Dan Wolken
@DanWolken
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National columnist @USATODAYSports, focusing on college football/basketball and other big stories. Send tips, ideas and requests to [email protected]
Atlanta
Joined March 2009
I’ll still be here but it’s time to diversify so if you’re heading over there I’ll be there as well.
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BYU having a Jewish quarterback is truly one of the great stories in college sports.
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Andrew Luck deciding he’s made enough money to do whatever he wants to do for the rest of his life without having to get his head bashed in or practice football is one of the most rational things any person could ever decide.
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There are five bigger media markets than Atlanta. Five.
This guy would be considered a superstar if he played in a bigger market. Trae Young is a pure hooper and he consistently produces at an elite level since he arrived in the NBA.
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John McEnroe on ESPN is ripping Australia for the way it handled the the Djokovic situation. Says he texted Novak, "It's BS.".
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San Jose State is 6-6 in Mountain West games that were actually played this season. If you had any doubt about the sincerity of this grift.
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The Atlanta Hawks have gone to the Eastern Conference finals, torn it down, completely rebuilt and gotten back to the Eastern Conference finals all in the span of the 76ers’ “Process” before they have.
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LaVar Ball trolled the President of the United States into mentioning him by name. I mean, just think about that.
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I feel heartbroken for the Olympic athletes (many of which are friends) who trained their entire lives to compete on that stage but will now have significantly fewer eyes watching and admiring because of the satanic, blasphemous display put on by the Olympic organizers.
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This is so embarrassing for ESPN. How the hell is this on their channel?.
Aaron Rodgers continued with a tirade against mainstream media, including ESPN SVP of Production Mike Foss
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San Jose State volleyball coach Todd Kress released the following statement last night after they lost to Colorado State in the Mountain West championship game
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COLUMN: By criticizing Daryl Morey on Monday, LeBron James endorsed a world where calling out his own government for wrongdoing is encouraged but China is above reproach. It's the most shameful day of his career. via @usatoday.
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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HAS DEFEATED CANADA IN HOCKEY AND CURLING ON THE SAME DAY.
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Zion on whether it’s fair that CBS can follow him around with the Zion-cam while not being compensated: “Like my mom taught me, worry about the things you can control.”.
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It offends every fiber of my core that a team could completely no-show in its final game, sit on its ass during championship weekend and be rewarded with a playoff spot.
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Irresponsible for media outlets to speculate about who else was on the plane. Get the info or don’t say anything. The stakes are too high here in this tragedy.
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Hypothetical SEC now a basketball phenomenon!.
If Arkansas was in the ACC they would be the second best team in the conference.
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Saban asked if this team tested his patience: “I don’t have any patience so anything that happens is a test of my patience. Including sitting in this chair right now.” Alabama by a million.
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It’s even worse on rewatch. The lowest moment in Urban’s career
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Just spoke with Jairus Lyles’ whole family who is here from Maryland. Get this: Both his parents are UVA grads.
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@michaeleaves Everyone loves deregulation until the deli meat starts killing people and the emergency doors on the planes come unbolted in mid-air.
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NBA TV has just shown Ja Morant in the stands eating chili cheese fries and Jaren Jackson downing some chicken fingers and fries. DO THE GRIZZLIES EVEN HAVE A NUTRITIONIST?.
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In Turkey, they can do 2,000 tests an hour at the airport and give people the results two hours later for $16. The fact we can’t do something like that here is an outrage.
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Welcome to the start of SEC bowl season in a few hours. Just a reminder, you have two narrative options this year as always. 1) The bowl result proves how dominant the SEC is .2) The SEC team didn’t want to be there.
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Utterly bizarre that the person who calls the biggest games on ESPN accuses the committee of making their picks based on social media and calls anyone who doesn’t agree with him a fringe fan.
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Official. First African-American female AD in the Power 5
Excited to announce Carla Williams as our new director of athletics. Welcome to UVA!.Press Release:
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Georgia may win an SEC title but can’t physically dominate a mid-pack ACC team. Greg Sankey should probably keep his mouth shut this week.
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Is the only SEC coach to lose to Kentucky going to do this for every game?.
Really exciting competitive game @CFBPlayoff 🧐. Great job!!.
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Bizarre scenes from the Notre Dame locker room, players yelling at reporters, coaches warning people not to ask certain questions. Amateur hour.
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Serious question: Has NIL changed the game to such an extent that a college coach can say stuff like this on social media and not fear any negative recruiting impact in households where the VP is likely quite popular?
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Rick Pitino is the most successful person in history who never knows anything important.
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Just want to remind everyone that Alabama has beaten No. 1, No. 11, No. 13 and No. 21. There’s no way they are getting left out.
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Yesterday a CFB coaches agent called me. All he said was "LSU hired Ed Orgeron." We laughed for a few minutes.
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If you actually believe that the Big Ten has disrupted its $600 million business because of a presidential election, you have been gaslit.
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I have to say, I don't understand the Auburn fan base backlash on Hugh Freeze. Last I checked, your basketball coach is Bruce Pearl.
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Whoever he talks to and trusts needs to stage an intervention. This is really bad. Stop this before he goes down the Bobby Knight rage path.
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I’m kind of surprised we aren’t talking more about the fact that Ohio State has a better quarterback than Georgia, given that Ohio State’s quarterback was at Georgia last year.
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Lincoln Riley has lost seven of his last 12 games. That’s not what they paid for.
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If Bama loses to a third completely mid team anyone who argued for them to be in the playoff should be sentenced to a year of drinking Keystone Light.
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BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff has signed an NIL deal with Manischewitz. This is the greatest day in the modern history of Jewish sports
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My column on Nate Oats and the dumpster fire at Alabama is on the way. Truly one of the more shocking and disappointing days I’ve had covering college sports in awhile. Oats and AD Greg Byrne should be ashamed.
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No fan of the British monarchy but Harry seems like a decent person who cares and tries to do some good. Some of the negative comments here are baffling.
"No matter the road ahead, we are here for you. We will leave no one behind.”. -Prince Harry after accepting the Pat Tillman Award for Service ❤️
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The great Steve Spurrier today with a message on gun violence and AR-15 availability that everyone needs to hear
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Alcaraz says he felt the pressure playing for a gold medal for Spain in a way that he hadn’t in his four Grand Slam finals.
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Lincoln Riley did Oklahoma a favor by leaving for USC. The Sooners have their identity back after a Red River upset
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BREAKING: Highly-touted QB Justin Fields intending to transfer from Georgia via @USATODAY.
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This is absurd. Absolutely infuriating. I feel for the West Virginia team. They’ve played a better game than Iowa and they’re not going to get rewarded at all. Hope these refs don’t advance.
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Coco Gauff says “I definitely believe in climate change” and wasn’t upset at the protesters. “Would I prefer it not happen in my match? 100% yeah, but it is what it is…I always speak about preaching what you feel and what you believe in and it was done in a peaceful way.”.
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But the opposite is actually true. If you’re Alabama and you think multiple losses are baked in to the SEC schedule because it’s so hard, you need to go kick a good team’s ass in another conference to establish how much better the SEC is and give yourself that breathing room.
It's not "absurd logic". You just weren't following. He's saying why risk playing the best in other conferences KNOWING the SEC is already a battle. If losses, no matter the strength = disqualifiers, then why not schedule G5 non-cons to simply ensure a win. It aint that hard.
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I don’t think the people saying this realize how poorly it would go over with the commissioners if an 11-1 team from a power conference that only lost to the No. 6 team got left out. It’s one of the reasons they expanded to 12, so that there’s room for an Indiana.
Kirk Herbstreit on GameDay:."Indiana was outclassed. It was not a team that should’ve been on that field when you consider other teams that could’ve been there. Added putting a team in "because by golly they’ve got 11 wins. that’s a bunch of BS."
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So the Miami thing actually gets stupider, if you can believe it. Cristobal just doesn’t take a knee at the end of games. He hasn’t all year. I don’t understand it. I’m not sure anyone would understand it. But it’s his thing.
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Are people really surprised about this Tuohy/Oher story? Maybe my Memphis background and familiarity with the Tuohys puts me in a different head space but I’ve been expecting this for 15 years.
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They’re coached like they’re babied. They play like they’re babied. They act like they’re babied. They deal with the media like they’re babied. That’s all on the guy in charge.
@DanWolken Caleb sat on bench unable to go on field to shake hands with Utes. Entitled bush league.
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After McMurphy dropped the text messages, Brian Voltolini and Urban "discussed at that time whether the media could get access to Coach Meyer’s phone, and specifically how to adjust the settings on Meyer’s phone so that text messages older than one year would be deleted.".
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This is not true.
.@KirkHerbstreit revealed he deleted Twitter a long time ago❌. "I don't have it. My son tweets stuff out. I don't read anything. I don't see anything."
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It only took LSU three years to fire Will Wade after hearing him on a wiretap trying to buy a player. Really on top of it down there.
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Andy Reid on his nine grandchildren: “They keep you young. And at the same time they make you feel old. It’s kind of like sweet and sour pork.”.
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Update to the Masai Ujiri story: Warriors season ticket holder who witnessed incident disputes part of the policeman’s account via @usatoday.
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If your system isn’t fit for a talent like Justin Fields, your system sucks.
This is inaccurate. Two completely different styles, two different players. Jake Fromm = UGA .Justin Fields = OSU. They both were made for the system they’re each playing in. If this were true JF would still be in Athens.
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My timeline is currently filled with analysis of a Dave Portnoy interview with Donald Trump. I've never had a greater urge to just delete this app.
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Dabo Swinney swept a racially charged incident during a practice between a white coach and a black player under the rug. If you are a former CFB player who has a similar story to tell at your program, my DMs are open.
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Jairus Lyles: “It’s funny, we were talking about, if we win, we’re going to get a 30 For 30 in a couple years.".
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If USC scheduled Mercer instead of going on the road to Notre Dame, we aren’t even arguing today.
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Tennessee Tech is your college baseball Cinderella this year. Athletic budget of about $14.5 million just knocked Ole Miss, athletic budget of $110 million, out of the NCAA Tournament. Texas next.
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Imagine telling everyone that you don’t think you can break the glass ceiling at Notre Dame because of recruiting so you go to LSU and get worse.
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Jalen Rose just said on ESPN he’s “99% sure” Kawhi Leonard will return to Toronto.
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Boise State traveled cross country, had a change of venue to make it a true road game, had to play in the kind of humidity it can’t practice in, got down three scores and was the much fresher, more energetic and composed team in the second half. SMH, Florida State.
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The fact that the TV networks would pay various conferences to add 10 of the 12 schools in the Pac-12 but the Pac-12 couldn’t get a TV deal that kept them in the same league is one of the biggest failures by a sports executive we have ever seen.
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Coach K said Nike sent “their top people” to Durham after the shoe exploded. Those people then went to China to personally oversee the manufacturing of his new shoe. OK then!.
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I don't think it's hyperbole to say that if Texas A&M was not tied to Jimbo Fisher by the most ridiculous contract in the history of college football, this would be his final season.
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This is so funny. It’s gonna take some college football fans awhile to adjust to the new reality. You can’t get to the semifinal or final by accident. This is sports, man. You put teams in a real playoff and stuff happens.
Total confession… my soul aches watching these two JV teams in the CFP semifinal.
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@AtlPeachtreeGa1 Selfish of one person who has been doing this with no issue since before high school to …compete in a sport where they are eligible? Sorry but that is some nonsense and if it were your kid you would not accept that.
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Can someone explain to me how Alabama conducted a 24 hour investigation of its basketball program, found no wrongdoing but fired someone?.
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I realize no McCord and Marv but the fact that Ohio State was the second-best team the Big Ten had to offer - by a significant distance - isn’t a good look for the Big Ten.
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COLUMN: The only person in the wrong place at the wrong time is Nate Oats, a coach who proved himself unfit Tuesday to handle a real-life tragedy that has now redefined Alabama’s season with the involvement of its best player now revealed via @USATODAY.
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“It’s all politics instead of sports. So here’s a clip from March 18, 2022 during the broadcast of a game I had no interest in watching in the first place to prove my idiotic and incorrect point”.
I can’t stand ESPN anymore—it’s all politics now instead of sports. I just want game highlights and analysis, not divisive commentary. Sports should be an escape, not another platform for political agendas.
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I guess you’ve missed the point. Steve Kerr doesn’t have to convince families to send their teenage kids to a college campus for personal and professional development in a highly competitive recruiting environment.
@DanWolken If Steve Kerr can speak openly about his political beliefs, Bruce Pearl can do the same.
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I have a high opinion of Dabo and his program but hate this comment from a few years back and it’s worth renewing again. When the coach makes $9 million a year it’s not amateur athletics. It’s already professional.
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This is such a bad-faith move by Oklahoma especially when the Big 12 literally changed its rules to accommodate Baker Mayfield getting another year of eligibility.
As it pursues Alabama grad transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts, OU is blocking Austin Kendall from becoming immediately eligible at West Virginia as a grad transfer, multiple sources told ESPN.
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Sister Jean on whether God is a basketball fan: “He probably is. And he probably is more of the NCAA than the NBA.”.
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If what I’m seeing tonight is an accurate representation of SEC basketball officiating, road wins should count double. Home teams getting away with some stuff.
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I can’t imagine how sick South Carolina fans are feeling right now.
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I think I’m asking this seriously but is Washington doing a 2019 LSU and we haven’t quite figured it out yet?.
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The fact that Alabama didn’t come out the day after the shooting and say they were suspending the two players who were there while gathering more information will go down as one of the biggest blunders in college sports history.
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Trying to steer Tennessee fans away from an online endeavor is not going to end how you want.
Ohio State's President and AD Are Begging Buckeyes Fans To Not Sell Their Tickets After OSU's Presale Code Leaked and Tennessee Fans Bought Thousands
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UCF kicking the crap out of a team that kicked the crap out of Georgia and Bama is. something.
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Intentional or not, the lasting message of that press conference is Urban Meyer yakking on an easy question by equating his own burden with Courtney Smith’s. Unacceptable. Disgraceful.
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