also a former quarterback for the University of Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter/X and Instagram at @davidadamcone

LSU v Missouri

Why Brian Kelly Won’t Leave LSU For Michigan

Louisiana State University

University of Michigan

A report released last week revealed that ESPN has been forced to return sports Emmy statuettes that it has given out to some of its top stars after the network used a fake name scheme to fraudulently obtain the awards for top talent who were not eligible.
The Athletic <a href="https://theathletic.com/5193316/2024/01/11/espn-emmys-fake-names-college-gameday/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the National Academy of Television Arts &amp; Sciences (NATAS) uncovered &#8220;a scheme that the network used to acquire more than 30 of the coveted statuettes for on-air talent ineligible to receive them&#8221; that involved submitting fake names in Emmy entries.
ESPN took the awards doled out to the fictitious individuals and then &#8220;had them re-engraved and gave them to on-air personalities,&#8221; the report said.
Some of the top on-air talent whom ESPN gave the Emmys to included Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Desmond Howard, and others.
There was no evidence that any of the recipients of the fraudulent Emmys had any idea that they were ill-gotten, the report said.
&#8220;Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names that may go back to 1997 in Emmy categories where they were not eligible for recognition or statuettes,&#8221; ESPN said in a statement. &#8220;This was a misguided attempt to recognize on-air individuals who were important members of our production team. Once current leadership was made aware, we apologized to NATAS for violating guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to safeguard against anything like this happening again.&#8221;
The network said it hired an outside law firm to conduct an investigation, and those responsible were held accountable.
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The scheme was allegedly implemented because on-air talent for the network&#8217;s wildly popular “College GameDay” was ineligible by NATAS guidelines from being able to win a trophy for outstanding weekly studio show because they were eligible to win Emmys in individual categories, like outstanding host or studio analyst.
The Athletic reviewed the fake names that ESPN submitted over a span of nearly ten years in which names were submitted that were close to the names of those to whom ESPN later gave the Emmy. Examples included Kirk Henry (Kirk Herbstreit), Lee Clark (Lee Corso), Dirk Howard (Desmond Howard), Tim Richard (Tom Rinaldi), Steven Ponder (Sam Ponder), Gene Wilson (Gene Wojciechowski), Chris Fulton (Chris Fowler) and Shelley Saunders (Shelley Smith).
One person involved in the ESPN Emmy submission process in recent years said that the network did it because the on-air personalities were &#8220;so important, and they have egos.&#8221;

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: DEC 30 Capital One Orange Bowl – Georgia vs Florida State

ESPN Used Fake Name Scheme To Fraudulently Obtain Emmy Awards For Top Talent: Report

Emmys

ESPN

Scandals

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/alabama" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Alabama</a> wasted no time locking down their future head football coach this week after legendary coach Nick Saban announced on Wednesday that he was retiring.
The Crimson Tide hired Washington head coach Kalen DeBoer, 49, on Friday after he led his team to this year&#8217;s national championship game in only his second year leading the program.
Replacing the greatest college football coach of all-time will not be an easy task as weekly competition in the SEC is tougher than in the PAC-12 and expectations will be higher for him at Alabama than Washington.
DeBoer led the Washington Huskies to a 25-3 record in his two years at the program, a drastic turnaround from their abysmal 4-8 record in 2021.
&#8220;Coach DeBoer has proven he is a winner and has done an incredible job as a head coach at each of his stops,&#8221; said Director of Athletics Greg Byrne. &#8220;One of the things I told our team the other day is we are going to get someone who is not only a great coach with the Xs and Os, but also someone who cares about his players and someone I&#8217;d want my sons to play for, just like I would have wanted them to play for Coach Saban.&#8221;
DeBoer said in a statement that he has always he tremendous respect for the Alabama football program, noting that its &#8220;tradition-rich history&#8221; was &#8220;unmatched across the landscape of college athletics.&#8221;
&#8220;Following Coach Saban is an honor. He has been the standard for college football, and his success is unprecedented,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I would not have left Washington for just any school. The chance to lead the football program at The University of Alabama is the opportunity of a lifetime.&#8221;
In his nine seasons as a head coach, DeBoer has gone 104-12; including going 67-3 at the University of Sioux Falls over five seasons and 12-6 during two seasons at Fresno State.

Alabama Hires New Coach To Replace Nick Saban

Alabama

University of Alabama

MixCollage-12-Jan-2024-09-54-AM-7217

The Wildest Coaching Carousel In Football History: Here’s Who’s Retired, Been Fired, And Hired 

Bill Belichick

Alabama head <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/college-football" target="_blank" rel="noopener">football coach</a> Nick Saban said during an interview on Thursday that he decided to bring his illustrious coaching career to an end because it was becoming increasingly difficult to live up to the performance standard that he had set as he continues to age.
The hard-charging 72-year-old, who made his decision to retire on Wednesday, will be remembered as arguably the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/legendary-alabama-football-coach-nick-saban-retiring" target="_blank" rel="noopener">greatest</a> college football coach of all-time, finishing his career with seven national championship titles, more than any other coach.
“The thing that made it more difficult for me, is I felt like it might be the right time for me, but how it impacted the players, the coaches, all the people who work here in the building and contributed to the success of the team, how would it affect them?” Saban said in the ESPN interview. “That was the hard part and that was the part that I kept vacillating on.”
He said that he was not experiencing any health issues, but he found this last season to be &#8220;grueling,&#8221; saying that it &#8220;took a little more out of me than usual.&#8221;
&#8220;When people mention the health issue, it was really just the grind of &#8216;Can you do this the way you want to do it?&#8217; &#8216;Can you do it the way you&#8217;ve always done it and be able to sustain it and do it for the entire season?&#8217;,&#8221; he said. &#8220;If I couldn&#8217;t make a commitment to do that in the future the way I think I have to do it, I thought maybe this was the right time — based on those two sets of circumstances. There&#8217;s never a good time. But I thought maybe this was the right time.&#8221;
He said that he had two speeches that he could deliver to his team during their 4 p.m. meeting about his future at the program and that he was still weighing the decision with only five minutes before the meeting.
&#8220;When I was young, I could work &#8217;til 2 in the morning, get up at 6 and be there the next day and be full of energy and go for it,&#8221; Saban said. &#8220;But when you get a little older, that gets a little tougher.&#8221;
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&#8220;When you get my age, it&#8217;s inevitable that it&#8217;s coming,&#8221; he later added. &#8220;This year, next year or the next year [after]. And I didn&#8217;t want to work on a year-to-year basis. I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s fair to your staff. I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s fair to the players. I think you need to make long-term commitments to people.&#8221;
Saban won his first national championship in 2003 when he was the head coach at LSU. He subsequently won six titles at Alabama, including in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020. Saban also won 12 conference championships and 19 bowl games in his career and never once had a losing season.
Saban dominated the college football landscape by being by far the most powerful recruiter in the game, landing a top-five recruiting class every year that he was at Alabama except for his first year when he hauled in the #10 ranked class. Of his 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide, Saban landed ten #1 ranked recruiting classes and three #2 ranked classes, according to Rivals.com.
In a career field dominated by intense personalities, Saban stood out for taking the intensity and drive for perfection to the next level, which earned him the nickname “Nicktator.”
Saban preached “the process” in coaching his players in which he told them not to focus on winning, but to instead focus on everything that they were doing in the moment and to do the task the best that they could, which included everything from excelling in the classroom, lifting weights, to focusing on competing at the high-level during each play on the gridiron.

Nick Saban Breaks Down Decision To Retire From Legendary Coaching Career

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