Want to play in the SEC forever? Southern judges seem to be on your side.

Hey everyone,

Kyle’s away from the computer this weekend, which means I, as his editor, get to make a cameo for today’s newsletter — with a strong assist from Kyle mid-vacation. Lucky for me, there was plenty of news to sift through, everything from an emotional Mississippi judge to a governor who hates NIL to a story that shows some of the real downsides of modern college sports. For all that and more, keep on reading!

— Joan

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THE BIG 3

Chambliss wins his day in court

Ole Miss lost its coach, but it’s looking like it’ll get to keep its quarterback. On Thursday, Trinidad Chambliss got his requested sixth year of eligibility — through a retroactive medical redshirt — which the NCAA had denied him three times in recent months.

The decision came at the hands of a chancery court judge in rural Mississippi, and if that sounds like the stuff of a newly unearthed Harper Lee novel, well, it gets even better. According to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, the judge, Robert Whitwell, became visibly emotional when delivering his ruling, which could deliver immense returns to the school where he earned his law degree. (May we forever remember the winter of 2025-26 as the moment when moony-eyed judges ruled across the South in favor of their favorite SEC programs.)

Besides ensuring Ole Miss’s spot as a contender next year, the ruling also could have interesting implications for future lawsuits — and we all know there are more lawsuits coming. Instead of suing over antitrust claims, which are much harder to prove, Chambliss’s lawyers alleged the NCAA had breached its contract with Ole Miss. Essentially, per the judge’s ruling, the NCAA failed to uphold its membership agreement with the school by not committing to the “well-being and development” of a student athlete.

South Carolina bill to shield rev-sharing payments is fast-tracked — but is it heading for a roadblock?

We’ve written here a few times about the efforts in South Carolina to keep NIL and revenue-sharing information private and exempt from FOIA requests — which comes largely in response to one zealous FOIA-er and a lawsuit he filed to force the state’s public universities to release revenue-sharing information.

Things are moving quickly. As of this week, state lawmakers are fast-tracking a bill that would shield athletes’ contracts from public disclosure; it’s passed the House and is making its way through the Senate. But there’s a catch: The Republican-sponsored bill may face a major roadblock in South Carolina’s governor (also a Republican), Henry McMaster.

McMaster has gone on the record repeatedly with his distaste for modern college sports — and his belief in financial transparency. He hasn’t indicated whether he’d veto the bill if passed, but when he has spoken on the matter, it’s been relatively contentious.

“It ought to be public, and it shouldn’t be happening in the first place,” McMaster told reporters in January. “I think NIL is ruining college sports.”

McMaster told reporters he’d like to know how much a school is paying a particular athlete, and though he acknowledged he doesn’t want schools in the state to be at a competitive disadvantage, he seemed overwhelmingly in the camp that believes more information is better. “I don’t think we’ll understand the impact that it’s having on sports unless we know how much money is being paid. I don’t think it ought to be a secret,” McMaster said.

This isn’t the first headline involving a Republican governor, fiscal responsibility and SEC athletics in recent months. We’ll see if McMaster holds his ground.

Bad news for Marshall’s women’s swim team

Just months after the program joined a new conference, weeks after the school hired a new diving coach and days before athletes are set to compete in the conference championship, Marshall announced on Friday its plans to cut its women’s swimming and diving team after this season.

In a fact sheet it distributed with the announcement, the school justified its seemingly inopportune timing by saying that “waiting doesn’t make the challenge smaller — it makes it harder to solve.” The fact sheet also addressed whether the school could’ve leaned on fundraising to keep the program alive; Marshall wrote that it had “explored options, but fundraising alone doesn’t address the scale of capital investment required. Responsible leadership means acknowledging when a model isn’t sustainable.”

It’s hard not to see the team as a casualty of the NIL and revenue-sharing model. Swimming is an Olympic sport, far from a revenue generator, and it’s expensive to operate — so when athletic departments need to trim expenses in order to find ways to invest in sports like basketball and football, programs like swimming will continue to come under scrutiny.

Marshall does not sponsor men’s swimming and diving. After the elimination of the women’s team, it will sponsor seven men’s sports and eight women’s sports.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Hawaii needs help in the NIL arms race — so it’s turning to taxpayers

The University of Hawaii has a rich athletics history, and the Rainbows understandably want to remain competitive. But that’s becoming increasingly difficult in the NIL/revenue-sharing era. So the university is asking for taxpayers’ help. Nine athletes and three coaches testified this week in favor of state funding to help Hawaii’s teams. The university has a standing request for an annual appropriation of $5 million for NIL.

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NIL BLITZ

♦️ The NCAA denied Connor Stalions’s appeal of penalties in the Michigan sign-stealing case.

♦️ Texas Tech has gone from “have-not” to “have” thanks to NIL and revenue sharing. And AD Kirby Hocutt said the Red Raiders aren’t slowing down their spending anytime soon.

♦️ Daniel Libit of Sportico has some interesting financial details related to North Dakota State’s Mountain West agreement.

♦️ Kansas AD Travis Goff discussed the difficulty of funding men’s basketball and football NIL at a level required to win.

♦️ According to Andrew Holtan of the Brookings Register, South Dakota State is not in a hurry to follow rival North Dakota State to the FBS.

♦️ Jill Bodensteiner, the St. Joe’s AD, was named commissioner of the Horizon League.

♦️ A Utah representative introduced a bill in Congress that would block foreign countries from investing in college sports.

♦️ It looks like we’re getting very close to Sacramento State joining the MAC — with a hefty price tag. (Bonus link: Matt Brown wrote about this wave of reclassification in Extra Points earlier this week.)

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

Should courts be involved in NCAA eligibility cases?

• Yes - 45%

• No - 55%