Good morning, and thanks for spending part of your day with Extra Points.

I am now currently in Fresno, having flown back to the mainland with the Hawaii football program. I’ll be in town all day today, will cover the Hawaii/Fresno State game, and then fly back to Chicago first thing on Sunday morning.

I’ll have at least one more Hawaii story next week, and I’m still working my way through some of the news that I missed over the last few days. But while I’m waiting for my body to figure out what time it is… I figured today would be a great day to answer some mailbag questions.

Questions are accepted on a rolling basis, but generally, the best way to get one asked is to tweet me (@MattBrownEP) or email me (Matt@ExtraPointsMB.com).

First, a quick word from today’s sponsor, and then your questions:

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Reader Nate asks,

I think Nate is referring to this tweet from the excellent college baseball reporter Kendall Roberts, who said that not only will Big Ten programs not be sponsoring the full 34 scholarship, but that he would be surprised if the league went much over the current 11.7 at all:

I haven’t heard specific baseball numbers from anybody in the Big Ten yet, (I’m not sure if the conference will make a requirement here, or simply ask each school to fund between a certain range), but I have heard from several baseball schools across the country that are not planning to offer the maximum scholarships permitted, with increases to 16-24ish more likely, if anything.

I think there are a few reasons why many Big Ten teams would be hesitant to make huge scholarship increases in baseball. For one, depending on their undergraduate demographics, a substantial baseball scholarship increase likely means the school will also need to add scholarships in other women’s sports, which can get expensive, depending on where else the department plans to increase scholarship.

But the grim calculus here is that I think many Big Ten schools believe that adding 15 baseball scholarships doesn’t meaningfully change their national trajectory. It won’t make the weather up north any warmer, it won’t change their facility or staffing levels, and it (alone) won’t turn a middling 25-win team into a squad that can compete for championships. Baseball simply isn’t a priority.

That may not be true for some of the Big Ten newcomers like UCLA, USC and Oregon, but that is the reality for the median Big Ten team.

I’m not saying I agree with it (I went to a Big Ten school, after all, and I think it would be neat if my Ohio State Buckeyes could find ways to compete against uh, Cal Poly and Georgetown. But if a school is already planning in going to 95 football scholarships and adding a few others elsewhere in the department, I understand why they wouldn’t open their wallets for baseball unless they absolutely had to.

Reader Joel asks,

The first one that jumps to mind is probably Southern Utah, who left the Big Sky for the WAC. The WAC the Thunderbirds thought they were joining never really materialized, and now the entire conference stands on the brink of collapse. I don’t want to say the bridge is burned forever, but multiple industry folks have told me that SUU’s realignment decision left a lot of hurt feelings in the Big Sky, and nobody in Cedar City should be counting on the Big Sky to take them back should things go south in the WAC. Given the stakes, I’m not sure history will look kindly on that move.

I don’t know if you’ll get anybody from any of the Western P4 schools to admit, even if the microphones were turned off, that they regret their decisions now…but perhaps that changes in a few years.

IllinoisKing asks,

No, I don’t think so. My sourcing has been pretty consistent over the last two months about the prospect of DII reclassification…there aren’t great matches between D1 conferences that need teams and DII schools potentially interested in moving up, and the House settlement adds a massive chunk of uncertainty, not to mention an increase in the cost of doing business. As the regulatory environment becomes more clear in early 2025, perhaps more schools will revisit those conversations. But for now, I am unaware of any DII programs seriously considering a move that weren’t considering a move say, four months ago….and there aren’t that many of those.

Last one!

My FAVORITE part, besides the reporting, was the chance for me to simply turn off my brain and get away from the internet dopamine machine for just a little bit. With the massive time difference, I couldn’t do many souring calls, sales interviews, or any of the other stuff that takes up a big chunk of my typical day. My default professional setting is to go 110 MPH all the time until I just completely run out of gas…taking a small break was badly needed.

My wife and I hiked Diamondhead at 5 AM, and seeing the sun rise at the top of the crater was a magnificent sight. I also thoroughly enjoyed eating as much fresh fish as I could (a rarity in Chicago) and drinking my weight in Hawaiian Sun. I’ll have to come back someday, with my kids, and do more adventures.

Hey Matt, read anything interesting this week?

You mean, besides the nearly 5,000 college sports documents you can access via the Extra Points Library, including dozens of new contracts I’ve uploaded this week from schools like LSU, UNC, Oregon, Wichita State, South Dakota State, and many more?!?

I did! I’m almost finished with “The Spirit Of The Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports” by Paul Emory Putz of Baylor. Paul has been a great friend and supporter of Extra Points and a thoughtful commentator on the deep intersection of collegiate athletics and theology. I didn’t know much about the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or many of the inter-Protestant debates surrounding how to engage (or if to engage) with college sports, and have found this book to be really enlightening. I’ll do a #blog about it once I finally finish it, but I bet many of you would enjoy it too.

Also, this is your last chance to submit trophy design ideas for the Extra Points Bowl! We’ll get that finalized early next week.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Enjoy my earlier dispatches from Hawaii, and I’ll be back in your inbox again very soon.