bierce

Is Mack/Pope an either/or? Or are both being courted with an eye to Hunter possibly moving on?

UConn can't drum up nearly as many NIL $$ as Kentucky, Texas, tOSU, et al., but UConn, its alums, and the local businesses probably won't drop a lot of the $$ they have on the football program, so I don't think it will have too much trouble fielding quality teams long term. The bigger question would be whether Hurley would rather stay where he is already deified and in the same part of the world he has spent his entire life instead of chasing a bigger paycheck in a completely different sort of environment. I don't think Hurley is nearly entrenched in Storrs as Few has been in Spokane, but sometimes money isn't everything, particularly when you already get a lot of money. I have not doubt about Kentucky dangling a much bigger paycheck, but I do have doubts about whether Hurley would take it.

I see little reason why Texas should not have NIL commensurate with most other programs chasing top basketball talent. After all, we pay our coach over 2 million less than we were paying Beard and between 6 million and 1.5 million a year less than the coaches receive at somewhere between 12 and 15 other programs that have reasonable expectations for second weekends in most seasons, depending on salaries given to Enfield and Musselman at their new schools. I'm assuming Kentucky will pay whoever huge dollars.

Arky would have been better off paying an up and coming coach 5 million a year less than it is committed to paying Calipari and using that 5 million to double the NIL pool.

Glad to hear it. Our list of candidates to return for 2025-26 has shrunk to Weaver, Pryor, Mitchell, and the incoming freshmen, and it is hard to see either Mitchell or Tre Johnson being here that long.

I have two questions, or rather a first question and a second question in two parts. First question is whether Texas is looking to the portal just for one year plug and play types, long term contributors for roster stability and continuity, or some mix of those? Second question is whether Keanu Dawes of Rice is actually in the portal or not, and if he is, then is Texas interested?