2025-2026 College Football Thread

[ChadFL]

Volunteer fans rejoice. I can't believe it took this long. This guy has been a complete disaster for Tennessee sports.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=6634194

Mike Hamilton resigns as Tennessee AD
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Embattled Tennessee men's athletic director Mike Hamilton, conceding that he'd become a lightning rod for negative publicity for the university, announced his resignation Tuesday.

Hamilton's resignation is effective June 30, and he still will attend the NCAA's Committee on Infractions hearing Saturday in Indianapolis. Tennessee has been charged with major violations in football and men's basketball.

Tennessee chancellor Jimmy Cheek said Hamilton was not forced out and that it was Hamilton's decision to step down. However, Cheek also said he did not try to talk Hamilton out of his decision. Hamilton still will receive a buyout of $1,335,000.

Hamilton had come under increasingly intense fire by Tennessee boosters and fans, who blamed him for what has been a mounting series of setbacks both on and off the field the past few years in the Volunteers' three major men's sports -- football, men's basketball and baseball.

[fatediesel]

In addition to his over $1.3 million buyout Hamilton also receives 8 season tickets for Tennessee football and basketball for the rest of his life. I wonder if Gene Smith will get as nice a package when Ohio State fires him.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

In addition to his over $1.3 million buyout Hamilton also receives 8 season tickets for Tennessee football and basketball for the rest of his life. I wonder if Gene Smith will get as nice a package when Ohio State fires him.

You never know with contracts. From what I read Tressel received zero in severance when he resigned. Some contracts give fat severance packages and some don't.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

You never know with contracts. From what I read Tressel received zero in severance when he resigned. Some contracts give fat severance packages and some don't.

Tressel got nothing because all coaching contracts have clauses that state if a coach commits a major violation they will not be entitled to a buyout. A lot of schools will still buyout their coaches who committed major violations out of fear of a costly lawsuit, which is why Tennessee paid Bruce Pearl almost $1 million and Indiana paid Kelvin Sampson $750,000. Those schools could have paid the coaches nothing and almost certainly won if the coaches sued them, but they decided it would be easier just to avoid the lawsuit and pay the coaches to go away. If Tressel had wanted he probably could have fought to get some sort of buyout but I'd guess he just wanted this saga to end.

[fatediesel]

Terrell Pryor is done at Ohio State, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. No word on what his future plans are, although the NFL Supplemental draft is a strong possibility.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/29860310

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Terrell Pryor is done at Ohio State, according to the Cleveland Plain-Dealer. No word on what his future plans are, although the NFL Supplemental draft is a strong possibility.

http://eye-on-collegefootball.blogs....56338/29860310

Very much expected. Even before the flood of NCAA violations spilled out on Ohio St. I didn;t understand him returning for another year. He should have just entered the draft months ago. I'm sure a few teams will be willing to take a chance on him. I really cannot see this guy as a solid NFL QB.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Very much expected. Even before the flood of NCAA violations spilled out on Ohio St. I didn;t understand him returning for another year. He should have just entered the draft months ago. I'm sure a few teams will be willing to take a chance on him. I really cannot see this guy as a solid NFL QB.

With his athletic ability someone will find a roster spot for him, but it won't be as quarterback. He could be a decent receiver down the line as long as he can catch.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

With his athletic ability someone will find a roster spot for him, but it won't be as quarterback. He could be a decent receiver down the line as long as he can catch.

Ya, he has a ton of athletic ability. He was also a nationally ranked basketball player in High School. I'm just not sure he's mentally prepared for the NFL. His judgment is really bad.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

With his athletic ability someone will find a roster spot for him, but it won't be as quarterback. He could be a decent receiver down the line as long as he can catch.

The thing is Pryor has always said he only wants to be a quarterback and won't move to another position in the pros. I really think if Pryor is dead set on staying at quarterback he should go to the CFL. He's got great size and speed and would get the chance to play quarterback in Canada. If he did well there for a couple years there would be plenty of teams in the NFL that would want him then.

Also, a story has come out from an ex-friend of Pryor's that Pryor received between $20,000 and $40,000 from Columbus photographer Dennis Talbott for autographing memorabilia between 2009-2010. Talbott denied the allegations, saying he's only worked with ex-players, but I'm guessing Pryor is tired of fighting allegations and just decided to be done with school.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6637444

[Moviefan1203]

Source - http://dennis-dodd.blogs.cbssports.c...70202/29919580

West Virginia is negotiations to buyout embattled coach Bill Stewart, The Sporting News reported Thursday night citing a source.

Coach-in-waiting/offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen would be elevated to head coach. Asked to confirm the report, Mountaineers AD Oliver Luck replied via text, "I can't comment."

The coaching staff had been investigated by Luck recently trying to determine the source of what were termed "leaks" disparaging Holgorsen in recent newspapers accounts. The school said there were "blatant inaccuracies" in a report that Holgorsen and been involved in three-to-six alcohol-related incidents in the last few months.

A former Pittsburgh newspaper reporter said this week during a radio interview that Stewart urged him to "dig up dirt" on Holgorsen.

Had Stewart been fired after last season the school would have owed him $2.5 million. Instead, the school hired Holgorsen from Oklahoma State, made him the coach-in-waiting and adjusted Stewart's contract. This would be Stewart's final season has head coach. Holgorsen was to take over in 2012.

Stewart, 59, was the toast of Morgantown 3 1/2 years ago when he beat Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. That night he was elevated to head coach following Rich Rodriguez' departure for Michigan. Stewart has won 28 games -- nine in each of the last three seasons, plus the Fiesta Bowl.

He is currently part of an NCAA infractions case against West Virginia charged with "failure to monitor".



This should have done this a long time ago. Holgorsen is ten times the coach Stewart is as long as he can get his drinking under control. But it's West Virginia, so it's probably not as big of a deal as it would be at other schools.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

This should have done this a long time ago. Holgorsen is ten times the coach Stewart is as long as he can get his drinking under control. But it West Virginia, so it's probably not as big of a deal as it would be at other schools.

That's a big question. It appears he had like around a half dozen drunken incidents in a short period of time.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

That's a big question. It appears he had like around a half dozen drunken incidents in a short period of time.

I'm eager to see if he wants to head towards a pro style offense or stay with their current double option quarterbacks. The guy is great with quarterbacks, he honestly could contend for a national title if given the chance.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

This should have done this a long time ago. Holgorsen is ten times the coach Stewart is as long as he can get his drinking under control. But it's West Virginia, so it's probably not as big of a deal as it would be at other schools.

While I don't think highly of Stewart I also think it's premature to say Holgorsen is 10 times the coach he is. Holgorsen has proven nothing. He's always taken over offenses which were already good. At Texas Tech he was the coordinator for an offense that Mike Leach had made great. At Houston he took over an offense with a very good quarterback in Case Keenum that was putting up 50+ point games the year before he came. Last year at Oklahoma State he had a great quarterback in Brandon Weeden, a great running back in Kendall Hunter, and one of the country's best receivers in Justin Blackmon.

On a side note, I think Oliver Luck has done a terrible job as West Virginia's AD. He was an idiot for thinking he could force a coach-in-waiting under Stewart and should have fired him in the first place. That arrangement was never going to work. Then recently he got the regents to approve alcohol sales in the stadium, which is fine, but rather than admitting it was all about the money he said he thought it would cut down on drinking because people would be less likely to binge drink before the game if they could drink at the game. I'm not too far removed from college and can guarantee that this will have no effect on the pregame drinking and will just increase drinking. Call it the cash grab that it is and don't insult our intelligence by saying it will cut down on drinking.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

While I don't think highly of Stewart I also think it's premature to say Holgorsen is 10 times the coach he is. Holgorsen has proven nothing. He's always taken over offenses which were already good. At Texas Tech he was the coordinator for an offense that Mike Leach had made great. At Houston he took over an offense with a very good quarterback in Case Keenum that was putting up 50+ point games the year before he came. Last year at Oklahoma State he had a great quarterback in Brandon Weeden, a great running back in Kendall Hunter, and one of the country's best receivers in Justin Blackmon.

He took over teams with talent, but he also did a great job at sustaining and improving them. Obviously time will tell what kind of coach is, but I would bet a large amount of money that he is going to be very successful at West Virginia.

[ChadFL]

He was driving 118 mph in a rental car? How exactly do you even get a rental car if you don't have a driver's license? He owes $8k in fines now. Guess Oregon players don't make Ohio St. money.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6665827

Cliff Harris suspended indefinitely

Oregon coach Chip Kelly has suspended Cliff Harris indefinitely after the cornerback was cited for speeding while driving with a suspended license.

Harris was clocked at 118 mph by Oregon State Police on Interstate 5 early Sunday morning. He was driving a rental car

Kelley announced the suspension Wednesday after the school said its compliance office was looking into the matter because the car Harris was driving had been rented by a university employee.

Kelly announced in a statement that at the very least, Harris will sit out Oregon's season opener against LSU.

Harris was pulled over about 4:35 a.m. PT Sunday south of Albany, Ore., to the north of Eugene. Oregon State Police said he was cited for driving with a suspended license and exceeding the speed limit in excess of 100 mph.

The fine for driving a vehicle faster than 100 mph is $1,148. In addition, Harris has 11 other unpaid fines in both Oregon and his hometown of Fresno, Calif., dating to December 2008 totaling at least $8,527.50, KEZI-TV reported on its website.

[fatediesel]

This could get interesting. Oregon paid a man named Will Lyles $25,000 for recruiting services last year. The money was supposedly for 2011 recruiting services, but everyone on the recruiting package were 2009 recruits and the package would have been worthless. Lyles is very close to five-star running back Lache Seastrunk, who signed with Oregon last year, and there is plenty of speculation that Oregon paid the money to Lyles in exchange for a commitment from Seastrunk.

Per ESPN's Bruce Feldman:

What sounded really fishy at first now looks even worse. Much worse. On Monday, reports of documents that Oregon released about Will Lyles' very expensive recruiting service of a "National" package for 2011 recruits revealed that 133 of the 140 prospects were from Texas -- and all the recruits listed were actually from the 2009 class. This looks only more dubious knowing that Lyles -- the Texan at the center of this -- has been a mentor to former five-star running back recruit Lache Seastrunk, who signed with the Ducks in February of 2010, less than one month after Oregon shelled out $25,000 for Lyles' "recruiting services."

There is also another curious aspect of Oregon's reaction to the Lyles recruiting service dustup: Where is the video that he should have provided? I spoke with several in-house recruiting coordinators on Monday and Tuesday and each said that for $25,000, Lyles better have provided a lot of video. Not just game film, but cut-ups as well for recruits in Texas and Louisiana and Florida and Georgia and California ...

According to the Register-Guard, an Oregon spokesman said that because Ducks coaches typically file their videos under a recruit's name, they don't document from whom they received the videos. That explanation didn't sound logical to any of the sources I spoke to, who pointed out that any service that sends DVDs will have the company logo on it.

When the NCAA investigated the matter in Oregon, what evidence of this extensive service was the Ducks program able to provide? It will have to be a better answer than what they told the newspapers.

/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6687...o.com/ncf/blog

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

This could get interesting. Oregon paid a man named Will Lyles $25,000 for recruiting services last year. The money was supposedly for 2011 recruiting services, but everyone on the recruiting package were 2009 recruits and the package would have been worthless. Lyles is very close to five-star running back Lache Seastrunk, who signed with Oregon last year, and there is plenty of speculation that Oregon paid the money to Lyles in exchange for a commitment from Seastrunk.

Per ESPN's Bruce Feldman:

/ncf/blog?name=feldman_bruce&id=6687...o.com/ncf/blog

Chip Kelly is a terrific coach but ever since he took over there has been a lot of ethical and legal problems surrounding players and staff in that program. Wouldn't surprise me if his career goes down in flames like Tressell.

[fatediesel]

Former North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson announced he will play for the Wisconsin Badgers this season. Wilson is also a baseball player in the Colorado Rockies system and was (in essence) kicked off the team at NC State because he wasn't going to focus full-time on football. Wilson will be eligible immediately since he graduated from NC State.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6708649

[Slec]

Good for him. Its ridiculous that NC State has an issue with his playing baseball. Players have been doing that for a long long time, it shouldnt affect him too much..the move to a new school is another story

[fatediesel]

Ohio State has vacated all of it's wins from last season. They're likely hoping that by getting rid of Tressel and vacating the wins they won't be hit as hard by the NCAA. I find it funny they are vacating their Sugar Bowl win since the NCAA already knew about the merchandise for tattoos and let everyone play.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6749330