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…

(Editor’s note: This is part of the Bracket Central Series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)

During the season in this space, we often like to begin with a bit of pop culture or history or some other random bit of nonsense unrelated to college basketball. So, uh, is it OK if we just do that for the entirety of this final installment?

Because we’re going to be totally transparent here. For the first time in six years of making mock brackets for The Athletic, we go into Selection Sunday with no earthly idea of what the selection committee is going to do. Oh, sure, there are always small surprises, but for the most part, the field is obvious except for maybe one slot.

Not this year. After one of the wildest Championship Week Saturdays we can remember, which included two power-conference bid thieves and a still-hard-to-believe outcome in the American, we find ourselves utterly confused by the bubble. And whether North Carolina will hold on to that final No. 1 seed or if surging Iowa State will take it. At least we’re not alone:

Been doing this since 2006. It’s never been this hard for the committee, not only because of how close so many of these teams are, but because of the…

By Nicole Auerbach, Chris Vannini and Scott Dochterman

The University of Washington hired veteran college administrator Troy Dannen as its athletic director. The school announced the news on Saturday, about a month-and-a-half after Jen Cohen left the position to take the same post at USC. Here’s what you need to know:

• Dannen has spent the past eight years as the athletic director at Tulane, overseeing a historic run for the football team that included a Cotton Bowl win over USC last postseason. Prior to Tulane, he spent seven years as the AD at Northern Iowa.
• He will begin his duties in Seattle on Monday, Oct. 9, and will be introduced in a news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 10.
• Dannen is a widely respected administrator who has served in leadership roles on a number of prominent NCAA committees, including some of the most prestigious appointments in recent years.

Backstory

From 2021 to 2023, Dannen served first on the NCAA Constitution Committee and then on the NCAA Transformation Committee, which was tasked with charting a path forward for college sports. He is currently in his fourth year as the chair of the NCAA Football Competition Committee and serves on the FBS Oversight Committee.

Dannen will lead Washington in a pivotal time, as it makes the jump from the Pac-12 to the…

Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens suffered serious injuries in a bicycle accident in St. Augustine, Fla., while riding last month that resulted in his right leg being amputated, his wife, Kirsten, shared in a statement Tuesday.

Teevens, 66, was hospitalized a month ago after being injured in the accident. Kirsten said Tuesday that while Teevens “is experiencing many positive improvements,” he had the leg amputated because of “the severity of the injury.” Teevens is an avid cyclist, Dartmouth said.

“We would like to thank everyone for the incredible outpouring of love and support for Buddy. It has been nothing short of amazing and we are so grateful,” she said. “He is alert and communicating with us and ready for transfer to a premier rehab facility to continue healing. Spinal cord injuries are challenging, and if anybody is up for the challenge, it is Buddy. We appreciate your continued respect of our privacy as we navigate this ongoing recovery process as a family.”

Teevens is the Big Green’s all-time winningest coach. He has been a Division I head football coach for more than 30 years, including 23 at his alma mater Dartmouth.

His first coaching run with the Big Green was from 1987 to 1991, and he returned in 2005. Dartmouth won a share of the Ivy League…

FORT WORTH, Tex. — American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco marked the start of the AAC men’s basketball tournament Thursday by releasing a statement that once again took issue with what Aresco believes is an unhealthy division between Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences at the FBS level.

“In recent weeks I have seen references to the ‘Power Five’ in interviews and public conversations which suggest that the P5 is virtually the exclusive focus in college athletics,” Aresco wrote in the statement. “This is profoundly misguided, especially in the current environment.”

Aresco spoke with The Athletic on Thursday afternoon from Dickies Arena, the host venue for the AAC tournament, to expand on his comments and what he believes is the negative stigma the power-conference distinction has created for the AAC and others.

Time to ‘rethink’ the divide?

“What’s with this P5/G5 business? It’s time to rethink it,” Aresco told The Athletic. “Let’s just talk about FBS schools. Let’s give everybody a fair shake.”

In the wake of the more recent conference realignments and the upcoming expansion of the College Football Playoff to a 12-team format, Aresco has been increasingly bothered by the continued separation of P5 and G5 programs within the public…