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USC, UCLA: Of course they’re joining the Big Ten

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The Big Ten is now the Big Sixteen, but who’s counting these days?

Last week’s news that Southern Cal and UCLA are joining the Big Ten Conference caused jaws to drop and alarm bells to ring across college athletics. 

But not here.

Rick Cleveland

My reaction? Of course USC and UCLA are joining the Big Ten. Makes as much sense as most anything else that is happening these days in the college sports world. Think about it: USC and UCLA are joining the Big Ten, which is actually the Big Fourteen and hasn’t been the Big Ten since 1990 when Penn State became the 11th team in the Big Ten. Now, the Big Ten will actually be the Big Sixteen until the next shoes (probably Oregon and Washington) drop.

This is a college sports world gone mad. Geography doesn’t matter. Dollars do. Actually, dollars are all that do.

Southern Cal and UCLA are traveling across the continent to join the Big Ten because it means more money. TV pays the bills and the Big Ten TV package becomes millions upon millions more lucrative when the California market is added.

Never mind that UCLA and Southern Cal athletes will now spend about as much time in airplanes as they do classrooms. College athletics long ago quit have anything to do with education. It’s about the dollar. Period.

At least the NFL, the money-making-est sports organization in the world, keeps geography in mind. That’s why we have in north, south, east and west divisions in both the NFC and the AFC. 

Only in college sports would you have Missouri in the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division, flying over Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama to play a division game in Florida.

Tradition used to matter in college sports. It doesn’t matter much now. Think about this: Southern Cal might soon be the visiting team in the Rose Bowl.

Or think about this: The UCLA gymnastics team could now be competing in a conference match against Rutgers 2,750 miles from home in Piscataway, N.J. The match could be on a Sunday at noon in New Jersey, which would be like 9 a.m. California time for the Bruins. Win or lose, it will be a long, long ride home. That Monday morning kinesiology class will require two alarm clocks.

And I wonder how the baseball and softball coaches at Southern Cal and UCLA feel about all this. That March road series at Michigan or Northwestern will require bigger suitcases and considerably more layering. Jet lag will be the least of the worries. It could be an even bigger problem for Michigan and Northwestern coaches when their teams play February or March conference games in L.A. Michigan and Northwestern players might not want to board the jet to take them back to their still frigid homes.

I do not want to sound like an old fogey about all this. But the Biblical verse — “For the Love of money is the root of all evil” — rarely has rung more true. I am not sure where college athletics is heading, but I don’t like the looks of much of any of it. That includes NIL and the one-time transfer rule.

We are fast reaching the point — or maybe we have reached it — where college coaches are going to recruit talent from other college teams as much as they do from high schools and junior colleges. And it is changing the way coaches coach. It used to be “my way or the highway.” Now, given that choice, the athlete likely will choose the highway — or, just as likely, a jet. The school just down the road or across the country might offer a better NIL deal.

Where does all this leave the Mississippi schools? Good question. Ole Miss and Mississippi State are grandfathered in to the SEC. That’s not going to change. But with the NIL and one-time transfer rule, winning in the SEC will not get any easier, especially not with Texas and Oklahoma presumably joining the SEC Western Division. Money may well be the root of all evil, but it does buy better players. And now that “buying” players is legal, the rich will only get richer.

Southern Miss has found a new home in the Sun Belt Conference, a league of like-minded schools that is more like a throwback in today’s world of college athletics. It is a regional league where buses will far outnumber airplanes. Yes, its talent pool will be raided from time to time by bigger conferences with bigger NIL deals. So it goes.

From time to time, Jackson State has entertained the thought of leaving the SWAC to move “up” in the college athletic world. Be careful, I say. I am not so sure whether up is up any more.

My question for the day: Could it be that the Ivy League had it right all along?

Seems to me, the answer is all too obvious.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi News

Mississippi universities halt funding for student groups, citing DEI law

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www.wjtv.com – Devna Bose – 2025-09-04 12:30:00

SUMMARY: Some Mississippi universities have halted funding for student organizations due to a state law (House Bill 1193) banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, currently blocked by a federal judge for potentially violating First Amendment rights. The law exempts registered organizations but prohibits using student activity fees—considered state funds—for DEI-related programming. Consequently, universities like the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State redirected these fees to campus departments for organizing activities, suspending the student-driven funding process. Students and leaders express concern, fearing loss of support for events and club activities, with efforts underway to find alternative funding amid growing legal uncertainty.

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Mississippi News

Girls, parents and gym owner reported concerns about gymnastics coach years before sex abuse case

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www.wjtv.com – Ryan J. Foley – 2025-08-29 09:49:00

SUMMARY: Sean Gardner, a gymnastics coach, faced multiple abuse allegations from gymnasts and parents dating back to 2018, yet he continued coaching and was even promoted at Chow’s Gymnastics, owned by renowned coach Liang “Chow” Qiao. Despite reports of inappropriate touching and grooming behavior, USA Gymnastics and SafeSport failed to act decisively. Gardner was banned in 2022 after a sexual abuse complaint but was arrested only in 2025 following FBI investigation revealing he installed hidden cameras to exploit young gymnasts. The case highlights systemic failures by gymnastics authorities, law enforcement, and the gym in protecting athletes from abuse.

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Mississippi News

Leaders, family mark 70th anniversary of Emmett Till’s murder

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www.wjtv.com – Kaitlin Howell – 2025-08-28 09:09:00

SUMMARY: In honor of Emmett Till and the 70th anniversary of his 1955 lynching in Mississippi, leaders and family will hold a news conference at the Mississippi State Capitol on August 28, 2025. Till, a 14-year-old Black Chicago teen, was brutally murdered after being falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. His killers were acquitted by an all-white jury but later confessed. His death galvanized the Civil Rights Movement. Recently, thousands of previously unreleased federal records detailing the investigation were made public. President Biden signed legislation making lynching a federal hate crime and established a national monument honoring Till and his mother.

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