In early June, the chaotic college sports landscape changed again. A federal judge in California finalized the settlement of a 5-year-old antitrust lawsuit between six former Division I student-athletes and the NCAA — allowing schools to begin directly paying athletes as of July 1.

Over the past four years, Division I college athletes had been permitted to earn money through sponsorships, endorsements, social media and other business arrangements — but not through the schools themselves. In addition to allowing direct pay from schools, the settlement will change how these NIL payments are regulated.

UNC decided to opt into the terms of the settlement.

“It’s a massive change in our world,” Dunn said. “It is a significant milestone in college athletics, and it means a lot more work for our staff — staying up with trends, providing opportunities for our student-athletes and to keep winning. Quite frankly, that’s what this is about.”

The House v. NCAA settlement includes nearly $2.6 billion in back pay over the next 10 years to all Division I athletes who competed in college sports from 2016 to 2024. This money in part will come from the NCAA by withholding a variety of fund payments annually made to schools and conferences.

At UNC, this will equal a loss of about $310,000 per year for the next decade. The Big Sky Conference, of which UNC is a full member, will lose about $2.7 million per year over the length of the payout from the 10 full-member schools’ reductions and the conference office, according to deputy commissioner Dan Satter.

“You always want a seat at the table and a chance to voice your perspective,” Satter said. “To not have that and to have financial repercussions that are disproportionate to the athletes impacted (in the Big Sky Conference) and reflected in the settlement is certainly frustrating.”

The defendants in the lawsuit were the NCAA and what were once the five major, or power, conferences: the Pac-12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The plaintiffs, the six former Division I student-athletes, represented the three classes of the settlement according to the 76-page agreement: Grant House, Sedona Price, Tymir Oliver, Nya Harrison, DeWayne Carter and Nicholas Solomon.

The settlement classes consisted of football and men’s basketball; women’s basketball; and the additional sports class. The classes in the settlement are differentiated based on the athletes’ earning potential in the sports.

The settlement money will be split into two funds: $1.976 billion for NIL claims and $600 million for the additional compensation claims, according to the agreement.

Inside the NIL claims money is $71.5 million for video game usage or injury for football and men’s basketball; $1.815 billion for broadcast usage for football and men’s and women’s basketball; and $89.5 million for third-party injury for all three classes who received NIL payments after July 2021.

The $600 million for the additional compensation is comprised of $570 million to the Power 5 football and men’s basketball athletes and $30 million for the additional sports athletes.

All schools in the defendant conferences were bound by all of the terms of the settlement. Schools in other Division I conferences were only bound to the settlement if they opted into the terms. No representatives of Division I schools outside of the Power 5 Conferences were involved in the settlement, according to Satter.

He said the conference is encouraged by its place in college athletics because the Big Sky appeals to what attracted fans to the sports.

“We’re going to be more and more what people fell in love with about college athletics, and we’re going to have more of what is a traditional model as opposed to the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) level and certainly the Power 4,” Satter said.

UNC head football coach Ed Lamb said the impact of the opt-in won’t be significant for the Bears’ program. Lamb said it was important for him to know university leadership from President Andy Feinstein to Dunn and himself were in “alignment to do everything we can do to be competitive.”

Lamb also said he wanted to know the university leaders were interested in continuing to play at the Football Championship Subdivision level and that the Big Sky Conference is the right place for UNC.

“And I feel that from the people who run the university,” Lamb said.

Lamb said the biggest revenue stream he can control is trying to win games. The coach soon begins his third season with the Bears, and the team has won once in 23 games the past two seasons. Preseason practices begin Monday.

“It’s going to produce more butts in the seats and ticket sales,” Lamb said of winning. “When there’s a winning football program, student enrollment tends to increase. Those are the things I’ve got to keep my focus on.”

UNC men’s basketball coach Steve Smiley also said he was glad the university opted into the terms of the settlement.

For a while, UNC officials had hesitations about going along with the terms. The sticking point for the university was a component of the settlement impacting roster sizes. The settlement does away with scholarship limits. Roster limits are in place for schools that opt in, but this mandate comes with a grandfather clause.

Until discussions and negotiations between the sides working out the settlement were held, there was a possibility schools opting into the settlement would have been required to cut roster spots. Schools that opt in don’t have to decrease roster sizes at this point.

At UNC and other Big Sky Conference schools, the matter of roster sizes was a concern because of a loss of enrollment revenue. That was not a direction UNC wanted to go. The university has been working for several years to improve its financial stability through higher enrollment.

Dunn said UNC teams would’ve lost about 50 roster spots under the previous version of the settlement. This equals about $1 million in enrollment revenue, he said.

“Losing head count is not a good thing,” Smiley added, also noting his team is set for the 2025-26 season and the impacts of House will be factored into plans for future seasons. “In my circles and talking to people, it appears it will give the most flexibility in operating in the future. And I think that’s a good thing. There was not a downside with our department, knowing we didn’t have to lose student-athletes.”

UNC decided to opt into the settlement for a couple of other reasons, Dunn said. For one, the university wants to participate at the highest level of Division I athletics. The university also wants to provide additional resources to athletes. How UNC compensates athletes remains in the discussion and planning phases. This is where UNC’s interest in being more creative and strategic becomes a focus.

Dunn said the university had not made any NIL payments to student-athletes as of July 18. This does not include payments from the Bear Pride Collective, summer school scholarships or Alston academic awards.

Dunn said the university will have to self-generate revenue to pay athletes, and there are a few ways this can be accomplished. Among the simplest of these options are finding sponsorships, fundraising and game guarantees. Game guarantees are when a larger school, such as the University of Colorado, pays a sum of money to a smaller school such as UNC to play at the bigger’s school’s home site.

This will happen in 2028 and 2031 when the Bears football team returns to Folsom Field in Boulder for games against the Buffs. UNC will receive a total of $1.05 million for the two games. UNC football will receive $825,000 for two games against Wyoming in 2026 and 2030, according to FBSchedules.com earlier this month.

The women’s basketball team last year played a guaranteed game at Brigham Young University. These games can generate anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $50,000, Dunn said.

This is the type of money that could go toward paying athletes under House. Dunn said he’s also heard of other schools putting a fee on tickets to generate additional revenue.

In a statement on House v. NCAA, UNC said this new era will require unprecedented collaboration with the athletic department, alumni and the Greeley community.

“For us to continue to be competitive in this environment, we’re going to have to get more people involved,” Dunn said this month. “There are a lot of people who live in the area who are not alumni. There are a lot of businesses that are successful here. I think the better we are, the better we can promote Greeley and the better we can promote the Weld County area.”

The Bear Pride Collective was established in 2023, after athletes were allowed to begin receiving NIL payments. The collective works through a third-party organization to facilitate NIL opportunities or transactions between UNC student-athletes and fans, donors and businesses, the university said at the time.

The collective is not officially affiliated with the UNC Athletic Department. Though it’s recommended by UNC to support its student-athletes, the collective is a separate entity. At the time the Bear Pride Collective was established, it was run by an Atlanta-based company called Student Athlete NIL.

As of now, Dunn does not see a change in how the Bear Pride Collective operates, he said. The collective is another option for donors to give to UNC athletes. A representative from the Bear Pride Collective couldn’t be reached for comment about its role under the House settlement terms.

“I think at some point down the road, there might be less options, but right now, I see it as a benefit,” Dunn said.

Under the House settlement, booster collectives may pay student-athletes for NIL as long as all of the payments are for valid business purposes, according to Ropes & Gray. All NIL transactions with a total value of $600 or more must be reported to the newly created College Sports Commission. The commission was set up to oversee the new system under the settlement.

Another term of the settlement stipulates schools may share revenue with athletes at an annual capped amount of $20.5 million per school for this year. The cap is expected to increase by about $1 million each year after 2025-26 to an estimated $32.9 million in 2034-35.

UNC won’t give athletes $20 million, but the university will do “the best we can with the resources we have,” Dunn said.

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Montana State, 8-0 in the Big Sky and 15-1 overall, received 30 first-place votes from 42 media members and seven first-place votes among 12 head coaches. The Bobcats advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision championship game in January where they lost to North Dakota State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

UNC has won one game in the previous two seasons under third-year head coach Ed Lamb. The Bears scored a road upset of then nationally ranked Big Sky opponent Weber State in October 2024.

Among MSU’s top returning players is 2024 Big Sky freshman of the year, running back Adam Jones. Jones ran for 1,172 yards and 14 touchdowns and was named a freshman All-America selection by Football Central. He was one of three Montana State players to rush for more than 1,000 yards last year — including quarterback Tommy Mellott, winner of the Walter Payton Award, the Walter Camp FCS player of the year and Big Sky Offensive MVP and first-team all conference. Mellott is currently on the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster as a wide receiver.

Jones is among the pre-season selections for Big Sky Offensive MVP. MSU defensive lineman Paul Brott is among the selections for Big Sky Defensive MVP. Eight other Bobcats players have been nominated for preseason all-conference honors.

The league is hosting its media days, the Big Sky Kickoff Weekend, Friday through Monday at the Northern Quest Resort & Casino in Spokane, Wash. The preseason and most valuable players will be announced Sunday.

Coverage of the weekend kickoff begins at 10 a.m. Monday. The event will air live on ESPN+ and select Scripps stations. Meghan Robinson with the Big Sky and Scripps Sports’ Kyle Hansen will co-host from Spokane with interviews with representatives of all 12 teams, Big Sky commissioner Tom Wistrcill and special guests.

UNC will be represented in Spokane by Ed Lamb, safety Cam Chapa and offensive lineman Jack Ziebell. Chapa and Ziebell were the Bears’ nominees for preseason all-conference teams. Chapa, a sophomore from Aurora’s Eaglecrest High School, was one of UNC’s most recognized players last year.

He was chosen as a FCS freshman All American by FCS Football Central. Chapa was also named to the Big Sky honorable mention team last year after leading UNC in total (83) and solo (45) tackles and interceptions. His four interceptions tied for first in the Big Sky.

Montana and UC Davis were picked second and third in both polls. Montana was picked second in the media poll and UC Davis was chosen second by the coaches.

The results of the polls are below. Coaches could not vote for their own team. The numbers in parentheses indicate first-place votes.

Coaches’ poll

1. Montana State (7) – 117.
2. UC Davis (1) – 100.
3. 3 Montana (2) – 96.
4. Northern Arizona (1) – 94.
5. Idaho – 81.
6. Sacramento State (1) – 73.
7. Idaho State – 56.
8. Weber State – 55.
9. Eastern Washington – 48.
10. Portland State – 32.
11. Cal Poly – 25.
12. Northern Colorado.

Media poll

1. Montana State (30) – 488.
2. Montana (6) – 434.
3. UC Davis (4) – 399.
4. Idaho (1) – 364.
5. Northern Arizona – 354.
6. Sacramento State (1) – 282.
7. Idaho State – 247.
8. Eastern Washington – 225.
9. Weber State – 192.
10. Portland State – 140.
11. Cal Poly – 94.
12. Northern Colorado – 57.

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A former two-time NCAA champion wrestler, four-time All-American and longtime Division I assistant coach was announced as the new University of Northern Colorado head coach Tuesday afternoon.

Teyon Ware comes to Greeley after spending the past three seasons as an assistant at the University of Oklahoma, his alma mater, where he won two NCAA titles at 141 pounds in 2003 and 2005. He was an All-American from 2003-06 for the Sooners with a sixth-place finish in 2004 and second in 2006.

The 41-year-old Ware was announced as the new UNC coach via email and social media early Tuesday afternoon. A video conference call was held with Ware later in the day. His first name is pronounced Tea-on, which rhymes with Keyon or Deon.

Ware replaces Troy Nickerson, who spent 11 years as the UNC head coach before leaving for Army West Point last month. UNC assistant Earl Hall served as interim coach since Nickerson’s departure. Ware said he’ll be looking for an assistant to help with athletes at the heavier weights in the lineup.

Ware was interested in the UNC job, in part, to take on his first head coaching role.

“When Troy was leaving, we thought, ‘Why not here?’ ” Ware said during the video meeting. “We lived in Laramie (Wyoming) and drove through here. We sat and thought about it and said, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’ ”

Ware was previously an assistant at Wyoming for eight seasons, during which the Cowboys sent 33 wrestlers to NCAAs and multiple Big 12 Conference championships. He also previously coached at Binghamton University in upstate New York and with top-level club programs such as the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, a nonprofit in State College, Pennsylvania.

“Teyon has competed and coached at the highest levels of college wrestling, and his ability to develop student-athletes into elite competitors speaks for itself,” UNC athletic director Darren Dunn said in a news release. “His leadership, character, and vision for the future of UNC Wrestling make him the right person to guide our program forward.”

Ware is a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

He had a 132-0 record and won four state high school titles at Edmond North High in Edmond, Oklahoma, where he was also a second-team all-state football player. Ware won the national Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award for wrestling in 2002. The Schultz award is a prestigious award named for the late wrestler, an Olympic and World champion, who was murdered in 1996.

Ware met with the UNC team earlier in the day Tuesday. The squad has 26 athletes returning as of now, according to UNC athletic communications.

Stevo Poulin and Vinny Zerban, two NCAA tournament qualifiers and All-Americans this year, both transferred to Iowa State not long after Nickerson took the Army job.

One of the remaining athletes is 133-pounder Dominick Serrano, a former four-time state champion at Windsor who also qualified for NCAAs this year. Serrano considered his options following Nickerson’s departure but has remained with the Bears to this point.

Ware said he did not yet know if any athletes from Oklahoma will come with him to UNC. This remains to be determined.

Ware said his teams on the mat will be a united group, close — a family, the coach said.

“We’re here to represent this brand,” Ware said. “We as a staff, we all, at the end of the day, that’s what we teach the guys. We represent the brand on the mat or off the mat.”

The Pioneer Baseball League sent an email early Monday afternoon on the resignation, and the addition of a new team called the Colorado Springs Sky Sox to complete the Owlz’ season.

Owlz on-field manager Dmitri Young, pitching coach Ray King and the coaching staff will take over the Sky Sox for the team’s first series Tuesday in Grand Junction. The Sky Sox will share blocktickets Park in Colorado Springs with the Rocky Mountain Vibes, also of the PBL.

Pioneer Baseball League president Mike Shapiro said Monday afternoon it’s his understanding the Owlz’ players will be released by the former team, given the Northern Colorado squad is no longer in operation. Shapiro said Monday he thinks Young and the coaching staff are in the process of assembling a squad to play as the Sky Sox.

Shapiro said he can’t speculate if that team will include the former Owlz players.

Shapiro said the PBL was notified last week, either Wednesday or Thursday, of the Owlz’ interest in resigning from the league. Shapiro said the league board of directors accepted the resignation and didn’t inquire about the reasons for the team’s departure.

Future Legends LLC, the ownership group behind the Owlz and minor league soccer teams the Northern Colorado Hailstorm and Northern Colorado Rain — have been mired in legal and financial challenges relating to unpaid bills and other issues at the in-progress complex in Windsor for more than a year.

BizWest, a Northern Colorado business news outlet, reported the Owlz’ previous home field, 4Rivers Equipment Stadium at the Future Legends complex, has been inaccessible since late April when it was shut down by the town of Windsor. The town claimed Jeff Katofsky, the complex’s managing member and co-founder, failed to address health and safety issues, according to a BizWest story.

Shapiro said he “can’t speculate” as to the reasons for the Owlz left the league.

“We received the resignation they provided,” Shapiro said. “I assume they have good reason to leave the league. We’ve been busy putting together another team to complete the season.”

Shapiro said he is not aware of another time when a PBL team didn’t complete a season or had to move to another location. He’s been president since 2021.

Casey Katofsky, the son of Future Legends’ Complex owner Jeff Katofsky, and the executive director and co-owner of the complex, last week denied the Owlz were shutting down and moving to Colorado Springs. Katofsky said last Friday any rumor on the subject was “nowhere close to accurate.”

Casey Katofsky was unavailable for comment as of Monday afternoon. The “Meet the team” page on the Future Legends Complex website was not active Monday, indicating the information on leadership could not be found.

In an emailed statement before 2 p.m. Monday, the Owlz said they made a deal with the Pioneer League to play the rest of their home series in Colorado Springs. The Owlz’ email said the deal was made so players could have a proper locker room, training facility and consistent stadium setting.

The Owlz said its facilities “continue to be in maintenance and without a clear exact timetable, we continue to have to find different temporary homes in Northern Colorado and changing our operations every series.”

The statement said the team will “evaluate the future of professional baseball here in the off season as we hope to get back on track and open our youth baseball academy this fall.”

The message added that the Owlz name remains in the hands of the Future Legends ownership team and is expected to continue to be in use as the main brand in Northern Colorado.

Loptien, known then as Lisa Jacobsen, was a high-scoring forward for the Bears before graduating in 1989. She teared up thinking back to the early years during a women’s soccer alumni event Saturday at Jackson Field in Greeley.

Loptien’s emotions spilled over to her former coach, Jim Kadlecek, who was the first varsity coach of the program starting in 1985. Loptien and Kadlecek are both members of the UNC Athletics Hall of Fame, and they had not been in touch for a long time. Kadlecek oversaw the transition of UNC women’s soccer from a club team to an intercollegiate program before women’s sports joined the NCAA and then as an NCAA Division II team.

“I grew up a lot coming to college, and the main reason was him,” said Loptien, now a registered nurse in Littleton.

Loptien and Kadlecek were among the about 80 former players and coaches on campus this weekend to celebrate the 40th anniversary of women’s soccer at UNC. The 2024 season was the official 40th season. The program hosted an alumni weekend Friday and Saturday, allowing those former athletes and coaches to reminisce and reacquaint themselves with friends from years ago.

They also played soccer. A group of alumnae met current players on the pitch at Jackson Field for a friendly match Saturday. A gathering was scheduled for later in the day. The current team was also scheduled to play Metropolitan State of Denver on Saturday evening as part of its spring season.

Forty years ago was a vastly different time for women’s sports. The years when Loptien and Kadlecek were with the Bears was only about 15 years removed from the passage of Title IX legislation that opened the doors for the growth of women’s sports in the U.S.

“I think it’s amazing,” UNC assistant coach Amy Sickler said of the alumni event. “It’s an accumulation of everything we’ve accomplished over the years. To see where we began and where we are now. It’s so moving and powerful to see how far things have come.”

Loptien was the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year in 1988. She was a four-time all-conference selection. In 1988, she was one of 12 finalists for the national player of the year award. Loptien scored 41 goals and added 17 assists for 99 points with the Bears.

She recalled finishing one quarter at UNC with an “awful GPA.” Kadlecek let Loptien know she had to improve her grades to remain on the team. She responded with a high B-plus average the following quarter.

“That helped a lot,” she said. “Just in the growth. “I loved playing soccer. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Jim was a mentor and definitely had a great impact on my life.”

Kadlecek was the athletic director at Greeley Central High School after leaving UNC in the early 1990s. He’s now in his second stint at the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Ohio, where he’s the director of sport business. He joined the UNC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020. Loptien was inducted in 2003.

In 1986, Loptien’s second year at UNC, the Bears were ranked in the top 20 nationally — before women’s sports split off into divisions a couple of years later. The Bears beat traditional women’s sports power Stanford in 1987.

“I was just so grateful to get to work with them (the athletes then),” Kadlecek said. “I never thought I was the one making a sacrifice. They were the ones making the commitment, the sacrifice to get things where they are. There were a lot of people who’ve put a lot of time and energy and sacrifice into getting the program to where it is.”

Loptien said when she played at UNC, the team at times had “two a days,” meaning multiple practice sessions. The players then didn’t lift weights as athletes do now, and some of the women back for the weekend never received any scholarship money as a college athlete in their day.

“We didn’t have the year-round commitment at all,” she said. “It’s quite a full-time job now.”

Fourth-seeded Tagen Jamison of Oklahoma State beat Alirez 13-6 in sudden-victory at the BOK Center.

The loss was the first of the season for Alirez (14-1), who came into the championships ranked third nationally at 141 as of March 3, according to FloWrestling.org. Jamison was ranked sixth.

Alirez was chasing a second Big 12 championship, and the loss sent him into the consolation semifinals on Sunday afternoon. Alirez will wrestle unranked Jordan Titus of West Virginia for the right to get into the third-place match.

Alirez won the 141-pound Big 12 title two years ago on the way to winning the NCAA title.

Windsor’s Dominick Serrano, seeded second at 133, won by decision in all three of his matches Saturday to reach the finals.

Serrano beat unranked Julian Chlebove of Arizona State 7-3 in the opener. Serrano then defeated No. 7 Derrick Cardinal of South Dakota State 8-5 before dispatching another unranked foe, Hunter Leake of California Baptist 10-3 in the semifinals.

Serrano (22-2) will face No. 5 Kyle Burwick of North Dakota State on Sunday evening for the 133-pound title and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. Serrano was ranked 14th this week by FloWrestling.

Vinny Zerban, the sixth seed at 157, will also wrestle for a conference title for the Bears. He earned decisions in all three of his matches Saturday. Zerban (17-4) will face fourth-seeded Cobe Siebrecht of South Dakota State in the finals.

Siebrecht is ranked 19th this week by FloWrestling. Zerban is ranked 21st.

Alirez wasn’t UNC’s only high seed to end up in the consolation rounds Sunday.

Stevo Poulin, seeded second at 125 and in the top 10 nationally, also went out in the semifinals. He was pinned by No. 3 Jett Strickenberger in 2:15. Poulin was ranked ninth this week by FloWrestling.

Poulin is also in the consolation semifinals Sunday with a chance to make the third-place match. Poulin will face No. 1 seed Richard Figueroa of Arizona State.

Other UNC results from Saturday:

165: Unranked Clayton Ulrey will wrestle for seventh place on Sunday after winning one match and losing another in the consolation round. He’ll face No. 7 Jack Thomsen of Northern Iowa. Ulrey, a senior in his final year of collegiate wrestling, beat Logan Fowler of Air Force 7-5 in his first consolation match. Aiden Riggins of Iowa Stat beat Ulrey on a major decision (11-3), sending Ulrey to the seventh place match.

174: Aydin Rix-McElhinney will also wrestle for seventh place Sunday after going 1-1 in consolation matches. He advanced after an injury to  West Virginia’s Brody Conley before losing to Iowa State’s MJO Gaitan on a decision.

184: AJ Heeg lost his opening match to undefeated No. 1 seed Parker Keckeisen by technical fall. Heeg lost in the consolation round later in the day on a 2-0 decision to eighth seed Colton Hawks of Missouri.

197: Andrew Donahue also lost his first two matches. He dropped a 5-0 decision to No. 7 Brian Burburija of Air Force. Donahue then lost to California Baptist’s Eli Sheeren on a major decision, 11-2.

285: Jose Valdez also went out after two matches. Valdez lost in the opener on a 6-4 decision to No. 3 seed Lance Runyon of Northern Iowa. North Dakota State’s Andrew Blackburn-Forst pinned Valdez (1:18) in a consolation match.

On the final night of the regular season, the Northern Colorado men’s basketball team earned a share of the conference title with a 68-63 win over Weber State on Monday night in Ogden, Utah.

Guard Jaron Rillie scored a team-high 24 points, including 11 of the Bears’ 24 points in a sluggish first half to lead UNC to its first Big Sky title since the 2010-11 season.

Rillie shot 7 of 14 from the floor against the Wildcats, 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and he pulled down a team-best eight rebounds. Rillie was also 6 of 7 from the free-throw line.

Forward Isaiah Hawthorne managed 15 points on a 4 of 15 night from the floor. He was 5 of 6 from the line with six rebounds and a steal. Marcell McCreary came off the bench for 14 points in 19 minutes.

The Bears shot 30% from the floor (9 of 30) in the first half that ended with UNC leading 24-23. Weber State was 9 of 23 in the first half (39%).

UNC shares the regular-season title with Montana because the Grizzlies defeated Eastern Washington 83-72 in their regular-season finale Monday night at home in Missoula.

UNC (15-3 Big Sky, 23-8 overall) earns the top seed over the Grizzlies (15-3, 22-9) on a tiebreaker for the upcoming conference tournament, Saturday through Wednesday at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.

The Bears swept the season series against fourth-place Idaho State while Montana split its two regular-season with the Bengals.

Idaho State comes into the picture for the tiebreaker because UNC’s and Montana’s records against teams behind them in the standings factors into the tiebreaker scenario.

Portland State finished third in the regular season with an 11-7 conference record. Montana and UNC both split the season series against the Vikings, moving the tiebreaker to records against Idaho State.

UNC goes to the Big Sky tournament on a four-game winning streak, which is currently the best in the conference. Montana went on a 10-game winning streak starting in late January to overtake UNC for first place in the conference standings.

The Grizzlies’ streak ended Saturday with a 79-76 overtime loss at Portland State, giving UNC another chance at first place. UNC took it, beating Northern Arizona on the road Saturday night in Flagstaff for a share of first in the conference.

The Bears’ first game in Boise is at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in the second-round against either No. 9 Weber State or No. 10 Sacramento State. Weber State and Sacramento State meet in the first round at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Second-seeded Montana plays either No. 7 Northern Arizona or No. 8 Eastern Washington at 8 p.m. Sunday. Northern Arizona and Eastern Washington play in the first round at 8 p.m. Saturday.

The winners of the second-round games on Sunday earn a day off Monday and advance to the tournament semifinals scheduled for Tuesday night.

Portland State is the third seed and meets No. 6 Idaho in the third round on Monday night. No. 4 Idaho State plays No. 5 Montana State in the third round on Monday evening.

Northern Colorado won its only Big Sky regular-season and conference tournament championships in 2010-11 when it hosted the tournament. The championships were later vacated because of NCAA violations on use of an ineligible player.

They did it again Saturday night in the home finale against Idaho, as the Bears used a big second half for a 92-74 win at Bank of Colorado Arena.

Hawthorne scored 25 points against the Vandals, Reynolds added 21 points on senior night in front of a strong crowd of 2,004.

The men have been UNC’s leading scorers all season, and they were on against Idaho — a team that handed the Bears one of their conference losses earlier in the season.

Hawthorne shot 9 of 11 from the floor with 3 of 4 from 3-point range, Reynolds was 10 of 15 with five rebounds and five assists.

UNC took a 48-47 halftime lead, started the second half with a 17-4 run and outscored the Vandals 44-27 in the second half.

UNC shot 63.2% from the floor for the game. The defense clamped down on Idaho in the second half. The Vandals went from 61% in the first half to 37% after halftime.

“The impact is daily,” Bears coach Steve Smiley said of Hawthorne and Reynolds, who are averaging 17.3 and 16.5 points this year. “When you have really talented guys, sometimes it doesn’t work because they kind of chew into each other’s production, usage and even just ego-wise, right? Those guys play so well together, and that’s a big thing.”

UNC, 13-3 in the Big Sky and 21-8 overall, took a 48-47 halftime lead and extended it to double digits early in the second half with the 17-point run.

UNC clinched at least the second seed for the Big Sky Conference Tournament early next month before the game against the Vandals (7-8, 12-16). Weber State beat Portland State 60-56 Saturday afternoon, assuring the Bears of no worse than second place in the final conference standings.

The Big Sky Conference Tournament is March 8-12 at Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.

With Portland State’s loss, all conference teams have at least seven conference losses other than UNC and Montana. The Bears and the Grizzlies are guaranteed to slot into either the 1 or 2-seed — the exact position remains up for grabs. As the top two seeds, both UNC and Montana will play their first tournament games on Sunday, March 9.

Those games are scheduled for 5:30 and 8 p.m. Mountain Time.

The Bears could still earn the No. 1 seed for the tournament. UNC needs to win its final two regular-season games and hope for a Montana loss. The Grizzlies (12-2 in the Big Sky as of Saturday afternoon) have four regular-season games remaining. Montana played at Montana State on Saturday night.

UNC holds a tiebreaker over Montana because the Bears swept Idaho State in both games this year and the Bengals beat Montana once.

Saturday night’s game was preceded by senior night festivities. UNC honored guard Jaron Rillie and Hawthorne in a short ceremony. They will be out of eligibility with the end of the regular season.

Rillie is a key component of the team, which has really been defined by its depth. He scored a season high 23 points Thursday night, and led the Bears in rebounding and assists in a 95-76 win over Eastern Washington. Rillie transferred to UNC before the 2023-24 season.

He scored five points, grabbed five rebounds and had four assists against Idaho. .

This is Hawthorne’s only year in the navy and gold. He previously played at the University of San Francisco where he earned a bachelor’s degree.

The Bears scored 90 points for the second straight and for the sixth time this season.

Marcell McCreary hit a couple of 3-pointers late in the second half, and Idaho transfer Quinn Denker made a 3 with 8 minutes remaining for a 20-point UNC lead at 81-61.

Denker came off the bench for 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the floor. McCreary finished with 11 points and three rebounds, also off the bench.

Guard Zach Bloch capped the 17-4 run with a 3 for a 65-51 lead with 14:39 to play.

Bloch started the Bears’ run out of halftime. He passed up a good shot on the wing for a better one for Rille. Rillie waited near the top of the key and rattled in the 3-pointer to go up 51-49 a little more than 1 minute into the second half.

“Even though it was like an NBA game in the first half in scoring, it was still an awesome first half,” Smiley said. “We just had to do a better job guarding 1-on-1. (Tyler) Lindhardt was awesome, and he kept carrying that thing on in the first half.”

Lindhardt led Idaho with 21 points, 18 of those in the first half.

Idaho beat UNC in the teams’ first meeting in late January in Moscow. Freshman Kolton Mitchell hit a 25-foot shot in the final three seconds for the 77-76 win. UNC played the game without Hawthorne, who was out with strep throat.

Smiley’s 85 wins are the most by a coach in the NCAA Division I era at the school. The program went to Division I ahead of the 2005-06 season.

Smiley became the Division I leader with his 81st win Feb. 3 at Idaho State, passing his predecessor and former boss Jeff Linder (80). Smiley became head coach in 2020 when Linder left for Wyoming.

Montana beat Weber State 65-58 at home for its eighth straight victory. Earlier in the day, UNC lost on the road at Portland State.

Montana (19-8 overall) is 12-2 in the conference with four games remaining. UNC is 11-3. The Bears (19-8 overall) also have four games left on their schedule — starting Thursday night at home against Eastern Washington. Tip-off is 6 p.m.

UNC and Montana split their two conference games with each team winning on the road. UNC’s other conference loss came Jan. 23 at Idaho.

Montana’s other conference loss was to Idaho State on the road Jan. 18.

Montana’s winning streak is currently the longest in the Big Sky Conference. The Grizzlies are penciled into the NCAA Tournament by ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi as of Tuesday. Lunardi has the Grizzlies as a 15 seed in the west region.

UNC won eight consecutive games from mid-December to mid-January, spanning non-league and league games. As of a few weeks ago, the Bears claimed the Big Sky spot in the NCAA Tournament according to Lundardi. UNC was listed as a 14 seed in the west.

The Grizzlies’ next game is Saturday night at rival Montana State (7-7, 12-15) in Bozeman.

Northern Colorado hosts Idaho at 6 p.m. Saturday for its senior night game — and final regular-season home game.

The Bears play their final two games on the road: Saturday, March 1 at Northern Arizona (2 p.m.) and Monday, March 3 at Weber State (7 p.m.).

Wrestling

Former local high school wrestlers Dom Serrano and Andrew Alirez won early for the Bears wrestling team Sunday against Wyoming, but those were the only UNC wins for the day in a 26-9 Big 12 Conference loss to the Cowboys in Laramie.

At 133 pounds, the 14th-ranked Serrano pinned Stockton O’Brien in 3 minutes, 26 seconds. Alirez, ranked second nationally at 141, decisioned Cole Brooks 11-6.

UNC defeated Utah Valley 22-21 in a Big 12 Conference dual Feb.14 in Orem, Utah.

Serrano, Alirez, Benji Alanis, Vinny Zerban and Andrew Donahue earned wins.

Serrano, a former four-time state champ from Windsor, beat Kase Mauger on an 8-2 decision.

Greeley’s Alirez, a four-time state champion at Greeley Central, scored a major decision over Haiden Drury 12-3.

Alanis also won on a major decision at 149, with a 14-4 victory over Smokey McClure.

Nationally ranked No. 18 Zerban gave the Bears their fourth straight win with an 18-3 technical fall over Tanner Frothinger.

Clayton Ulrey (165), Aydin Rix-McElhinney (174) and freshman AJ Heeg (184) all lost their matches before Donahue pinned Kael Bennie for a 22-13 lead.

UNC hosts its final match of the regular season on Sunday, Feb. 23 against Air Force. The match begins at 2 p.m. at Bank of Colorado Arena.

The Big 12 Conference Championships are Saturday-Sunday, March 8-9 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Softball

The Bears split two games Sunday against Manhattan University and University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) in El Paso.

UNC (3-7) beat Manhattan 10-1 in five innings on Sunday morning, the final day of the Dr. Diana Natalicio Memorial Tournament.

UTEP beat UNC 6-2 in the afternoon game.

Four teams participated in the tournament named for Natalicio, a former UTEP president who died in 2021.

UTEP played games against Montana and Manhattan on Friday and Saturday.

UNC on Friday and Saturday was in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for New Mexico State’s Troy Cox Classic. The Bears finished with a 1-3 record at the classic. UNC split two games with the host Aggies and lost to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 17-ranked Nebraska.

Nebraska pitcher Jordyn Bahl no-hit the Bears in a 10-0, five-inning win Feb. 16. Bahl struck out five and walked two. She also hit two batters.

In El Paso, UNC pitcher Isabelle DiNapoli allowed one run on three hits in the five-inning win against Manhattan. DiNapoli struck out four and walked three.

The Bears scored eight runs on four hits in the second inning to take an 8-1 lead.

Outfielder Jazzy Longo had two hits with a double and home run and four RBI. Katie Walling was 2 for 2 with an RBI, run scored and a stolen base. Abby Gaona reached base three times with a base hit, scored three runs and stole a base.

Longo and infielder Krista Francia were named to the all-tournament team.

Francia was 2 for 3 with a run scored in the game against UTEP. She also scored a run in the Manhattan game.

UNC goes to Raleigh, North Carolina, this weekend for games Friday-Sunday at the Marucci Classic hosted by North Carolina State.

The Bears play Central Michigan and N.C. State on Friday, Illinois and N.C. State on Saturday and a second game against Central Michigan on Sunday.

Women’s basketball

Northern Colorado swept its weekend games Feb. 13 and Feb. 15 against Sacramento State and Portland State.

The Bears are 5-9 and in seventh place in the Big Sky Conference heading into their final four games of the regular season. UNC (12-13 overall) travels to Eastern Washington and Idaho for games Thursday and Saturday.

UNC is home for the final weekend at Bank of Colorado Arena, playing Northern Arizona at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 1 and Weber State at 6 p.m. Monday, March 3.

Baseball

The Bears are 2-2 following their season-opening series at Utah Tech in St. George, Utah. All four games were decided by one run.

UNC clinched the series tie with a 5-4 win Sunday after scoring a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to complete its comeback.

UNC didn’t win its first game a year ago until late March. The Bears started the season 0-21 before earning their first win March 22 against Summit League opponent Omaha.

Utah Tech won the opener Friday 7-5. The teams split the Saturday doubleheader with UNC winning 9-8 in Game 1, and Utah Tech winning 5-4 in Game 2.

Kai Wagner hit a solo home run, Jake King brought in the go-ahead runs with a two-run double in the ninth and Brandon Sanchez also had a hit and an RBI.

Jack Tuttle earned the win in two innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

King on Monday was named the Summit League Peak Performer of the Week following his play in the series at Utah Tech.

A senior outfielder from Buckeye, Arizona, King was 7 for 16 in the series with two doubles, four RBI and three runs scored in the four games. King had a two-run single in the second game of the series, breaking a 7-7 tie. UNC went on to win 9-8.

UNC travels to the University of New Mexico for four games Friday-Sunday in Albuquerque.

Men’s golf

The Bears were 11th Tuesday in the 19-team Loyola (Maryland) Intercollegiate Tournament in Arizona.

Senior Antti Vahvaselka was UNC’s top individual finisher in 24th place at Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Arizona.

Vahvaselka was 2-under par for the tournament. He opened 1-under par through the first two rounds and shot a 1-under 71 in the final round to move up from 34th.

Junior JaeSeung Na finished tied for 28th at 1-under.

The issue is expected to come up again later this month at the next trustees meeting.

University leaders, including President Andy Feinstein, agree additional raises are needed for the nearly 400 full-time faculty, especially with a higher cost of living plaguing Colorado residents over the past few years. But the limited funding available to higher education means raises so far are incremental and slow to materialize.

Increasing faculty salaries was publicly raised in December when Faculty Senate Chair Britney Kyle presented information for discussion at a board of trustees meeting.

“The bottom line is places like UNC are not paying professors enough,” said Fritz Fischer, a longtime history professor and faculty representative to the board of trustees. “The money from the state is not enough. The rest comes from student tuition, and no one wants student tuition to go up.”

Colorado in 2023 ranked 49th of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. in public higher education appropriations per full-time equivalent student, according to the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association that does financial analysis for higher education.

The association’s Fiscal Year 2023 State Higher Education Finance report showed Colorado spent $6,603 per full-time equivalent, ahead of Vermont ($5,649) and New Hampshire ($3,990).

UNC’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine is scheduled to open to students in 2026. Full enrollment is projected three years later, in 2029.

Faculty, staff and operational expenditures will be funded solely from tuition upon full enrollment. Faculty and staff expenditures will come from a combination of donors and student tuition in the years between the first class enrolling and full enrollment at the college, UNC Assistant Vice President of Communications Deanna Herbert said.

Kyle, a professor of anthropology, said faculty are looking for targeted compensation adjustments to bring the members in line with salaries paid to peers at 50 other institutions with similar characteristics across the U.S.

Faculty also want an evaluation of policies on how faculty and staff are considered, as well as a look at raising the percentage of the UNC budget related to instruction. Kyle’s presentation included data showing UNC spends the smallest percentage on instruction among in-state peer institutions, at 36.3%. Kyle compared this to Colorado Mesa (42.3%), University of Colorado Colorado Springs (43.9%), Fort Lewis College (37.4%), Metropolitan State University of Denver (43.2%) and Western Colorado University (51.6%).

“We want them to think about the core academic mission as they’re approving future budgets,” Kyle said.

At UNC, instruction includes salaries and benefits for faculty to teach a course, teaching assistant salaries, travel for faculty or students to present work at conferences and curriculum materials.

In the early 2000s, about 51% of the UNC budget was devoted to instruction. Board of trustees policy from long ago indicated 55% of the budget should go toward instruction.

Feinstein said the source is unknown behind the policy or document mandating the 55% for instruction. To his knowledge, the university has never met the 55% mark, he said. Feinstein believes it’s more important for the university to articulate and follow its priorities today.

“Then really come to an agreement with the faculty so that they are also supporting and believing that we are committed to them, and we are addressing the concerns that have been provided to me,” Feinstein said.

If it’s not possible to reach the 55% and it’s never been met in the past, Fischer said, faculty still want a strategy to steer the instruction budget higher.

“We’d like to see a serious plan that recognizes the main purpose of a university is instruction,” Fischer said.

Faculty see a widening gap between how UNC spends money on staff and faculty, according to Feinstein, contributing to the feeling of being underpaid. The university needs to determine how to address this concern, he added.

“The truth is, in the last 20 years, the work that universities are doing to support students has become significant,” Feinstein said, adding he thinks it’s a national theme in higher education.

These services are geared toward seeing a student to graduation in areas such as academic advising, career counseling and mental health. The university also has to think about housing, security and food issues for students.

“We know that if we do not provide the infrastructure and support for students to be able to focus on their education, they will not be successful,” Feinstein added. “It’s no longer students come into class, take a class and go home, right?”

Kyle’s presentation at the December board of trustees meeting included data showing different trends in pay for full-time faculty and staff over more than a decade.

Staff pay has risen steadily since 2021 from a total of $44.4 million to $58.8 million this year.

In the past 13 years, faculty compensation peaked at $46.9 million in 2019. The totals dipped to $39.4 million in 2022 with turnover following the COVID-19 pandemic. The total faculty pay this year is up to $40.8 million.

UNC has 378 full-time faculty for the current, 10-month 2024-25 academic year.

Salaries range from $44,000 to $160,000 depending on discipline (field), position rank and the number of years in the rank, Herbert said.

The faculty academic ranks are lecturer, instructor, senior lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor and professor. There are set requirements to meet each rank.

UNC is trying to reach 100% of the median salary of faculty at 50 other peer institutions. Recent 3% increases brought UNC faculty to at least 92.5% of those peer schools, the majority of which are universities offering doctorate degrees. Most of the universities on the list are also classified as having high or very high research activity.

Feinstein announced last week UNC recently earned a designation indicating high research activity. The university’s Research 2 Classification from Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education means it awards at least 20 doctoral research degrees annually on average and spends an average of at least $5 million for research in a single year.

Of those peer institutions, UNC ranks sixth in cost of living. Greeley has a cost of living index of 113.4, placing it above the national average of 100. Among the peer schools, only Portland State (127.7), Montclair State in Montclair, New Jersey (135), the University of Massachusetts-Boston (150.8), San Diego State (154.9) and City University of New York (172.5) are in locations with higher costs of living.

The cost of living in Northern Colorado is a key factor for tenure-contract English professor Molly Desjardins. Desjardins, 48, has taught at UNC for 16 years since she finished graduate school with a doctorate in English. She was hired at a salary of $47,000 to teach British Romantic literature. She has also taught 18th- and 19th-century literature.

“Now, I teach whatever they ask,” she said.

Desjardins earns about $61,000 as an associate professor, and her tenure contract status essentially gives her job security. With tenure, board of trustees policy says Desjardins has the right to be employed at UNC until she resigns, retires, is discharged for cause, is terminated because of a reduction in workforce approved by the board of trustees, is permanently disabled or dies.

Desjardins lives in Fort Collins, and until two years ago, she had a roommate because she couldn’t afford rent on her own apartment. She’s given up on one day owning her own home.

“It’s a pie-in-the-sky kind of idea,” she said. “The cost of living here is higher than at peer institutions with similar pay, and it’s difficult with student loans. If I was in rural Kansas with the same job and same paycheck, I could make it go a lot further.”

Desjardins’ current salary is nearly the same as what she would earn as a Step 1 certified staff member with a doctorate in Greeley-Evans School District 6. The District 6 salary at Step 1 is $61,813. With 25 years and a doctorate, a certified staff member could earn $118,788.

Within her field, Desjardins has known colleagues to opt for employment at a school district rather than continue teaching at the college level. Others have switched into writing grants for nonprofits. Desjardins said she’s stayed at UNC because her position would not be filled if she left the university.

“Students would lose another faculty,” she said. “I think many have stayed because we genuinely care about the students and are dedicated to them. There are a lot of good things at the university. Teachers teach, and we’re there because it’s meaningful work.”

Cost of living wasn’t always a factor in paying UNC faculty, said Dale Pratt, a UNC graduate and vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer. Pratt said high rates of turnover among faculty and staff around the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to a higher level of awareness on the need to better compensate employees.

“We’re not at that medium level. We didn’t have to be before, but we do need to get there now,” he said. “We’re not able to continue to rely on that (low cost of living) as a way to rationalize the compensation levels that were available here at UNC.”

Kyle made it clear the faculty does not want higher pay to come at any expense to staff. She said there were 780 staff at the university as of August 2024.

“We want to see our wages keeping up with staff on our campus, which is hard,” Kyle said. “We have a lot of great staff. We’re not saying we want staff to get salary cuts.”

The university is pausing all hiring for new and vacant positions while it evaluates its financial position with a projected budget shortfall.

The state’s total appropriation for higher education for the current fiscal year was $1.2 billion, UNC said. UNC’s portion was $69 million. Gov. Jared Polis in late 2024 proposed a $12.1 million increase, or about 1%, for all of higher education next year.

Pratt said with projected limitations in the state budget, as well as the “highly variable” nature of revenue around tuition and a continued need to improve compensation, the university has to be careful with its financial resources.

“We run the risk of putting the institution in a financially risky place, right?” Pratt said. “And we can’t. We can’t do that. It’s just not good business. It’s just not prudent.”

He said the faculty compensation increases can’t be implemented at a faster pace. Pratt said compensation rate increases are in the university budget for next year. The university will also try to give incremental increases to faculty to get them closer to parity with the 50 peer institutions.

State higher education executives were not happy with the governor’s proposed higher education budget for next year. Fourteen of those presidents, CEOs, chancellors, executive directors and directors requested a general fund increase of $80.2 million for their institutions in a letter to the Joint Budget Committee.

The higher education executives, including Feinstein and Aims Community College CEO and president Leah Bornstein, sent the letter to the six-member Joint Budget Committee in early December. The committee is made up of three state senators and three representatives who study the management, operations, programs and fiscal needs of state government.

The 14 executives asked for $65.1 million in state operating funding and $15.1 million in financial aid — with an authority for a 2.7% tuition increase for resident undergraduate students.

“Continued investment in public higher education is critical in order to keep resident tuition in check and to continue making progress as we work to meet the state’s workforce demand,” they wrote in the letter.

Polis’ office said the governor’s $12.1 million proposal to support higher education and a $2.3 million increase in financial aid are part of a balanced budget that protects critical funding for priorities including education.

The governor’s office through Deputy Press Secretary Ally Sullivan said the Joint Budget Committee has “tough choices to make as they set a balanced budget for Colorado’s future.

“Significant increases in any area of funding could result in cuts to critical areas like education and public safety,” Sullivan added.

The governor’s office said the increases proposed in this budget mean a 63% hike in general fund operating support for higher education institutions since the 2019-20 academic year. The state over the same span has increased state funding for direct financial aid to cover tuition, fees and other costs.

The $1.2 billion sent to higher education last year was a 10% increase in state support, Polis’ office noted — adding “we recognize that despite these investments higher education is expensive.”

Republican State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, who represents parts of Larimer and Weld counties, is a third-year member of the Joint Budget Committee. She said she doesn’t know why Colorado ranks low in funding public higher education or how the state arrived to this position.

In her time on the committee, it’s been a fight get core increases for higher education, she said. Polis has come in low on early proposals.

Kirkmeyer said a lower general fund contribution from the state requires more institution costs. Some of these are handed down to students.

“It’s confounding,” Kirkmeyer said. “What do we tell students who can’t afford it?

“We’re trying to make things more affordable and people have the opportunity for post-secondary education so they can advance in their careers.”

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