📖 In Today’s Playbook. Cruz Against Idea of College Athletes As Employees. Departments Are Wooing Recruits With Content Studios. Pennsylvania Guard Soldier Makes College Soccer Comeback After Deployment. Lost Weekend for No. 1 Emory Men’s Hoops. Groundhog Day.

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“Sen. Ted Cruz said it is "absolutely critical" that any federal law related to college sports includes a provision that prevents athletes from being deemed employees of their school.

The Republican from Texas, who holds a key position in advancing NCAA legislation as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, told ESPN in an interview Wednesday that Congress might run out of time to act if it can't find a bipartisan solution in the coming months. During a years-long effort to restore order to the college sports industry, Republicans and Democrats have remained largely divided on whether college athletes should have a future avenue for collective bargaining, which would require them to be employees.”

» Situational Awareness. “Cruz and NCAA leaders say many smaller schools would not be able to afford their teams if athletes had to be paid and receive benefits as employees. However, as lawsuits over player contracts and eligibility rules continue to mount, a growing number of frustrated coaches and athletic directors from major programs say they are open to collective bargaining as a solution.”

» Between The Lines. “Senate Commerce Committee staff told ESPN that Cruz and a bipartisan group of senators have made significant progress on a new draft of a bill but are at an impasse on the employment issue. Cruz said Democrats and labor unions are concerned about setting a broader precedent for other industries by closing the door on college athlete employment, which has led to the stalemate.”

» Why It Matters. “Employment and collective bargaining could give athletes benefits beyond negotiating for more money, such as health care, scholarship guarantees and a more significant voice in making rules.”

“Cody Worsham has an Emmy on his desk. It’s an unusual accolade for someone with his job: senior associate athletic director for strategic communications and brand advancement at the University of Southern California.

His department operates on a “close to eight-figure” budget and is tasked with telling the story of the university’s athletic programs through several creative mediums, including social media content and long-form video.

It’s a full-blown production studio operating within an athletic department infrastructure—and the setup is becoming increasingly common. Since the NCAA’s NIL rules went into effect in 2021, Division I schools have been radically rethinking the role of content in college athletics.”

» Driving The News. “Creative work was once largely an afterthought for collegiate athletic departments—maybe a lone social media coordinator tucked into a sports information office. But for many schools, multimedia has become a well-staffed strategic function resembling a Fortune 500 marketing team, complete with specialists including photographers, videographers, graphic designers, and social creators—plus suites of analytics dashboards and performance-tracking tools.”

» Why It Matters. “Leaders of these teams also tell Front Office Sports that they’re pouring money into creative operations with four major goals in mind: recruiting and retaining top athletes, attracting deep-pocketed brand sponsors, engaging donors and fans, and raising the general profile of their respective universities.”

» The Bottom Line. “Athletic department content teams are also looking for outside money, which can help with the recruiting push. “We’re very much in competition for sponsorships now as well,” says Kevin Camps, the University of Florida’s assistant AD for creative media and branding. “Even the biggest brands only have so much that they can spend on sports marketing, and they want to put that money where they know they’re going to get the most exposure, so we’re always thinking about how we can grow the value of our [athletic program] social accounts.”

“When 1st Lt. Daniela McCurdy graduated from Millersville University in 2023, she left campus with an Army commission and an unexpected loose end. She had one year of NCAA soccer eligibility still unused.

She assumed that chapter of her life, as a college athlete, had closed. Ahead of her was a career as a human resources officer in the U.S. Army. Within months, McCurdy, then assigned to the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 213th Personnel Company, was deployed to the Middle East. Her main focus was on the mission and the rapid transition from college student to leader of Soldiers in a combat zone.

However, amid the stress of deployment, she learned that the Army has a way of revealing strengths you didn’t know you still had.”

» Field Awareness. “During long conversations with her company commander, Capt. Michael Medvec, she began to imagine what life after deployment could look like. “LT McCurdy was very hesitant on what she wanted to do as far as school and soccer was concerned,” Medvec said. “As we talked through her counseling and goals, I told her to make a choice. She needed to investigate her eligibility and then start looking at schools she might want to attend.”

» The Big Picture. “While deployed with the 213th Personnel Company, then under Area Support Group-Kuwait, McCurdy stumbled into an opportunity that reignited her competitive fire. ASG‑Kuwait was hosting tryouts for a soccer team that would compete in the Scimitar Games, a series of friendly sporting competitions between Kuwaiti military personnel and U.S. personnel stationed or deployed there. These games also offered an opportunity to play against Kuwait’s professional men’s team.”

» Reality Check. “By the time she returned home in July 2025, McCurdy’s new mission was to earn her master’s degree, but deep down wanted to use her final year of NCAA eligibility. She applied to Rowan University’s Master of Arts in Strategic Communication program and emailed the head women’s soccer coach, Scott Leacott.”

» Why It Matters. On Rowan’s 2025 stat sheet, it says the 5-foot-1 defender from Wenonah, N.J., played 42 minutes on the season. But beyond the stat sheet, McCurdy became a steady presence in the locker room and embraced her role as a mentor to younger women in a sport they love. She was older, calmer and more intentional. She strove to be the teammate who elevated everyone around her.”

“Once again proving how difficult it is to win on the road, the top-ranked Emory Eagles dropped a pair of UAA men’s basketball contests last weekend, falling at Washington U. as well as Chicago.

Ryan Cohen scored 24 points as the Bears rode a 52-point second half to win, 89-74. Chicago trailed by 11 at intermission but ran up 50 second-half points to pull away. Shane Regan led the Maroons with 24.

» Not Alone. No. 2 Trinity (Conn.) split a pair of NESCAC road contests, winning at Connecticut College but suffering a 68-62 loss at No. 9 Tufts.

» Lacrosse (W). “The Whittier College Athletic Department has announced the suspension of its women's lacrosse program for the 2026 season.”

» Acrobatics and Tumbling. Simpson College announced it is putting the program on hold until a new athletic director is hired. The Storm announced acrobatics and tumbling as Simpson’s 26th varsity sport in Jan. 2024, saying it would begin competing during the 2025-26 academic year.

» Lacrosse (M). “The Heartland Collegiate Lacrosse Conference (HCLC) announced on Friday morning that the league will welcome three new members. Alfred State College (N.Y.), Hilbert College (N.Y.) and LaRoche University (Pa.) will begin play with the existing four members of the conference this spring.”

Earlier this morning, the most famous groundhog in the world came out of his burrow in Punxsutawney, Pa. and declared that we will have six more weeks of winter. Damn him.

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