Golden Eagle

Reminiscent of the woman named Dee Ford from England who started receiving tweets intended for AU's Dee Ford...another great story. 'Beyond my wildest dreams': Dee Ford makes first trip to Auburn - Auburn University Athletics (auburntigers.com)

We lost some great players over the past couple of years - really hated to see Pegues go. Tar'Varish Dawson is showing out at Colorado...while Auburn barely used him. So frustrating to see great players leave but I can't blame them for prioritizing their careers.

This has been said elsewhere/by others on AU Family as well, but I have read a lot this week about the dispute between Spectrum and Disney/ESPN. Pretty much everyone in the know agrees that Spectrum/Charter doesn't have any interest in resolving this dispute and they are probably going to drop their cable offering in the not too distant future. They are onlyinterested in keeping the ISP (i.e., Internet) business because it is far more profitable than the cable service. Wouldn't be surprised if they're getting a kickback from fubo for any Spectrum customers who convert to fubo permanently. I have read the 'privacy' (haha) policies of all the streaming services (and, yes, I understand that Spectrum isn't any better) and it's infuriating how much data they capture from their users which they then use to profile you for ads, share with their marketing partners, and sell to data brokers. Oh for the days of dumb tvs and broadcast channels...or at least the ability to control what data is captured, used, shared and sold about us.

Thanks - I just tuned to the ESPN channel on my Spectrum cable and it says Spectrum has arranged for their customers have a free trial of Fubo in order to access the ESPN channels. They give a QR code you can scan - or - you can go to fubotv.com/offer

Where/how did he buy it? I just did a search on 'buy espn access' and on espn's web site they are encouraging people to use an existing streaming service (e.g., YouTube TV, Hulu +, etc.) to get access. Nothing about buying access directly to espn. Please get/post details...thanks!

Wonder how long he'll last if he goes away to college? He'll be a year older and maybe that will make it easier for him to be away from family. Or maybe there were factors other than being homesick that led him to this decision. Wherever he goes, there will be challenges and disappointments that he will have to face and overcome - I hope he gets comfortable with that before he commits anywhere. Good luck to the young man.

I was watching PBS tonight and they showed some excerpts from this documentary. Said it will be shown on APT (Alabama Public Television) on September 25. Looks interesting - mark your calendars!

From the second link in the quote, gotta love a 3.8 GPA. Hope he plays for, and graduates from, Auburn!

I wish this article addressed additional ways people could see the documentary. Doubt that it was made for one viewing in Auburn...I would love to see it!

Don't know why you claim Dean "isn't very fond of the portal". He picked up 3 portal players this time last year who all contributed this year - pitcher Annabelle Widra (from Michigan), outfielder/pitcher Icess Tresvik (from NC A&T), and outfielder KK McCrary (from Tennessee). Softball has the same challenge baseball has - NCAA rules only allow 12 'equivalent' scholarships (which means partial scholarships can be awarded to more than 12 players). Cost for AL residents to attend AU per year (tuition and fees only) is over $12k/year and for out-of-state students it's over $32K. If you want to get top players from the portal you need NIL $$$ to, at a minimum, cover out-of-pocket cost of attending AU. If you want to encourage Dean to shop the portal, send a check to OTV marked for softball...

That is exactly what she said in her statement announcing her transfer decision. From Sports Illustrated story: Bahl did not name any potential transfer destinations at this time. The 2020-21 Gatorade National Player of the Year at Papillion-LaVista High School in Nebraska, she originally committed to the University of Nebraska before changing her mind and enrolling at Oklahoma. “I have decided to return home and play the game I love, closer to the things that have made me who I am and that have always been more important to me than this game,” Bahl wrote in a statement on Twitter. “For the last two years, despite the amazing opportunities and accomplishments, my love for home and the acknowledgement of my foundation have grown. Being away from these things has been very tough.” Oklahoma coach Patty Gasso released a statement thanking Bahl for her two seasons with the Sooners. “Jordy shared with our staff last Friday that she has been feeling a strong need to be closer to home for quite some time and that she planned to enter the transfer portal,” Gasso wrote. “It was a very candid and emotional conversation in which we both communicated our love and appreciation for each other. We are grateful for her two years with our program and for everything she accomplished.” Bahl posted a 22-1 record with a 0.90 ERA this season.

Thanks for keeping us updated - very good news! I don't think most AU supporters are aware of the 11.7 scholarship limit for baseball and softball (and possibly other sports). And, most AU supporters (including me) are not in a position to write big checks to OTV. But I think a lot of people would be willing to make smaller donations if they understood the issue and Butch's goal to just raise enough baseball NIL to offset the cost to his players of attending Auburn. You have done a good job of spreading the word on this forum. Wondering if Auburn Baseball twitter and maybe the Alumni Association would be willing to push an article explaining the situation and requesting donations - with a link to OTV - to their followers/members. Thoughts?

If you want to talk about embarrassing/disappointing losses, how about Bruce Pearl's former #1 team (with Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler no less) folding in the 2022 postseason with an early exit in both the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament (only managed to win one game...OUCH)? Another 'meltdown' in the 2023 NCAA tournament where they, once again, only managed to win one game. Assuming from your statement above that you would agree results to date would show he hit his peak in 2019. And yet, Pearl's contract extension in 2022 runs through 2030 and will pay him $5.4 million annually with a $250,000 annual escalator clause. The escalator clause means that Pearl's average salary will be $6.275 million per season and over $50 million for the life of the contract. Pearl's new contract made him the fourth-highest paid head coach in college basketball at the time, behind only Kentucky's John Calipari, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Villanova's Jay Wright. Do his results warrant the 4th highest pay in the country? In addition to his multimillion dollar salary, his roster of up to 13 players get full scholarships and, by his own admission, NIL is not an issue in his recruiting efforts. Contrast that with college baseball in general, and with Auburn in particular. Butch Thompson's initial contract with Auburn in 2015 paid him $350,000/year (vs the $650,000/year Sunny Golloway was paid before he was fired for cause). Thompson's contract was re-negotiated in 2018 and he now makes in the neighborhood of $1 million/year with the current contract set to expire in 2024. NCAA Division 1 Baseball teams are limited to 11.7 scholarship equivalents (which may be split among more than 12 players); Auburn shows 39 players on the 2023 roster - so the $ value of 11.7 scholarships is potentially distributed among 39 student athletes. For the 2022-2023 school year, Auburn's undergraduate tuition and fees was $12,176 for in-state students and $32,960 for out-of-state students. The state of Alabama does not allow waivers of out-of-state tuition for nonresidents. So, as you can see, it's a hefty burden for an out-of-state student athlete to choose Auburn baseball. Some states ease this burden by allowing waivers for the out-of-state portion of tuition and fees. Some state lottery funds award academic scholarships that don't count against the athletic scholarship limits. And some schools have huge NIL budgets (LSU, for example) for sports like baseball that can cover tuition and living expenses (and more). Auburn has none of those advantages. As LPTiger has pointed out when encouraging NIL donations for baseball, these young men aren't using the money to buy cars/clothes/etc - they need it to pay their bills. And even the in-state baseball athletes aren't getting a full ride. Same rules apply to softball. Not sure about other non-football, non-basketball sports (volleyball, gymnastics, soccer, etc.). And yet, here's what Thompson has accomplished in his 8 years at Auburn: 2016 - no post season 2017 - played in a regional 2018 - won a regional, played in a super regional 2019 - won a regional, super regional, and played in the MCWS 2020 - season cancelled due to COVID 2021 - no post season 2022 - hosted a regional, won super regional hosted by Oregon St, played in the MCWS 2023 - hosted a regional And he's bringing in another top 10 recruiting class this fall. Looks to me like Thompson has been at least as effective as Pearl while earning a much lower salary and managing a much bigger roster with a far more limited budget. To be clear - my intent is not to bash Pearl or AU basketball but to point out a few facts for those bashing Thompson and AU baseball.

Yes

I think LPTiger commented in the SEC Tournament thread that Bryson Ware said the team was mentally and physically 'out of it' for the Alabama game and needed some down time to rest and recover. The R&R hasn't helped them. Hard to understand how they could go from being one of the hottest teams in the country to looking lost but I guess that's baseball for you. I hope they can put this loss behind them and play up to their potential tomorrow. Hate to see this team, especially the seniors, end their season on such a low note.

Penn closer has some nasty movement on his pitches...

Welp, I bet that's the ballgame 😪

whew

Never mind.

Can't believe we escaped unscathed in the top of the 9th. Momentum to Auburn...get it done.

Hard to decide which team is playing worse at this point. Let's goooooo Auburn!

I really hope Auburn pulls it out but they sure haven't been the better team tonight.

Awful bottom of the 7th for Auburn...

AU bats went silent in the SEC tournament and don't seem to have awakened yet. C'mon guys!

VERY impressive recruiting class on top of a very impressive group of returning golfers. Have to believe they're going to make some noise next year.