Jamelle Elliott is stepping down from the UConn women's basketball coaching staff. The university confirmed she plans to pursue professional opportunities outside of coaching.
Elliott spent more than two decades with the Huskies as both a player and an assistant coach. She contributed to seven national titles, including the program's undefeated 1995 championship run.
Head Coach Geno Auriemma Reacts to Elliot's UConn Departure
Head coach Geno Auriemma praised her commitment, calling her impact on the program difficult to replace.
"We’ll miss Jamelle tremendously, but I’m grateful for all the time we spent together and all that we accomplished together," Auriemma said in a press release.
Elliot called the decision to leave her alma mater difficult, but the right one for this period in her life.
"This was not an easy decision, but I know it is the right time for me to begin a new chapter," she said. "It was a privilege and honor to wear the Husky uniform and be a part of the coaching staff. UConn will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always love and support our program and the university."
Before joining the bench, Elliott was a forward who pulled down over 1,000 rebounds in her playing career. Her transition from player to recruiter helped shape the program's pipeline for years.
UConn plans to launch an immediate national search for its next assistant coach. The rest of the staff remains in place, including associate head coach Chris Dailey and assistant Tonya Cardoza.
Women’s flag football is sprinting toward NCAA championship status.
The NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact just voted to recommend establishing an official national collegiate championship across all three divisions.
The historic move could crown the first NCAA flag football national champion in the spring of 2028, creating a direct talent pipeline just months before the sport debuts at the 2028 Olympics.
NCAA Flag Football Sees Growth Amid Championship Push
The news comes after women's flag football continues to shatter growth expectations across the country.
Typically, a sport needs 40 participating schools to establish an official NCAA championship. Women’s flag football has already cleared that hurdle with ease.
More than 60 schools currently sponsor varsity programs, and more than 100 institutions plan to field teams in the upcoming academic year.
By taking this step, flag football aims to graduate from the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. Past sports to make this leap include rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling, beach volleyball, and wrestling. Most recently, acrobatics and tumbling both earned championship status in 2026.
All three NCAA divisions will review the recommendation and formalize sponsorship proposals over the coming months. A vote to lock in the official transition is scheduled for January 2027.
Creating the Olympic and Professional Flag Football Pipeline
This latest collegiate expansion aligns with the sport's global rise, which includes an appearance at the 2028 Summer Games.
The new high-level competitive environment will extend far beyond graduation, too. NFL franchise owners voted in December 2025 to financially back and launch a brand new professional flag football league, signaling the sport's overall staying power.
The girls are taking over the gridiron, with sportswear giant Under Armour and the DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation teaming up to donate $1 million to grow girls flag football via their Click Clack: Next Era Grant this week.
The initiative, delivered by global sport-for-social-change organization Beyond Sport, aims to improve access to girls flag football by providing financial resources, high-performance gear, and coaching education, particularly in communities with historically limited opportunities.
"Expanding access to sport is core to who Under Armour is," said UA director of global community impact Flynn Burch in a Tuesday statement. "By removing barriers, we're helping more girls compete, build community, and grow their confidence."
The grant also aims to help more schools, districts, and states legitimize girls flag football as a sanctioned high school sport to bolster equity and participation — a goal that comes as interest in the sport skyrockets.
Flag football is in the midst of a period of rapid growth, as both NCAA programs and pro leagues embrace the game in the lead-up to its debut at the 2028 LA Olympics.
Under Armour isn't wasting any time in putting the company's words into action, either, with the apparel company hosting a girls flag football clinic alongside USA Football as part of the NFL's Super Bowl LX Fan Experience in San Francisco, with 80 young local athletes participating before attending the USA vs. Mexico Flag Football Showcase Game on Thursday afternoon.
While competing at the 2026 Australian Open this week, US tennis star Coco Gauff is giving back to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), with the world No. 3 WTA player announcing a $150,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to fund HBCU tennis scholarships on Tuesday.
"Education has the power to change lives, and I hope this gift will help students achieve their dreams," said Gauff in a Tuesday statement.
Even more, this week's donation marks the two-time Grand Slam champion's second UNCF contribution in as many years, with her $100,000 pledge in 2025 bringing Gauff's total gift to $250,000.
"I feel like HBCU tennis a lot of times doesn't get the funding that they need," Gauff said after advancing to Thursday night's Australian Open third round. "I would always try to uplift marginalized communities and support where I can."
One of the youngest major donors in organization's 80-year history, the 21-year-old star's Coco Gauff Scholarship Program has already sponsored multiple HBCU tennis athletes.
"My family has a deep-rooted history with HBCUs," Gauff wrote in a 2025 press release. "As a young Black athlete, I understand how impactful it is to see people who look like me thriving in both sports and education…. My hope is that this scholarship gives more young Black players the confidence to chase their dreams, knowing they have a strong community behind them and a bright future ahead."
Women's sports stars stepped into the business spotlight this week, as standout athletes like 2025 French Open champ Coco Gauff, current WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers, and USWNT star Trinity Rodman landed on the 2026 edition of the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.
Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston, and Olympic rock climber Brooke Raboutou also made the cut for the US, with Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier named as one of the list's All-Star Alumni.
"Even though I love winning, it took me a while to realize that your life is still going to be your life regardless if you win or lose, and at that point you play freer," Gauff told the publication.
Designed to honor rising talents leading transformative change across business, culture, and entrepreneurship, the featured athletes on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 list are making waves both on and off the field of play.
At 21 years old, Gauff is climbing the WTA's career prize money rankings while also topping Sportico's highest-paid women's sports athletes list, with fellow 30 Under 30s like 23-year-old Boston are investing in NWSL expansion teams.
Elsewhere, 22-year-old Canady signed two consecutive million-dollar NIL deals with Texas Tech, 24-year-old Bueckers has a stake in offseason venture Unrivaled, and 23-year-old Rodman teamed up with Adidas while also negotiating a new playing contract as a free agent.
Overall No. 1-seed Stanford has rolled through the competition in the first three rounds of the 2025 NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament, with the Cardinal booking their spot in this weekend's quarterfinals with a 6-0 thumping of No. 5-seed BYU on Monday.
Stanford has outscored their opponents 16-4 so far, ousting unseeded Cal Poly 3-1 in the first round and claiming a 7-3 second-round shootout win over No. 8-seed Alabama before bouncing BYU.
Elsewhere in the bracket, fellow No. 1-seed Vanderbilt is also still alive after the Commodores took down SEC rival No. 4-seed LSU in Monday's Sweet Sixteen.
Not every top seed is through, however, as ACC standouts Nos. 1 Notre Dame and Virginia both fell to Big Ten contenders in the NCAA tournament's early rounds.
Reigning Big Ten Champions No. 4-seed Washington sent the Cavaliers home in a Sweet Sixteen penalty shootout on Sunday, as the Huskies continue their run in honor of late senior goalkeeper Mia Hamant.
Unseeded Ohio State has also surprised, overcoming a mediocre 4-2-5 performance in 2025 Big Ten play by staging an upset run through the national tournament. After claiming golden-goal overtime winners to oust Notre Dame last week and No. 5-seed Baylor on Sunday, the Buckeyes will make their first Elite Eight appearance since 2010 on Friday.
No. 2-seeds Michigan State, Duke, and TCU, as well as No. 3-seed Florida State round out the quarterfinal competition, as the Big Ten joins the ACC in leading the charge toward the 2025 College Cup with three teams each in the Elite Eight.
How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer quarterfinals
The 2025 NCAA soccer tournament kicks off its Elite Eight round with three ACC vs. Big Ten matchups on Friday, when No. 2 Duke takes on No. 4 Washington at 4 PM ET before No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 Florida State vs. Ohio State begins at 5 PM ET.
The last quarterfinal takes the pitch on Saturday, as SEC favorite No. 1 Vanderbilt faces No. 2 TCU at 7:30 PM ET.
All quarterfinals will stream live on ESPN+.
The NFL is putting women on the gridiron, with commissioner Roger Goodell announcing plans to launch both a men's and women's professional flag football league at Thursday's Leaders in Sport conference in London.
Looking to have both new ventures up and running in "the next couple of years," the NFL's goal is to introduce the leagues prior to the 2028 Summer Games in LA, where flag football will make its Olympic debut.
"The demand is there. We're seeing colleges in the States and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program," Goodell said. "If you set that structure up where there's youth leagues, going into high school, into college, and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That's an important infrastructure that we need to create."
Building that infrastructure also feeds the ongoing NFL goal of growing flag football in order to construct a young fanbase for the gridiron sport at-large, with the league investing in a fan pipeline to support the NFL's future.
In part due to past NFL investments, women's flag football has seen significant growth across the US over the last 25 years, with over 30 states now offering competitive opportunities for high school girls — and at least half of those states fielding it as a full-fledged varsity championship sport.
Even the NCAA is getting in on the action, taking initial steps earlier this year to introduce flag football across all three of the governing body's divisions in the near future.
Though the LA Olympics are three years away, flag football is already charging ahead on the international stage, featuring in the 2022 and 2025 World Games — where the same US talent that the NFL is eyeing for its new league snagged a pair of silver medals.
The Women's Basketball Final Four is getting an upgrade, with the NCAA announcing Tuesday that the 2028 edition of the annual competition will move from Indianapolis's Gainbridge Fieldhouse to Lucas Oil Stadium due to surging ticket interest.
"Moving the 2028 Women's Final Four to Lucas Oil Stadium will allow for more access for our fans, and it represents the continued growth of the sport," said Division I women's basketball committee chair Amanda Braun. "With the interest we have seen, holding the Women's Final Four in a larger venue in Indianapolis is a natural next step."
Home to the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, the football stadium will open up approximately 13,000 additional seats for college basketball fans, bringing the total capacity for the 2028 Final Four to 31,000 — nearly double the original WNBA arena's 18,000 seats.
The committee also voted on Monday to continue the tournament's current preliminary-round format through the 2031 Championship, with seeded teams hosting the first two rounds at home followed by super-regional rounds in predetermined host cities — all leading up to the Final Four finale.
"The Women's Final Four continues to sell out, and the public demand for tickets has steadily increased," the NCAA said in a statement.
With sellout crowds across every NCAA Final Four dating back to 2017 — save the COVID-19 restricted 2021 edition — the 2028 move won't just allow more fans to attend, it will also give the governing body a more accurate measure of the true demand for the growing sport at the collegiate level.
The 2025 NCAA volleyball season is heating up, with a pair of Top 10 matchups headlining the first annual ACC-SEC "Showdown at the Net" event on Wednesday.
Recent conference realignment has seen the SEC and ACC emerge as volleyball strongholds alongside the Big Ten, with the two Power Four rivals laying claim to seven of the current Top 10 teams.
Putting their reputations to the test, the conferences launched the two-day "Showdown at the Net" series this season, with 14 SEC vs. ACC games taking place at campuses nationwide while the four top contenders face off in the event's two-game spotlight showcase in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Wednesday doubleheader will first pair the SEC's No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats against the ACC's No. 7 Pitt Panthers before their respective conference standouts take the court as the No. 2 Texas Longhorns face the No. 4 Louisville Cardinals.
The battle between the Longhorns and Cardinals — a rematch of the 2022 national championship game — will be particularly tense, as both squads enter the match without a single loss on the young 2025 season.
How to watch "Showdown at the Net" NCAA volleyball tournament
No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Pitt will kick off Wednesday's top-tier college volleyball clashes at 6:30 PM ET before No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Louisville square off at 9 PM ET.
Both games will air live on ESPN.
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd, Olympic gymnast Suni Lee, and more college talents struck a pose this week, teaming up with Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and newly minted fiancé — Travis Kelce to launch his new "Tru Kolors" American Eagle collection on Wednesday.
The Tru Kolors campaign highlights rising, current, and former NCAA athletes, with Fudd and Lee joined by UNC tennis commit Anna Frey as well as a trio of standouts in men's basketball and football.
"I'm inspired by where I come from and the people around me. That's why we chose six incredible athletes — Anna, Azzi, Drew, Kiyan, Suni, and Jeremiah — who stay true to themselves while changing the game," Kelce said in Wednesday's press release.
"Each athlete shares Travis's beliefs of staying true and living life beyond boundaries," the statement continues, describing reigning national champion Fudd as one of "college basketball's most resilient and dynamic players."
Lee is the only former collegiate icon featured in the campaign, with the Auburn alum departing NCAA competition to add three more medals to her six Olympic hardware total at the 2024 Paris Games.
College phenoms like Fudd and Lee have been able to funnel their athletic success into increasingly high-profile NIL deals.
Fudd has had a particularly lucrative year off the court, with this latest venture closely following a collab with Meta earlier this month.
How to buy the Travis Kelce American Eagle collection
Items from the initial Tru Kolors run hit shelves on Wednesday, with the rest of the 90-piece collection dropping on September 24th.
All pieces will be available to buy online at American Eagle.