| Monday, July 27, 2026 |
| MSU biologists win prestigious NSF CAREER awards to explore genetic errors, invasive species | |
 | According to an MSU press release, two Mississippi State University faculty members in the Department of Biological Sciences have received prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awards supporting research into the biological mechanisms behind genetic errors and the spread of invasive species. Jean-François Gout and Megan Smith each earned five-year NSF CAREER awards, from the highly competitive program that supports early-career faculty demonstrating exceptional potential to advance research and education. Smith's award totals $779,889, with Gout receiving $754,667 The awards add to a period of success for MSU's Department of Biological Sciences, which now has had seven faculty members receive NSF CAREER awards in the past five years. |
| MSU Space Cowboys Rocketry Team celebrates 20-year anniversary with 1st place prize at international competition | |
 | The Mississippi State University rocketry team, the Space Cowboys, founded in 2006, celebrated its 20-year anniversary by winning first place in its category and overall at the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) in Midland, Texas, last month. The team's rocket, Bandit, won first place out of 143 teams, beating top engineering schools from 16 countries across the globe. Space Cowboys leaders said the awards ceremony was delayed for several days and members were back in the South when they learned the team had won. "After we left the competition, we didn't know anything, which was very nerve-wracking. But we felt proud. We knew our performance, and we felt very confident in how we did," team president Ruthie Barnett, a junior from Biloxi majoring in mechanical engineering, said. |
| MSU joins collaborative studio initiative working to revitalize downtown Jackson | |
 | Mississippi State University's School of Architecture joins two capital city universities in a new collaborative initiative aimed at boosting small businesses and driving economic growth in downtown Jackson. Partnering with nonprofit organization Downtown Jackson Partners, Jackson State's Department of Urban and Regional Planning and Millsaps College's Else School of Management, MSU will join these entities at Urban Studio on Capitol Street. This collaborative studio provides high-performing students and recent graduates with hands-on, real-world projects centered on urban revitalization, research-backed small business support and pathways for physical investment in Jackson. Aaron White, director of MSU's Jackson Center, said the partnership aligns with the School of Architecture's fifth-year curriculum goals. |
| Proper lime application benefits hay production | |
| According to an MSU press release, Mississippi is a significant player in the nation's beef cattle production, and to do that efficiently requires a lot of land managed as pastures and for hay production. Brandi Karisch, Extension beef specialist, said the amount of hay and forage needed for a beef herd depends on the nutritive value of the forage and the size of the livestock eating it. "A general rule of thumb is that a cow will eat around 2.5% of her body weight in dry matter per day," Karisch said. "For example, a 1,200-pound cow will eat approximately 30 to 33 pounds of hay each day. Growing pasture contains a lot more moisture than dry hay, so that same size cow may eat 40 pounds of growing forage in a day." |
| Completed terminal expansion positions GTRA to serve larger planes | |
| After three years of construction the Golden Triangle Regional Airport has finished its terminal expansion. U.S. 1st District Rep. Trent Kelly, Sen. Roger Wicker and Golden Triangle LINK CEO Meryl Fisackerly stood alongside airport board members and officials holding golden scissors to cut a red ribbon signaling the new terminal was open for business. The expanded terminal includes an 8,200-square-foot waiting area, two escalators, an elevator and a jet bridge to replace the existing outdoor ramp. "I'm not going to tell any secrets ... but there's more to come," Wicker said during his keynote speech. "If the people that I hear are expressing interest come forward and do what we expect of them to do, there's even more to come, and we are at the dawn of a huge opportunity for job creation for the Golden Triangle and for Mississippi." Wicker, Kelly and Fisackerly all highlighted how robust airport infrastructure and this expansion will allow for further economic development in the region by attracting executives during their speeches Friday. |
| Golden Triangle leaders celebrate airport expansion as investment in region's future | |
 | The Golden Triangle Regional Airport held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday for its terminal expansion and new jet bridge, with local, state and federal leaders celebrating the project as an investment in the region's economic future. Airport officials, elected leaders and business representatives gathered to discuss the terminal's role in supporting economic development, attracting new industry and improving travel for residents and businesses across the Golden Triangle. Matt Dowell, executive director of the Golden Triangle Regional Airport, welcomed attendees and recognized the many partners who helped bring the project to fruition. Dowell also highlighted the airport's importance to the regional economy. "As you know, airports have a positive economic impact on the state of Mississippi," Dowell said. "GTR specifically has a $275 million economic impact." |
| Data center buildout in Mississippi means a new tech workforce is needed | |
 | Thirty data centers are being built across Mississippi, creating jobs that need highly skilled workers. While construction has sparked concerns about water and electricity usage among local governments, the state is trying to find ways to meet the manufacturing and staffing needs for these multibillion-dollar investments. Several universities throughout Mississippi have existing programs dealing with massive data systems. But graduates don't always move to where data centers need them. That creates a geographic problem for attracting these businesses, said Accelerate Mississippi Executive Director Courtney Taylor. One solution, Taylor said, is working with communities, businesses and schools to create new talent pipelines in the communities that will need them. "Because all of this has to be led ultimately at the local level. Economic developers, education leaders, community leaders. And so we've worked really big picture to get our resources all pushing in the same direction as a small, rural state," said Taylor. |
| ND Defense brings Navy work to West Point | |
| A military defense contractor with a West Point facility best known for building military trucks is now building parts for Navy warships. ND Defense CEO Imtiaz Uddin said a contract with HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding division to manufacture a helicopter bridge crane for the future USS Sam Nunn is among the company's first contracts in the maritime sector. While it marks ND Defense's shift into the maritime industry, the contract also brings at least 40 jobs aiming to retain skilled trade workers in the Golden Triangle. "It's bringing good-paying jobs to West Point, to this state – skilled machinists jobs, welders, engineers," Uddin said Friday during a ceremony at the West Point facility. "It's these kinds of careers that build families, strengthen communities and give young people a reason to stay here at home." The helicopter bridge crane will be part of the USS Sam Nunn's aviation handling system, allowing for helicopters and other heavy equipment to be lifted, secured and serviced regardless of at-sea conditions. |
| German cookie manufacturer bakes up $70 million investment in Madison County | |
 | German cookie and snack product manufacturer Griesson-de Beukelaer has baked up a more than $70 million investment in Madison County. The project marks Griesson-de Beukelaer's first investment in Mississippi and primarily includes the construction of a new 130,000- to 150,000-square-foot facility in Madison, where the company will manufacture cookies and other snack products. 30 new jobs are expected to be created in the process. "Griesson – de Beukelaer's decision to invest in Mississippi is another tremendous vote of confidence in our people," Gov. Tate Reeves said. "When an international manufacturer chooses Mississippi, it highlights the many benefits our state can offer companies looking for a competitive location in the U.S. to invest and grow. The historic momentum continues across our state, and manufacturers around the world are taking notice." |
| Ridgeland unveils plans for new resort-style convention hotel | |
 | Ridgeland officials on Friday, July 24 announced new details on a planned conference center and 250-room resort-style hotel project, describing the development as a major economic development initiative expected to boost tourism and attract large-scale events to Madison County. The announcement marks the latest step in a project first approved by Madison County supervisors in February for a 50,000-square-foot Madison County Conference Center within the Prado Vista mixed-use development near Interstate 55. The project also includes a 250-room full-service hotel adjacent to the conference center. Officials previously estimated the combined investment at roughly $100 million. City officials say the conference center will fill a longstanding gap in Ridgeland's tourism infrastructure. |
| New Apple Store opens in Ridgeland, emphasizing commitment to area | |
| Apple's new and improved store has officially opened in Ridgeland. As Mississippi's only Apple store, frequent visitors don't have to worry about finding somewhere new to service their phones, as the store relocated only a short walk away. Originally located next to the Lululemon and Barnes and Noble at the Renaissance at Colony Park shopping mall, the old Apple location will soon become the state's first LEGO Store. Among the shoppers at Friday's grand opening, Christian Holmes said he's glad Apple chose to remain in the same shopping center. "I think's it's a statement about the area -- a testament to the people who live here, who love the product, and to everything Ridgeland has to offer," Holmes said. |
| NASA, Blue Origin agree to rocket testing at Stennis | |
| NASA announced Friday that the federal space agency and Blue Origin have agreed to conduct second stage hot fire testing for the company's New Glenn rocket on the B-2 test stand at the agency's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis. The testing is said to directly support NASA's work to achieve the national goal of landing American astronauts on the surface of the Moon and building a Moon Base near the lunar South Pole. The agreement also supports the push to ensure U.S. leadership in space while unlocking scientific discovery, driving innovation with industry, and preparing for human missions to Mars. Testing is targeted to begin in the fall of this year to aid Artemis missions in 2027 and beyond. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement that winning the new space race means moving faster and working alongside a strong commercial industry. |
| Big Companies Are Starting to Hire Again, Defying Predictions of AI Wipeout | |
 | America's biggest companies say they might need more people after all. For months, major employers treated hiring as an expensive last resort. Now, a shift is emerging across industries. Companies ranging from railroad giant CSX to Google parent Alphabet have told investors in recent days that they plan to hire to meet growth goals or to seize on emerging technologies. The push to expand head count, at least modestly, is a reversal from the prevailing corporate messaging during much of the AI era. Major employers largely held back on adding people due to economic uncertainties or a belief that artificial intelligence could shoulder more tasks on the job. But some executives say the costs and limitations of AI now demand that more people be added; others want to hire people back following layoffs. For much of the past 18 months, big employers were convinced fewer workers meant faster growth. U.S. public companies shrank their white-collar workforces. Now layoffs are shrinking. The most recent week of U.S. jobless claims was the lowest on record since 1969, according to federal data. Part of the change in hiring also reflects a recalibration among employers about what AI can do, said Sarah Franklin, CEO of the human-resources platform Lattice. |
| Sweltering heat wave grips central and southern US for a second straight day | |
 | At least 40 million people were under extreme heat warnings across central and southern parts of the United States on Sunday as high temperatures and severe humidity gripped large swaths of the country for a second straight day. Heat indexes well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) stretched from Minnesota down to Mississippi, extending west into southern California and Nevada. Parts of the Southwest were expected to see highs of 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 C), according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologists said the sweltering weather was the result of another heat dome -- a phenomenon in which atmospheric conditions trap heat, accentuating and prolonging already high temperatures. Authorities warned that children and older adults, along with people with certain medical conditions, are especially at risk of serious conditions including heat stroke or even death. |
| Lawmakers vow to carry on Brown's and Wallace's legislative priorities | |
| When a lawmaker dies, a district loses more than an elected official. It loses an advocate who understood its communities, built relationships with over years of public service and often became the driving force behind issues that mattered to the people they represented. After the deaths of Reps. William "Bo" Brown and Price Wallace last month, fellow legislators say they plan to keep alive the causes each man championed -- from criminal justice reform to restoring Mississippi's ballot initiative process. Because every bill in the Mississippi Legislature must be reintroduced each session, proposals survive only if a lawmaker chooses to sponsor them. Colleagues of Brown and Wallace say they intend to do just that when they return in 2027. While their priorities differed, colleagues said both elected leaders were driven more by conviction than recognition. |
| GOP senators warn confidence in Hegseth eroding as Iran war drags on | |
 | Republican senators say that confidence is waning in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership of the U.S. armed forces as the war with Iran drags on without an end in sight. They are also warning that the success of a possible "massive attack" against Iran could be critical to shoring up support for the unpopular conflict. Some GOP lawmakers are questioning the administration's failure to anticipate the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz -- which has caused oil and gas prices to rise dramatically since February -- or failure to anticipate Iran's willingness to strike neighboring allies, such as Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) is urging Trump to "finish the job" by stepping up the intensity of strikes. But there's a general sense of frustration the conflict has dragged out for nearly five months, despite Trump's projection in early March that it would last only four or five weeks. |
| Trump Tells the Senate to Delay Recess Until His Voting Bill Passes | |
| President Donald Trump said Monday that Senate Majority Leader John Thune should keep the Senate in session until his signature voting legislation clears the upper chamber -- something he's been repeatedly told is dead on arrival. "John Thune should not allow the United States Senate to 'leave town' until it passes The Save America Act or, far better still, TERMINATES THE FILIBUSTER" the president posted on Truth Social. Trump has been relentless in calling on the Senate to pass the Republican-backed election bill that would require people registering to vote in federal elections to show proof of U.S. citizenship. But Thune and other Republican senators have said they simply don't have the votes, leaving them at an impasse with the White House. While many Republicans support the bill, some -- including Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine -- have voted against the measure. Trump also said that terminating the filibuster -- another no-go in the Senate -- would allow it to address the "looming debt ceiling." Some senators have called to cancel the recess to pass the election bill. |
| MUW holds Summer Commencement at Rent Auditorium | |
| Over 300 students joined the long blue line at Mississippi University for Women. The W had its Summer Commencement this morning at Rent Auditorium. 269 students graduated with bachelor's degrees, and 57 graduated with their master's. The graduates crossed the stage, shaking hands with The W's Interim President Dr. Sam Tollison. |
| $1.5 million donation brings new inpatient wing to Children's of Mississippi | |
| Children's of Mississippi has opened its newly renovated inpatient wing with a $1.5 million donation from Hogs for the Cause to enhance care for children battling childhood diseases. Hogs for the Cause is a New Orleans nonprofit, which serves as a nationwide outreach program that unites barbecue culture to fight brain cancer in children. As part of the University of Mississippi Medical Center's pediatric unit, the donation from the nonprofit was utilized to renovate 22,500 square feet on the fifth floor of Batson Tower. The upgrade includes 25 new rooms, expanded parent accommodations, and quiet corridors designed to mirror a family atmosphere. The Hogs for the Cause Wing will focus on creating enhanced treatment for childhood cancer, leukemia, and sickle cell anemia. |
| Paid summer externship helps Mississippi tackle nursing shortage | |
| Nearly 600 nursing students spent their summer working alongside experienced registered nurses in hospitals across Mississippi. It's part of a long-running externship program designed to strengthen the state's healthcare workforce and address ongoing staffing needs. The 2026 Mississippi Summer Student Nurse Externship Program placed 592 nursing students in 44 hospitals across the state, marking the largest class in the program's history. Students completed at least 320 hours of supervised clinical experience while earning college credit and receiving pay from participating hospitals. The program is a partnership between the Mississippi Hospital Association Foundation, schools of nursing and healthcare facilities across the state. Kim Hoover, president and CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association Foundation, said the program gives students an opportunity to experience hand-on nursing before graduation while helping hospitals build a pipeline of future employees. "They gain so much more confidence," Hoover said. "When they go into the last year of school, they really are ahead of the game." |
| Universities can use conservative-favored entrance exam as Texas eyes wider use, agency chief says | |
| Texas' higher education commissioner signaled last week that the state could expand the use of the conservative-favored Classic Learning Test in public university admissions even though an independent review found far less evidence linking the exam's scores to college performance than SAT and ACT scores. In a letter to campus leaders on Thursday, Commissioner Wynn Rosser clarified that universities can immediately consider CLT scores for any applicants who fall outside the top-10% automatic admissions window. While the letter did not alter current statewide rules that currently recognize only the SAT and ACT, it signaled the state's plan to formally approve the CLT by fall 2028 as a new test option for home school, private school or out-of-state applicants. Rosser issued the letter one day after the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board voted to send an independent review of the CLT, SAT and ACT to legislative leaders. The board did not vote to approve CLT's use or change the state's admissions rules. The Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute conducted the review of college entrance exams, warning that the three tests were not "equally ready, equally comparable, or equally defensible." |
| U. of Missouri faculty more supportive of Mun Choi than 2024, MU says | |
 | A new administrative review surveying nearly 700 University of Missouri faculty members showed increasing support for UM System President Mun Choi's leadership compared to 2022 and 2024, according to a news release from Mizzou. Every two years, the MU Faculty Council asks faculty members to rank the chancellor from 1, unsatisfactory, to 5, outstanding, in 20 categories related to performance. The average rankings in 12 of the categories were higher than they were in Choi's first two reviews in 2022 and 2024. The survey areas consist of academic affairs, fiscal matters, personnel matters, effective planning, a vision for the future, shared governance, recognition of scholarship and innovation, recognition of teaching excellence, recognition of service contributions, keeping faculty informed, soliciting faculty input and overall performance. Two categories, extension and engagement, along with functioning as an advocate for campus, were listed as holding similar rankings to the previous years, and the building human relationships category showed a decline. The other five categories were newly introduced to the review this year. |
| Colleges Promise 'Business as Usual' on Middle East Campuses Despite War | |
 | The Middle East campuses of American universities are expecting -- or perhaps just hoping -- to be open for classes as usual for the coming semester, even as the United States' conflict with Iran poses new risks in the region. Some American schools have long run programs in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The war, however, meant that students spent much of the spring semester enduring shutdowns, evacuations, online courses and other emergency measures. But the unraveling of the cease-fire between Washington and Tehran is not yet curbing universities' ambitions to teach as they ordinarily would in the Middle East. For American universities, campuses in wealthy Persian Gulf states can offer new revenue and welcome clout. Those perks, though, come with sporadic political headaches at home, reputational perils and regional safety concerns. After a strike on a physics building at a university in Tehran, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps warned in March that "American universities in the West Asia region are legitimate targets for us." |
| Ph.D. admissions have dropped 15% for the new school year | |
| The number of students admitted to Ph.D. programs this coming fall has dropped by 15% from last year, according to data from the Association of American Universities Data Exchange (AAUDE). That decrease is at least partially driven by the uncertainty of federal funding. The Trump administration terminated thousands of research grants last year and has proposed massive cuts to federal research agencies. Because of all those cuts, universities aren't sure what their budgets will look like in the coming years, which makes it more difficult to take on doctoral students. For more, "Marketplace Morning Report" host Kimberly Adams spoke with Toby Smith. He's the senior vice president for government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities. |
| Workforce Pell Is Live. How's It Going for States? | |
 | For months, administrators at Ivy Tech Community College have been feverishly working with Indiana state officials to parse which of their programs might be eligible for Workforce Pell. The policy took effect July 1, and they are eager to start the flow of new federal dollars to low-income students in short-term training programs. After weeding out existing programs that didn't meet the federal requirements -- some were too short; others hadn't existed for a year or more -- they settled on one program to advance to the U.S. Department of Education for approval: a certified clinical medical assistant program. The move is part of Indiana's pilot approach to the first year of Workforce Pell. The state is prioritizing programs at Ivy Tech and Vincennes University in five key industries: advanced manufacturing, building and construction, health and life sciences, IT and business services, and transportation and logistics. "We want to be one of the first Workforce Pell programs in the country," said Colby Shank, the college's vice president for financial aid and student accounts. He's hopeful Pell dollars might be available to students in the CCMA program as early as this fall, depending on ED's review process. But the college plans to wait and see how this year goes before proposing additional programs. Indiana is "taking the approach of being slow and deliberate with our rollout of Workforce Pell, because we want it to be successful." |
| Why Scientists Hate Trump's New Plan to Revamp Research Funding | |
 | In its latest push to overhaul federal research funding, the White House on Tuesday stated its intention to divert research grants away from universities and toward "individual researchers." The 123-page report, "Science: A New Golden Age," crystallizes the Trump administration's vision for the American scientific enterprise, breaking away from the decades-old university research system in favor of private companies, independent projects, and artificial intelligence-driven research. The proposed shift would "put the working researcher back at the center of America's scientific enterprise" and "free [researchers] from the growing administrative burdens that now weigh them down for nearly half their working hours" at universities, Michael Kratsios, Trump's science adviser and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), wrote in the report. Researchers who spoke to The Chronicle, however, are more than skeptical that the shift would accelerate scientific discovery. They're also unconvinced that the White House's vision for science aligns with the realities and needs of American researchers. "This whole document really strikes me as being incredibly naïve and just wrong," said Jeremy Berg, who led the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a branch of the National Institutes of Health, during the Bush and Obama administrations. |
| Seaway conflicts over there drive up prices here | |
 | Columnist Bill Crawford writes: Shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, Panama Canal, Black Sea, and Suez Canal may seem irrelevant in the Magnolia State, but these maritime chokepoints link worldwide transportation arteries essential to Mississippi industries like poultry, farming, manufacturing, and logistics. Disruptions there impact what we pay here for groceries, fuel, feed, and more. The Iran-US battle fight over the Strait of Hormuz continues to spark repeated eruptions in diesel and gasoline prices. Mississippi farmers and truckers felt these immediately. Each extra dollar per gallon ups costs for planting, harvesting, hauling grain, and delivering feed. Natural-gas-based fertilizer price increases have driven up costs for row crops and feed costs for poultry and livestock. |
| Professor explains the importance of unwritten rules that create our social norms | |
| Mississippi State University's Raymond Barranco writes: My kids love Olive Garden -- a lot. With an Italian last name like Barranco, I'll admit I'm slightly embarrassed by how much they love what may be the most generic Italian restaurant in the country. But I keep that to myself and indulge them. Every time we go, I'm reminded of a question I like to ask my students: Why can't we eat spaghetti with our hands? Sure, it's fine for a toddler. But an adult? Definitely not. Seriously, though -- why not? ... Most of us don't spend much time thinking about the unwritten rules we follow every day. |
SPORTS
| With new coordinator, MSU defense ready for bounceback season | |
| Zach Arnett's ride on the coaching carousel has been anything but normal. Arnett served as MSU's defensive coordinator from 2020-22, before he was thrown into the head coaching role in 2023 after the death of Mike Leach. He was fired after a 4-6 start to the 2023 season. After stints at Ole Miss and Florida State, Arnett is right back in Starkville, working for the man who replaced him in Starkville. "(The hiring may be) a little outside the box for most people," head coach Jeff Lebby said at SEC Media Days on Thursday. "But for me, it was all about having a guy who lived it, had done it, had called it, has (an) incredible amount of success on that side of the ball." Arnett's prior defenses at Mississippi State were successful. His defenses finished in the top-5 of SEC total defense each season and in 2021 boasted the conference's third-best rushing defense. |
| 'Walking highlight reel': Taylor taking high expectations in 2026 season | |
| A wall of reporters separated Kamario Taylor from Jeff Lebby. Mississippi State's head coach and starting quarterback were no more than 10 feet apart in a small room on the third floor of the Tampa Marriott on Water Street on Thursday, but more than a dozen Mississippi-based media members blocked the two from each other's line of sight. Taylor sat behind the wall of reporters, silent, scrolling on his phone and waiting for his name to be called for an interview. And even though he hadn't yet said a word, Taylor was often the focus of the conversation. The second question reporters asked Lebby referenced Taylor's starts in the final two games of last season, and how that experience prepared the then-freshman quarterback to take the keys this year. "His ability to start those last two games is huge for him and his growth," Lebby said. "So many learning lessons inside both of those games that he's going to be able to go back to, and already has been able to go back to to create a ton of growth for him as we move forward." |
| What young Kamario Taylor gives Mississippi State is a fighting chance | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor has started two college games, but you'd never know that from listening to coaches and media pundits talk about his skill level and his potential as a difference maker in the Southeastern Conference. All that praise, much of it at SEC Media Days this past week, may surprise many. It does not surprise me. These eyes first saw Taylor on Dec. 2, 2022, when he was a tall, skinny 15-year-old 10th grader at perennial high school powerhouse Noxubee County. Noxubee was playing Raleigh in a state championship game at The Rock in Hattiesburg. Anyone who saw that game surely hasn't forgotten it -- and likely never will. |
| College basketball rosters now start at $10 million. And one league is spending 3 times that | |
| If you want to be a competitive college basketball program next season -- maybe not a national title contender, but at least an NCAA Tournament team -- then there's a new unofficial minimum you probably have to meet from a spending perspective: $10 million. "Every year we're like, OK, this is the last year -- and then that s--- just keeps going up," one SEC head coach said of rising roster budgets. "I do not think it's a sustainable model, but people keep paying for it." The Athletic surveyed 25 high-major coaches at Peach Jam last weekend, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because roster numbers are not made public and to protect their relationships with other coaches. We found that last year's swollen budgets were only the beginning. This spring, college hoops teams went on staggering spending sprees, with some individual players set to earn as much as entire teams did a season ago. To get a better sense of how much it actually cost to put together a team this offseason, we asked all 25 coaches: On average, what would you estimate teams in your conference spent on their rosters for next season? |
| Darius Rucker teases retirement, potential final concert at Gamecocks venue | |
 | Darius Rucker is starting to think long and hard about retirement. When it happens, the Gamecocks superfan has a final venue in mind. "Our last show, when we say we're done, it's gotta be at Williams-Brice Stadium," Rucker said July 17 in an interview on "The Dan Patrick Show," referring to his band Hootie & the Blowfish. Rucker, 60, is a Charleston native and University of South Carolina graduate who first broke into the entertainment industry as the guitarist/frontman for Hootie & the Blowfish, the rock band he founded with three USC classmates in 1986. He's gone on to have an award-winning solo career as a country music artist --- while emerging as one of USC's most prominent and recognizable sports fans. But Rucker (who's recently engaged and will get married in February) is also about 40 years into his entertainment career and said it's starting to wear on him. He's thinking about retiring ... perhaps in about two years, he told Patrick. Coincidentally, Rucker's stated timeline for retirement --- two years from now, in 2028 --- would come at a time when USC's Williams-Brice Stadium is fully renovated and theoretically in an even better position to host a major concert. |
| Louisiana law now requires NIL agents to register, train and pass background checks | |
| Louisiana has a new law that adds oversight for agents who represent high school and college athletes in name, image and likeness deals. Senate Bill 389 requires agents to register with the Louisiana Department of Justice, complete training and pass background checks. Agents who skip registration face fines of up to $10,000 and up to 5 years in prison. Attorney General Liz Murrill said the law gives the state a way to track who is actually working as an agent. "You cannot represent somebody in this state as their agent and profit from that contract unless you register with our office," Murrill said. Agents must register through the state's athlete agent portal. Those who were already representing athletes before the law took effect have until Aug. 1 to sign up. |
| 'Yea Alabama' Director of Content Aaron Suttles arrested in human trafficking operation | |
| Robert Aaron Suttles, the director of content for Yea Alabama, the University's NIL entity, was arrested in a human trafficking operation along with 14 others Thursday, according to the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force. Suttles was arrested on charges of soliciting prostitution, as part of the operation conducted by the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force. All arrestees were transported to the Shelby County Jail. After graduating from the University in 2009, Suttles was a journalist with the Tuscaloosa News as recently as 2018, before covering Alabama and the SEC for The Athletic. Suttles returned to Tuscaloosa to join the NIL collective in 2023. At the time of publication, all mentions of Suttles have been removed from the Yea Alabama website, including his staff bio and his name on bylines from articles he has written. He appeared on official Alabama Athletics pages as recently as Wednesday. UA Athletics did not respond toThe Crimson White's request for comment. |
| Stanford football players join push for collective bargaining | |
| Stanford football players have formed a campus chapter of the College Football Players Association, making the Cardinal the first team to partner with the organization, which aims to eventually unionize college athletes. The players are not yet petitioning to form a union or be deemed employees, but their announcement Monday marks a first step toward building a structure for college athletes to collectively bargain like professional athletes, a once-verboten idea that has gained popularity in recent years as high-level college sports become more professionalized. The CFBPA hopes to establish bargaining units on a conference-by-conference basis, according to Stanford chapter leaders Fisher Anderson and Ernest Cooper, who play center and linebacker, respectively, for the Cardinal. If and when the organization has signed up the majority of players at every school in a conference, it plans to take steps to formally unionize. Anderson and Cooper told ESPN it could be years before the players are able to bargain with ACC officials, but they believe their decision will encourage other teams to join. |
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