The old joke in SEC coaching circles goes something like this: Jeremy Pruitt got caught cheating at Tennessee because he had more than one bagman. 

Now it looks like Pete Golding could be staring at a visit from the NCAA — whatever that means/is worth — because he didn’t use any go-between. 

He’s — allegedly — doing the dirty work himself. 

Multiple coaches have now accused Golding of tampering with signed players, a move that’s against NCAA rules — even though the coaching community isn’t sure if it will ever be enforced. 

Which is to say, it has no teeth. At least not yet. 

Some in the coaching community want tampering changed to a Level I violation, and have specific sanctions and fines for each event. A loss of scholarships, or more damning: a coach suspension. 

For each event. 

In other words, if what Clemson and Fresno State coaches allege is true and Golding tampered with signed players, he’d have to serve a two-game suspension in the upcoming season. 

He’d serve one game for allegedly sending texts to former Clemson (and now Ole Miss) linebacker Luke Ferrelli, and another game for alleged illegal contact with Fresno State wide receiver Josiah Freeman.

Or the NCAA could go even stronger, all but daring coaches to tamper with other rosters. The first violation is 10% of the season (one game), the second violation is 50% of the season (six games) and the third violation is a season-long suspension.    

If the goal is to truly eliminate this nonsense, there must be teeth to the rule.

No more soft playing it, no more declarations of investigations only to find out months (or years) down the road the coach was given one year of probation and wasn’t allowed to contact recruits for the first two days of the transfer portal opening. 

Or some other do-nothing sanction. 

Want to make coaches think twice about tampering? Hit them where it hurts most: Take away their ability to coach games.

Despite the drastic changes to its roster in the offseason, two things still seemed certain about Notre Dame entering this women’s college basketball season: The Fighting Irish would make the NCAA Tournament and Hannah Hidalgo would win ACC Player of the Year.

Both of those things now seem to be in jeopardy after Notre Dame lost for the fourth time in five games on Thursday night, falling on the road to Cal 80-69.

Coach Niele Ivey’s team is now 13-8 on the season and 5-5 in ACC play. In USA Today Sports’ latest bracketology released on Wednesday, the Irish were projected to be a No. 8 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. But the loss to the Golden Bears has impacted many of Notre Dame’s key metrics considered by the selection committee, with its NET falling to 32 and its WAB rank decreasing to 41. Notre Dame also took a dip in ratings by Her Hoop Stats and Bart Torvik.

An updated projection by USA Today Sports now has Notre Dame as a No. 9 seed, four spots above the “Last Four Byes” section of the NCAA Tournament. ESPN agrees, slotting the Irish in as a No. 9 seed in its latest bracketology.

Simply put, the Fighting Irish playing in March Madness is no longer a guarantee this season. Ivey’s team can’t afford any bad losses, and Sunday’s showdown at Stanford is looking like a must-win. Of the seven games remaining on Notre Dame’s schedule after they face the Cardinal, four of them are against teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament: Virginia Tech, NC State, Syracuse and Louisville.

Since 1996, Notre Dame has missed the NCAA Tournament just once. In 2021, Ivey’s first season following Muffet McGraw, the Irish were left out of the field of 68 after going 10-10 overall and 8-7 in ACC play. But that was a young team that played in a year where COVID-19 impacted the sport, tightening schedules and forcing players to miss games. That squad also wasn’t equipped with Hidalgo, a two-time All-American and reigning ACC Player of the Year.

Even if Notre Dame makes the NCAA Tournament, it doesn’t look like a team capable of making the second weekend. The last 14 times the Irish made the draw, they made the Sweet 16 — a run that dates back to 2010.

How did one of the sport’s iconic blue bloods fall into this situation? The Irish have two big problems.

The first is an issue of roster construction and management. Notre Dame saw three of its starters from last year’s team get drafted by WNBA teams: Sonia Citron, Maddy Westbeld and Liatu King. A fourth starter, Olivia Miles, transferred and is now playing at an All-American level at TCU. Another key contributor, center Kate Koval, transferred to LSU.

And Notre Dame failed to replace their collective production. Ivey brought in a handful of transfers — Malaya Cowles from Wake Forest, Vanessa de Jesus from Duke, Iyana Moore from Vanderbilt, and Gisela Sanchez from Kansas State — but none of them have matched the talent or production of the players lost. A highly touted freshman recruit, Leah Macy, is redshirting this season due to an injury. She was the only freshman added to the team. The Irish’s pool of talent was even further depleted when KK Bransford went down with a lower body injury in December.

Ivey also seemingly doesn’t believe that the four players at the end of her bench are capable of helping the Irish in ACC games. Kelly Ratigan, Bella Tehrani, Jordyn Smith and Luci Jensen are collectively averaging 4.75 minutes a game and each has multiple DNPs on their game logs.

One might argue Notre Dame’s academic standards and admission rates have hindered Ivey in landing talented players through the transfer portal, but that hasn’t stopped the Irish’s football team from being a consistent contender for the College Football Playoff. Schools like Vanderbilt, Duke and Michigan also have similar constraints, and their women’s basketball teams are locks to make the NCAA Tournament this season.

With the roster Ivey has assembled, one thing is obvious: Notre Dame’s defense isn’t good. The Irish rank 314th out of 363 Division I teams in shooting defense, allowing opponents to make 42.9% of their shots from the floor. The Irish are also 275th in 3-point defense (32.1%) and points allowed per scoring attempt (1.01). Notre Dame is also 273rd in defensive rebounding, grabbing just 23.7 of their opponent’s misses per game.

Even with all of this, junior guard Hannah Hidalgo is putting up superstar stats, averaging 24.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 5.6 steals per game. She does everything for Notre Dame and is second nationally in scoring and first in steals.

But will she retain her ACC Player of the Year award?

In a year where Notre Dame was living up to its long established standards, this wouldn’t be a question. However, history shows individual awards for the ACC are typically rewarded to a player whose team is successful.

Since the ACC started handing out a Player of the Year award for women’s basketball in 1984, it has given that award to a player whose team didn’t finish in the top four of the league standings just twice: fifth-place NC State’s Summer Erb in 1999 and sixth-place Syracuse’s Alexis Peterson in 2017.

Entering this weekend, the Irish are ninth in the ACC standings. If Notre Dame’s inconsistency continues, Hidalgo could come up empty on some key accolades in March and the Irish might be watching the NCAA Tournament from home.

Lou Holtz, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who led Notre Dame to the 1988 national title, has entered hospice care, according to ABC57 and other reports.

The South Bend, Indiana, TV station said a ‘source close to the family confirmed’ the news.

Holtz, 89, was at the helm for the Fighting Irish from 1986 to 1996, leading the team to a perfect 12-0 season and the national championship in 1988.

Holtz compiled a 249-132-7 college record (.651 win percentage) during 33 years as a coach. He finished his career with a 12-8-2 bowl record. He also coached at William & Mary (1969-71), North Carolina State (1972-75), Arkansas (1977-83) and Minnesota (1984-85). He also served as the New York Jets coach in 1976.

He took two years off after coaching at Notre Dame before taking his final coaching job at South Carolina (1999-2004).

Holtz would go on to serve as a college football analyst for ESPN from 2004 to 2015.

The coaching icon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump in 2020.

Bill Belichick was not inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
Despite the delay, Belichick is still widely expected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, possibly as soon as 2027.

We’re on to 2027.

Taking his own advice is really all Bill Belichick can do after being passed over for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Little reason to look back at this point.

He certainly wasn’t in a reflective mood in 2014, when his dynastic New England Patriots lost 41-14 in Week 4 to the pre-Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs under the Monday night spotlight. Belichick’s “We’re on to Cincinnati” mindset produced a resounding 43-17 defeat of the Bengals in Week 5 – and eventually carried the Pats to victory in Super Bowl 49. (It also typified Belichick’s frequently terse interactions with reporters trying to cover the team. But, after all, being a media darling doesn’t help you win Lombardi Trophies or get you into the Hall … unless it actually does?)

In actuality, Belichick actually has a reputation for being helpful to football scribes provided you’re not looking to expose his operation’s state secrets. And he readily granted behind-the-scenes access to NFL Films for profiles of his life and lengthy takeouts of his relationships with the likes of Bill Parcells and Nick Saban – even if it seemed a touch self-serving to allow the league’s mythmaking arm to begin carving his figurative bust.

Still, it’s virtually unthinkable that a significant sub-faction of the Hall’s gatekeepers were out to get him, at least in terms of grinding personal axes by denying him immediate admission. Draw whatever conclusions you want about the likes of Hall of Fame executive Bill Polian, longtime architect of the Indianapolis Colts (mortal enemies of the Patriots) and a few former players who are on the committee – none of them implicated of any wrongdoing even as the Hall issued a reminder Wednesday evening that anyone violating its “selection process bylaws” could be subject to removal from the process in the future.

But trust me, this is a group largely comprised of very trustworthy journalists – none more so than my esteemed long-term colleague Jarrett Bell. (And, ICYMI, JB spent a good chunk of his week digging into this matter and, specifically, shedding new light on the Polian rumors that were part of ESPN’s original reporting.)

But humans make mistakes. Belichick certainly has through the years.

We’re on to 2027.

And maybe the Hall’s voting process will be streamlined or simplified or otherwise improved by next year. Most outside observers have little understanding of how the recently revamped selection process works. Many voters themselves have expressed misgivings about the new procedures. One, Mike Sando, expressed on social media that “unintended consequences” have occurred as voters grapple with the new setup while trying to remain true to their voting convictions.

And, to be clear, they don’t make the ground rules. The Hall’s board of directors – which includes NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, some of the league’s team owners, a handful of Hall of Fame players, and several others – determines the process and altered it in 2024 in a bid to make selection more exclusive. (Last year’s four-member class was the smallest in two decades.)

And what irony that it’s Belichick who’s being ensnared by these recently implemented guidelines − the same coach who knew the league’s rulebook backward and forward and where its less-explored areas were as he sought advantages that his peers had never imagined.

Remember when he had Doug Flutie do a drop kick in 2006, the first time one had been successfully executed in the NFL in 65 years? Or how about the 2014 postseason game against the Baltimore Ravens, when Belichick had running back Shane Vereen report as an ineligible receiver while deploying him in the slot – as if he was going out for a pass – and exploiting a loophole in the rule book? (Meanwhile, a tight end lined up as an offensive tackle could then release on a pass route, causing mass confusion. The Ravens were not amused, and the league quickly closed the loophole.)

And, of course, this is the same Belichick who was fined a record $500,000 for the Patriots’ Spygate scandal in 2007 – whether he thought he was in a legal shade of gray or brazenly operating outside the rules – and was guilty by association amid the Deflategate brouhaha seven years later.

And maybe some voters – maybe, perhaps – felt like those were legitimate grounds to keep Belichick from going in on the first ballot. Maybe, perhaps others were a little too invested in voting for other senior candidates who might not be on the ballot in a year – maybe, perhaps redirecting a vote from Belichick under the assumption he’d coast his way to enshrinement courtesy of other yays he’d doubtless accumulate.

And maybe, perhaps Belichick’s plight, such as it is, spares his longtime quarterback, Tom Brady, from a similar one when he’s eligible for induction in 2028. After all, TB12 wears the same scarlet letters from Spygate and, more so, Deflategate as his coach – to say nothing of losing two Super Bowls to still-unbronzed Eli Manning. Maybe, hopefully none of that gets in the way when it’s time to vote for Brady.

We’re on to 2027.

And maybe, perhaps Belichick will still be coaching the University of North Carolina then – and maybe the Tar Heels will be much better than they were in his Chapel Hill debut. Maybe not – not that a disastrous ACC debut in 2025 should have been disqualifying for him, either.

Maybe, perhaps waiting for a year will serve as a reminder that no process is perfect and that any Hall of Fame has members with asterisks attached. O.J. Simpson remains in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his life taking its dark turn nearly a decade after he was enshrined. Former players who have been suspended for gambling are in the Hall. Former players who have tested positive for banned substances are in the Hall. Former players who have been convicted of domestic violence are in the Hall. Former players who used Stickum are in the Hall.

Bill Belichick will undoubtedly go into the Hall – and with an asterisk.

Is such a caveat deserved? It’s hard to believe even most casual fans have forgotten about Spygate or the unsparingly gruff approach BB so often employed. Hall of Fame voters certainly haven’t.

But almost no one – even those who don’t qualify as casual fans – is unaware of Belichick’s record (for a head coach) six Lombardi Trophies, if not the two he earned as Parcells’ defensive coordinator for the New York Giants. And maybe not everyone could peg Belichick’s win total at 333, second only to Don Shula (347) in NFL history. But at the end of the day − if not today or this year − who hasn’t heard of Belichick? Who doesn’t consider him – or at least assume – he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest, NFL coach in history?

And maybe, perhaps 50 years on, some nascent football fan will wonder why Belichick didn’t enter into Canton’s hallowed halls on the first ballot in 2026. Maybe, perhaps that will force him or her to dig into the history of Belichick and the NFL a bit more deeply – which Belichick might even appreciate, just a touch, given what a historian of the league he is.

And indulge a brief history lesson here: Bill Walsh wasn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer nor, believe it or not, was Vince Lombardi. Vince Freaking Lombardi. It doesn’t detract an iota from their greatness, nor is it a distinction most football followers even make. Five years from now – or maybe one year and five minutes from now – most will assume Belichick flew in on the first ballot, which almost everyone seems to agree he should have anyway.

But in the interim, many shocked and baffled Hall of Fame voters must regroup and recalibrate in something of an embarrassing “Do your job” moment. I truly suspect most, if not at all, meant to do so this time around. I have little doubt they will unanimously − maybe, perhaps? − do so in a year.

We’re on to 2027.

The goalie trade market is pretty scarce, so some NHL teams have reached into the recent past.

And while retired Marc-Andre Fleury is flattered by the attention, he says he plans to stay retired.

‘I had some calls and I took the time to think about it,’ he recently told USA TODAY’s Sports Seriously. ‘It’s very nice of them to think of me in that way, very flattering, but then at the end of the day, I stopped playing for some reasons. I thought it was better to just stay on the sidelines.’

Fleury hung up his skates after 21 seasons in 2025, finishing with three Stanley Cup titles, a Vezina Trophy and the second most regular-season wins in NHL history (575). Since the playoffs ended for the Minnesota Wild, he played for Canada in the world championships and for one period and a shootout of a preseason game with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but now his focus is on a post-playing life.

He’s enjoying the freedom of having more time but says there are other times when he misses playing.

‘I miss the guys, I miss the competition, I miss battling as a team trying to win a game and the feeling that you get when you win a game,’ he said.

But he’s finding plenty to do. He’s coaching his 6-year-old, he’s playing tennis, has driven a race car, tried some boxing and he went skiing, which he wouldn’t be able to do under an NHL contract. He has a partnership with Kraft Hockeyville, which brings a preseason NHL game to a small community and helps refurbish rinks. He occasionally puts on the goalie pads, as his agent, Allan Walsh, posted on Thursday.

He’ll be watching as NHL players return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. Being a Quebec province native, he’s choosing Canada to win, though he also said the USA and Sweden have solid teams.

‘I just think it will be great hockey,’ he said. ‘I think it will be fun to watch, so many good teams and players out there. You never know in a tournament. It’s not a best of seven, it’s one game, so crazy things can happen. It can go different ways.’

Fleury was also paying attention when Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky and San Jose’s Alex Nedeljkovic had the first goalie fight since 2020.

‘I think it’s awesome,’ he said. ‘Nobody got hurt and to see two goalies fight, it’s always so awkward because we got all the equipment and we’re not used to fighting. It’s funny to watch.’

Fleury nearly had his chance in 2023 but was kept away as he skated down the ice and challenged St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington.

‘I have nothing against Jordan, really,’ he said. ‘I always wanted one fight in the NHL since I came in. In 21 years, I wanted to score a goal and have a fight. I came close on both but couldn’t get it done.’

PHILADELPHIA — The next meeting between the WNBA and players’ union will be Monday, WNBPA first vice president Kelsey Plum said during Unrivaled’s media availability Friday morning.

It has been over a month since the WNBA received the union’s latest proposal as the two sides work on a new collective bargaining agreement, and the league has not responded. A person with knowledge of the situation said the WNBA has not sent a counter because the union did not change their proposal.

‘I think we’ll learn a lot from this meeting,’ Plum said. ‘I’m not trying to put it on the meeting, but this is a meeting that I think everyone understands what’s at stake. The league has their timelines; we as players understand what’s at stake.

‘I always come into anything that I do with a great attitude, and I’m gonna see the best in this.’

A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the meeting will take place in New York City with members of the WNBPA leadership committee and labor relations committee, led by WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, which includes a handful of WNBA owners.

The WNBA and players’ union have been at a impasse in negotiations, extending the deadline twice before entering a ‘status quo’ period on Jan. 9.

Under ‘status quo,’ the working conditions established in the current CBA remain unchanged, allowing both sides to continue negotiations. The current agreement also prevents the WNBA or its players from engaging in a work stoppage without giving proper notice.

WNBA players are prepared to strike if they can not come to an agreement. The negotiations with the league remain at a standstill. Players voted to authorize the WNBPA executive committee to ‘call a strike when necessary,’ on Dec. 18.

‘We are standing firm in our feet and 10 toes down, there is a reason, and we will not move until y’all move,’ New York Liberty guard Tasha Cloud said. ‘So I’m gonna look directly into the camera too, but we will not (expletive) move until y’all move.

‘It would be the worst business decision of any business to not literally pay the players that make your business go. Without us, there is no W season. So if the pressure is on the WNBA, on Cathy (Engelbert), on (NBA commissioner) Adam (Silver), on everyone that is in that front office. Do your job. Negotiate and pay your people, your players, your workers.’

The 2026 WNBA season is scheduled to begin May 8. It will be the league’s 30th season, provided the WNBA and the players’ union come to an agreement.

The players have prioritized increased revenue sharing and salary structures in negotiations. The sides differ on whether revenue sharing should be net or gross income, the percentage of the share and the salary cap.

Heather Burns contributed to this report.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.

After a 9-8 campaign in 2025, the Minnesota Vikings are making changes.

The franchise confirmed on Friday, Jan. 30 in a statement that they have fired general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah after four years at the position.

Adofo-Mensah came to Minnesota after seven years with the San Francisco 49ers and two with the Cleveland Browns. He had been the vice president of football operations with Cleveland before his arrival as general manager with the Vikings in 2022.

Adofo-Mensah’s arrival coincided with the hiring of head coach Kevin O’Connell. Minnesota has made the playoffs twice in the four seasons under that tandem but has not recorded a win in either playoff berth.

The Vikings made the choice ahead of the 2025 season to not retain quarterback Sam Darnold, who is playing in Super Bowl 60 with the Seattle Seahawks. With J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, Minnesota dropped to a bottom-eight scoring offense for the first time under O’Connell.

Adofo-Mensah spoke on Thursday on the decision not to keep Darnold.

“There are nights you wake up and stare at the ceiling and ask yourself,” Adofo-Mensah said. “I always go back to the process and what we thought at the time. I still understand why we did what we did. The results maybe didn’t play out the way we wanted them to, but ultimately, at the end of the day I think we could have executed in certain places.”

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast.Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.