decisions

As if the college sports world weren’t crazy enough with roster limitations and rising numbers in the transfer portal, a new trend that isn’t really new but is accelerating involves coaches telling players they will have little chance to play as motivation for the player to leave and open up a roster spot.

That’s how a coach escapes bad publicity for chasing off a player. But maybe the coach is being honest in their evaluation? It’s all part of the strange happenings taking place.

Check out social media to see the growing number of high school and junior college players suddenly searching for new schools this summer by saying, “My recruitment is back open” or announcing an “involuntary decommitment.”

Just this week, Ole Miss is facing criticism after a longtime high school baseball commit from Iowa who has been battling cancer for three years, Brett Harris, said he had his baseball scholarship pulled.

College baseball, in particular, is being disrupted. Members from the high school class of 2027 are being forced to reopen their recruitment as schools take into consideration a new NCAA rule giving players five years of eligibility across five years.

Braden Ruiz, a Mater Dei High graduate who played shortstop at Cypress College, signed with Oregon last January. Last month he asked for his release from Oregon.

“It was the vibe I was getting,” Ruiz said. “They said I could still go up there and give it a shot. The conversations were they didn’t seem interested as before. I decided to decommit. The coach who recruited me ended up leaving Oregon a week later.”

Ruiz played with a hamstring injury at Cypress College last season.

“It’s all about performance,” he said. “If you’re not performing, it makes the coaches think differently.”

Ruiz has come to understand how college sports has become a business.

“They pretty much can do whatever they want,” he said. “They can pull your offer or in the conversations tell you you’re not wanted anymore. But it’s part of their job. They need to win to keep their job.”

Mater Dei coach Richard Mercado said he’s advising parents and players “if a school is giving out NIL money, it’s a business. You’re not going there to be friends with the coach. It’s a business relationship. They have to win immediately and with limited roster spots. They can’t be wrong.”

Players being pushed away to open a scholarship spot is not new. It’s happened in all sports. College baseball coaches have been engaged in a balancing act for years. Remember the days when Division I schools were limited to 11.7 scholarships. Players were being given partial scholarships and coaches had to project who might leave or stay after the amateur draft. Now college programs can offer full scholarships (think SEC), but rosters dropped to a maximum 34 players last season, forcing coaches to revise and regroup.

Add the impact of no more transfer restrictions and it’s understandable there’s uncertainty. The word loyalty is going to cease to exist in many programs.

So what’s the advice to players and parents?

Betting on yourself still works. If someone doesn’t want you, find someone who does.

“Everybody’s journey is different,” Ruiz said. “You can commit early or late. I would say people who commit now will make it on campus. Their past season was probably good. People performing better more recently have a better chance of playing.”

Do research to find programs that stick with old-fashioned rules and commitments and maybe mention academics.

On Thursday, Ruiz signed with New Mexico State. He’s one of the fortunate ones finding a school with a roster opening this summer before Saturday’s amateur draft begins. He’ll have three years of eligibility left. He’s finally healthy and can’t wait for the day he gets to play against Oregon.

If he becomes a standout, who knows, maybe the Ducks will want him again in this new world of college athletics.

“The portal is crazy,” Ruiz has concluded.

Vogue Williams appeared as a guest panellist on Loose Women on Monday, where she made a candid admission

Vogue Williams made a candid confession during the latest instalment of Loose Women.

The 40-year-old Irish TV personality appeared as a guest panellist on the ITV daytime show on Monday (July 6), joining Charlene White, Coleen Nolan, and Jane Moore.

The panel swiftly turned their focus to England’s FIFA World Cup victory over Mexico in the early hours of the morning. Jude Bellingham scored twice in 98 seconds to put England ahead, before Julian Quinones pulled one back for Mexico just three minutes before the break.

The drama continued, as Jarell Quansah was shown a red card after 54 minutes for a high challenge on Jesus Gallardo, with both sides subsequently converting a penalty each.

While chatting about the match, Vogue confessed that she and her husband, Spencer Matthews, had made “one of the worst” parenting decisions that morning, reports the Irish Mirror.

She said: “I did not stay up but my husband decided to watch it with the kids this morning and it was not as harmonious as your house [talking to Charlene].

“One of the worst decisions we’ve ever made, because we have such small ones and they all get a turn. So, my son was throwing a wobbly that he hadn’t had his turn on the TV while they’re trying to watch it. So, it wasn’t great this morning actually.”

While Vogue found watching the match with her young children, Theodore, Gigi and Otto, rather testing, Charlene had quite a contrasting experience with her eight-year-old son, Alfie.

“We were all very excited about it so Alfie wanted to stay up and [I was like], ‘Absolutely not, you’re eight years old,'” she explained.

“But what we did is he woke up at six so he could watch the whole thing, [and] if there was loads of extra time and penalties, he would have time to watch that before going to school. So, all phones were off. The TV was definitely on iPlayer to make sure they definitely didn’t suddenly see the result, and he was really excited on the sofa at 6am.”

Meanwhile, Coleen revealed that she had attempted to stay up until 1am, but drifted back off to sleep upon discovering the match had been pushed back by an hour.

“I thought, ‘I can’t do it,’ so I kind of fell back to sleep,” she said, before disclosing that she had watched the entire second half.

“They were just unbelievable… It was so exciting, what a match,” she added.

Elsewhere in the episode, the stars opened up about the difficulties they’ve encountered after their children flew the nest for the first time, with Vogue expressing her anxiety about the prospect of her own kids eventually being old enough to move out.

“Even the thought of them going is just heartbreaking to me. I want to be the mum with the house that everyone wants to come to and they all want to spend time with us,” she said.

Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 12.30pm

The UK airline is cutting flights to and from three destination in its schedule this summer due to financial pressures including the increase in fuel costs and airport fees

A UK airline is set to cut flights to three destinations next month due to financial pressures.

Loganair offers passengers flights to and from destinations across the UK and France, including London, Glasgow, Paris and Edinburgh.

However, the airline has announced that it cannot continue to run all current routes “without impacting the wider business”.

From July 19, Loganair will reduce flights between Inverness and Stornoway, Orkney, and Shetland.

Daily flights currently run from Inverness to Orkney (Kirkwall) and Shetland (Sumburgh) with a regular service also flying to Stornoway.

However, following the cuts, flights between these destinations will only operate on weekends.

Chief executive of Loganair, Luke Farajallah, told the BBC, said: “We do not take these decisions lightly.”

He continued: “The recent increase in fuel prices, together with escalations in aircraft repair costs, airport fees and route charges, mean that Loganair, Hial and Transport Scotland must find a way to sustain lifeline routes where passenger numbers are limited.

“These routes matter to us and to the communities they serve, but we must balance that commitment with the long-term sustainability of Loganair and the wider network those communities also rely on.”

Mr Farajallah said that full services could resume in October if more funding was secured.

Hial, owned by the Scottish government, have offered a support package but it warned that any assistance must be affordable.

To think that four-goal first-half performance didn’t even involve John McGinn.

A traditional 4-4-2 brought the best out of Scott McTominay, if that’s even more possible. Although we all know the Napoli star’s position was never in any doubt.

Bologna’s Lewis Ferguson, who captain Robertson said “turned into a man” , externalduring the qualification campaign, again showed his maturity and ability to dictate play in the middle of the park. Cultured, some might say.

But, in truth, the first half was dominated by the work done down the wings by Bournemouth pair Ben Gannon-Doak and Ryan Christie.

Long before he was even in the squad, Gannon-Doak excited supporters. He was the Billy Gilmour of the Euro 2024 team, picking up an injury before the squad jetted off to Germany.

Since then, he’s reminded everyone what they missed with his absence. The epitome of a Duracell Bunny, the 20-year-old dazzled on Saturday.

At times, his end-product has been his downfall, but it wasn’t of concern stateside.

“Ben did himself the power of good today,” Clarke acknowledged. “We know what he can give us.”

Clarke also knows what Christie can provide. In many positions. He was lively down the left, with an instinct to cut in and create.

Many were crying out for Findlay Curtis to start, given his first international goal last weekend, but its hard to make a case for Christie not starting somewhere on Sunday.

It’s perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of them all for Clarke, but what a problem to have.

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison has suggested referees are “petrified” to make decisions because of the video assistant referee, after being denied a stoppage-time penalty against Leeds on Monday.

Substitute Maddison went down under Lukas Nmecha’s challenge, but referee Jarred Gillett and the VAR dismissed his appeal for a spot-kick.

The match finished 1-1, leaving Spurs two points above the Premier League relegation zone with two games to play.

Maddison, 29, who was making his first appearance of the season after his return from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, wrote on his Instagram account: “For clarity… The small, tiny touch on the ball to change direction came from the outside of my right foot, not Nmecha, and I told the ref that.

“But the check was over in about 20 seconds. Officials are petrified to make decisions on pitch now because of VAR. We keep fighting. COYS.”

Champions League analysts Nedum Onuoha, Guillem Balague and Stephen Warnock look at two contentious handball decisions that weren’t awarded against Paris St-Germain, including a potential red card for Nuno Mendes and a possible penalty for Bayern Munich.

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