Welcome to the Skull Session.
Ohio State was well-represented in Forbes' 30 Under 30 list for Columbus.
5 Buckeyes make the @Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Columbus Class of 2025 pic.twitter.com/kXjZ0GDdOM
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) May 29, 2025
Have a good Thursday.
HE SAID, SHE SAID. Perhaps I treated Michael Mulvihill too harshly.
In an interview with The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman this week, the Fox Sports executive said Texas “exercised their contractual right” to veto Ohio State’s season opener move to Sunday.
“There was a deal in place between Fox and Ohio State to move the game to Sunday night,” Mulvihill told Dochterman. “We felt like Week 1 prior to NFL kickoff gave us an opportunity to look at sort of an alternate scenario, and then Texas exercised their contractual right to keep the game on Saturday, which is completely their right. I can understand why they would take that position, but we did work with the school to try to come up with a different scenario and get the game to Sunday.”
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte certainly believed it was Texas’ right to deny Ohio State’s request. He made headlines Wednesday when he told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that he had no desire to move the season opener from Aug. 30 to Aug. 31.
“Why would I want to move the game to Sunday night and have a short week for our boys who were just told we’re kicking off at high noon?” Del Conte said. “I’ve got to go to church. I mean, hot dang.”
Around 24 hours after Del Conte’s comments, Ohio State officially announced the Texas matchup as a Big Noon game. It also announced Grambling State as a 3:30 p.m. game on Big Ten Network and Ohio as a 7 p.m. game on Peacock.
Mulvihill said he recognizes how disappointing it’s been for Ohio State fans to watch their favorite team kick off at noon instead of the late afternoon or evening. However, he noted that Fox’s role in creating such frustration is “a byproduct of doing these game allocations via a draft.”
“I definitely recognize and appreciate that it was frustrating for their fans last year to finish the season with six straight games at the same kickoff time,” Mulvihill said. “It’s not something you would draw up if you had full control of the schedule and you just did it on a whiteboard. But when you’ve got three entities cycling through draft picks, there are things that can happen that maybe aren’t the way you would draw it up. They’re not ideal. So I definitely understand the frustration that they had at the end of the last season.”
I wonder if he understands the frustration Ohio State fans feel now. His quote at the end of Dochterman’s article tells me no.
“The model we’ve got in place allows the conference to have the highest media rights fees in the country, and a lot of that media rights revenue is being passed on to player talent and coaching talent,” Mulvihill said. “I think there’s a direct link between the media rights deal that the Big Ten has struck and the fact that the conference has won the last two national championships.”
Nevermind… I didn’t treat him too harshly at all.
“THAT’S BANANAS.” Earlier this month, The Houston Chronicle’s Kirk Bohls reported that Texas has budgeted between $35 million and $40 million for its 2025 roster. However, Del Conte disputed Bohls’ report amid his interview with ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
“That’s bananas,” he said.
Del Conte said he’s unaware of how much NIL money Texas can distribute to its football players in accordance with Texas state laws, but that will change soon if Judge Claudia Wilken approves the House v. NCAA settlement. He explained that Texas’ current revenue-sharing model involves a split of 75 percent for football, 15 percent for men’s basketball, five percent for women’s basketball and five percent for other sports.
Chris Del Conte said they were reached out to about moving the game at Ohio State. Why would I want to move the game to Sunday night and have a short week? He said he said no to Sunday game. Ive got to go to church.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) May 28, 2025
“If you put it in an ecosystem of two years, that could possibly be it,” Del Conte said of a $40 million football budget, “but that’s not a number that’s accurate (now).”
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian also disputed Bohls’ report this week.
“I wish I had $40 million on our roster,” Sarkisian told Sirius XM. “We’d probably be a little better team than we are.”
Sark thinks his team stinks, confirmed. Bet the house on Ohio State in August.
**STUDENT** ATHLETES. The Ohio State football team posted a 3.22 cumulative GPA in the 2024-25 academic year, resulting in a $50,000 bonus for Ryan Day.
Under the terms of Day’s contract, which Eleven Warriors obtained in February, Ohio State owes the head coach $50,000 for each year his players finish with at least a 3.0 GPA. That number increases to $100,000 for a 3.3 GPA and $150,000 for a 3.5 GPA.
Day’s $50,000 check will be a drop in the bucket when compared to the $1 million bonus he received in January after the Buckeyes won their ninth national championship all time.
With or without incentives, Day is the second-highest-paid coach in college football behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart, as the 45-year-old signed a new seven-year contract in February that raised his annual compensation to $12.5 million. Here’s a list of the 10 highest-paid coaches in the sport, according to USA TODAY:
- Georgia’s Kirby Smart: $13.28 million
- Ohio State’s Ryan Day: $12.5 million
- Clemson’s Dabo Swinney: $11.13 million
- Texas’ Steve Sarkisian: $10.6 million
- USC’s Lincoln Riley: $10.04 million
- Florida State’s Mike Norvell: $10 million
- Alabama's Kalen DeBoer: $10 million
- LSU’s Brian Kelly: $9.97 million
- Kentucky’s Mark Stoops: $9.01 million
- Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin: $9 million
Reminder that college football coaching is not a bad gig if you can get it!
“HE ROUTED ME UP.” I hope this final section sends you into the weekend with a smile.
In a press conference earlier this week, former Michigan and current New England Patriots defensive back Jabrill Peppers shared his first interaction with Mike Vrabel. Believe it or not, it didn’t happen in Boston – it happened in Columbus.
Jabrill Peppers says Mike Vrabel routed him up and caught a ball over him during his recruiting visit to Ohio State before going on to be a standout at Michigan
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) May 28, 2025
I didnt know he used to play a little tight end back when Brady was here. And he told me to line up. Im pic.twitter.com/XGdYlslpN2
“I met Coach Vrabes when I took my visit to Ohio State. I didn’t know he used to play a little tight end back when (Tom) Brady was here. And he told me to line up. I’m like, ‘He’s a linebacker, he ain’t got too much.’ He routed me up, caught the ball. That’s one of the first things he said to me when he got here.”
Just a Buckeye putting a Wolverine in his place.
Oh, what fun!
SONG OF THE DAY. "Writing's On The Wall" - ROLE MODEL.
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