Own the group chat with The Weekender, highlighting the biggest stories in college sports, standout writing from Eleven Warriors, and a glance at what's next.
Michigan Finally Gets the Message
Scuffles, dust-ups, altercations and shouting matches were nothing new in the tunnel at the Big House entering the 2022 college football season. But things went way too far when several Michigan State players got physical with a Wolverine following its 29-7 loss on Oct. 29.
Footage of the scuffling pic.twitter.com/cipLWi5RBS
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) October 30, 2022
Statements were made, lawsuits were filed and suspensions were dolled out in the aftermath. But as poorly as the incident reflected on the Spartans, the Michigan program needed to take some accountability as well. After all, tempers flared just two weeks prior in Ann Arbor as the Nittany Lions and Wolverines came together in the notoriously tight tunnel during a powder keg situation that foreshadowed the MSU incident.
Finally, Michigan is taking action.
The program will reportedly remove 45 seats from the stadium over the offseason in an effort to widen the oft-criticized tunnel and hopefully prevent future quarrels from taking place.
"It’s being done to widen access to the field for the competitors and all the game personnel that enter and exit from the tunnel," U-M athletics spokesman Kurt Svoboda told the Detroit Free Press. "Our goal obviously is to ensure that safe and healthy environment for everybody who has to have access to the field."
The historic stadium's capacity won't change, though, as standing-room only tickets will be added to keep the cap at 107,601.
Bama Building NIL Hub
The NIL arms race continues to escalate.
As part of a new 15-year deal, Learfield has partnered with Alabama to create a state-of-the-art NIL hub called The Advantage Center. The facility will reportedly be located inside of Bryant Denny Stadium and is expected to open within the calendar year.
As part of a new agreement with Learfield, Alabama will build a dedicated NIL hub "The Advantage Center." pic.twitter.com/b49UOH4E1s
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) January 24, 2023
Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger provided further details about the ins and outs of The Advantage Center in his report:
In renderings provided to Sports Illustrated, the Advantage Center is expected to include a host of NIL-related features: a digital ticker announcing the latest news in athlete deals; a studio with a green screen to provide athletes a place to shoot NIL-related videos; a wall dedicated to Alabama player NIL deals and opportunities; and meeting space to possibly help facilitate brand-and-athlete relationships.
In the report, Learfield CEO Cole Gahagan said "it was only a matter of time before we began to build an infrastructure around NIL."
"This is the next big step in that direction,” Gahagan says in the article. “There’s no company better situated than ours to facilitate NIL. We are connected to over 10,000 brands nationally and locally. We are in the best position to bring those brands into the ecosystem to help create relationships between companies and athletes.”
The impact of NIL only continues to expand throughout college athletics, and there's little doubt other programs will look to follow suit with the blueprint that's being laid out in Tuscaloosa.
Million Dollar Mistake
Brian Kelly was set to make $9.5 million in his first year as LSU head coach, as per the 10-year, $95 million deal he inked with the program in November 2021.
But Kelly actually received more than he was supposed to over the last year. Like, a lot more.
An audit of LSU's athletics department found the school overpaid Kelly by more than $1 million in 2022. According to BusinessReport, the error began in May when the university started making supplemental payments to both Kelly's LLC and to the head coach directly. The school didn't notice the mistake until November.
However, both sides have agreed upon an adjusted pay scale for Kelly so that the school can collect the funds back by the end of the 2023 fiscal year.
ICYMI
James Laurinaitis Returning to Ohio State As GA
Legendary Buckeye linebacker James Laurinaitas is back with the program in a defensive graduate assistant role. Dan Hope reports that three-time consensus All-American will serve as an assistant linebackers coach, filling the role held last season by Koy McFarland, who is now the linebackers coach at Tulsa.
Truth vs. Fiction from Knowles' First Year
Kyle Jones separates reality from fiction in a breakdown of which criticisms about the 2022 Ohio State defense should be pinned on Jim Knowles, and which should be leveled at the personnel and execution on the field.
Jim Tressel: “I'm a Ryan Day Fan”
Chase Brown dissects a report from The Canton Repository in which former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel offers his thoughts on the current Buckeye coach.
Up Next
- Women's Basketball: vs. Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (B1G+)
- Men's Basketball: vs. Wisconsin, 7 p.m. Thursday (FS1)
- Women's Hockey: vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. Friday
- Men's Hockey: vs. Penn State, 7 p.m. Friday (B1G+)
- Wrestling: vs. Penn State, 7 p.m. Friday (BTN)
- Football: vs. Indiana, Sept. 2
