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One day after Duke lost to Murray State in the Durham super regional, Blue Devils head coach Chris Pollard left for the same position at ACC rival Virginia on Tuesday.
The winningest baseball coach in Duke history with 420 victories, Pollard replaces Brian O'Connor, who took the head coaching position at Mississippi State earlier this month.
"I am excited for this new adventure at the University of Virginia, but I am leaving a big piece of my heart in Durham," Pollard said.
Before taking the helm at Duke for the 2013 season, Pollard began his coaching career at Pfeiffer University (2000-04), then moved on to Appalachian State (2005-12), and has an overall record of 806-614-3.
During his tenure with the Blue Devils, Pollard led the program to four super regionals (2018, 2019, 2023 and 2025) with coaching seven All-Americans and 46 major league draft picks. Duke also won two ACC tournament titles (2021, 2024) under Pollard.
With the Cavaliers, Pollard will have his work cut out for him as several Virginia players have either joined O'Connor at Mississippi State or have entered the transfer portal.
Pollard's entire Duke staff is reportedly set to follow him to Charlottesville, Va., along with Blue Devils recruiting coordinator/assistant Derek Simmons.
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Troubling report surfaces on Patriots' first-round rookie
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye might not feel comfortable with his blindside protection early in the upcoming season. Following troubles at left tackle in 2024, the Patriots invested in the position by drafting LSU standout Will Campbell with the No. 4 pick in April's draft. Per Chad Graff of The Athletic, Campbell has been trending down at training camp this summer. "All eyes are on him every practice, which is a tough spot for a rookie," Graff wrote of Campbell. "So far, he’s been about what you’d expect from a rookie. He has some strong moments, particularly in the running game. But there have been struggles in the passing game. He’s been beaten for a sack in just about every practice, which isn’t great considering he’s usually on the field each practice for only 15 or so passing plays in full-team drills. "He tends to get beaten to the inside after oversetting, and it probably doesn’t help that the Pats don’t yet know who their left guard is next to him. Still, extrapolate those numbers, and that’s allowing two sacks each NFL game if you throw the ball 30 times. Not great." Graff believes the future is "bright" for Campbell, but doesn't think he will be a top-20 left tackle in 2025. NFL scouts had questions before the draft about Campbell's 32⅝ inch (or 33 inches, depending on whether one believes the league or LSU) arm length. Some suggested he'd be better suited to play guard in the league than left tackle. If Campbell continues to give up sacks, the Patriots might consider moving the 21-year-old to the interior part of the offensive line. Per OurLads, Campbell is projected to win the left tackle starting job for Week 1. If Campbell doesn't develop quickly in the preseason, Maye's progress as a thrower in the pocket could take a hit in the upcoming season.
Pirates take yet another PR hit for mishandling David Bednar trade
The Pittsburgh Pirates brutally fumbled the 2025 trade deadline, even by their miserable standards. But it wasn't just the fact that their moves made little sense and did nothing to improve the short-term and long-term outlook of the franchise. It is also now about the way they handled the trade involving closer David Bednar going to the New York Yankees. Bednar revealed on Friday night during an interview with YES Network that he only found out about the trade on social media, and it took a phone call to his agent and quite a bit of time before he got the actual confirmation that he was going to the Yankees. On one hand, this is not entirely unheard of. Sometimes trade news breaks early due to a leak within somebody's front office, and on trade deadline day, teams can have their hands full trying to make deals before they run out of time. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. But it still seems like poor form for the Pirates not to have their ducks in a row when it comes to informing their player about a trade. Especially, in this case, a player like Bednar. Not only has he been one of the few bright spots on the Pirates over the past five years, but he is also from the Pittsburgh area and fully embraced being a Pirate. He loved it. He loved playing there. He wanted to play there and seemed open to staying. That is not an easy thing to find, given where the franchise has been and how consistently bad it has been over the past four decades. Outside of a tough 2024 season and some early struggles this season, he was also a wildly popular player among the fans. The Pirates also knew that to the point where owner Bob Nutting reportedly blocked a potential Bednar trade a couple of years ago. A player with that sort of standing within the organization should not have to find out about being traded through social media. They should certainly not have to have their agent track down official sources to confirm it. For most teams, and if this sort of situation were taking place in a vacuum, it may not be that big of a deal. It would probably be just a minor slip-up and footnote to the trade deadline. But the Pirates are not a normal team, and this situation is not happening in a vacuum. The Pirates have spent the entire season creating self-inflicted PR nightmares all over the place, from the Roberto Clemente tribute that was taken door for a hard seltzer ad, to the handling of Bucco Bricks outside of PNC Park, to "Sell the team" chants consistently breaking out, to the simple fact the organization has been an absolute mess on the field and one of the worst teams in baseball. Now they can add allowing a popular, fan favorite to find out about his trade through social media to the list. Even worse for Pirates fans, they seemed to get the worst value for their All-Star closer than other teams (specifically the A's and Minnesota Twins) received for their All-Star closers. This is a franchise that just simply can not do anything right.
Warriors-Suns Jonathan Kuminga Trade Update Emerges After $90 Million Offer
The Golden State Warriors remain in a stalemate with Jonathan Kuminga. As a restricted free agent, the Warriors can match any offer sheet a team signs him to. However, that hasn't stopped teams from trying to acquire Kuminga. Among the teams that have pushed hard for Kuminga are the Phoenix Suns. ESPN's Shams Charania and Anthony Slater reported on Wednesday that the Suns have tried to acquire Kuminga. In fact, they have made "the most lucrative push via sign-and-trade" for Kuminga. The Suns can acquire players via sign-and-trade after waiving and stretching the last two years of Bradley Beal's contract. Doing so got them under the NBA's first tax apron, which permits them to do so. However, completing a sign-and-trade requires a willing trade partner to make it happen. While the Suns remain interested in Kuminga, pulling off a trade will be tricky for them because the Warriors aren't interested in what the Suns have offered for him. The Athletic's Sam Amick reported that sign-and-trade talks have gone nowhere because the Warriors don't want what the Suns are offering. "Per team sources, the talks between the Suns and Warriors have never progressed in any serious manner," Amick wrote. "So while it’s certainly notable that Phoenix is being so aggressive with its contract offer — four years and a combined $90 million, per ESPN — that part is irrelevant so long as Golden State continues to show zero interest in what the Suns have to offer." The Warriors have all the leverage because, with Kuminga as a restricted free agent, they don't have to agree to a sign-and-trade with the Suns or anyone else if the offer holds little appeal to them.
Malik Nabers Rejuvated By NY Giants New Culture, Team Additions
Like his teammates last year, New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers was worn down by the end of the 2024 season from all the losing and pitfalls the team fell into. But the further away the Giants get from a franchise-worst 3-14 record, the brighter the outlook becomes in East Rutherford, especially given all the fresh faces general manager Joe Schoen brought in to help bolster the culture and improve the team’s chances of being more competitive. “The people we put in this building this year… adding a few more quarterbacks from Jameis (Winston), (Jaxson) Dart, Russell (Wilson), Jevon Holland, (Paulson) Adebo,” Nabers told Kay Adams during her recent training camp stop for her Up Adams podcast. “So having those athletic guys, having those leaders that's on defense and offense… we’ve been seeing a lot of leadership from those guys, so we’re moving in the right direction.” Wilson, in particular, is going to be instrumental for Nabers as he seeks to deliver an encore of last year’s franchise record-setting (receptions) performance. Thus far in training camp, Nabers, who sat out of the spring drills thanks to a toe issue, and Wilson look as though they have been playing catch for years instead of just over a week. “I try to get as much information out of him as possible,” Nabers said, adding that the relationship between him and Wilson is ‘dynamic. “He's been very helpful throughout my journey. With the leadership he has added to the quarterback role, the offense, the receivers, you know the sky is the limit for us, and I hope we reach that.” "He's an animal!" Besides the new faces at quarterback, Nabers is particularly impressed with the addition of first-round pick Abdul Carter, who so far has been living up to his pre-draft billing. “That dude is an animal,” Nabers said of the 2024 All-American. “I don’t really see it until I go home and watch it, but when you watch the explosiveness, the ability for him to work his body, twerk his body, spin his body, I can't wait for people to actually see him when he's playing alongside us.” One thing that specifically stood out to Nabers when it came to Carter was his athleticism and deep bag of pass-rushing moves. “He’s doing crazy moves,” Nabers said. “ Like a lot of guys have one specific move that they do at the d-line; he's got an arsenal in his package and I can’t wait for him to unleash it.” Adams then playfully asked Nabers if he intended to give his buddy, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, a heads up about Carter. “I’m not going to tell him nothing; I’ll let him see in person,” Nabers said with a smile. “I’mma let everybody see (him) in person.” What happens next with the NY Giants? Find out! Follow and like us on Facebook. Visit our YouTube channel for the latest videos. Want to send a question in for our mailbag? You can do so here.
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