And reports are that DeBoer informed UW that he’s accepting the head coach job in Alabama.
I’d also heard that UW is having a team meeting at 1:30 PM PST (an hour after I post this) so clearly they are planning their next steps.
Mike Norvell and Steve Sarkisian apparently both got contract extensions just off the rumor they might be considered for the Alabama job. Must be nice.
I’d like to see the phone records of their agent(s). “Hey Fox Sports, you didn’t hear this from me, but Alabama is considering my guy! No, you’re my first call, I have no idea where ESPN got that idea and already reported on it. Oh wait, gotta go, that’s the UT/FSU (as appropriate) AD on the phone. Byesies!”
Sark. Fails upward. Always.
The NCAA didn’t necessarily “pick” FSU; it pretty much pled guilty and agreed to the penalties, which, when it comes down to it, aren’t much more than a slap on the wrist, so it got reported right away. Who knows what schools were caught doing worse, but are still fighting it.
Note that the only infractions were, FSU’s NIL collective discussed getting a potential transfer to the school an NIL deal if he did transfer (in the end, he stayed at his previous school), and a coach drove him to the meeting.
The only thing really unprecedented about the penalty is, there is a one-year clean break between the school and its NIL collective, in both directions - the collective cannot donate money to the school, and the school cannot provide any special benefits to the collective’s members in return. Note that the collective can continue to sign players to NIL deals and pay them for it.
Of course, the minute the NCAA decides that nothing that Connor Stallions did for Michigan warrants vacating either the CFP Championship Game or the Rose Bowl, and the CFP and the AFCA (which runs the coaches’ poll) announce that they will not strip Michigan of their national championships, expect a new chorus of “The NCAA is powerless - why is it still in business?” to begin.
Things not doing so well in Alabama.
So what I heard on the radio this morning is that when Kalen DeBoer moved to Alabama, he brought Austin Mack with him. Mack was a high-value QB recruit (4 star) that was a red shirt for UW last year, but was kept ready to go if anything happened to Pennix.
Apparently Alabama had a 5 star recruit QB in Julian Sayin, who decided to get out of Alabama when he saw DeBoer bringing another QB with him. Sayin reportedly is someone that Alabama was really counting on, they saw him as the next Patrick Mahomes (no exaggeration, I was hearing those comparisons). Now the rumor is that he’s wanting to join with Bill O’Brien over at Ohio State. O’Brien was the OC in Alabama under Saban.
I wonder what other complications are going to come up in this transition.