The Bold Type

The Bold Type, with Commissioner Dan Butterly - Oct. 26, 2026

Good morning to all! 

  

Fall championship season is approaching, and men’s and women’s basketball tip off Monday, November 2. From postseason berths and national recognition to expanded television coverage, there is plenty of momentum across The Big West. 

This week also brings important updates ahead of our Council meetings at UC Riverside, including federal legislation, NCAA governance and the proposed men’s soccer season model. 

In memory of Tom Skerritt, whose portrayal of Viper helped make Top Gun a classic, today’s musical selection is Harold Faltermeyer’s “Viper's House."  

  

Let’s get to The Bold Type.  

   THE BIG WEST – IN CASE YOU MISSED IT   

Chloe Clark talks upsets, comebacks, winning streaks and more after a BIG week aroung The Big West!




 

   THE BIG WEST CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE THIS WEEK!  

Championship Central >>> | Tickets 

The 2026 Big West Cross Country Championships is Saturday, Oct. 31 at UC Riverside’s Ag/Ops Course!  

    8:30 a.m. Men's 8K 

    9:15 a.m. Women's 6K 

    10:15 a.m. Awards Ceremony 

  

It would be great to see many of you supporting our student-athletes at these two Championships - I will be there and it would be great if you came up and said hello! 

 

   CONGRATULATIONS!  

 

   “JOURNEY OUT WEST” WITH DAN TORTORA   

Last week’s guest on “Journey Out West” with Dan Tortora was UC Riverside women’s basketball coach Brad Langston.


Wake Up Call starts at 6 a.m. PT daily, with Journey Out West each Friday beginning at 7:15 a.m. PT. You can listen live at MIXLR Internet Radio | YouTube | Facebook 

It is with great excitement that Dan Tortora will join The Big West at our upcoming Fall Council meetings to talk to our Directors of Athletics, Senior Women’s Administrators, Faculty Athletics Representatives and Big West staff.  I anticipate some great conversations during Journey Out West in the weeks ahead.   



 

   A FIGHT BIGGER THAN THE GAME   

Utah Valley University men’s soccer student-athlete Toke Amtrup opens up about his journey with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and the strength it gave him. 





   THE BIG WEST IN THE NBA   

Three former Big West men’s basketball players have earned spots on NBA Opening Week rosters for the 2026-27 season. Read more >>> 


 

   WATCH THE BIG WEST BASKETBALL ON REGIONAL AND NATIONAL TELEVISION   

Last Monday, it was announced that The Big West will deliver the most basketball coverage in conference history during the 2026–27 season, with nearly 400 men’s and women’s games available to fans through continued partnerships with ESPN and Spectrum SportsNet. Read more >>> The schedule includes 27 games on Spectrum SportsNet, ESPNU and ESPN2.  Mark your calendars now! 


 

   MOST IMPACTFUL MID-MAJOR ASSISTANT COACHES LIST   

Silver Waves Media announced their Top 100 Most Impactful/Influential Mid Major Assistant Coaches list this week and The Big West is well represented with 12 coaches from seven programs seeing their names: Nick Booker (UC Irvine), Brandon Cyrus (UC Santa Barbara), Brian Eskildsen (UC Santa Barbara), Skye Ettin (UC San Diego), Derek Glasser (UC Santa Barbara), CJ Killin (CSUN), Dr. August Mendes (Sacramento State), Anthony Santos (Long Beach State), Patrick Scully (UC Irvine), Julius Smith (UC Irvine), Ali Ton (UC Irvine), Rueben Williams (UC Riverside) 


 

   GET READY FOR BIG WEST BASKETBALL!  

Did you miss The Big West basketball previews on Field of 68 and the preseason polls and teams on BigWest.org? 

Get a rundown of the schedule and hear from each head coach in the league in nightly drops on The Big West's Instagram account at 5 and 7 p.m., and hear the full coach interviews with Jeff Goodman, Richie Scheuler, Tammy Blackburn and Tracy Warren at YouTube.com/@bigwestsports. The segments are coming out in order of the preseason poll to hype you up for the year and lead into the first day of competition on Nov. 2! 

Check out the full interviews already live now: LBSU MBB | CSF WBB | UCR MBB | LBSU WBB | CSUB MBB | CSUB WBB | CBU MBB | CP WBB | CSF MBB | CSUN WBB | SAC MBB | UCR WBB | CP MBB | UVU WBB
Player Interview: Larry Hughes II (Sacramento State)

  
 

   MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR COLLEGE SPORTS COMMUNICATORS MEMBERSHIP APPRECIATION WEEK!   

This fall, College Sports Communicators will celebrate its annual CSC Membership Appreciation Week (November 2-8, 2026). This special week recognizes the impact of athletics communicators and creatives who play such a vital role in promoting student-athletes, coaches, and programs across all levels of college sports in the United States and Canada. 

Please support and say a big thank you to our College Sports Communicators that support your teams, coaches and student-athletes by recognizing them during this appreciation week!  I want to say an early and BIG THANK YOU to, Jessica Lantz, Kaiber Takamiya, Quentin Rondriquez, Chloe Clark, Sara Perry and Tom Davis for communicating with each of you daily sharing the stories of our teams, coaches, institutions and particularly our student-athletes.  Thank you to each of you! 



   COLLEGIATE COMMISSIONERS ASSOCIATION: NATIONAL GOVERNANCE, LEGISLATIVE AND LEGAL UPDATES   

On Monday, I participated in a meeting with NCAA staff and fellow commissioners to discuss federal legislation, eligibility litigation and proposed changes affecting Division I programs. Key updates: 

  

Men’s Soccer Season Model — Institutional Action Needed 

The Division I Cabinet narrowly approved a proposal to redistribute the men’s soccer season across the academic year. The proposal is now subject to the membership’s rescission process, with 241 institutional votes required by November 6 to rescind the action. Approximately 100 votes requesting rescission had been recorded at the time of Monday’s meeting. 

Because only approximately 215 Division I institutions sponsor men’s soccer, reaching the threshold will require participation from institutions that do not sponsor the sport. Institutions seeking rescission must affirmatively register their vote; taking no action does not count toward the required total. 

During the discussion, I emphasized that this issue extends beyond men’s soccer. Institutions should consider the financial, academic and operational implications of expanding competition across the academic year, along with the precedent this could establish for other sports. Protecting broad-based athletics requires evaluating both the intended benefits and the resources necessary to implement these changes. 

NCAA staff indicated that Board review remains a possibility, although no commitment to intervene had been made. Commissioners also discussed seeking a delayed implementation date if rescission is unsuccessful, allowing institutions additional time to address scheduling, staffing and budget requirements. 

  

Federal Legislation — Focus Shifts to the House 

NCAA government relations staff reported that the Protect College Sports Act passed the Senate in late September by a 77–22 vote, including support from 24 Democrats. Attention now turns to the House of Representatives, where the NCAA is encouraging passage of the Senate bill without amendments. Any House changes would require additional Senate action, adding uncertainty to an already limited legislative calendar. 

Three amendments included in the Senate bill address the conference membership cap, state authority to establish stronger health and safety protections, and disclosure of foreign funding received by athletics programs. 

The NCAA is asking institutions to contact their entire state House delegation in support of the legislation, using letters, meetings and campus visits. Student-athlete involvement, including through campus Student-Athlete Advisory Committees, remains an important part of that outreach. Passage before the current Congress concludes is critical; otherwise, the legislative process would need to begin again in the next Congress. 

   

Proposed Changes Before the Period of Eligibility Begins 

The Cabinet introduced legislation for consideration in January 2027 that would remove restrictions on compensation and the level of competition before a prospective student-athlete’s period of eligibility begins. NCAA staff described that starting point as full-time collegiate enrollment or the student-athlete’s 19th birthday, whichever occurs first. 

The proposal has not been adopted. Questions involving professional participation and compensation after the period of eligibility begins remain under discussion. 

  

PROTECT COLLEGE SPORTS ACT 

As noted above, our Council will meet this week and our Council meeting materials include extensive information on the Protect College Sports Act. As I continue to provide information to our member institutions, seeing all sides of the legislation, Donna Lopiano of The Drake Group and I exchanged perspectives several times last week, and these materials offer additional context for our discussion. 

During our most recent lobbying call with eight mid-major conferences, we considered the implications if the House does not pass the legislation. The discussion focused on several continuing challenges: 

  

  • Transfer policies and academic outcomes. Establishing enforceable national transfer standards would remain difficult, with continued concerns about academic progress and degree completion for student-athletes who transfer repeatedly. 

  • Eligibility litigation. Continued challenges to eligibility rules could further complicate the collegiate model and require institutions to devote additional resources to litigation. 

  • Student-athlete benefits and compensation. Without legislation, the bill’s proposed protections and compensation framework would not take effect, leaving continued uncertainty about the long-term structure of student-athlete support. 

  • Agent accountability. Concerns would remain about representation agreements, commission rates and protections against predatory practices. 

  • Conflicting state laws. Institutions would continue navigating differing state requirements and legal interpretations that can create competitive advantages and complicate national rule enforcement.  

These concerns are particularly consequential for institutions working to sustain broad-based athletics programs and scholarships within limited budgets. 

I have another meeting with our lobbying partners on today and look forward to discussing these issues with the Council this week. 




  
   MEDIA REPORTS ON THE BIG WEST, NCAA,  LEGAL AND LEGISLATIVE UPDATES   

  • The college sports industry now has a dedicated Super PAC.  The newly-formed PAC, called the College Sports United PAC, was created to ensure the current version of the Protect College Sports Act passes the House of Representatives without amendments, Alex Fulton, who runs the organization, told Front Office Sports. It's believed to be the first and only Super PAC created to advocate specifically for college sports issues.  Fulton described individuals who have encouraged the formation of the PAC as "smaller Division I institutions' boosters and donors," adding: "Essentially, all the donors that we're talking to in these smaller schools have been very, very vocal [about] having their seat for the university at the table."  (LINK) 
  • Internal communications and public records reveal that Texas Tech Board of Regents Chair Cody Campbell’s advocacy group Saving College Sports (SCS) utilized a deep network of major conservative political figures, university leaders and conference commissioners to aggressively lobby for the Protect College Sports Act, per Front Office Sports’ Jon Loesche. Key details…  
    • Club for Growth President/Federalist Society Co-Founder David McIntosh and DraftKings Head of Corporate Development and Strategy/North Carolina Board of Trustees Chair/former Vanderbilt AD Malcolm Turner were among those invited by former Baylor Board Chair Dary Stone to an August 4 SCS strategy call with Sen. Eric Schmitt, (R-MO). The duo’s involvement in the effort to pass college sport legislation had previously gone unreported.  
    • Loesche: “Stone provided recipients with lobbying templates to send to senators, sent numerous campaign updates, and repeatedly pleaded with the mailing list recipients to contact university leaders and senators. … In late June, as Stone was rallying university leaders behind the bill, he and Campbell gave a combined $30K to Winning For America Fund, a joint fundraising committee for Schmitt. … Five weeks later, Schmitt headlined a strategy call to rally support for the bill.”  
    • With the PCSA facing an uncertain future in the Senate, Stone ramped up his urgency, sending a July 30 instruction: “There will be a vote amongst the Conferences on PCSA today. Please contact your Presidents.” He asked recipients to have them vote in favor, adding, “Very important. This is it.” More. (link) 
    • Campbell responds to Loesche’s reporting: “Lazy, sensationalist headline here. The ‘DraftKings executive’ is a board of trustees member at the University of North Carolina, and we spoke to him in that capacity - one of the hundreds of universities Saving College Sports has engaged with. And of course we have talked to ‘influential’ politicians.  How else would we help get the bill passed??” (link) 
  • How much does it cost to build the typical high-major college basketball roster in 2026? The answer is a thick $13.5 million.  That's the number CBS Sports can reveal after an exhaustive research project that lasted nearly six weeks and relied on more than 100 sources across college sports. The $13.5 million is the average number across all 79 Power Five programs, plus Gonzaga, which has operated as a high-major outfit for well over a decade. The numbers and details in this story represent the most accurate information to date on how much college basketball teams are paying in order to keep up with an ever-escalating market.  (LINK) 
  • Kalshi has informed federal regulators it's putting up betting markets on the admissions rates at several universities, according to CNN’s Marshall Cohen, who notes the schools include all eight Ivies along with Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Cal, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Rice, among others. (link) 
  • The NCAA will expand bracket seeding to 50% of the tournament fields in both Division I field hockey and men’s soccer, starting in the 2026-27 academic year, to provide greater competitive balance and an improved championship experience by prioritizing match-ups based on team strength over geography. Under the revised format, field hockey will double its seeded field from four to eight teams, while men's soccer will increase its seeded field from 16 to 24 teams. NCAA VP of Championships Governance and Policy Liz Turner Suscha: “The selection committees working on these sports do an excellent job of identifying top teams and setting up pairings. Seeding more teams will enhance the work that they do to produce competitive fields for the field hockey and men’s soccer championships.” (link) 




 

   QUOTE OF THE DAY   
A great reminder that you cannot focus on the past. You have to keep moving forward.  

“Forgive yourself for not knowing earlier what only time could teach. You did the best you could with the knowledge you had then.” 


 

   LET’S CLOSE IT OUT   

This week, our Council gathers at UC Riverside with an opportunity to turn important conversations into practical direction for The Big West. The national landscape will continue to change, but our responsibility remains clear: support our student-athletes, sustain opportunities across our sports and make thoughtful decisions with the resources entrusted to us. 

That work is reflected throughout this week’s edition—in student-athletes earning national recognition, teams pursuing championships and staff creating greater visibility for our programs. Thank you for the daily work that makes those achievements possible. 

As College Sports Communicators Membership Appreciation Week approaches, please make time to recognize the people who tell those stories. A personal thank-you goes a long way for colleagues who spend so much time celebrating others. 

Our staff looks forward to seeing Council members next Thursday and Friday. Until then, let's keep building a BOLD Big West! 

Dan