The news that you need to know about non-scholarship college athletics and those that love it.
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» 🌅 Good Morning and Happy Monday. Let’s make it a great week.

» 🗓️ What’s Happening Today. The DIII Championships Committee begins a two-day meeting in Indianapolis, as does the Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports Committee.

TOP STORY
1. House Committee Moves College Athlete Employment Bill Forward

by Dan Murphy, ESPN

“A Congressional committee voted Thursday to move forward with a bill that would prevent college athletes from being deemed employees of their schools, conferences or the NCAA.

The vote in the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce represents the first tangible signs of progress the college sports industry has made in its years-long push for a federal law to help reshape college sports. It comes just weeks after the NCAA and its power conferences announced they have agreed to share significantly more revenue with athletes as part of an antitrust lawsuit settlement.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) on the same day the antitrust settlement was announced, is in the early stages of the legislative process. It is likely to face opposition from Democrats in the Senate as well as legal challenges if it's passed.”

» Why It Matters. “NCAA president Charlie Baker said earlier this week that he hoped the recent antitrust settlement, if it's approved by a judge, would provide the framework for a college sports model that allows schools to compensate their athletes without turning them into employees. Baker said he does not believe most college athletes want to be considered employees.”

» Between The Lines. “The bill is intended to be a narrow part of a broader package of federal legislation that guarantees more benefits for athletes in the future while preventing them from being employees. However, no partner bills that would guarantee athlete benefits have been introduced yet.”

» Quotable. "If enacted, [the bill] would never survive judicial challenge. To wit, it is a waste of time," Paul McDonald, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the Johnson case, said. "Dilatory tactics have consequences. The only thing accomplished by the NCAA in needlessly dragging out the recognition of college athletes as hourly employees like their fellow students is to significantly increase the cost of resolution borne by its membership."

» Read More

NEWS

2. College Corporatism Speeding Up Clock on NCAA’s Demise

by Austen Bundy, Yardbarker

“College athletics are careening toward becoming a full-blown private commercial enterprise like the NFL or NBA. Meanwhile, the NCAA is hurtling toward an untimely demise and irrelevancy.

In late May, the NCAA ceded ground to the major conferences when it settled one of its antitrust lawsuits, enabling universities to pay their student athletes directly.

While competition among schools may be strengthened as a result, conferences are still trying to find new means of squeezing profits from athletic departments.”

» Driving The News. “Introducing private equity into college sports may secure Big 12 members' immediate future — and stave off additional poachings by the SEC and Big Ten for now — but they've only prolonged the inevitable consolidation into two major conferences. The Big 12 has triggered a slow-moving avalanche that will eventually result in major athletic conferences seceding from the NCAA as they become more financially independent.”

» Worth Noting. “College sports are quickly evolving, but this out-of-control money train is leaving the game — and it really is just a game — farther in the rearview mirror.”

» Keep Reading

NEWS
3. Cross Country/Track and Field Committee Recap

“The NCAA Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track and Field Rules Committee on Friday recommended rules for shoes competitors can wear and a modification to lane violations.

Under the proposed shoe rule, the committee wanted to bring the NCAA in line with the current language of the World Athletics rules regarding eligible shoes worn in cross country and indoor and outdoor track competition.”

» Other Rule Proposals. Pacing light technology would be allowed in nonchampionship competitions. As of Dec. 1, 2026, it would be required that equipment used for timing, weighing and measuring implements be certified on an annual basis. Immediate protest in field events would be more clearly defined by renaming it as a challenge. Challenges would have to be done before the next competitor competes. If the last competitor in a field event wants to challenge, it would have to be done within 60 seconds of the conclusion of the event.

» Continue Reading

NEWS
4. Lightning Round

» 🏊‍♂️ Swimming. Cal Lutheran’s Luke Rodarte finished seventh in the 100m breaststroke at the Olympic Trials. The 2022 DIII national championship touched the wall in 59.85, just .69 seconds away from qualifying for Team USA.

» 🗞️ News. “Faced with steep financial challenges and declining enrollment, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh has announced it will close its Fox Cities campus, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.”

» 🗞️ News. Another Philadelphia-area school is showing signs of stress, as Gwynedd Mercy University is reducing its number of schools from three to two and laying off a small number of staff amid operating losses.

» 🗞️ News. “Alverno College’s Board of Trustees voted Friday to declare financial exigency, an emergency step that allows strained institutions to restructure academic programs and lay off faculty members. The restructuring would reduce the number of undergraduate majors to 29 from 43 and the number of graduate programs to 19 from 25. Alverno will eliminate 25 full-time faculty positions and a dozen full-time staff positions.”

TRANSACTIONS
5. Comings and Goings

• CAIRN - Matt LoStracco named head men’s lacrosse coach

• CATHOLIC - Jordan Hoover named associate athletic director for facilities and operations

• CONCORDIA (Minn.) - Nate Young resigned as head men’s tennis coach

• GOUCHER - E.A. Jackson resigned as head field hockey coach

• HILBERT - Andy Rettig and Sara Snyder named co-women’s bowling head coaches

• HIRAM - Pierce Cumpstone named head men’s basketball coach

• LaGRANGE - Kevin Riordan named head men’s lacrosse coach

• LeTOURNEAU - Dillon May named director of track and field/cross country

• LYCOMING - John Schwien named head men’s soccer coach

• MARYVILLE - Jim Kelson named head men’s golf coach

• MARY WASHINGTON - Emma Rohde named head women’s volleyball coach

• NORTH CENTRAL (Ill.) - Nathaniel Boatright named head tennis coach

• ST. OLAF - Becky Maines stepped down as head women’s soccer coach. Molly Fiedler named head coach

• SAINT VINCENT - Joe Conner named head women’s lacrosse coach

• SMITH - Courtney Jaworski stepped down as director of track and field/cross country

• TCNJ - Eric Jendryaszek named interim head football coach

• U. of NEW ENGLAND - Ashlynn Nuckols named assistant athletic director for compliance and business

• VTSU CASTLETON - Tyler Higley named head football coach

1 THING
6. Record Heat Wave

A heat dome that's building in intensity in the Midwest is expected to unleash extreme temperatures from Iowa to Virginia and Maine this week.

It could peak at record intensity in New England on Wednesday and Thursday.

⚠️ Even northern Maine, which typically is just emerging into warmer conditions at this time of year, is likely to see temperatures soar into the upper 90s this week.

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