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JANUARY 9, 2026
composed by STEVE ULRICH
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Top Story
1. Algorithms in the War Room: What AI Means for College Sport Leaders
“As the College Football Playoff nears its tempestuous conclusion, symbolically finishing off calendar year 2025, we wanted to speculate on what lies ahead. If you are an athletic director staring down 2026’s dark barrel, the job scarcely resembles what you trained for five years ago.
Budgets are tighter and more scrutinized. Rosters churn faster than ever. NIL collectives sit alongside compliance offices. Multiple transfer windows have turned year-round roster management into a virtual professional sport. Worse, every recruiting decision (coach or player) now carries six- or seven-figure consequences—financial, reputational and competitive.
In this environment, intuition isn’t enough. Relationships matter but no longer anchor the system. Contemporary college sport is a high-velocity marketplace where athletic directors must simultaneously lead with speed, precision and accountability.”
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