Hawaii shockingly fired their athletic director this week. I had just spent a few days with the program, and shared my thoughts on what I think really happened, based on that experience, and what boosters and other staffers have told me this week. Surprise! I don’t think this was really about his job performance.

The University of Washington pulled off an extensive and ambitious partnership with a major video game, which included athlete NIL, in-game activations, and much more. That video game…was World of Warcraft. I caught up with the school to understand why this particular game, and what it might mean for future video game partnerships and MMR deals.

Amid lots of fan speculation about conference realignment and reclassifications to FBS from FCS, here are some reminders about why that transition is much more expensive (and expansive!) than you might think. 

We’ve also been hard at work adding more updates to the Extra Points Library. Over the last two weeks, we’ve added:

• Huge new contract and vendor dumps involving ECU, UTEP, Kentucky, Cleveland State, Stephen F. Austin, Towson, and others:

• Tweaked the existing database to allow users to search by conference, rather than just by school

• Improved the search functions to improve speed and stability

• Increased our total number of documents to over 5,100+

There’s still a LOT that hasn’t been clarified about the House settlement, but you’re starting to see more schools talk with their fans about how their program will comply, and what will change with their financial and scholarship situation. At Wichita State, for example, AD Kevin Saal writes that he believes the department will share roughly $2.6 million in revenue (as opposed to the maximum of ~$20 million). A letter from UNC doesn’t point to any specific revenue share targets, but does outline how the department will be even more aggressive in chasing new revenue. UCF will dissolve their main NIL collectives and bring everything in-house. I struggle to see how many schools outside the P4 will be able to share more than $5 million in athletic revenue, simply because they don’t generate enough more to share.

This is a few weeks old, but I just noticed it now… NCAA Associate Director of Enforcement Anthony Del Guidice left to join the Education practice at Eversheds Sutherland, where he’ll advise schools, (and potentially parents, collectives and others) on “compliance, contractual and litigation matters pertaining to college sports and athletics. Worth watching, in my humble opinion, to see if other experienced NCAA lawyers or staffers decide to leave for private or corporate practice, now that “compliance” is about more than just NCAA bylaws.

The State of South Dakota’s lawsuit over the House settlement, btw, isn’t going away. Says AG Jackley, “my belief is they’re going to have to answer to a South Dakota jury about why they’re not taking proper care of our athletes and why they’re making our taxpayers (foot) the bill for mistakes they’ve made elsewhere.”

Speaking of lawsuits, former Utah State head football coach Blake Andersen is suing the school for $15 million, claiming he was wrongfully terminated.