Latest news with #Big12Conference
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Colorado coach Deion Sanders making 'progress' with health issue
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has made 'progress' as he battles back from an unspecified health issue and is moving around again outdoors, his son Deion Jr. said in a YouTube video posted Saturday. The video shows Sanders fishing at his estate in Texas with former Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter. Advertisement 'It's a beautiful thing,' Deion Sanders Jr. says in the video. 'Coach Prime back active, moving around. God is great. Not back active moving around, but it's progress.' Sanders Sr. has been away from his job in Colorado since April and did not attend Colorado's annual youth and high school camps in June, even though operating such camps is listed in his employment contract as one of his official duties. The timing of his return to campus remains unclear. This is usually a dead time of year for head coaches in college football, but he is due to make an appearance at a Big 12 Conference media event in Frisco, Texas, on July 9. The video showed him on a boat in a lake encouraging Hunter as the Jacksonville Jaguars rookie reels in a fish. Advertisement 'Bring him out,' Sanders tells Hunter. 'C'mon T. Hunter. There you go. T. Hunter!' Sanders, 57, previously said on social media June 11 that 'everything is OKAY' and that he would provide a full update upon his return to Colorado. "I'm excited to get back to Colorado to be at home with my staff, team & all associated to our program,' Sanders wrote on social media on June 11. Sanders also mentioned the issue on a podcast in late May with former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel. 'I hope you're feeling better,' Samuel said to Sanders. Samuel asked him if he ever tried fasting. Sanders responded by saying 'what I'm dealing with right now is at (a) whole nother level' but said he's coming back after losing about 14 pounds. Advertisement Sanders previously battled issues with blood clots in his legs for years and had to miss a Pac-12 Conference media event in Las Vegas because of it in July 2023. Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Deion Sanders health update: Colorado coach making 'progress'
USA Today
11 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Colorado coach Deion Sanders making 'progress' with health issue
Colorado football coach Deion Sanders has made 'progress' as he battles back from an unspecified health issue and is moving around again outdoors, his son Deion Jr. said in a YouTube video posted Saturday. The video shows Sanders fishing at his estate in Texas with former Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter. 'It's a beautiful thing,' Deion Sanders Jr. says in the video. 'Coach Prime back active, moving around. God is great. Not back active moving around, but it's progress.' Sanders Sr. has been away from his job in Colorado since April and did not attend Colorado's annual youth and high school camps in June, even though operating such camps is listed in his employment contract as one of his official duties. The timing of his return to campus remains unclear. This is usually a dead time of year for head coaches in college football, but he is due to make an appearance at a Big 12 Conference media event in Frisco, Texas, on July 9. The video showed him on a boat in a lake encouraging Hunter as the Jacksonville Jaguars rookie reels in a fish. 'Bring him out,' Sanders tells Hunter. 'C'mon T. Hunter. There you go. T. Hunter!' Sanders, 57, previously said on social media June 11 that 'everything is OKAY' and that he would provide a full update upon his return to Colorado. "I'm excited to get back to Colorado to be at home with my staff, team & all associated to our program,' Sanders wrote on social media on June 11. Sanders also mentioned the issue on a podcast in late May with former NFL cornerback Asante Samuel. 'I hope you're feeling better,' Samuel said to Sanders. Samuel asked him if he ever tried fasting. Sanders responded by saying 'what I'm dealing with right now is at (a) whole nother level' but said he's coming back after losing about 14 pounds. Sanders previously battled issues with blood clots in his legs for years and had to miss a Pac-12 Conference media event in Las Vegas because of it in July 2023. Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@
Washington Post
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Deion Sanders absent from football camps in Boulder, Colorado. No reason specified by school
BOULDER, Colo. — Deion Sanders has not attended football camps in Boulder, Colorado, this spring. The University of Colorado said it couldn't comment on a reason for his absence. ESPN, citing a source it did not name, said Sanders has been ill and out of the office recently. Over the weekend, his son Deion Sanders Jr. posted a livestream video on YouTube in which he said his father remains at his Texas home and 'feeling well,' according to USA Today. His son added in the video: 'He'll tell y'all soon enough what he's going through.' Sanders is required to operate a minimum of three on-campus football camps, according to the contract extension he signed in March . Sanders' deal runs through the 2029 season and made him the highest-paid football coach in the Big 12 Conference. The 57-year-old Sanders has struggled with his left foot since having two toes amputated in 2021 because of blood clot issues while at Jackson State. He missed media day in 2023 , his first year at Colorado, after a procedure to remove a blood clot from his right leg and another to straighten toes on his left foot. Asked about his father at the Browns' minicamp Tuesday, rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders responded: 'Yeah, I don't know what's going on. So I'm here not to talk about Pops. I'm here to be the quarterback of the Cleveland Browns. I'm focused on learning this playbook and everything I got to do to be the most successful quarterback and best teammate I could be. Outside of that, I don't really have no thoughts or really opinions on anything outside this game.' Deion Sanders was a scratch last weekend as a keynote speaker at the Sickle Cell Disease Research and Educational Symposium in Florida. The organization posted on social media that 'due to an unavoidable last-minute scheduling change, our originally scheduled Foundation Keynote Speaker, Deion Sanders 'Coach Prime' is unable to attend.' Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson was his replacement. The Buffaloes open the season Aug. 29 by hosting Georgia Tech. ___ AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy in Cleveland contributed to this report. ___ AP college football: and
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
In college playoff debate, the Arizona St coach with everything to lose says he'll take his chances
FILE - Ariona State head coach Kenny Dillingham stands on the sideline during the first half of the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) FILE - Ariona State head coach Kenny Dillingham stands on the sideline during the first half of the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) FILE - Ariona State head coach Kenny Dillingham stands on the sideline during the first half of the Big 12 Conference championship NCAA college football game against Iowa State in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File) When it comes to the future of the College Football Playoff, there were as many opinions as there were coaches on hand at the Southeastern Conference and Big 12 meetings in Florida this week. Perhaps the most eye-opening came from some of those with the most to lose — Kenny Dillingham of Arizona State and Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark. Advertisement The consensus at their meetings, which wrapped up in Orlando on Friday, was a preference for a format, starting in 2026, that would include 16 teams — five of them automatic bids to the highest-rated conference champions and the other 11 awarded as at-large spots. That would be paired with a straight-seeding model that has already been adopted for next season's playoff. Had last season's playoff used straight seeding, the Big 12 champion Sun Devils would have been seeded 11th, not fourth. Instead of a bye, they would have been stuck with a first-round road game at eventual national champion Ohio State. But Dillingham said the change for the upcoming season is fine with him, and if the increasingly popular 5-11 model takes hold for 2026, that's fine, too. 'Last season, maybe we didn't earn the right to be the fourth seed. Maybe we earned the right to be the eighth seed,' said the coach, whose team was ranked 12th, but still received the fourth seed and a first-round bye before losing to Texas 39-31. 'I believe you earn your way to those seeds, so I'm also in support of the 5-plus-11, that same thought process.' Advertisement The SEC and Big Ten will decide the format for the playoff starting in 2026, which is when ESPN's new $7.8 billion contract kicks in. Yormark said the SEC and Big Ten 'have a great responsibility that goes with it to do what's right for college football and not to do anything that just benefits two conferences. And I have a lot of faith in the process.' The 5-11 system could be less advantageous for the Big 12, which would get two automatic bids under the other system being floated, the 4-4-2-2-1 model in which the SEC and Big Ten each would receive four and the Big 12 and ACC would get two. The best argument for that plan might have come from Florida AD Scott Stricklin at the SEC meetings: 'I think anything we can do to make the postseason more objective and less subjective is going to be better,' he said, pointing to the notion that the more at-large berths there are, the more the preferences of the selection committee come into play. Advertisement Yormark said the Big 12 would be willing to take its chances with more at-large bids. 'We want to earn it on the field,' Yormark said. 'The 5-11 might not be ideal for the conference, but it's good for college football, and it's what's fair.' Dillingham was on the same page. 'Every year is a new year, and you never know who's going to be good in college football, especially with the volume going through the (transfer) portal,' he said. 'So anything that creates an open platform for teams like our guys last year to prove that they do belong, I'm in support of.' Expanded March Madness NCAA President Charlie Baker made his most definitive statement yet about expanding the men's basketball tournament from its current 68 teams to 72 or 76, saying it's a decision that needs to come in the next few months. Advertisement SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has long been in favor of that expansion, so long as it's done a certain way. His model would bring more at-large teams – presumably from big conferences -- into the main draw of 64. It would push more automatic qualifiers from weaker leagues into what would be an increased number of so-called 'play-in' games, what's known now as the First Four. He used the example of North Carolina State in 2024 as a team that was seeded 11th (the Wolfpack didn't have to play a play-in game but often an 11th seed does) and made the Final Four. 'I don't think all the 10- and 11-type seeds should just be placed in the First Four,' Sankey said at the SEC meetings in the Florida Panhandle. 'That's my opinion. You could go ask my colleagues in the AQ conferences what should happen and I'm certain they'd want the split to continue.' Walk-on walk-outs Advertisement A few SEC coaches hedged when asked what they were telling walk-on football players who were in jeopardy of losing their roster spots under terms of the multibillion-dollar lawsuit settlement that is hung up on the issue of roster limits. 'Certainly it's challenging for us to manage our roster,' Texas A&M coach Mike Elko said. 'But it's more challenging for a 19-year-old to not know what his place on a football team is as we head into the summer.' Under terms of a reworked agreement, football rosters would be limited to 105 players, all of whom would be eligible for scholarships, though walk-on players who had roster spots before would not count against the limit. Kansas coach Lance Leipold conceded that many decisions had already been made regardless of how the settlement works out. Indeed, some of his walk-ons had already left, as the Jayhawks made preparations for the upcoming season with the expectation the settlement would be approved. Advertisement 'When a walk-on maybe decides that now that their roster spot might be in jeopardy, he has a chance to go somewhere else where he may see more real playing time in games, you got to be happy for him," he said. "I guess we all wish we had a little bit more clarity sooner.' One window too many From locker rooms to the commissioner's office, the Big 12 is unified in its stance on transfer portal timing. Rather than two transfer windows, including a 20-day slot with the college football playoff in sight in December, the Big 12 is pushing for one window in January. 'As coaches, we unanimously support one portal window, and that is in January,' Leipold said. 'You're signing most of your guys in December. You know what your roster will be like to start the second semester, and you have the opportunity to work and develop and build those relationships and evaluate your team and get ready for the next season.' Advertisement Coaches can find solace in knowing their commissioner will fight for the cause. Adjusting the portal windows is one of many items on the list of topics Yormark will discuss with fellow Power Four commissioners in the coming weeks. 'We discussed the portal window with the coaches,' Yormark said. 'We know what their preference is. We'll discuss that amongst the Power Four commissioners here shortly, but I advocate for their position. They want a January portal, and we'll discuss that again with our peers and see where we can land this thing.' The Power Four wants more There are plenty of ongoing disputes between the NCAA's most dominant conferences, but a desire for more control isn't one of them. Rumors of the SEC separating from the NCAA may have gained momentum, but Sankey is willing to settle for more autonomy, at least for now. Advertisement Instead of the original 65%, Sankey argued that the Power Four conferences owning 68% of the vote in the proposed NCAA governance model is more optimal. Yormark was on the same page. 'There is an appetite and desire to have a little bit more autonomy, a little bit more control in decision-making,' Yormark said. 'In what's currently being discussed, I think we will land in a very desirable place. We understand the importance of being part of the institution and also being very collegial with our peers. But at the same time, we do feel that when it comes to control and autonomy, that there needs to be a little bit of a shift to the A4, at least more so than what currently exists.' By the sounds of it, the Power Four may have the NCAA president on their side. 'Charlie Baker has been terrific throughout the process. He has listened to all the key stakeholder groups, but he does recognize that not everyone looks the same, operates the same, and there needs to be a bit of an adjustment and a modernization of what's being done there in the NCAA as a whole is, like you said, but also as it relates to the power four," Yormark said. ___ Carey reported from Orlando, Fla., Pells from Miramar Beach, Fla. ___ AP college sports:
Associated Press
28-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Big 12 men's basketball decision to drop to 18 conference games goes beyond injury prevention
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Another college basketball season in the books means another offseason to reset, recruit and reassess the growing needs of the game. Following a yearlong experiment with a 20-game conference schedule, the Big 12 announced its intention to return to 18 games for the upcoming season. Vice President of Big 12 Men's Basketball Brian Thornton said Wednesday there were multiple reasons for the change. 'The schedule got very compressed and when you're planning in a league as challenging as ours, understandably our coaches wanted a little bit of an opportunity during the course of conference play to take a deep breath, and going to 18 games allows that,' Thornton told The Associated Press at the Big 12 spring meetings. 'It allows us to have a built-in bye, and it's something that we feel is important for the time being.' The transition to 18 games accommodates the requests of college coaches after complaints during the season. But the reason behind the shift goes beyond rest time and injury prevention. 'We want to maximize bids, we want to maximize seeds,' Thornton said. 'The nonconference schedule is a huge component of that. We're moving from 20 conference games to 18 conference games, and so we spent considerable time talking about the importance of replacing those games with quality games that allows our conference to continue to thrive.' The Atlantic Coast Conference made the same move in early May after earning just four NCAA Tournament bids, its lowest total since 2013. The Big 12 had seven bids in the tournament, the third-most behind the Big Ten (8) and SEC (14). Houston coach Kelvin Sampson, whose Cougars reached the national championship game, took notice. 'One of the great things but also great challenges of coaching in the Big 12 is that you've got to keep up,' Sampson said. 'It's competitive, you know. The SEC got 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament this year, we only had seven.' Both the ACC and Big 12 hope the increased strength of schedule and strategic nonconference games lead to higher seeding, increased bids and more national attention. 'What our conference does during the nonconference schedule is really what sets the stage for how strong our conference is going to be overall,' Thornton said. 'The ball games that we schedule, the success that we have during that time, will set the stage for if we're viewed as the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 conference in the country as we go down the stretch and head into March Madness.' ___ AP college basketball: and
