The most exciting offseason in NCAA history continued along over the weekend, and we'll have the latest expansion news (after the jump, but check the comments as well), but first, your quack.
- Dana Altman added to his basketball staff over the weekend, hiring Portland's Michael Lee as Assistant Director of Basketball Operations. Lee grew up in Portland and was a star at Jefferson High, and went on to play basketball at Kansas, where he also served as a graduate student manager when Kansas won an NCAA title in 2008. Recently, Lee has has been working as an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb for the last two years. This seems like a great pick-up for Altman, as he's bringing in a young coach that should have some strong ties in the Portland area and will hopefully bring a strong ability to recruit that area. Altman also hired another former assistant from Creighton, Kevin McKenna, who has been the head coach at Indiana State for the past three seasons.
- The College World Series bracket is just about set for this season, and Oregon coach George Horton already has his sights set on Omaha for 2011. While I'm still celebrating the great Oregon season, Horton seems restless already, and, with the college baseball season not even over yet, seems focused on the task at hand already. With Oregon returning a lot of talent, and bringing in more talent with their recent recruiting class (including center fielder Connor Hoffman and first baseman Tyler Kuresa), the Ducks look to be set up well to improve next season, and Horton is expecting that to be the case.
- Pat Kilkenny has gotten some big things done for Oregon, and now he's throwing his weight behind the Pac-10, as he insisted that Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott use Kilkenny's private jet to visit Big XII country over the weekend (warning, it's a Canzano link). Scott racked up some serious frequent flyer miles with Air Kilkenny, visiting Utah, Oklahoma, College Station, Lubbock, Autsin, and finally, Kansas City. Kilkenny was a strong influence on getting Scott hired to his current job, and is now helping Scott in the quest for Pac-10 domination, and the steps toward a college football playoff.
- The big expansion news over the weekend centered on Texas A&M, and their rumored decision to join the SEC, though it seems that reports of that move may be premature as the Texas A&M regents will be meeting on Thursday to make a decision. Some other groups are trying to slow the move for Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and OSU to the Pac-10. Big XII commissioner Dan Bebee is making promises he won't be able to keep in order to save the conference. Meanwhile, we hadn't heard from the Texas legislature in a while. They must have felt so left out. So they're trying to get in on the action as well. In response, it seems the Pac-10 is putting deadlines on each team, though this all may be for nothing, as Texas may be staying with a 10-team Big XII after all.
- Still wondering about the financial benefits of expansion? Patrick Rishe of Forbes clears that up pretty well and argues that all schools stand to benefit in the Pac-10.
- Lastly, SBNation's Andrew Sharp has an article on one of my favorite topics: the NCAA's total incompetence and corruption. It's quite a long read, but covers the UCLA teams under John Wooden as well as the latest sanctions against USC, and ultimately talks about the payment of NCAA players.
Lots to talk about today, so leave your opinion below. GO DUCKS!