Northwestern’s locker room is abuzz right now … with everyone talking about Bam Adebayo (seriously)

Oregon coach Dana Altman on his emotions after the Ducks fall 70-60 to Maryland in the first round of the Big Ten tourney, ending their season at 12-19: “It’s been 30 years since my teams have had a losing season, so it’s kind of hard to digest.”

Illinois has hired Steven Koch as assistant special teams coach. Koch was a special teams analyst with New Mexico last season.

Power conference coaches of the year: ACC: Jon Scheyer Big Ten: Dusty May Big 12: Tommy Lloyd SEC: Todd Golden It's refreshing to see common sense prevail around the nation this year. These awards too often go to those who "do more with less," not to the actual best coaches.

Santa Clara pulls off the upset and plays spoiler, depriving us all of one last Saint Mary’s-Gonzaga game. Onions from Sash Gavalyugov.

2026 Mountain West Conference football schedule:

Ohio State president Ted Carter resigns after an "inappropriate relationship." My college sports pyramid theory — the people at the top of the food chain (presidents) are the least impressive of this operation, and the people at the bottom (players) are the most impressive — continues to hold true.

ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC men’s basketball tournament brackets for this week:

Current MBB head coach openings: ✈️ Air Force ‼️ Ball State 🔵 Cal State Bakersfield 🐝 Georgia Tech 😈 Kansas State 🔺 Lamar 🗡️ Little Rock 🐺 Northern Illinois 🦫 Oregon State ⚫️ Providence 🤘 San Diego 🐺 St. Bonaventure 🤠 Tarleton State 🦅 Tennessee Tech 🐴 Western Michigan

UConn coach Dan Hurley has been fined $25,000 by the Big East for unsportsmanlike conduct today at Marquette. From the conference office:

St. John’s is your back-to-back outright Big East champion. Starting to think this Rick Pitino guy can coach.

Oregon will host Western Kentucky on Sept. 18, 2027. The Ducks’ 2027 nonconference opponents are WKU, Eastern Washington and at Baylor.

UMass and Hawaii have mutually agreed to cancel their 2026 and 2027 football games. Hawaii will now host Sac State on Nov. 28, 2026 and needs a replacement opponent for the 2027 opener.

Penn State has fired women’s basketball head coach Carolyn Kieger. Kieger went 84-123 overall and 30-97 in Big Ten play across seven seasons with the Lady Lions.

An educated guess here, but Notre Dame-Wisconsin at Lambeau Field that same Sunday sure seems more likely to be a day game now.

The Louisville-Ole Miss season opener in Nashville has been moved to Sunday, Sept. 6 and will air at 7:30 ET on ABC.

RIP, Coach Lou Holtz, whose family announced his passing today at the age of 89.

Clemson has hired Rich Bisaccia as special teams coordinator. Bisaccia, most recently the Green Bay Packers’ assistant head coach, had coached Tigers running backs from 1994-98.

AJ Redd. Million-dollar moment.

Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo is the ACC player of the year for the second straight season. Hidalgo has also been named the ACC's defensive player of the year for the third straight season.

Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart will retire in June after 24 years leading the Wildcats. He is currently the longest-tenured Power 4 AD in the country.

Illinois has hired Montana DL coach Mike Linehan as defensive ends coach.

NEW: Illini coach Bret Bielema goes long on the Big Ten’s 24-team College Football Playoff proposal: "I think it’s gonna amplify what we’ve already seen to a thousand levels higher." SUBSCRIBE ⬇️ www.insidezonemf.com/p/why-bret-b...

"This was never the best chance to win a championship. It was probably, that day, in less position to win a championship than anywhere else of all the schools we talked to at that moment." Dusty May made a choice two years ago. Big Ten hoops are better for it. www.insidezonemf.com/p/the-big-te...

Illini coach Brad Underwood on Michigan: “They took the belt off and beat our behinds with it.”

Michigan is your outright Big Ten champion. The No. 3 Wolverines smoke No. 10 Illinois, 84-70.

Aday Mara has taken over with 14 points in the first 11 minutes of the second half. The big has 18 points off 8-9 shooting as Michigan tkaes a 65-52 lead.

Keaton Wagler with a 4-point play and I think I just ruptured an ear drum

Situated for what should be an awesome top-10 battle between Michigan and Illinois. New Illini QB Katin Houser is here to pump the crowd up pregame.

Northern Illinois has hired Elon’s Chris West as defensive ends coach.

Sources: Penn State assistant QBs coach Trace McSorley is leaving for a job with the Buffalo Bills. McSorley, the former Nittany Lions standout QB, had joined the staff of his alma mater last season. @danieljtgallen.bsky.social first.

DePaul coach Chris Holtmann on the Peacock postgame show: “I don’t know who’s the best NIL value in the country, but Brandon Maclin’s gotta be up there. I’m not giving numbers out here, but I’m just telling you, we need to give him a bonus.”

NEWS: USC will open the 2026 season on Aug. 29 at home vs. San Jose State, completing the Trojans' full schedule

The Mountain West Conference has announced an updated opponent list with the addition of North Dakota State. The league says the full schedule with dates will be announced in the coming weeks.

I've found my favorite transfer of the 2026 cycle. Most impressive of all: He's probably about 20 years old, which means he got this name like 3 years into LeBron's career!!

RIP, Rondale Moore. Reflections on a college football supernova, and his bond with a Purdue hero www.insidezonemf.com/p/rondale-mo...

Alabama’s statement on Charles Bediako’s appeal:

RIP, Rondale Moore. Reflections on a college football supernova, and his bond with a Purdue hero www.insidezonemf.com/p/rondale-mo...

Thanks to the man @camronsmith.bsky.social for making the moment happen 👊🏀

DePaul’s finally good enough to have bad losses and man, lemme tell ya, that was a bad loss.

Sources: Charlotte is set to hire Clemson deputy AD Kevin White as its next athletic director. White has been at Clemson since 2022, and served as deputy AD at Northwestern before that, as right-hand man to now-ACC commissioner Jim Phillips.

Source: Wisconsin has zeroed in on Ari Confesor to be its next wide receivers coach. Confesor, who was a record-setting receiver at Holy Cross, spent this past season working with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Source: Michigan has officially hired Dave Peloquin as its next general manager. Peloquin, who was a student manager at Notre Dame and went on to work for five different Irish football head coaches in the personnel department, spent this past year with agency Athletes First.

Curt Cignetti seriously considered staying at JMU when Indiana offered in 2023. He was making $677K. JMU donors rallied to go past $1 million. Two seasons, four contracts and one natty later, Cignetti is making $13.2M. From national title week ⬇️⬇️ www.insidezonemf.com/p/inside-the...

For context: Kirby Smart was the only known coach making $13 million this past season, earning $13.2M from Georgia. Lane Kiffin's new deal with LSU averages to $13 million annually across seven years. Now Curt Cignetti and Indiana join the $13 million club.

Source: Indiana and Curt Cignetti have agreed to a new contract. The deal, which will remain through 2033 like the one agreed to in October, ups the national-title winner's average annual salary from $11.6 million to $13.2 million.

Northwestern has finalized three hires on its defensive backs staff: DBs: LaMarcus Hicks Safeties: Drew Gray Senior Defensive Assistant/Nickels: Jeff Copp

The Chicago Bears to Indiana? Why that’s a sign of deeper problems when it comes to sports and public trusts. FREE column ⬇️ www.insidezonemf.com/p/the-chicag...

Former Northern Illinois Heisman Trophy finalist Jordan Lynch is staying at Mount Carmel to pursue a fifth straight state title. I would not be surprised if NIU sticks with interim Rob Harley for the 2026 season and then re-visits this again in nine months.

The Big 12 announces that DJ Khaled will head its men's basketball tournament afterparty at KC Live! on March 14 after the conference title game.