Thoughts of the Day: June 6, 2025

A few thoughts to jump start your Friday morning:

 It has been a week since the Southeastern Conference broke camp at its annual spring meetings at the Sandestin Hilton. Sixteen university presidents, all of them with a PhD (stands for piled higher and deeper), who know far more about hiring the dean of the chemistry department than they do about collegiate athletics, were there to rubber stamp whatever their athletic directors and coaches brought to the table. They left for their respective campuses without signing off on anything significant.

Concerning is the lack of a decision regarding scheduling. Does the SEC stay with an 8-game conference schedule or expand to nine games? A year ago, commissioner Greg Sankey was pushing for expanding to nine games, largely because it would simplify scheduling. Every team in the league would have three permanent home and home opponents. Every team in the league would play the other 12 teams home and home at least once every four years. That would be better for television and for the fans. Why, for example, is it that Georgia has never played at Kyle Field even though Texas A&M has been in the Southeastern Conference since 2012? Some of the bottom feeders of the league complained that adding a conference game would eliminate a paycheck game and that could keep them from playing a bowl game. Bowl games aren’t about money. They’re about getting 15 extra practices, which is like a second spring.

There was also an issue with ESPN, which owns all the television rights to the SEC. The network didn’t have the broadcast crews, equipment and money necessary to add the extra game so that was the final straw in a decision to remain at eight conference games.

A year later, ESPN is in favor of adding the ninth conference game. There are reports that the network will add an additional $5 million to its payout to the 16 schools for the extra game. Since paying players is now a reality, an extra $5 million will come in handy for balancing the budgets.

So what’s the hangup?

This year it’s all about expanding the College Football Playoff. We’re only one year into the 12-team format, which worked out quite well and will only require a couple of tweaks to be even more successful in the future. Expanding to 16 teams will mean more money, therefore it’s a hot enough topic that you can all but bet the days of a 12-team playoff are numbered. It’s pretty much a question of when it expands, not if.

Discussions have focused on two particular models: Favored by the Big Ten is a 4-4-2-2-1 model that would guarantee four SEC teams, four from the Big Ten, two each from the Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference, one from Notre Dame or the highest ranked Group of Five team, and three at-large. For reasons that nobody has clearly explained, the SEC would likely choose to add a ninth conference game if this model is adapted.

From all reports, the SEC is not in favor of the 4-4-2-2-1 model, which has the Big Ten in somewhat of a dither. The Big Ten likes the guarantee of four teams in the playoff. Considering the league usually has only three legitimate playoff-type teams (Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State) a guarantee of four is certainly enticing. The ACC and Big 12 don’t like being relegated to country cousins with just two slots guaranteed while the SEC and Big Ten are guaranteed four each. The Group of Five doesn’t like it because there is no guarantee their best conference champ would be included. Under the 12-team format, the Group of Five gets a seat at the table.

The other format is a 5-11 model in which five conference champs get in with 11 at-large teams. Once again, for reasons no one has clearly explained, the SEC would rather stay at eight conference games in a 5-11. It’s interesting that if the CFP had been 16 teams in 2024, based on the CFP top 25 the SEC would have landed six teams in the playoff – 2. Georgia; 3. Texas; 7. Tennessee; 11. Alabama; 14. Ole Miss; and 15. South Carolina. The way the playoff teams were seeded, only three got in – 2. Georgia; 5. Texas; and 9. Tennessee.

There are two better solutions: 1. Either six or eight conference champs and either 10 or eight at-large; or 2. The top 16 teams.

I am of the opinion that any format that doesn’t allow at least one Group of Five team in the playoff isn’t going to fly. No Group of Five will result in lawsuits that won’t go away until the power schools give in and ensure little brother is included. A format that had six or eight conference champs would get little or no opposition from the Group of Five since they would get either two or four conference champs in the tournament. While I like the idea of the best 16 teams, I think that would have to be tweaked to include the best Group of Five team.

We won’t have to wait long for the SEC to decide its schedule for the 2026 season. A decision to stay eight or go nine will be made at or near the end of August. The playoff is more complicated. We will have a 12-team playoff this year and almost certainly for 2026.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Okay, Kevin O’Sullivan let his temper get the best of him last Sunday morning in Conway, South Carolina. Because the start time of Florida’s game with East Carolina had been shoved back an hour, O’Sullivan got into it with the organizers of the NCAA regional and some athletic department people from Coastal Carolina, which was hosting the event. He had a right to be upset but shouldn’t have unleashed a barrage of F-bombs. A hot mic and camera were taking it all in and within a matter of minutes, the encounter went viral.

Later that night, Coastal Carolina coach Kevin Schnall tore into O’Sullivan for disrespecting the NCAA and Coastal people on the receiving end of Sully’s outburst. It probably could have been handled better but Schall probably felt that he had the right to go after Sully in public since Sully’s tirade had gone viral.

Earlier in the week, Sully issued a public apology followed by one from Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin. Sully should have apologized. I would have preferred if Stricklin had said that while Sully’s choice of words and temper are regrettable, he was a coach standing up for his team under difficult circumstances.

Sixty-plus years of writing about sports has taught me that baseball coaches and managers despise any sudden change to their pregame routines and preparations. It is particularly tough on pitchers. Sunday morning, Sully had Pierce Coppola getting ready to go against East Carolina. Considering the number of injuries Pierce has had to deal with, Sully was being overprotective. He shouldn’t have unleashed all the F-bombs but he was indeed protecting his pitcher.

File this under much ado about nothing.

SPEAKING OF FLORIDA BASEBALL

Thursday the Gators got commitments from a pair of transfers – righthanded relief pitcher Ricky Reeth from Notre Dame and catcher AJ Malzone from Wabash Community College. They are the first transfers but definitely won’t be the last because the Gators might be in more of a rebuild mode than at any time since 2013, when the Gators finished 29-30.

The Gators already know they’ll be losing sophomore Jacob Gomberg, a little used lefty pitcher who entered the transfer portal. So far he’s the only Gator to declare for the portal. Having used up their collegiate eligibility are outfielder Ty Evans and third baseman Bobby Boser.

Draft eligible are: shortstop Colby Shelton, catcher Luke Heyman, catcher/first baseman Brody Donay, closer Jake Clemente, lefty Pierce Coppola, outfielder Blake Cyr, second baseman Cade Kurland, reliever Billy Barlow, outfielder Ashton Wilson and infielder/outfielder Justin Nadeau. Not all those guys will be drafted, but if Shelton, Heyman, Donay, Clemente, Coppola and Kurland all go pro, Florida’s roster will be very thin, requiring a major influx of talent.

It should be noted that once the House/NCAA settlement is approved baseball will go from 11.8 to 35 scholarships.

FOUR GATORS IN THE SOFTBALL PORTAL

Mia Williams isn’t the only Florida softball player in the transfer portal. Also announcing their intent to transfer are freshman Kylie Shaw and redshirt freshmen Makenna Bellaire and Layla Lamar.  

Bellaire and Shaw were early enrollees, leaving infielder Kalie Matsuno as the only incoming freshman from the 2025 signing class. The Gators are also losing pitcher Kara Hammock, center fielder Kendra Falby, first baseman Reagan Walsh, left fielder Korbe Otis, shortstop Rylee Holtorf and outfielder Brooke Barnard to graduation.

Softball scholarships increase from 12 to 25 so Tim Walton is going to have to dip into the transfer portal to make up for some of the losses. As it stands now, Walton could have a potential lineup of catcher Jocelyn Erickson, first base/pitcher Ava Brown, second base Matsuno, shortstop Gaby Comia, third base Kenleigh Cahalan, left field Cassidy McLellan, center field Townsen Thomas, right field Taylor Shumaker and pitchers Brown, Keagan Rothrock, Olivia Miller and Katelynn Oxley.

NCAA SUPER REGIONAL PREDICTIONS

No. 14 Tennessee (46-17) at No. 3 Arkansas (46-13): Dave Van Horn is the new Mike Martin. Despite great talent and a great home field advantage the Hogs find ways to never win the national title. They’ll win the regional. The national title? Maybe, if Oregon State doesn’t.

No. 13 Coastal Carolina (51-11) at No. 4 Auburn (41-18): Coastal has won 19 straight games but the bubble bursts at Plainsman Park.

Arizona (42-18) at No. 5 North Carolina (45-13): The Tar Heels have the pitching, the hitting and the home field.

West Virginia (44-14) at No. 6 LSU (46-15): We could see an upset here. West Virginia is good enough to beat LSU although the home field will favor LSU in three games.

No. 9 Florida State (41-14) at No. 8 Oregon State (45-13-1): Oregon State is good enough to win the national championship. FSU will continue its unprecedented run of most appearances in the NCAA tournament without ever winning a national championship.

UT-San Antonio at No. 15 UCLA: UTSA beat Texas in Austin and Texas is much better than UCLA. Cinderella is from San Antonio.

Miami (34-25) at Louisville (38-21): The home field advantage and better pitching favors Louisville.

Murray State (42-14) at Duke (40-19): Too much lefty pitching for Duke, not enough pitching for Murray State.

Pharmacist mate Francis Beard, June 1945

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: On this day 81 years ago, a 19-year old pharmacists mate on a tanker that was a floating gas station in the English Channel, tended to wounded brought to the USS Chemung on the LST landing craft that pulled up to fill up before taking more soldiers to the beaches of Normandy. The greatest invasion in history was also its bloodiest, but the six-beach assault caught the Germans by surprise. In 11 months the war in Europe would end.

The pharm mate never forgot water that turned red with blood or bodies that floated by his ship. Until the day he died in 1986 the memory of D-Day was burned into his mind to the point he would break down in tears, sometimes asking out loud why it was that he lived while so many brave young men died.

A year later with the war ended in Europe, the Chemung docked in Norfolk. The pharm mate took the train to Gainesville where he married the lovely Carleta Van Sickle. Three weeks later he was on the Chemung again, setting sail for Okinawa via the Panama Canal. When the war ended with Japan, the Chemung stayed in Okinawa until October at which time it returned to the US via the Cape of Good Hope.

He never forgot the horrors of war, the lifelong friends he made on the Chemung or the pride he felt that the United States of America made victory possible over Nazi Germany and Japan.

My dad, Francis Beard, was that pharmacists mate, one of America’s greatest generation. Today I can almost hear his voice trembling when he speaks of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in a war that brought out the best in our country.