"Coach Kenny uses the word ‘culture’ a lot, and I’m also attracted to a team and a head coach who is very focused on bringing in the right guys. Talent is one thing, but really dissecting a person’s personality is another. So that’s what I feel that they’re doing over there.” Colorado RB transfer Alton McCaskill talks ASU pledge

I think it is 17 that did not enroll for the Spring semester (including the transfers)

"Hines Ward is very football-smart, and obviously, he would be if he’s a Super Bowl MVP. Because I’m a PA kid, this is very big.”

To those who thought that ASU was gonna put more emphasis on Texas than California in its recruiting class or that it didn't have capable recruiters in that state - think again.

Aside from LB Lee Fuimaono, EVERY California recruit ASU has landed is a Top 100 prospect from that state.

When Tavian McNair goes public with his pledge (probably later today) ASU will have landed SEVEN Top 100 California prospects, by far the most of any program in the country.

I know the #CaliDevils may have brought up bad memories from the Herm Edwards era, but it's a hashtag that reflects something totally different these days.

UofA, a regional host and #13 overall seed, is bounced after back-to-back losses, including a 7-0 season-ender earlier today against Dallas Baptist.

That is all. 🙂

Right here:

Mornin Mates...

Today's Topic = Hot Summer Begins

And college athletic departments are starting to melt down given the "economic earthquake" coming right at them given the recent NCAA anti-trust settlement proposal that will provide up to $21M annually or up to 22% each power conference school athletic budget to Athlete-students as paid employees of the school...

Iowa St has already scrapped plans for a new wrestling facility and Texas A&M has laid off a dozen or so athletic staffers while MIssissippi AD - Keith Carter - says it will come down to each school as to how they handle this financial issue, whether by finding new revenue or cutting expenses or some of both, depending on the circumstances...

I'm sure some of those staffers at TAMU don't believe their AD, who said the layoffs had nothing to do with the school owing former coach - Jimbo Fischer - a buyout amount of $76.8M but, rather, were taking precautionary steps to protect their existing business model...

I'm not sure where this leaves ASU that has initiated a new business model for its athletic dept but I guess we'll all find out in the coming months and years as they have to deal with athletic free agency, pay-for-play money associated with the NIL reality and now the antitrust settlement...

But, AU is supposedly upset by how president Crow has gotten rid of their athletic dept debt and wonders why the same standard hasn't been used regarding the Cats athletic dept debt...

Maybe, that's because Crow learned a lot from how the Cats athletic dept became some sort of bad guy when their president couldn't explain how his school executives had screwed up their school's finances to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, in part by how they handled their athletic dept finances...

I'm paraphrasing from an AP article this morning "Economic Earthquake awaits athletic departments" by John Zenor and from Greg Hansen's Sunday Notebook in today's Daily Star newspaper "Athletic finance double standard for Arizona and ASU?"...

The Cats are also not happy today given the quick exit from the baseball postseason the past two days, when as the #13 tournament Seed and playing at home, they lost to Grand Canyon Friday night and then to Dallas-Baptist yesterday afternoon...

Changing subjects, I see where the Sun Devils have been established as a seven point favorite against Wyoming in our first game of the season...

That's not a whole lot of points but is probably about right given where the Devils stand these days in their rebuilding efforts under Dilly and his staff...

It's hard to believe that we've had back to back three win seasons in football and I'm not going to make the same mistake I made last season when I drank way too much Sun Devil Kool-Aid and thought Dilly could turn things around very quickly...

Frankly, it's hard to believe that none of our Big 3 sports made any postseason tournaments this season...

I know we had a bowl ban but with only 3 wins our football team wasn't going anywhere anyway...

And, then we had a losing BB season under Bobby and didn't qualify for the postseason in baseball, under Willie, either...

So, I guess there is no way to go but up and, hopefully, an upward trend will manifest itself in all Big 3 sports this next year...

In the meantime, I can take pleasure in watching the Cats fall on their faces in both basketball and baseball...

It's not much but better than nothing, IMHO...

G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!

That's the question former newspaper sportswriter Corky Simpson asks in his Along the Way column in our Geezerville newspaper today...

He starts by pointing out that Div 1 revenue generating sports (football and basketball) are now virtually minor leagues for the NFL and NBA...

Schools are now allowed to set aside up to $20M a year to pay their student-Athletes to play those sports...

Schools can decide how to distribute that money, as to which athletes would be paid and how much...

However, as he notes, most schools like AU (and ASU too) don't have that much spare revenue with which to pay all those semi-pro athletes so what is going to happen, he asks..??

What is going to happen in the "Fun and Games" athletic departments of most schools once this comes on line..??

More succinctly, he asks..."How long will the community's unfettered admiration of its heretofore amateur college sports last?"...

I don't know what will happen at AU but I'm pretty sure that Sun Devil fans will stop attending football, basketball and baseball games if they do not win enough to justify the time and money spent to attend those endeavors...

No fan really wants to follow a Sis-boom-Blah semi-amateur team that is mediocre at best or do they..??

I'm looking forward to see how our newly designed athletic dept model and newly appointed AD are able to deal with this "seismic change" that is taking place in college sports these days...

Has our new athletic dept infrastructure been built to withstand a category 7 or 8 magnitude college sports quake that will hit the campus in the very near future...one that might significantly reduce fan attendance and booster donations as a result..??

Stay tuned...Go Devils!!!

Even though ASU isn't officially joining until August 1st, good to see that they were part of this conference meeting this week. And yes this level of payout is much welcomed

this lawsuit is Not Settled yet, but sounds like it is Not what we want to hear - sounds like kids will have the option of transferring as many times as they want without any restrictions or having to sit out a season .......the student-athletes have won pretty much everything they wanted this off season, which includes the upcoming settlement of $2B+ to former athletes as back pay stemming from multiple lawsuits

Both can now get that year of eligibility they lost in 2023 back

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ASU has 47 scheduled visits thru June 7 (including those that have already visited)

Georgia has 43 visits scheduled thru Jun 21 (including those that have already visited)

Texas (perennial early closer) has 42 visits thru June 21 (including those that have already visited)

Reigning National Champion Michigan has 14 scheduled visits thru June 21 (including those that have already visited)

Undoubtedly some of these scheduled visitors will drop of the lists and others will be added, but it is fairly close to the final number they will end up with over this time frame (although Michigan's will surely increase significantly)

Although the NCAA changed the rule to allow for 70 official visits, each team definitely wants as many as possible to handle the December portal window, to handle any defections from "commits", etc, etc, etc through the "end" of the cycle (which is really May 1 at the earliest)

It used to be possible to use leftover Official Visits from the previous cycle..........not sure if that is still a possibility or if any of ASU's fit into that box

Something to keep an eye on

A look right here:

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I’d imagine these times are only early Non Con games? Going to be real interesting. Lots of moans and groans from those that actually attend games. Cheers from those that largely don’t.

Interested to know how B12 manages the game times. Hopefully not in a similar fashion as the P12 did.

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College sports is filled with wonderful stories. It’s also filled with constant change, turnover, and the occasional controversy. Navigating those waters can be difficult, but Arizona State has had a steady hand on the helm for decades. Doug Tammaro heads up ASU’s media relations department. It’s an often thankless job, but the impact he has made for Sun Devils student-athletes, fans, and media members, both professional and student, has been immense. In addition to having impeccable taste in NFL teams, Tammaro has brought a positive, gratitude-oriented mindset to his work. But just remember to clean up your area in the press box.

On this episode, we discuss his early days starring on the basketball courts of western Pennsylvania, the lessons he learned early in his career, his favorite Sun Devil moments, Bill Walton, unsung Sun Devils, the origins of the Kyle Dodd rivalry, the power of a handwritten note, and much more.

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Cincinnati was one of the four teams that joined the Big 12 last season and struggled in their first year in a power conference. Has spring practice offered true hopes for a turnaround? BearcatReport.com Publisher Jason Stamm shares his observations. And I know you guys will get a kick about what he had to say about former ASU QB Emory Jones...