BERKELEY — Possibly this can be a Bears factor.
The Baylor Bears, who superior to the second spherical of the NCAA males’s basketball event final month, subsequently misplaced 9 gamers to the switch portal. 4 others ran out of eligibility and one entered the NBA draft, leaving their roster naked.
This wasn’t presupposed to occur to the Cal Bears. Not less than that’s what we have been instructed.
Cal basketball coach Mark Madsen ended final season with this promise: “Key gamers are going to be retained.” Soccer coach Justin Wilcox after Saturday’s closing spring observe, stated, “I feel really good about where the team can be . . . I’m very confident.”
That optimistic vibe has evaporated as each packages have been hit exhausting by departures to the switch portal.
Simply this week not less than 11 soccer gamers have opted out. 5 Cal working backs may have a brand new soccer handle subsequent fall, together with star senior Jaydn Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards in 2023, and junior Jaivian Thomas, who stuffed in capably final season when Ott struggled with a nagging ankle damage.
Additionally gone is Jack Endries, an East Bay native and one-time walk-on, who final fall was an All-ACC honorable point out decide after turning into the primary tight finish to guide the Bears in go receptions since 1982.
Ott introduced Tuesday — someday earlier than the 10-day spring switch portal window formally opened — that he’ll play at Oklahoma. Endries reportedly is predicted to signal with Texas. Thomas, who got here out of Oakland’s McClymonds Excessive Faculty, has not revealed his vacation spot.
All of this got here within the wake of beginning quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferring to Indiana after the 2024 common season.
Cal basketball has suffered comparable losses, with eight scholarship gamers defecting. The 2 large ones: freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, who averaged 19.5 factors over the ultimate 14 video games after turning into a starter, and sophomore guard Andrej Stojakovic, an honorable point out All-ACC decide who led the Bears at 17.9 factors per recreation.
The ladies’s staff, contemporary off its first NCAA event look since 2019, misplaced two-year beginning ahead Marta Suarez to TCU.
All of that is unfolding in opposition to a backdrop of seismic change in school sports activities. Relaxed switch guidelines and NIL cash have created an environment the place gamers routinely search greener pastures. In keeping with 247Sports, greater than 3,900 soccer gamers had entered the portal by the top of Wednesday.
Additionally at play is the pending closing approval of the $2.8 billion Home settlement that may enable energy convention faculties to spend $20.5 million per 12 months in direct revenue-sharing funds to athletes, most of that to soccer gamers.
When that occurs, NIL preparations from third-party collectives that exceed $600 should be reported and will rely in opposition to the revenue-share whole. For now, athletes can negotiate wealthy offers earlier than what’s successfully a wage cap goes into impact.
Cal officers have stated they have been ready for the brand new fiscal realities, however there could also be different elements at play. That incudes the standing of coach Justin Wilcox, who has guided the Bears to back-back bowl video games however hasn’t produced a profitable season since 2019.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that two heavy-hitter donors stated they may cease giving to Cal athletics except new soccer basic supervisor Ron Rivera — a well-liked alum and former NFL head coach — is given larger management over this system. Stanford gave GM Andrew Luck that authority and he made the decision to fireplace coach Troy Taylor late final month.
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Within the case of Ott and Cal’s working backs exodus, offseason modifications on Wilcox’s offensive teaching employees might have had a extra direct influence. Working backs coach Aristotle Thompson was a casualty within the transition to new offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin, and Ott had an in depth relationship with Thompson.
The one working again nonetheless on the roster who performed final 12 months is redshirt freshman Jamaal Wiley, a 6-foot, 220-pound former three-star recruit who had six carries final season.
The Bears will search reinforcements on the place by means of the portal. One potential goal is CharMar Brown, who rushed for 1,181 yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman final fall at FCS powerhouse North Dakota State.
Gamers low on the depth chart might search higher alternatives elsewhere earlier than they danger being reduce in August when a 105-player roster restrict is predicted to be imposed.
On the basketball entrance, coach Mark Madsen already has commitments from six transfers, together with Michigan freshman guard Justin Pippen, the son of Corridor of Famer Scottie Pippen, and Grand Canyon energy ahead Sammie Yeanay, a former four-star prospect.
