Andy Coats loves telling his classes about it. It’s one thing to teach antitrust law. It’s quite another to tell his Oklahoma students there once was a case, one that went all the way to the Supreme Court, that involved the school they attend — and it was about football.

Then Coats, almost 90 years old and still sounding as sharp as he was half his life ago, looks at his students and makes the big reveal.

“I’m the guy who screwed up college football,” he says.

Oklahoma, where the law school building is named after Coats, officially joined the SEC with Texas on Monday. When announced three years ago, SEC expansion set off a wave of realignment that changed the complexion of college athletics.

It was about the chase for television money. And it happened because nobody is in charge: The NCAA is powerless to tell conferences what to do. The conferences and schools are free to chase all the TV dollars, and in turn the courts and lawyers are free to demand the players get their fair share, their name, image and likeness money, their unlimited transferring.

It all stems from one lawsuit, 40 years ago, when Oklahoma — joined by Georgia, long before they became conference mates — teamed up against the NCAA to challenge its stranglehold on television rights. When it ended,…

On Jan. 19, two days after he became the most coveted football player in the NCAA’s transfer portal, and mere hours after he welcomed Ohio State coaches for a recruiting visit, Caleb Downs announced his change-of-address plans. The freshman safety who’d earned second-team All-America honors at Alabama committed to the Buckeyes. Not long after, Downs and his father began relocating to Columbus.

Getting there was simple enough. Getting around was another matter.

Some wheels needed to be put in motion.

“I get a call from someone on the coaching staff and they said, ‘Hey, I’m here with Caleb and his dad now. Are you looking to add somebody else to your team?’” says Rick Ricart, the CEO and owner of Ricart Automotive Group in Columbus. “Would you be willing to do a car deal for him?’”

For decades, these were shifty conversations. Local car dealerships had long been conduits for the whispered inducements coaches or boosters promised talented players. When discovered, scandal erupted. Repercussions were often stark. Then came the seismic summer of 2021, when changes to Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rules allowed college athletes to earn money without fear of NCAA sanctions.

Car dealers nationwide quickly exchanged leases and keys for players boasting about their new…

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Fans in the outfield turned their gaze toward left field as Oklahoma’s Kelly Maxwell jogged out of the bullpen. The Sooners were four outs away from a national championship, and Maxwell’s entrance was met with enthusiasm and a collective deep breath.

The Sooners already felt in control of their fate, but coach Patty Gasso was putting in her ace to close this championship series against No. 1 Texas. Maxwell, later named the Women’s College World Series most outstanding player, did just that, clinching the Sooners’ 8-4 win to sweep the championship series and make Oklahoma the first team to four-peat as national champions in college softball history.

Oklahoma is familiar with this stage, but the players and Gasso are sure to point to the challenges that come with reaching this level of success again, and again, and again. This season especially, the pressure mounted, senior outfielder Jayda Coleman said.

“As we went on, if we lost one game, two games, lost to Texas, everyone had an opinion about us,” Coleman said. “It was frustrating just to see everyone on Twitter, TikTok hoping anybody else but us.”

She…

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Women’s College World Series championship teams are set, and it’s a Red River rivalry matchup: No. 1 Texas against No. 2 Oklahoma for the title.

The Sooners beat Florida 6-5 in eight innings in a winner-take-all semifinal Tuesday afternoon behind a walk-off home run by senior Jayda Coleman. The day prior, the Gators snapped Oklahoma’s 20-game NCAA tournament winning steak to force the elimination game.

JAYDA COLEMAN CALLED GAME.@OU_Softball is back in the WCWS Final with a potential four-peat on the horizon.

@NCAASoftball | #WCWS pic.twitter.com/PlIIynSV1R

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 4, 2024

The Longhorns advanced after coming out on top of a 1-0 pitchers’ duel against Stanford on Monday.

Oklahoma and Texas played four times this season and split the games 2-2. Texas won two of the three games in the regular-season Big 12 series in Austin. The Sooners beat the Longhorns in May’s Big 12 championship.

Game 1 of the championship series is Wednesday at 8 p.m. CT. Game 2 is Thursday at 8 p.m. and Friday’s if-necessary game will be at the same time. All games are broadcast on ESPN.

What to know about Oklahoma

Oklahoma has won the past three consecutive national titles and is vying for an unprecedented four-peat in the championship…

DESTIN, Fla. — There are two Greg Sankeys. The first one sometimes will say something that reminds you he was one of the people supporting the old ways and makes you wonder if someone who supported the old system can be trusted to build the new one.

The other Sankey, however, leaves hints that he does get it.

In his first public appearance since the historic NCAA vs. House settlement, on the eve of the SEC’s spring meetings, both sides of the SEC commissioner were on display. Which side wins out, and how quickly, will mean a lot.

The necessary background for those who need it: The NCAA has agreed to revenue sharing, directly paying its athletes, as part of last week’s settlement agreement. But it was merely one part of the larger whack-a-mole approach in dealing with college sports issues. The chaos of the transfer portal and NIL is left unresolved. And some stakeholders — media members, lawyers, advocates, coaches and administrators speaking privately — believe having a collective bargaining agreement with the athletes is the only way to do that.

But the first side of Sankey still sounded skeptical on Monday.

“To be in collective…

The Women’s College World Series field is set with softball’s final eight teams heading to Oklahoma City, Okla., to continue the chase for a national title.

The field is led by defending champion Oklahoma. The No. 2 Sooners will be joined by No. 1 Texas, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Oklahoma State, No. 6 UCLA, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Duke and No. 14 Alabama. Oklahoma has won the past three championships and five of the past seven.

The WCWS opens play on Thursday: UCLA versus Alabama (Noon); Oklahoma versus Duke (2:30 p.m.); Texas versus Stanford (7 p.m.); Florida versus Oklahoma State (9:30 p.m.). ESPN will broadcast all four games.

The OKC 8⃣ #WCWS pic.twitter.com/4iFnwB1EKb

— NCAA Softball (@NCAASoftball) May 27, 2024

How did the teams get here?

Texas: The Longhorns pulled out Game 3 of their Super Regional series against rival Texas A&M on Sunday and did most of their work in that series late in games, scoring 16 of their 20 runs in the sixth inning or later. The teams combined for a Super Regional record of 39 runs.

Oklahoma: The Sooners’ dynasty continues as they punched their ticket to Oklahoma City with a 2-0 series win over No. 15 Florida State. This year marks Oklahoma’s 12th WCWS appearance since 2010.

Florida: It was a record-setting day in Gainesville, Fla.,…

DESTIN, Fla. — The SEC convenes Tuesday for its annual spring meetings, and the good news for those involved is the future football schedule is not the main topic.

The bad news is the future football schedule is not the main topic.

Whether to go to nine conference games or stay at eight seems quaint now compared with the heavy reality that SEC presidents, athletic directors, coaches and commissioner Greg Sankey must confront this week: revenue sharing, roster limits and other results of the settlement in the House v. NCAA case.

SEC presidents voted unanimously — at least in the final vote it was unanimous — to approve the settlement terms, which if approved will result in around 22 percent of annual revenue being paid to athletes, starting next year. It’s a landmark agreement, and the timing is good for SEC administrators, who can start to hash out what comes next in Destin.

There are, of course, other things going in the conference: A quarterback at Georgia is suing Florida. Oklahoma and Texas officially join the league in July, and their coaches will be present in Destin for the first time. Nick Saban is no longer coaching football….

The Oregon State players who departed after the team’s Elite Eight run have started to land on new teams across the country. On Monday, forward Raegan Beers announced her commitment to Oklahoma, and Talia von Oelhoffen announced her commitment to USC.

Their commitments come after the majority of Oregon State’s roster entered the transfer portal due to the Beavers heading to the West Coast Conference.

Raegan Beers

With Oklahoma — the Big 12 regular season champions — moving into the SEC, the Sooners were looking to grab a big interior player able to own the glass, and in Beers they got just that. As a sophomore at Oregon State, Beers averaged 10.3 rebounds and 17.5 points per game while shooting 66.4 percent from the floor. She had narrowed her choices to Oklahoma and UConn for her final two seasons of college basketball.

Beers joins a veteran group led by reigning co-Big 12 player of the year Skylar Vann (who is expected to return for her fifth season). Seniors Lexy Keys, Aubrey Joens and Naveah Tot are also all expected to use their COVID-19 seasons and with Payton Verhulst and Sahara Williams in the fold, the Sooners don’t just return their top six players, they now add one of the best bigs available.

With Beers anchoring the center, this spaced-out offense will have…

Congrats to South Carolina, which was the No. 1 team in all but one edition of this season’s rankings. The Gamecocks proved they were the best team in college basketball for all of 2023-24, just like last year, only this time they were able to cap their remarkable regular season with a national championship. South Carolina’s success was the primary validation of these power rankings, though the last poll did feature 15 of the Sweet 16 teams in the top 18 (apologies to Duke).

In case you’re interested in how well my first power rankings of 2023-24 held up, take a gander! Oregon State really came out of nowhere.

As we look ahead to 2024-25, a reminder that this is an indicator of how teams stand right now, though WNBA Draft decisions and transfers — keep an eye on Oregon State and Washington State following the dissolution of the Pac-12 — could substantially change the makeup of rosters. I’ve priced in some player improvement, particularly for younger players with high pedigree, but otherwise tried to assess these squads based on how the players finished this season. Let me know in the comments if you think I’m overlooking anyone.

Almost famous: Kentucky, Michigan State, Vanderbilt

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Why South Carolina over UConn?

South Carolina is losing Kamilla Cardoso, but otherwise…

It could be an elevator, a hallway or a corridor this weekend at one of the Final Fours, the men’s in Arizona or the women’s in Cleveland. Greg Sankey, commissioner of the SEC, has a team in each, so doubtless he will be at both. Len Perna, meanwhile, has an idea, and if he sees Sankey he may do everything in his power to get a minute.

At most, Sankey will smile politely, nod and keep the conversation short. For now, the chances of Sankey and his conference wanting any part of Perna’s idea are about as good as the SEC giving up football as a varsity sport.

Because that’s essentially what it would be doing here.

The notion of a college football “Super League” has been percolating for a while, and one idea finally went public on Wednesday, when The Athletic reported that a number of power brokers, including the presidents at Syracuse and West Virginia and Perna, the CEO of TurnkeyZRG, were pushing for a 70-team permanent group, employing athletes as players, making its own rules and leaving non-football sports to the existing conferences, as is.

Publicly, the reaction among SEC power brokers was crickets: Sankey and the presidents at…