This ESPN documentary debuts tomorrow. Some folks here have been outspoken about Stanford's mishandling of her situation, so it'll be interesting to see how that comes through in the doc. Julie Foudy was the lead reporter. The log line is:

"In 2022, Stanford soccer captain Katie Meyer died by suicide just three months shy of graduation. In the aftermath, her family searched for answers and began a fight for change. A new episode of ESPN's E60 documentary series examines Meyer's journey and impact, spotlighting the California law passed in her name and driven by advocacy from her parents."

Here's the fun excerpt of the film (also a reminder of how insanely loaded that team was). The aftermath is obviously grim.

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So I open up my ESPN app, looking for start times of the night's games, and I see a big headline saying Pete Rose and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson have had the lifetime MLB bans lifted.

My first thought: Way to go MLB, lifting bans on dead people.
My second thought: I thought betting on baseball was an enteral sin that could never be forgiven?
My third thought: How does this impact players who deserve to be in the Hall of Fame more than the likes of Harold Baines, David Ortiz, and Don Sutton, and aren't in because Baseball writers are sanctimonious?

I have been operating with the notion I will not take the Hall of Fame seriously until: Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemons, and Manny Ramirez are in it. I have never had any opinion on Jackson.

What does this ban lifting do in practical terms?

Transfer portal final ranking: College football's 100 best​

ACC players:

2) QB Carson Beck (Miami)
3) QB Darian Mensah (Duke)
26) WR Duce Robinson (Florida State)
28) DE Will Heldt (Clemson)
30) QB Miller Moss (Louisville)
39) DT David Blay (Miami)
40) OL Fa’alili Fa’amoe (Wake Forest)
55) CB Thaddeus Dixon (North Carolina)
56) CB Jeremiah Wilson (Florida State)
60) CB Xavier Lucas (Miami)
61) S Zechariah Poyser (Miami)
63) CB Ethan O’Connor (Miami)
72) WR CJ Daniels (Miami)
74) OL Daniel King (North Carolina)
87) LB Khmori House (North Carolina)
89) WR Eric Rivers (Georgia Tech)
94) OLB Clev Lubin (Louisville)
100) QB Gio Lopez (North Carolina)

Left ACC:

4) QB Fernando Mendoza left Cal
6) WR Eric Singleton left Georgia Tech
9) OLB David Bailey left Stanford
17) RB Jaydn Ott left Cal
18) OLB Howard Sampson left North Carolina
22) CB Mansoor Delane left Virginia Tech
23) DE Patrick Payton left Florida State
25) WR Kevin Concepcion left NC State
29) OL Xavier Chaplin left Virginia Tech
32) OLB Romello Height left Georgia Tech
33) DE Beau Atkinson left North Carolina
42) WR Malachi Fields left Virginia (but relevant to us went to Notre Dame)
48) WR Trebor Pena left Syracuse
51) OL Braelin Moore left Virginia Tech
66) WR Isaiah Horton left Miami
67) DT Maraad Watson left Syracuse
77) WR Nyziah Hunter left Cal
90) TE Jack Endries left Cal
97) DT Tre Williams left Clemson

I’ve had my fill of sobering news the last six years. We are past sober and borderline catatonic. Nonetheless, we don’t often get deeply informed national takes on our program so when those come out I think they’re worth sharing:

ESPN: Ranking the offseason for every Power 4 college football team

17. Stanford Cardinal​

Key additions: WR C.J. Williams, OT Niki Prongos, LB Hunter Barth

Key departures: WR Elic Ayomanor, OLB David Bailey, WR Emmett Mosley V

Top incoming recruits: WR JonAnthony Hall, DE Adam Shovlin, DT Kole Briehler

Biggest coaching move: Troy Taylor's firing in late March rocked the Stanford program ahead of his third season as head coach. New general manager Andrew Luck leaned on his own past in hiring Frank Reich, who coached Luck with the Indianapolis Colts and has spent his entire career in the NFL. Reich will coach Stanford for the 2025 season only, working with Taylor's assistants.

What went wrong: Unexpected coaching changes always bring some bumps, and Stanford certainly wasn't spared by Taylor's dismissal. The Cardinal lost some of their best non-seniors this spring, including David Bailey, who led the team in forced fumbles (5), sacks (6), quarterback hurries (8) and tackles for loss (8) last season. He cashed in at Texas Tech, while Emmett Mosley V is headed to Texas after finishing second on the team in receptions (48) and receiving yards (525). Cornerback Julian Neal, a key transfer commit from Fresno State, reentered the portal after Taylor's firing and landed with Arkansas. The roster is certainly in flux for Reich.

What went right: Not much. Stanford already was going through turnover at several key positions in the winter portal, and Taylor's firing set off another personnel frenzy. The good news is Stanford brings back productive defenders like safeties Scotty Edwards and Mitch Leigber, outside linebacker Tevarua Tafiti and tight end Sam Roush. Taylor's assistants are also staying on through the 2025 season, including primary defensive coordinator Bobby April, co-defensive coordinator Andy Thompson and Nate Byham, who was promoted from tight ends coach to offensive coordinator. Significant changes are coming, but not right away, which is good for the returning players.

Connelly's take: Stanford made zero progress in two years under Taylor, so even an awkwardly timed coaching change doesn't have to be a bad thing. But ... it's not automatically good either, and while actually using the portal is good, the Cardinal still lost more than they brought in.

Women's Water Polo, Women's Golf, Beach Volleyball and Women's Rowing are our solid chances to win another NCAA title. Also in the running are Women's Lacrosse #8 and Softball #16.

NCAA Spring Sports 2025

Volleyball Men’s Ranked #17
4/22-26 MPSF Tournament
4/23 Opening Round Stanford defeats Menlo 3-1
4/24 Quarter Finals Stanford defeats BYU 3-2
4/25 Semis Stanford 1 vs. USC 3
4/26 MSPF Finals
4/27 NCAA Selection Show
5/2 Opening Round
Quarter Finals
5/10-12 NCAA Semis & Finals

Golf Women’s Ranked #1
4/16-19
Stanford wins stroke play and Andrea Revuelta wins the individual crown. Women were upset by Wake Forest 3-2
4/23 Selection Show
5/05-07 Regionals
Stanford Seeded #1 in the Norman Region and is the overall #1 seed. Top 5 teams advance to Finals.
Norman Region
1. Stanford
2. Northwestern
3. North Carolina
4. Michigan State
5. Duke
6. Oklahoma
7. Baylor
8. Oregon State (West Coast Conference)
9. Tulsa (American Athletic Conference)
10. Denver (The Summit League)
11. Furman (Southern Conference)
12. Southern Mississippi (Sun Belt Conference)
5/16-21 NCAA Finals

Water Polo Women’s Tied for #2
MPSF Tournament
4/25 – Quarter Finals Stanford 24 vs ASU 3
4/26 Semis Stanford vs USC 2:30 PM
4/27 MPSF Finals
4/28 Selection Show - MPSF Champion auto. Only two at large berths with the 2nd and 3rd place MPSF typically getting them.
5/9-11 NCAA Finals

Tennis Men’s #8 Rank
4/18-20 ACC Tournament
Stanford wins ACC Championship winning over FSU 4-3; Duke 4-2 and Virginia 4-2
4/28 Selection Show 4/28; 64 teams chosen.
5/02-04 First & Second Rounds 5/02-5/04
5/09-10 Super Regionals 5/09-5/10
5/15-18 Finals

Tennis Women’s #25
ACC Tournament
4/17 Beat Miami 4-3
4/18 Lost to UNC 4-0
4/28 Selection Show; 64 teams chosen.
5/02-03 First & Second Rounds
5/09-10 Super Regionals
5/15-18 Finals

Golf – Men’s #41
4/24-26 ACC Tournament
4/24 Round 1 Stanford T8th +3
4/25 Round 2 Stanford T11th +6, suspended 8-10. Will have to tee off at 5:30 AM!
4/26 Round 3
4/30 Selection Show
5/12-14 Regionals
5/23-28 Finals

Lacrosse Women’s Ranked #8
ACC Championships
4/24 Quarter Finals Stanford 15 – Syracuse 10
4/25 Semis Stanford 9 - BC 16
4/26 ACC Championship 9 AM
Selection Show 5/4 on ESPNU - 29 teams in the field with 15 teams getting auto qualified. Stanford will get into the tournament based on their ranking. Top 8 teams get seeds.
5/09 First & Second Rounds
5/15 Quarterfinals
5/23 Semifinals
5/25 Finals

Rowing Ranked #1 in Region 3
4/26 Stanford at the Texas Invitational. Stanford and Texas will face off against each other. Will be a preview of the championships.
5/16-17 ACC Championship; 12 teams have rowing. Rowing is ranked by 5 different areas. Stanford is ranked #1 with Cal #4, Syracuse #5 and Virginia #6. Texas ranked #2 in the group. In the past four years, Texas has won three times and Stanford once, and finished 2nd three times behind Texas.
5/16 Round 1
5/17 ACC Championships
5/20 NCAA Selection Show; 22 teams will be in the field;
5/30-6/1 NCAA Finals

Lacrosse Men’s (no program at Stanford)
5/24 Finals

Beach Volleyball Women’s Ranked #3 4/22
4/23-25 MPSF Tournament 4/23-25
4/23 Round 2 Stanford 4- Oregon 0
4/24 Stanford 3 USC 0
4/24 Stanford 3 UCLA 1
4/25 MPSF Championship Stanford 3 - USC 2, 1st beach championship
4/27 Selection Show – 10 AM ESPN.com; 16 teams will be chosen seeded 1-16 and played in a single elimination format. In 8 years of championships, USC has won 6 and UCLA has won the other two years.
5/2 First Round
5/3 Second Round and Semi
5/4 NCAA Championship

Softball Ranked #18
5/07-10 ACC tournament
5/07 Round 1 ACC Network
5/08 Quarter Finals ACC Network
5/09 Semi Finals ACC Networ
5/10 ACC Championship ESPN
5/11 Selection 4 PM ESPN2
5/16-18 Regionals
5/22-25 Super Regionals
5/29-6/6 NCAA Championship

Track & Field Men’s Rank #77
5/22 Selection Show
ACC Tournament
5/15 Day 1
5/16 Day 2
5/17 Day 3
5/28-31 Regionals
6/11-14 Finals

Track & Field Women’s Rank #25
ACC Tournament
5/15 Day 1
5/16 Day 2
5/17 Day 3
5/22 Selection Show
5/28-31 Regionals
6/11-14 Finals

Baseball NR, but #48 in RPI.
5/20-25 ACC Tournament. Under the new format, the top four seeds in the championship will be based off the performance in the regular season and will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinal round, which is scheduled to be held on Thursday and Friday. Seeds five through eight will earn a bye into Wednesday’s second round. Seeds 9-16 will begin play with four first round games on Tuesday. Single elimination format.
5/20 ACC Round 1 ACC Network
5/21 ACC Round 2 ACC Network
5/22 Quarter Finals ACC Network
5/23 Quarter Finals ACC Network
5/24 Semi Finals ACC Network
5/25 ACC Championship ESPN2
5/26 NCAA Selection Show Date; 64 teams, 4 per regional
5/30-6/02 Regionals (16 sites)
6/06-09 Super Regionals (8 sites)
6/13-23 College World Series ESPN or ESPN2 or ABC

Kicking this off. Season feels like its on the line tonight!

Here is the Stanford football recruiting notes thread for the month of May. If you missed anything from April, that thread is right here. Stanford has been very active right now with regards to landing commits both from the transfer portal and high school. Quarterbacks Dylan Rizk and Ben Gulbranson have both been added, making up for losing Bear Bachmeier to the portal. OL Nick Fattig and LB Hunter Barth recently committed out of the portal as well. And then 2026 3-star OLB Lucas Shanafelt recently committed out of high school. For a full list of the transfer additions, click here. And then for the 2026 class, click here to check that out. As for visits, Stanford had a bunch of official visitors over the weekend. I posted an update on that in the April thread. For a full list of the high school visitors and their dates, click here. Remember to check the box for unofficial visits.

It’s summer and I am curious what sport would you like to see Stanford add? Money is not an issue in this hypothetical.

2026 3-star edge Chase Cahoon is the “Hometown Hero” commit that was referenced. Out of St. Francis High School in Mountain View.

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Maxime Raynaud has gotten an invite to the NBA Combine. That obviously bodes well for his draft stock…

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Need Moody and / or Podz to step up their games and be a factor. Podz needs to step up his ball handling and pass distribution. Moody needs to find his shot.

The latest on a lot of big names:

Watch that here.

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interesting addition to Saban's Commission named (this culled from anMSN internet piece RE Alabama

To give another perspective, Texas Tech mega-booster Cody Campbell is Saban’s co-chair. During a Welcome Home Tour stop in Greenville, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer briefly spoke about the committee.
Initially, Beamer didn’t provide much about his thoughts on the matter, saying, “I saw that. I was reading some of that coming up here today on my phone, just some information about it. I don’t know enough about it.”
However, the fifth-year head coach admitted that he thought the president might have found the right man for the job. Said Beamer, “I think if you’re looking for anyone to spearhead change or be in a leadership position when it comes to college football going forward, he’s the first person that would come to mind from my standpoint.”

Click to expand...

First question for the mega-booster: “Isn’t there something better for the world that you could do with all that money than buying football players for a college?”

That’s about it for today. Have a great week.

Roll Tide.

Soooooooo... the guy that Bought two of our best players bringing them to Lubbock being named to the Commission?
So much for that!

Word is he’s in.

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- "It's Stanford" -- Both guys mention how special of a place Stanford is. We kid ourselves with saying we can't get a good coach in here. Stanford Football should never be 3-9 four years in a row with how special everyone agrees this place is, for players and coaches. Truly a 1 of 1 place in the world

-Reich says him and Luck and been looking back at their 2018 offense for things to use, but then is tight lipped about what they are going to do on offense and which QB's they are going to use. A little bit contradictory

-Admits he thought Luck was crazy at first to hire him

-Sounds like he really is having fun so far and is glad to be coaching Stanford Football

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I've been rewatching this game bit by bit over the past week.

Some rambling thoughts:

-Can't imagine LA Memorial Coliseum has been that full in years. Packed to the brim
-Hate USC but I do like their fight song. I miss playing them every year. "The Weekender" as it became for the students on either side
-Love Chris Fowler but there was something about Musberger being paired with Herbie that clicked
-Musberger did irk me by saying "Cardinals win it!" after the fumble recovery in the end zone

-Monte Kiffin threw us for a loop for nearly half the game. TD in the first quarter and then not another one until mid 3rd quarter
-The variety of formations on offense is noticeable, out of both shotgun and under center
-Terrence Stephens was a big boy on the DL. We could use another like him. Umeh wearing the same 99 doesn't look too far off but more lean

-Really a run-first offense. Even with Luck, and being down 20-10 in the third quarter, they were running the ball on 1st and 15 in SC territory.
-48 rush attempts to 40 pass attempts in the game. Ran it well but not amazing -- 3.9 yards per carry, no run longer than 15 yards
-Lot of play action. Gotta think Luck and Reich try to recreate some more of that this year

-Just a lot of tough, hard nosed guys on the field -- Thomas, Lancaster, Tarpley, Gaffney, Ben Gardner, Stepfan Taylor, Ryan Hewitt
-Such a nasty and late hit on Owusu at the end of the 4th

-Shaw ran a hook and latter play in OT .. boy was that out of character
-I'll never forget that drive after the Luck pick-6 to Robey. Andrew lived for those moments and always had a mindset of wanting another crack at it. Never scared of the moment

-The look on Lane Kiffins face right after the game was utterly priceless
-Musberger didnt forget to say that Stanford ended up covering the 7 point spread by one point after the game. Classic

One of the best Stanford games Ive ever watched!

Read and watch that here.

On Sunday, down to Grand Canyon 7-0 after 2 innings. Only bright spot a slicing double in left center by Sasaki. But we left him stranded.

Same old, same old.

At serious risk of yet another sweep loss. With a loss become 24-24... would become even on the season going into final ACC series next weekend at NC State.

See updates below

Down two in the first, the Cardinal play extremely great defense in the second half to hold the Trojans to just a single goal. Congrats girls! Christine Carpenter played fabulously in goal. . . .

Just saw a media report that Temo Becerra has announced he is entering the transfer portal...

Sorry, was unable to copy and paste the report.