Good morning to all! I trust you are well and hope everyone had a joyous Easter weekend, for all who celebrate!
Last week, and the beginning of this week finds me in Indianapolis at the center of college basketball, attending NCAA Cabinet, Men’s Basketball Oversight Committee and National Association of Basketball Coaches meetings in advance of the NCAA Men’s Final Four.
While the games capture national attention, much of the real work happens in meeting rooms—where policies are shaped, decisions are made and the future of college athletics continues to evolve. I was honored to be in front of NCAA DI head coaches discussing the current issues in college basketball, and getting their feedback on upcoming rules and legislations that will impact the game.
The meetings are resulting in outcomes, and the Cabinet made a major decision last Wednesday, with more information on that below.
The end of the basketball season is here, and music-wise, I could go back to the theme song from Hoosiers (since the Final Four and NIT are in Indiana) or “One Shining Moment”, but the song motivating me to write is “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas. Here is to hoping the national championship game between UCONN and Michigan is one that will carry us through to the beginning of the 2026-27 season.
Let’s get to The Bold Type.
CONGRATULATIONS
- To former Cal Poly student-athlete Victor Glover, who is the pilot for the Artemis II spacecraft that will orbit the moon in the days ahead!
- To Cal State Bakersfield Interim Assoc. AD for Internal Operations/SWA Stanzi McGowan who has been appointed to the permanent role! Stanzi's bio >>>
- To Hawai’i women’s basketball head coach Laura Beeman who announced her retirement after 14 seasons at the helm! Read more >>>
- To CSUN who garnered a $1M gift from the Jim Edmondson estate to the Paul Edmondson Memorial Scholarship Endowment, which was established to directly support academic scholarships for baseball student-athletes! Read more >>>
- To our three beach volleyball teams ranked in AVCA national poll! (LINK)
- No. 4 Cal Poly
- No. 10 Long Beach State
- T-No. 13 Hawai’i
- To UC Santa Barbara men’s tennis for being ranked No. 32 in ITA rankings! (LINK)
- To the UC Santa Barbara men’s tennis student-athletes ranked in ITA rankings! (LINK)
- No. 53 Dominique Rolland and No. 87 Lucca Liu
- No. 53 Miguel Avendano/Lucca Liu (UC Santa Barbara) (LINK)
- To our three women’s tennis teams ranked in ITA rankings! (LINK)
- No. 49 UC Santa Barbara
- No. 64 Long Beach State
- No.73 Hawai’i
- To all SIX men’s volleyball teams ranked in AVCA national poll! (LINK)
- No. 2 Hawai‘i
- No. 3 Long Beach State
- No. 5 UC Irvine
- No. 8 UC Santa Barbara
- No. 13 UC San Diego
- No. 18 CSUN
- To our six women’s water polo teams ranked in CWPA national poll! (LINK)
- No. 6 Hawai’i
- No. 8 Long Beach State
- No. 9 UC Irvine
- No. 15 UC Davis
- No. 16 UC San Diego
- No. 25 CSUN
- To Cal State Fullerton women’s golf, ranked No. 39 by Clippd! (LINK)
- To Long Beach State men’s golf, ranked No. 28 in the latest Clippd team rankings, led by 35th-ranked Alejandro de Castro Piera! (LINK)
- And to our amazing Players of the Week & Month!
- Baseball
- Field Player - Ryan Tayman, Cal Poly
- Pitcher - Mikiah Negrete, Cal State Fullerton
- Softball
- Field Player - Lina Apodaca, Long Beach State
- Pitcher - Kate Barnett, Long Beach State
- Freshman - Jaelyn Toledo, UC Santa Barbara
- Men's Volleyball
- Offense - Kristian Titriyski, Hawai‘i
- Defense - Quintin Greenidge, Hawai‘i
- Setter - Tread Rosenthal, Hawai‘i
- Freshman - Jackson Cryst, Long Beach State
- Beach Volleyball - Brooke Burch & Kealoha Phillips, Long Beach State
- Track & Field
- Men’s Track - Aidan McCarthy, Cal Poly
- Men’s Field - Miles Bennett, UC San Diego
- Women’s Track - Nancy Dematte, Cal State Fullerton
- Women’s Field - Chelsea Aninyei, UC Riverside
- Men's Tennis - Adriano Dzhenev, Hawai‘i
- Women's Tennis - Cecilia Costa, Long Beach State
- Women's Water Polo - Gianna Nocetti, UC Davis
- Men's Golf - Alejandro Castro de Piera, Long Beach State
- Women's Golf - Davina Xanh, Cal State Fullerton
2026 BIG WEST WOMEN'S WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIP
Coming down to the final week of action in the pool, congratulations to our regular-season champion Hawai’i, who will open their title defense at host and No. 2 seed Long Beach State this Friday at the newly upgraded Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center. Get your tickets today to catch all three days of action live here. Can’t make it to Long Beach? Watch the final three matches on ESPN+. See the complete bracket, schedule and details today! Championship Central >>>
THE BIG WEST UNLOCKS $50,000 GRANT FOR LIFESAVING CARE THROUGH TOUGH LIKE TAMMY CAMPAIGN
Together, we raised $25,235 for the Tough Like Tammy campaign. In return, the Kay Yow Cancer Fund will invest $50,000 directly into Southern California.
This money will bring lifesaving cancer care to under-resourced women in our community, serving people in the footprint of more than half of The Big West member institutions through a life-saving grant unlocked by the fundraising efforts of the conference over the past two seasons. Read more >>>
THE BIG WEST SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT - UC SAN DIEGO
University of California, San Diego (UCSD) was established in 1960 when the Regents of the University of California voted to authorize a San Diego campus near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Championed by scientist and scholar Roger Revelle, the campus was envisioned as a top-tier science and research institution, formally established in La Jolla after the city approved the project. Today, UC San Diego is recognized as one of the top research universities worldwide.
UC San Diego is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2025-26, and athletics has been at the forefront of the university’s success. The Tritons won 30 national championships and captured 150 individual NCAA titles in its time in Division II and III. In 2020, UC San Diego officially joined The Big West and transitioned from Division II to Division I. Triton teams have won six Big West championships (3 postseason, 3 regular season), most recently in a women's basketball double (regular season and postseason) this past winter. Read more >>>
Gallery: (4-3-2026) UC San Diego School Spotlight
MEN'S SOCCER PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PAC-12
Last Monday, the Pac-12 Conference and The Big West announced a collaborative men’s soccer partnership to strengthen opportunities in the West. Read more >>>
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SINGLE-SESSION TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
With just two weekends of the regular season remaining before The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2026 Outrigger Big West Men’s Volleyball Championship, single-session tickets are on sale now. Make plans to join us for some of the best men’s volleyball in the nation, including four of the top 10 teams in the country! Read more >>>
THE BIG WEST + TRACKMAN
The Big West is proud to partner with TrackMan as the exclusive ball tracking technology provider of the conference. Read more >>>
THE TAXMAN COMETH
With Tax Day quickly approaching, please remember that EZTaxReturn.com can be a resource for you to file efficiently and quickly if you have not yet done so. Just visit the link here: https://www.eztaxreturn.com/blog/bigwest/ Feel free to share this with your colleagues, family and friends as well. You can file a Federal return for as little as $39.99!
BIG WEST BASKETBALL VIEWERSHIP
You may have seen reports in the media that viewership of the Credit Union 1 Big West Men’s Basketball Championship was up 23% year over year. We’re pleased to report that the actual number is 28% based on information we received from ESPN last week. Compared to the 2022-23 season, viewership of Big West men’s basketball on ESPN is up 13% for regular season broadcasts and 234% for the men’s basketball championship.
This continued growth reflects both the quality of competition across The Big West and the strong engagement of our fans nationwide.
MEDIA REPORTS ON BIG WEST, NCAA AND LEGAL MATTERS
- Wyoming AD Tom Burman and Football HC Jay Sawvel presented a financial update to the university's Board of Trustees outlining the revenue-sharing costs required to compete in the rebuilt Mountain West. According to Wyoming Sports' Alex Taylor, the presentation revealed the football program's revenue-sharing budget increased from $700K last fall to nearly $2M for the 2026 season, aided by a $125K contribution from Sawvel's contract. Administrators estimate the department needs $4M to $5M annually for football and $2M for men's basketball to win conference championships and match the spending levels of departing members like Boise State. (link)
- The SCORE Act is still not ready to be brought to the House floor for a vote, according to Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich, who notes “negotiations are still ongoing. Discussions about potentially another amendment are taking place. Meanwhile, President Trump’s five subcommittees on college sports met yesterday. … The subcommittees are on player-agent relationships, legislation, media rights/SBA amendment, rules, and governance. Participants include many who were at the roundtable. Trump’s executive order is still being drafted … these committees could advise on that or other congressional legislation/solutions.” (link)
- The Utah Board of Higher Education rejected Utah State’s proposal to increase student athletic fees by 25.8%, or an additional $59.44 per student annually, to a total of $290 overall in an effort to stay competitive under the new revenue sharing model. (link)
- The DI Cabinet has officially adopted an FBS Oversight Committee proposal penalizing programs over “ghost transfers.” The rule change, adopted for all sports in Division I, is effective immediately and applies to all transfers on or after Feb. 25, 2026. Penalties – which are automatically triggered – include a suspension of the respective sport's head coach for 50% of a season and a fine of 20% of that sport's budget. Here are more key takeaways…
- NCAA President Charlie Baker offers this reaction to the DI Cabinet’s adoption of the new rules addressing “ghost transfers” for all sports. “Division I changed how rules get made last year and this is a great example why: new rules were drafted, debated and implemented in a few weeks - not months or years - and with twice as many student-athletes involved in the process. This change will help with tampering and transfer issues and will result in more immediate accountability for programs that circumvent the rules, but it won't solve everything. More to come from DI as we continue to adapt to the modern era of college sports.” (link)
- At the direction of the DI Board of Directors, an Infractions Process Task Force is reviewing the infractions process and associated penalties for violations of NCAA rules. Among the topics the group will discuss are enforcement of transfer rules and penalties associated with tampering violations with recommendations for modernizing the infractions process expected later this year.
- The NCAA is also expected to address two more changes at a meeting later this month, per Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger, involving “permitting FBS programs to designate 16 staffers to participate in off-campus recruiting in the spring and permitting schools transitioning from FCS to FBS to immediately play in a bowl.” (link, link)
- The DI Cabinet also received an Academics and Eligibility Committee report about a package of proposed changes to precollege enrollment athletics eligibility rules that the group is expected to take action on as early as mid-April. Intended to modernize athletics eligibility rules for prospects, the proposed changes include: requiring prospects to withdraw from opt-in professional league drafts, including the NBA Draft, bringing precollege enrollment draft rules in line with postcollege enrollment draft rules. The rules change would not impact sports in which prospects can be drafted without opting in to the respective professional league drafts (including men's ice hockey and baseball); allowing prospects to sign with agents prior to enrolling in college; and allowing prospects to accept prize money in their respective sports without impacting eligibility. The proposal would also maintain the current eligibility rules regarding prospects who sign a contract with a professional team, regardless of draft status or the country in which that team competes. If adopted by the group, the proposals would be effective for prospects entering college during the 2026-27 academic year. (link)
- 2026 Final Four: NCAA tournament expansion 'will happen.' Here's why that's the case despite the outcries against it (link)
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do." — Pelé
As the basketball season draws to a close tonight and spring championships move into full focus beginning this week in the pool, last week has been a reminder that success in college athletics is built long before the final whistle—through thoughtful leadership, disciplined decision-making and a shared commitment to doing what is right for student-athletes.
Whether in Indianapolis meeting rooms or on our campuses across The Big West, the work continues every day to strengthen our programs and position our conference for the future.
Thank you, as always, for the leadership our administrators provide to our campuses and to The Big West.
Together, we continue to move forward with purpose, confidence and a clear vision for the future of The Big West.
Dan