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On the campus of James Madison, two head football coaches are hard at work.

Within the JMU football operations center, outgoing coach and new UCLA coach Bob Chesney and his coaching staff are grinding on preparations for the biggest game in the school’s history — the College Football Playoff bout on Saturday night at Oregon.

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Less than a mile away, inside Hotel Madison, new JMU coach Billy Napier and his staff are knee-deep in preparations for the next version of the JMU football team — scouting players, assembling a staff and examining the transfer portal.

Every now and again, these two intersect. For instance, Napier attends most practices, watching Chesney coach Napier’s future players from afar. The two, Chesney and Napier, have even met to share information — Napier helping with Chesney’s transition to the power conference level and west coast (Napier has experience in both), and Chesney helping Napier’s transition to JMU.

In the middle of it all is a chance at one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

“The three of us — me, Bob and Billy — have an agreement that the most important thing is the 2025 team,” JMU athletic director Matt Roan said. “We are proving you can work together for the betterment of a team and program. Now, is it awkward? Yeah, there is an awkwardness to it, but we’ve handled it as good as we could have.”

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After all, Roan added, “What’s the alternative?”

As this year’s College Football Playoff revs up with four first-round games this week, one thing has impacted a majority of the 12-team field: the coaching carousel.

Eight playoff-bound teams have experienced coaching staff turnover to some degree.

Three programs have lost or will soon lose their head coach (JMU, Ole Miss and Tulane). Two teams, Texas A&M and Oregon, have each lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators — three of them (Collin Klein, Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi) to head coaching gigs. Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline, and Alabama’s receivers coach, JaMarcus Shephard, have accepted head coaching jobs at USF and Oregon State, respectively.

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And how could anyone forget about what happened in Oxford, Mississippi, where five offensive assistant coaches, including coordinator Charlie Weis Jr., followed Lane Kiffin to LSU, only to awkwardly return for the postseason run.

While all but Kiffin are remaining at their gigs through the end of their teams’ playoff stretch, the juggling act is intense enough to beg a couple of questions: Will their team’s play be impacted by the situation? And is there a way to avoid the carousel’s infringement on the postseason?

“We’ve got to fix the calendar,” said Will Hall, the former Tulane assistant who will replace Jon Sumrall as head coach after the Green Wave’s playoff run ends. “We are the only sport in the world where free agency for players and coaches begins in the middle of the season.”

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An expanded playoff has further complicated an already-frenetic time — mid-November through mid-January — in the sport of college football.

In that span, teams are completing their regular seasons; preparing or playing in bowls and, now, playoff games; attempting to retain their current roster while signing a new class during the December early signing period; scouring the transfer portal (i.e. tampering) to prepare for its opening in January; hiring, firing and attempting to retain coaches; and, oh by the way, players are completing their final exams.

Whew.

Shifting and shrinking the portal window from December to January hasn’t necessarily produced the desired effect. In fact, the coaching hiring cycle has accelerated faster than ever and players are already announcing their portal entrance weeks before January arrives.

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How does all of this get fixed? Some believe it isn’t possible as long as college football is tethered to higher education. The university’s academic calendar makes it virtually impossible to structure college football in the same way as the NFL, where free agency and coaching transitions mostly unfold after the playoffs.

Most spring semesters begin in the middle of the playoffs in early to mid-January.

“I don’t think there is a way to avoid it,” Chesney said. “The NFL doesn’t have to worry about players enrolling in classes. If everybody started in February [class], you could do it then.”

However, a group of college athletic administrators is reigniting the topic. Members of the NCAA Football Oversight Committee are in the midst of exploring a holistic examination of the 365-day football calendar.

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Should Week Zero be opened to all teams (right now, teams need a waiver)? Can the entire regular season eventually be moved up? Is the portal in the right place? What becomes of spring practice or the proposed summer OTAs? And should the early signing period move back to February or forward to the summer?

Another unanswered question: Will the playoff expand beyond 12 teams? That answer — officials are mostly studying a 16-team format — may dictate the answer to a lot of those questions.

So, what is the solution to all of this? How do you stop the madness of teams preparing for some of the biggest games in school history while juggling coaching staff hirings and firings and player re-signings?

“I don’t feel comfortable saying, ‘Here’s the answer!’” said Texas A&M athletic director Trev Alberts.

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Alberts says the “chief challenge” in college football is that it is devoid of “centralized decision-making” — a point made by many through the years who argue that a new entity, board and/or commissioner is needed for a sport whose governance is fractured among conferences with differing missions, ideals and geographic and cultural footprints.

“Everybody is doing what they should be,” Alberts said. “Every commissioner is fighting for the membership they lead. Many times, those are cross purposes. There isn’t centralized decision-making. Could you get to a point where that is the case? I think so. But I’m not naive to know that a lot of the pain we’re going through right now is ultimately necessary to get where you want to go.”

How long are we from such a setup? His coach, Mike Elko, has the answer: not close.

“What’s going to have to happen is some group or board together needs to make decisions for the best interest of college football,” Elko said. “It just seems like we’re a long ways from that.”

In the meantime, Elko has an offensive coordinator, Klein, juggling head coaching duties and preparing for the Aggies’ playoff game against Miami. In Oregon, head coach Dan Lanning has two coordinators, Stein and Lupoi, operating as head coaches for Kentucky and Cal, respectively, while gearing up for the JMU Dukes.

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In Oxford, Pete Golding is making his head coaching debut leading Ole Miss to its first-ever playoff game with a staff of five assistant coaches who have signed contracts with a rival school in the same conference. Golding has intentionally not changed Ole Miss’ practice schedule, meeting times, etc. in order to retain a level of consistency for the players.

However, he has brought in new offensive coaching hires who, like Napier at JMU, are mostly observing.

“Anybody for the 2026 piece of this is [for] retention of your current roster, being here available for your current roster, to meet them,” Golding said. “A lot of players want to have an idea of who they are going to play for.”

Meanwhile, down in New Orleans, Hall, the new Tulane head coach, is at least for one more week still occupying his offensive assistant role under Sumrall, the new Florida coach finishing out Tulane’s season.

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“Coach Sumrall said it: ‘I got two phones, two jobs and two hours of sleep,’” Hall said with a laugh during an interview this week. “I’m kind of in the same role. But both of my jobs are in the same town!”

At JMU, Chensey’s gig is a world away. As it turns out, that’s a positive. The three-hour time difference from Los Angeles to Virginia helps.

By day, he works on JMU. By night, he works on UCLA.

It makes for some long days. He’s on the phone until midnight East Coast time dealing with the Bruins and he’s out of the house by 6 a.m. for team meetings at JMU.

“I’m fortunate to have that three hours,” he said. “It allows you to balance even though it makes my day longer.”

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In the meantime, about a mile away, Napier and his new support staff are reviewing film of current players, conducting coaching staff interviews and attempting, as best they can, to be respectful of the current team’s playoff run.

Napier is unlikely to attend the Dukes’ game at Oregon, he said, as there’s just too much to do back in Harrisonburg. After all, the expectation is that most of Chesney’s coaching staff is heading to Los Angeles as well as a handful of players. Thirty more players will exhaust their eligibility and a few others he’d expect to transfer.

Napier is planning to have 60 new players next year.

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“It’s been a positive, but, look, it’s been a nightmare to do all these things at one time,” Napier said. “It’s beneficial for us to have a good showing in the playoff. If we win, then heck, let’s go to the next week!”

The Frontier League’s Joliet Slammers are leaning into their nickname after announcing that they will play an exhibition game at a local prison next season.

Old Joliet Prison, which was open from 1858-2002 and featured in the 1980 movie “The Blues Brothers,” will host “The Big House Ballgame” on April 30 featuring the Slammers and the Gateway Grizzlies.

“The Slammers are proud to be a part of a once in a lifetime celebration of the famous Route 66 and excited to help usher in a new era of baseball and community connections in Joliet,” said the Slammers in a statement. ‘”The Big House Ballgame’ will serve as the kickoff to a full slate of programs and community-wide activities throughout the city.”

It will come as no surprise that a member of the Veeck family is involved in this idea.

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William “Night Train” Veeck, whose grandfather Bill came up with ideas like “Disco Demolition Night” and many others, joined the Slammers as executive vice president of sales and marketing and part-owner in Jan. 2024.

Veeck’s father, Mike, and actor Bill Murray are also part of the ownership group.

It didn’t take long for Veeck to deliver an out-of-the-box idea to bring attention to the Slammers.

Last July, the Slammers dropped 2,600 hot dogs from a helicopter above their stadium in an attempt to set a Guinness world record.

According to the Slammers, Warden Edmund Allen introduced baseball to the prison’s inmates to improve morale and help with good behavior. Baseball games took place there until the facility closed in 2002.

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No word yet on how the Slammers will configure the field or how many fans will be able to attend the prison game.

NEW ORLEANS, La. — Jon Sumrall bursts into his office, out of breath and hustling toward his refrigerator.

This is a daily routine of his: a two-mile walk with wife Ginny — the one thing, he half-jokingly says, that preserves his marriage — followed by homemade smoothies for both of them.

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Out of the fridge comes an assortment of items: vegan protein powder, creatine, frozen bananas and strawberries, milk, peanut butter, a jar of honey and wilted spinach.

“Are these OK to use?” he asks a shrugging Ginny, as he sprinkles the leafy greens into a whirling blender.

Sumrall, a 43-year-old Texas-born country boy raised in Alabama with his deepest football roots in Kentucky, is soon heading permanently to Florida. For now, he’s juggling two head coaching jobs, the one here in Louisiana, as he prepares the Tulane Green Wave (10-2) to play against Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff on Saturday, and the one 600 miles away in Gainesville.

How he’s managing to do both is simple to explain.

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“Not a lot of sleep,” he says.

Four hours of sleep a night, to be exact. It hasn’t slowed him down.

Just because he has two jobs doesn’t mean Sumrall stops his routines, like that two-mile walk, or his 5 a.m. morning runs and weight-lifting. In between, he finds himself in the midst of a College Football Playoff trip while preserving the Green Wave’s signing class and retaining current players on the roster, all while signing new players at Florida and hiring a coaching staff in Gainesville.

In a snapshot of this juggling act, on a recent Monday, Sumrall led practice in the morning in New Orleans, flew to Gainesville for his introductory news conference (he watched Tulane practice film on the flight) and then flew back Monday evening to be there for another practice Tuesday morning.

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If it sounds like a lot, it’s because it is.

“I drink SPARK [energy drink] in the morning and coffee in the afternoon,” he explains.

He’s not the only one doing this. In fact, as it turned out, his opponent in the American championship game, North Texas, had a coach, Eric Morris, who had already accepted the Oklahoma State job.

Sumrall had a plan prior to the American title game, win or lose.

“During our walk, that’s what we talked about,” he says. “Win, win or win. If the other alternative happens, here’s what we probably will do. I’ve spent more time on the win options. That’s what we want to do.”

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But why keep a coach around who’s leaving?

“We believe it’s the right thing to do for our student-athletes and it gives us the best opportunity to win those games,” athletic director David Harris says.

In his agreement in accepting the Florida job, Sumrall was clear with Florida AD Scott Stricklin: I’m coaching my team the rest of the way.

North Texas agreed to the same despite Morris heading to Oklahoma State. The same goes for James Madison, where Bob Chesney — UCLA’s new coach — will continue coaching the Dukes in the playoff.

So, yes, two playoff-bound teams are coached by men who have accepted power league jobs. Another, Ole Miss, will be led by a coach in his first month, Pete Golding, after the departure of Lane Kiffin to LSU.

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In fact, earlier this week as Sumrall discussed his big move, the televisions in his office played clips of Kiffin’s introductory news conference at LSU. Sumrall smiles and points to the screen when asked about this year’s coaching carousel.

“There’s always timing. Not to name names,” he says with a chuckle.

Kiffin’s decision to leave Ole Miss — and the Rebels promoting Golding — stopped many other dominoes falling. Last Sunday, the American conference coaching moves to the SEC fell nicely in place: Alex Golesh (USF to Auburn); Sumrall (Tulane to Florida); Ryan Silverfield (Memphis to Arkansas).

But just 10 days ago, that’s not how many expected those hires to go.

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In fact, most believed that Golesh was bound for Arkansas, Sumrall to Auburn and Florida had its sights on Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz or Washington’s Jedd Fisch if it didn’t snag Kiffin.

What happened? Florida drew the interest of Sumrall, then deep in negotiations with Auburn.

Asked about his choice, Sumrall said, “A lot of it for me was, ‘Do they believe in my vision?’ You want to do the job at a place that wants you to do the job your way.”

Sumrall’s way is tough, hard-nosed, fearless. He’s a former Kentucky linebacker and longtime defensive assistant and coordinator mostly in the South.

Sumrall took the Tulane job two years ago for a reason, he says. He wanted his next job to be one of the jobs.

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“I wanted a dream job,” he says. “Those are Florida, LSU, Texas, whatever, to me. The journey has been crazy. Knowing that I was going to go to Florida … I didn’t think about that ’til Sunday morning. Woke up Sunday morning and I was going to tell my team that day. My wife looked at me, ‘You’re going to be the head coach at the University of Florida.’ I’m like, ‘I know, it’s crazy.’”

At Florida, Sumrall will be the fifth coach in the last 13 years. The Gators have fired the last four — each of them having not lasted beyond Year 4.

Does this frighten him?

“I’m not scared. There’s not a lot that scares me. Maybe rattlesnakes,” Sumrall says. “I’m unapologetically myself. I’m going to be who I am. That job won’t change me.”

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Sumrall’s toughness comes from a tough mentor, Rich Brooks, his coach at Kentucky and the man who hired him as a graduate assistant. His organization skills? Those come from Neal Brown, the former West Virginia coach hired recently at North Texas who he worked with on the Kentucky staff.

They’ve prepared him, along with Mark Stoops, another Kentucky mentor, for this big gig.

“I worked my whole career to get this point,” he says. “It’s like a celebration but it’s the start of something special — it’s not the end. It’s a cool opportunity. I look forward to all of it — even the hard parts.”

It’s been quite a climb.

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He’s in his fourth season as a head coach — first two at Troy and last two at Tulane — and he’s lost a total of 11 games and won 43. His Troy teams won the Sun Belt in both 2022 and 2023, and his first Tulane team last year lost in the American championship game. This year, the Green Wave beat North Texas 34-21 for the conference title.

The winning has turned profitable for him and his family of six (he and Ginny have boy-girl twins and two more girls). He’ll more than double his contract at Florida at more than $7 million annual salary.

But that pales in comparison to the job itself. For instance, on Tuesday, Sumrall’s phone rang.

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It was Tim Tebow.

“He’s like, ‘You know why you’re at [the Florida] job? Your culture. You built your culture on toughness. When we were good under Urban, we were tough,’” Sumrall says. “‘We’ve watched you. You build it on toughness.’”

Tough? Like juggling two head coaching jobs while attempting to lead one team into the College Football Playoff while assembling a staff and recruiting for another?

After the Green Wave’s win over North Texas on Dec. 5, Sumrall returned to Gainesville for a few days and then flew back to New Orleans for mid-week practice in preparation for Tulane’s first-round game on Saturday.

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However, the entire Sumrall family isn’t moving to Florida until after Mardi Gras.

Why? Because the Sumralls rent a condo with other families on the parade route. The Florida coach will be back in Louisiana, at least for a few days for the annual festivities.

“I’m coming back for Mardi Gras,” he says laughing. “That’s selfish. That’s for me.”

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama’s emotions following the team’s loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Cup championship had nothing to do with the result of the game. Following the loss, Wembanyama was emotional while taking postgame questions before revealing he “lost someone today.”

Wembanyama fought back tears and took only two questions before leaving the press conference.

While Wembanyama did not provide details, The Athletic reported Wednesday that the Spurs star found out his grandmother died prior to Tuesday’s game. Wembanyama played in the contest, scoring 18 points in the 124-113 loss to the Knicks.

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It’s unclear whether the 21-year-old Wembanyama will take additional time to grieve. After a day off on Wednesday, the Spurs will return to the court on Thursday to take on the Washington Wizards. The team also plays on Friday.

It’s been a difficult season for Wembanyama so far. The third-year player has developed into a superstar when on the court, but missed 12 games due to a calf issue. He returned from that injury to play in the team’s last two games, but was on a minutes restriction in both contests.

The Spurs excelled despite Wembanyama’s absence, going 9-3 while the center was out. After winning just 34 games last season, the Spurs are one of the biggest surprises in the NBA thus far. Through 26 games, the team is 18-7 and sits as the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.

Pete Golding did something interesting at the beginning of the first week of the rest of his coaching life.

He got a haircut.

That may not seem like a big deal. A lot of people get haircuts. But for those who’ve followed Golding’s journey to Ole Miss, where he’ll make his head coaching debut Saturday in the College Football Playoff, turning in his trademark shaggy locks for a more mature, close-cropped look is perhaps a subtle but meaningful signal of the weight he’s now carrying.

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“Pete knows what the position demands,” Rick Rhoades, Golding’s former college coach at Delta State, told Yahoo Sports this week. “When you’re the defensive coordinator and you operate from the press box and you’re in a situation where your head coach is very, very visible, you can probably present yourself one way. When you’re the face of the program, you’ve got to present yourself another. And I think Pete is very aware of that.”

After weeks of drama surrounding Lane Kiffin’s future, culminating with his departure to LSU after Ole Miss’ regular season finale, Golding was elevated to permanent head coach almost by default. With Kiffin gone, the playoff looming and no real opportunity to conduct a thorough coaching search — most of the logical Ole Miss candidates were already off the board by that point — it took athletic director Keith Carter a matter of hours to decide the best shot for the CFP now and continuity into the future rested with Kiffin’s defensive coordinator.

For Golding, that could cut both ways. Is there pressure to deliver a deep playoff run beginning this weekend with the No. 6 Rebels’ home game against American conference champion Tulane? Or perhaps this is a bit of a free roll, given the chaos Ole Miss has been through over the last month, with several assistant coaches trying to do two jobs at once and Golding himself having to transition from focusing only on the defense to leading the entire team.

It’s hard to say because nobody in the history of college football has ever had to make their head coaching debut with so much on the line. And when you consider where Golding started, the odds of a 41-year-old from Hammond, Louisiana, being in this unique, almost surreal position are probably too big to ever be calculated.

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“Never dreamed it, you know?” said Frankie DeBusk, who hired Golding to his first full-time coaching job in 2007 at D-II Tusculum University. “There’s several guys I hired that I probably envisioned would be fighting for that head job more than Pete. But it just goes to show you what can happen if you’re willing to take what you know and use it to the best of your advantage and not try to be someone you’re not.”

But who is Pete Golding?

For someone who has been at high-profile SEC programs since 2018, when Nick Saban plucked him out of UT-San Antonio and made him Alabama’s defensive coordinator, he has been both ubiquitous and somewhat unknown.

Unlike his predecessor, whose social media life almost seemed like a reality show, Golding’s only activity on Twitter/X is the occasional posting of a shark emoji, an apparent nod to the “landshark defense” that became associated with Ole Miss a decade ago. He doesn’t have a lengthy catalog of interviews that go much deeper than football philosophy. He hasn’t been groomed, the way many top assistants are, to be a front-facing personality that catches the attention of athletic directors.

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Until now, Golding has probably existed for many fans more as meme or an idea than a three-dimensional person; a defensive savant whose unkempt beard and wild, graying hair — combined with a DUI arrest after National Signing Day wrapped up in 2022 — might have given the impression of a fratboy who never grew up.

And at various points, that may not be entirely wrong.

“Oh, I can’t tell those stories,” David Duggan, who was Southern Miss’ defensive coordinator when Golding came on as defensive backs coach in 2014, said with a laugh.

But the wild-man aesthetic betrays both his seriousness and his talent, according to those who have known him from the beginning.

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“He’s one of the most focused individuals I’ve ever been around,” said Rhoades, who essentially signed Golding at Delta State as a throw-in with two other players he was recruiting from Hammond, a town that bisects the path between New Orleans’ northern suburbs and Baton Rouge. “We always measured people inside-out rather than height, weight and all that. So we knew Pete had something special. He was one of those guys that always seemed to be a step ahead.”

Unsure what he would do after his playing career, Rhoades talked Golding into sticking around as a graduate assistant. Around the same time, Rhoades had reached out to Ron Roberts, who is well known now as a former defensive coordinator at Baylor, Auburn and Florida, and who just took that job on Ryan Silverfield’s new staff at Arkansas.

But back then, Roberts was coaching at a high school near Fresno, California, after a stint at Tusculum where he worked under DeBusk. Rhoades, whose son was also on staff at Tusculum, convinced Roberts to leave California and be the defensive coordinator at Delta State.

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That’s where Golding’s fledgling career began to take shape.

“Ron really taught Pete how to be a defensive coach,” Rhoades said.

Roberts had learned the 3-3-5 defense from Joe Lee Dunn, the legendary defensive coordinator who spent time at both Ole Miss and Mississippi State, and in turn Roberts imparted it to Golding. When Golding’s internship was up and it was time to get a full-time job, DeBusk hired him at Tusculum for $27,000 to be the defensive backs coach.

By the next year, Golding was elevated to defensive coordinator running his variation of the 3-3 stack as Tusculum made the second round of the D-II playoffs.

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“We played that defense and blitzed and played a lot of man behind it, and you’ve got to have a lot of courage to be the defensive coordinator doing that,” DeBusk said. “But Pete was very confident in what he was doing and had our kids believing in it. You see coaches come and go, but Pete just had it. I mean, he’s got it today. You can’t put your finger on it, you know? Sometimes you coach great players and can’t really tell you why they’re a great player, they’ve just got it. And Pete’s that guy that when it comes to coaching. He’s just got it.”

Still, it didn’t seem like Golding was on a glide path to stardom. From Tusculum back to Delta State for a couple years to Southeastern Louisiana and then Southern Miss, it would have been hard to imagine constructing a career that culminated with a head coaching job in the SEC.

At the time, in fact, Golding didn’t even have an agent.

“He didn’t think he needed one,” Duggan said.

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That changed after Golding went to UTSA, where he constructed a defense that ranked among the top 10 in yards allowed in 2017. At that point, the agents were recruiting him — including Jimmy Sexton, who represented many of the heaviest hitters in college football.

That connection helped Golding make the huge leap from UTSA to Alabama, even though Nick Saban had never spoken to him before a whirlwind courtship that ended with Golding and Tosh Lupoi sharing defensive coordinator duties for the 2018 team that got torched by Clemson in the national championship game.

Immediately and almost every day thereafter, Golding became the target of Alabama fans’ criticism any time something went wrong. It got so intense, in fact, that Golding’s father Skip — a former coach himself — called into “The Paul Finebaum Show” on a couple occasions to defend his son.

At one point in the fall of 2022, Skip Golding even threatened the longtime Finebaum caller “Legend,” in one of those only-in-the-SEC scenarios.

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“Give me his address,” Skip Golding said. “I’ll meet his ass because I ain’t scared. I’m from south Miami.”

It’s probably no coincidence that Skip hasn’t been heard from since. In fact, nobody in Pete Golding’s family, including his father, mother and brother, responded to interview requests from Yahoo Sports.

When he left to join Kiffin’s Ole Miss staff after the 2022 season, there was a sense around the SEC that Alabama wasn’t particularly disappointed to see him go after a couple years where the defensive numbers were fairly pedestrian. It’s unclear how true that is; Saban has never acknowledged any break in the relationship, and Golding has maintained that family reasons (particularly his wife’s roots in Mississippi) played a role in what seemed like a lateral move at best.

It’s turned out to be the sweet spot. If anything, Golding is positioned now where his deep relationships in the state could pay off particularly now as fans galvanize behind the anti-Kiffin.

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“He’s done such a good job of recruiting the state,” said Duggan, now the head coach at Jackson Academy. “If you’re Lane Kiffin, you come into the high schools with Pete because he had been on the ground, laying the foundation. Lane did a good job, but he doesn’t have the relationship component like that. Pete established all those relationships personally. He’s a really good guy, he’s really smart and the high school coaches all really, really like him. He’s going to have the support from all the high school coaches in the state, I promise you that.”

Already, it feels like a different era in Oxford. At his first media appearance since becoming head coach, Golding vowed that even though his job responsibilities and salary might be changing, “I’m not changing who I am, I’m not changing what the hell I wear. Going to yoga, playing pickleball, I ain’t doing any of that [expletive]. I am who I am.”

Those who know him well believe it.

“He’s just so grounded,” DeBusk said. “He’s a special person because he won’t let any of the other stuff get to him. Never has. Loves to coach ball, loves to be around players, loves to make a difference in their lives. You put him on the board, he’s as good as it gets. He’s just a special person when it comes to relating to 18- to 22-year-old kids. At the same time, he’ll be able to talk to the biggest donor Ole Miss has or the lady that works in the cafeteria. He has that knack about him and he doesn’t put on a façade.”

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As everything was swirling in Oxford with Kiffin’s impending departure, Golding texted DeBusk, reminiscing about the days at Tusculum when they went to the Moose Lodge in Greeneville, Tennessee, to celebrate after a big win.

“He said, ‘Coach, it’s enjoyable and I’m doing a lot of great things, but I had just as much fun back then,’” DeBusk said. “But that’s him. He’s probably walking around with a wrinkled T-shirt on right now. He’s not trying to be something he’s not.”

The reality is, Golding’s lack of varnish will either play extremely well or horribly depending on how Ole Miss performs in this CFP and over the next couple years. Though the clean-looking haircut may signal the first hint of image consciousness, injecting Golding into the SEC head coaching ranks should be a breath of fresh air for a sport that always needs more characters on the sideline.

“He’s a lot different than his predecessor, and I don’t mean that positively or negatively, but he won’t try to be anybody other than Pete,” Rhoades said. “I would be shocked beyond belief if he’s not his own man.”

It should have been a carefree, relaxing Tuesday. I was settling in for a fantasy football audit, looking at the teams that advanced to the semifinal round. And eventually, I came to my Guillotine League team, which had advanced to the two-team final. Holding all the FAB leverage in that league, the stocked waiver wire was mine to enjoy, alone.

Some choices were easy. Trey McBride, welcome aboard. Jahmyr Gibbs, come on down. But then I settled on quarterback, and the anxiety started to creep in.

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What happened to fantasy quarterback in 2025? And why can’t I settle on someone I feel good about for Week 16? I have 30 options to choose from, and I only need to feel safe about one. Why is this so difficult?

My Guillotine League opponent holds Josh Allen and Drake Maye, two right answers from this season. If you went vanity QB in your draft, Allen was the only right pick. If you went QB on a budget, Maye was one of the better choices. Everyone recognizes this.

I already had Matthew Stafford on my team, but I don’t love him for Week 16 — not in a head-to-head Guillotine League situation. Seattle is a tricky road matchup, it’s a short turnaround for a Thursday game, Davante Adams might not play. I needed a safer pick, I’ve known that all along.

But where are the safe picks?

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Jalen Hurts hasn’t run as proactively this year, and he was pulled last week after Philadelphia got way ahead. Even with Washington on the schedule, he makes me a little nervous. Maybe that’s just the gravity of the moment talking.

Joe Burrow talked like a disengaged quarterback last week, then played like it against Baltimore. I’m also tied to Ja’Marr Chase already. I don’t want this duo deciding my matchup, even against Miami. I’ll obviously roll with Chase, but pass on Burrow.

Is Brock Purdy good enough to start when, in theory, I should have no worse than the QB3 on the board? Can I trust Dak Prescott after the Week 15 face-plant against Minnesota? Do I have the nerve to trust a journeyman like Jacoby Brissett, while acknowledging he’s on a two-month heater? Garbage Time hero and all that. But do I want two Arizona pieces in my championship game? Obviously, McBride is going to start for me.

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Trevor Lawrence is on a tear, for sure. But I can’t play him at Denver, not in this format.

Then I thought, maybe I’m going about this wrong. Who has the easiest matchups for Week 16? As it turns out, all the wrong quarterbacks.

Dallas is the easiest fantasy defense for opposing QBs. Justin Herbert draws the Pokes in Week 16. Herbert has the left-hand issue and an injury-ravaged offensive line. The Chargers don’t want to throw proactively these days. He’s out.

Cincinnati’s defense is the next-best draw. Tua Tagovailoa was benched on Wednesday for a seventh-round rookie. Miami’s not a consideration.

Tampa Bay’s pass defense is the third target. Bryce Young isn’t good enough to play in any format that requires just one starter. Even in Superflex formats, Young is a hard button to click.

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J.J. McCarthy against the Giants? He’s coming on, but again, not good enough for this format.

I revisited quarterback ADP from the summer, and 12 of the top 21 names have had seasons mucked up by injury (Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels, Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Brock Purdy, Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr.). And even some of the miracle late-round hits after that group (Daniel Jones, Jaxson Dart) have been derailed by injuries.

And when quarterbacks get hurt, offenses as a whole struggle. That’s why 2025 has felt like such a challenge for so many fantasy managers. We just want to feel good about as many offenses as possible, and it’s been difficult this year. And the injuries have forced teams to scramble for some unusual replacements; guys like Joe Flacco and Philip Rivers have taken meaningful snaps this year. Carson Wentz and Mac Jones had their moments. Every two or three weeks, I talk myself into someone like Marcus Mariota or Jameis Winston. This is the world we’re living in.

After the season, we’ll run through an Exit Interview series and do a deeper audit of what went right and wrong at every position. I suppose today is just a practice round for the quarterback piece. But if you’re struggling with your Week 16 decisions, it’s probably not just the gravity of the moment talking. You’re also likely getting tripped up by all the quarterback injuries, and the tricky shape of the matchups on this particular slate.

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Ultimately, I settled on Hurts for my Week 16 Guillotine League starter. Hopefully, he’ll be engaged early, because I’m worried the Eagles could downshift the offense if the game quickly gets out of hand. A Philadelphia defensive touchdown would be painful for me, too, stealing opportunity from the offense. But Hurts, even in his current form, is probably the right pick.

Paradox of Choice is a thing, amigos. Sometimes it’s difficult to make a decision, even when your options are just about unlimited. Keep measuring all week, that’s what we do. But you probably should cut just once.

Macclesfield FC forward Ethan McLeod died in a car crash Tuesday, the club confirmed. He was 21.

Macclesfield FC released a statement Wednesday announcing McLeod’s death. In it, the team paid tribute to McLeod, calling him “an incredibly talented and well-respected member” of the club.

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The team explained that McLeod was involved in a car accident on his way back from Bedford Town on Tuesday. The club played against National League North on Tuesday, winning 2-1. McLeod was a substitute for the match.

The team sent support to McLeod’s family and friends at the end of its statement.

News of Ethan’s passing has devastated our entire Club and no words can convey the immense sense of sadness and loss that we feel now.

The deep mental scars elicited from Ethan’s passing will undeniably never heal – but one thing is for sure, and that is Ethan’s vibrant legacy will never fade, no matter how much time passes in the future.

Ethan will live in our hearts and minds forevermore and no matter what the future holds, his unique smile that mesmerised us all will never be forgotten.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to Ethan’s family and friends at this deeply traumatic time, together with an assurance that we will provide as much support as we can to those who need it.

McLeod joined Macclesfield FC in July. He appeared in seven games with the club, scoring three goals.

Prior to joining Macclesfield, McLeod “rose through the ranks at Wolverhampton Wanderers, spending 10 years in the Premier League Club’s Academy,” per the team’s website.

McLeod played for the Wolves in the Premier League Club’s Academy. The team announced it will hold a moment of silence for McLeod ahead of Saturday’s game with Brentford.

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Macclesfield FC’s next game is scheduled for Saturday. The club has not announced its plans for the contest.

Week 16 — the fantasy football playoffs. It’s win-or-go-home season. Some rookies get smash spots, others run headfirst into brick walls. Here’s this week’s Rookie Report with five prove-it matchups, and a read on what to expect in your playoff matchup.

Ashton Jeanty vs. Texans

This is volume versus reality. Over the last month, Jeanty has owned the Raiders backfield with a 93% rush share, 89% of the rushing touches, 79% of the snaps and 26 targets, yet he’s 30th in half-PPR points per game and sits RB19 in half-PPR on the season. That gap is the whole story.

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Houston’s defense is extremely difficult against the run. They have faced top backs all year and only one runner has cleared 100 yards against them: James Cook, who is second in the NFL in rushing. Look at the rest of the names and results: Kyren Williams, 66 yards; Bucky Irving, 71 and Travis Etienne, 56. Derrick Henry had 33. San Francisco did not get there, Denver did not either and Jacksonville did not in the rematch. This Houston front wins early, rallies late and keeps rush lanes tight.

Add in the Raiders quarterback mess and eight straight losses with a trip to Houston on tap and the game-script risk spikes. If Las Vegas falls behind, Jeanty is not proficient enough as a receiver to offset a quiet day on the ground. You are betting on raw touches, not scoring position.

Start or sit? Sit if you have a true pivot point. If you are stuck, treat him like a low-end RB3 who needs receptions to thrive.

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Week 16 Rookie Outlook: Elite usage meets elite defense. I am not forcing Jeanty into lineups.

Harold Fannin Jr. vs. Bills

Harold Fannin Jr. leads the Browns in targets, receptions, yards, touchdowns and yards per game while sharing snaps with David Njoku. Over the past month, he owns a 28.5% target share and ranks seventh in targets per route run. Since 2000, only three tight ends have more targets through their first 14 career games than Fannin: Brock Bowers, Jeremy Shockey and Evan Engram. Fannin sits fifth among TEs at 667 receiving yards this season.

Buffalo is a brutal draw for tight ends. Per True Media, the Bills allow the fewest receiving yards per game to the position at 8.8. The unit is second-best in opponent passing yards allowed at 169.5 per game. The Bills have kept top tight ends quiet all season, including holding Travis Kelce to 66 yards and other tight ends like Kyle Pitts Sr., Mark Andrews and Hunter Henry to minimal production.

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Add in an inexperienced quarterback in Shedeur Sanders, a shaky offensive line and some disjointedness with the offensive game plan and the path narrows. I don’t think this is a Fannin week. If anything, the rookie you want from this matchup is RB Quinshon Judkins because Buffalo can be had on the ground.

Week 16 Rookie Outlook: If you have a legitimate pivot, go there. If you are stuck, treat Fannin like a volume-dependent TE2 and hope the red zone shows up.

Tyler Warren vs. 49ers

This Colts season slid off the rails. Four straight losses since the Germany win and now San Francisco comes to town on Monday night with Philip Rivers making his second start of the comeback. He is 44 years old, and you can see it in the way the ball travels. He can move the offense in spurts, he can manage a drive but the downfield juice is limited and that matters for a tight end living on timing windows and seams.

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Warren is still involved. He led the room with six targets last week and caught three passes for 19 yards. The bigger trend is what worries me. Over his last seven games, he has one touchdown, only one game over 70 yards and he has been under 50 yards for the last month. This was trending the wrong way before Rivers and the ceiling did not show up in Rivers’ first start.

The matchup is not a pushover either. The 49ers are stout against the run and sit mid-pack in opponent rushing yards per game, but they do give up some passing explosives. If Rivers was going to get there, this spot is friendlier than Seattle, yet I still do not trust it. I do not want to start any Colts outside of Jonathan Taylor. This is less about Warren and more about a quarterback who will live under the sticks and a passing plan that feels out of sync.

Week 16 Rookie Outlook: Treat Warren like low-end TE1. He should still get volume, but the quality of the looks is the problem.

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Tetairoa McMillan vs. Buccaneers

Two 7-7 teams, two meetings in three weeks. This is the kind of stage where Tetairoa McMillan can tilt the division race against a leaky Tampa Bay secondary. Tampa Bay has allowed 247 passing yards per game on the season, third most. Over the last month, that has climbed to 260 per game, fifth-most in the NFL. In that span, it has given up 21 explosive pass plays and a league worst 43.2% of opponent attempts have turned into first downs or touchdowns. Its PPR receiving points allowed to wideouts over the last month sits at 63, which ranks 31st.

McMillan, who missed practice on Wednesday with foot and ankle injuries, leads Carolina in receiving but the recent box scores have been light. He has not topped two catches in three straight games, he has used touchdowns to keep the floor intact and he dropped another score in Week 15. None of that lives in a vacuum. He needs Bryce Young to play better. The ceiling is real with Bryce because he has four 3-TD games this season and he can extend plays, but the volume has been thin. Over the last eight games, he has been asked to throw more than 25 times only twice, which has dragged this passing attack into too many 100-yard days.

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The positive note for McMillan is that the usage is still his. He is the first read most often and he owns the money targets. Jalen Coker has earned some work but McMillan’s role remains secure.

Carolina does not throw the ball a lot. You are hoping Young and McMillan connect early and the efficiency is there, then you are relying on a shot play or a red-zone target to land.

Week 16 Rookie Outlook: McMillan is a WR2 with touchdown upside and WR1 spike potential. But with the potential low volume, if you have a real pivot, go there. If you are stuck, treat him like a high-variance WR2 who can flip a matchup with one play.

Emeka Egbuka vs. Panthers

The Bucs’ WR room is crowded again, and it shows. Mike Evans returned and looked like the best receiver on the field. He made tough contested grabs, extended for throws and battled through injury. He led with 12 targets and the eye test said the offense still runs through him. Egbuka finished second in targets and turned in four for 64 with downfield work while Chris Godwin snagged the touchdown. With Bucky Irving back, the touches get spread around even more.

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Carolina is not a shutdown unit but it is not a layup either. It allows 225 net passing yards per game, 11th most. Over the last month, it ranks 12th in PPR points allowed to wideouts at 53. It is among the best at limiting explosive passes in that span, which pushes this game toward timing throws, third downs and red-zone execution, rather than free chunk gains.

Baker Mayfield has to play better. He was better against Atlanta but there were still balls sailing over heads and missed windows. In the last five games, he has topped 60% completions only once and he has thrown multiple touchdowns only once, also against Atlanta. Egbuka is talented and can separate; he just needs more precision and more red-zone intent from Mayfield to unlock a ceiling with Evans and Godwin now healthy.

Week 16 Rookie Outlook: Egbuka is a WR3/flex with touchdown upside. If you have a solid pivot, make the move. If you are stuck, treat him like a matchup-driven flex who needs a red-zone look.

The New York Knicks have decided against adding an NBA Cup championship banner to the rafters at Madison Square Garden, according to multiple reports.

The Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 124-113 in the NBA Cup final on Tuesday night in Las Vegas. The win was the franchise’s first championship victory since winning its second NBA title in 1973.

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But despite the achievement, it will not be recognized above the playing surface at MSG. No banner will hang as the team is “focused on the bigger picture,” a source told the New York Post’s Stefon Bondy.

The “bigger picture” is a third NBA title after losing in the Finals in 1994 to the Houston Rockets and 1999 to the Spurs.

There are plans to celebrate the NBA Cup title, however, as the Knicks will hold a ceremony prior to their game on Friday against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, the first two NBA Cup winners, celebrated their victories with banners inside their home arenas.

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MSG already features numerous banners celebrating the accomplishments of previous Knicks and New York Rangers teams, along with retired numbers of former players. There are also banners for musical acts Billy Joel, Harry Styles and Phish.

When asked earlier this week, Knicks players had mixed opinions on whether a banner should be raised.

“Yeah, why not? Obviously it’s a Cup, it’s a title, it’s something that you want to win,” said forward Josh Hart. “So yeah, hang a banner. Obviously, there’s different standards to those, Cups and Finals. But whenever you want to go out there and compete and win a title, that’s what you want to do and celebrate that.”

“Nah, I’m OK. I think you’re searching for something even more than that,” said guard Mikal Bridges.

“Hang something, appreciate us for something,” said center Mitchell Robinson.

Carlos Alcaraz has parted ways with longtime coach Juan Carlos Ferrero after seven years, the men’s No. 1 ranked player announced on Wednesday.

“After more than seven years together, Juanki and I have decided to bring our chapter together as coach and player to an end,” Alcaraz wrote in a statement on X. “Thank you for turning childhood dreams into reality. We started this journey when I was barely a kid, and throughout all this time you’ve accompanied me on an incredible journey, on and off the court. And I’ve enjoyed every step of it so much with you.”

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During his time working with Ferrero, the 22-year-old Alcaraz won six Grand Slam titles and 24 tour events. In 2025, he won a career-high 71 matches and claimed eight tournament victories. He also became the youngest player ever to become No. 1 in the ATP rankings in 2022 at age 19.

Ferrero also put out a statement saying, “Today is a difficult day. One of those when it’s hard to find the right words. Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when there are so many shared experiences behind it. We have worked hard, grown together, and shared unforgettable moments.”

Neither gave a reason for the split.

Alcaraz did not say if he would hire a replacement for Ferrero. Last December he hired Samuel López to work alongside Ferrero, who had worked with Alcaraz since he was 15 years old.

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Earlier this month Ferrero and López won Coach of the Year at the ATP Awards, as voted on by fellow coaches. Ferrero had previously won in 2022.

“We have been an incredible team despite the difficulties, and I am sure you will continue to achieve great success,” Ferrero said. “I wish I could have continued. I am convinced that good memories and good people always find a way to cross paths again. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”