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UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

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UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

By Bruce Feldman, Antonio Morales and Ralph Russo

UCF has inquired about the availability of USC coach Lincoln Riley as it searches for a replacement for Gus Malzahn, three people who have been privy to those conversations told The Athletic on Wednesday.

There has been no indication Riley is interested in making the move, the people said. He is three seasons into a reported 10-year contract that pays him about $10 million per year.

The people spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity because all the discussions were private and UCF was not publicly revealing details of its coaching search.

Riley’s contract is not publicly available because USC is a private school, but extracting him from Southern California — if he wanted to leave — would likely cost tens of millions of dollars for either the Trojans or the school looking to hire him away.

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Representatives from UCF reached out to Riley’s representatives last weekend to inquire about his interest in making a move across the country, one source said. Any discussions about adjusting the terms of Riley’s contract would be between him and USC, sources said.

The first source added that UCF has not received any word from Riley’s camp that he is interested in leaving USC, and the school is still looking at multiple candidates to fill its head coaching vacancy.

Firing Riley, whose win total with the Trojans has decreased in each of his three seasons, would cost USC about $90 million, according to one of the sources. If Riley were to leave for another school, he would owe USC nothing. But UCF is not in position to replicate the deal Riley has at USC. Malzahn made $4 million in 2024 at UCF.

Two sources said even if Riley had an interest in making the move, it would require some payout of his current deal with USC to make up for what he would be giving up in the transition — like a professional sports trade where one team pays a chunk of a player’s remaining salary on a large contract and the receiving team picks up the rest.

Riley was hired at USC by former athletic director Mike Bohn, who resigned amid controversy in the spring of 2023. University president Carol Folt oversaw the hire as well and will retire this summer, which means two of the main parties involved in bringing Riley to USC will be gone.

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Jen Cohen, the former Washington athletic director, was hired in August 2023 to lead the athletic department. She inherited Riley and his contract.

She’s in the unenviable position of having an underperforming football program but a coach who is too expensive to move on from. In the spring, Cohen navigated a delicate situation with men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield, whose tenure had run its course but his track record was too good to justify a firing. He eventually took the SMU job, and Cohen hired Eric Musselman from Arkansas to replace him.

Even with a suitor for Riley, getting out from under his deal looks more difficult.

Malzahn left UCF after four seasons as head coach to become offensive coordinator at Florida State. The Knights have gone 10-15 overall and 5-13 in league play in their first two seasons in the Big 12 after making the move from the American Athletic Conference. UCF received only a partial share of Big 12 revenue last year, about $18 million, and is scheduled to receive about $19 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The number jumps to a full share in 2025-26, which should be about double those figures.

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Riley is 25-14 at USC since being lured to Los Angeles from Oklahoma after the 2021 regular season. It was a seismic move for the Trojans, swiping away a coach who had a 55-10 record in Norman and two Heisman Trophy winners in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

The Trojans went 11-3 in Riley’s first season with another Heisman winner in Caleb Williams, the star quarterback who followed the coach from Oklahoma to USC. But the results have been trending in the wrong direction since.

USC went 8-5 in 2023, its final season in the Pac-12, and wrapped up its first regular season in the Big Ten with a 6-6 overall record (4-5 in league play).

After the 2023 season, Riley told The Athletic that he “didn’t come here (USC) for some short-term thing and as long as SC continues to give us the support and the things we need to continue to build this, this was not a two-year rebuild.”

Recruiting hasn’t lived up to the high expectations that came with Riley’s hire. USC continues to regress on the field each season, and the program doesn’t appear to have much direction moving forward, making the outlook for Riley look hazy at best.

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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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NHL 2024-25 bold predictions: Revisiting our preseason prognostications

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NHL 2024-25 bold predictions: Revisiting our preseason prognostications

Utah will be one of the NHL’s highest-scoring teams? The Stars Stanley Cup winners? Dylan Larkin — and many others — 40-goal scorers?

Heading into the 2024-25 NHL season, The Athletic asked its hockey staff for bold predictions, and two months later, some are holding up well while others look to have been a bit too bold.

Here’s a progress report on each prediction, from the writers ready to take a victory lap to the many who need a mulligan.


Preseason bold prediction: Trevor Zegras will not be traded this season

Outlook: Still in play

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It feels like there have been two factions at work here: those who feel like a Zegras trade is inevitable and those (i.e., Zegras/Ducks fans) who are beyond tired of seeing his name in trade-related/hypothesized/predicted stories. Mind you, it’s hard to peg what his value is or could be. He had been healthy until he got injured this week and his return date is uncertain. Those who’ve watched him closely can see he is playing a more responsible 200-foot game under Greg Cronin. But he’s also on a 34-point pace. Zegras might be a distressed asset, but GM Pat Verbeek isn’t going to move a highly skilled 23-year-old forward for another team’s throwaways. — Eric Stephens


Jeremy Swayman struggled early for the Bruins, but is better as of late. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)

Preseason bold prediction: Jeremy Swayman will struggle early

Outlook: Lock it in

This one was easy. It wasn’t just that Swayman missed all of training camp before signing his contract. He had to adjust to the physical and mental strain of being the go-to goalie following the trade of Linus Ullmark. On top of that, most of his teammates struggled out of the gate. It’s no wonder Swayman wasn’t himself. — Fluto Shinzawa

Preseason bold prediction: Owen Power will double his previous high-goal total

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Outlook: Still in play

Power is already almost halfway to a career high in points 26 games into the season and has three goals. He needs nine more in the final 66 games to get to my preseason bold prediction. Given that he plays 22 minutes a night and has a role on the power play, 12 goals is still a number that’s in play, but it’s not quite a lock. — Matthew Fairburn

Preseason bold prediction: Jonathan Huberdeau will crack the 80-point plateau

Outlook: So far, not so good. But there’s time …

While Huberdeau’s goal totals look more promising compared to last year (he had one point in all of December 2023), we kind of figured his assists would be up. However, he isn’t trending toward an 80-point season, per Hockey Reference. But if he goes on some kind of scoring run between now and the end of the season, maybe that changes. — Julian McKenzie

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Preseason bold prediction: Seth Jarvis will get a shot at center

Outlook: So far, not so good. But there’s time …

The Hurricanes still haven’t figured out who will be their second-line center, but so far it hasn’t been Jarvis. Coach Rod Brind’Amour has bounced between using Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jack Drury in a more featured role, while Jarvis has remained on the wing. Jarvis has also not been used much on faceoffs — a key for any Brind’Amour center — since returning from an upper-body injury. — Cory Lavalette

Preseason bold prediction: The Blackhawks will finish 25 points better than last season

Outlook: It’s a long shot

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This season hasn’t gone as expected for the Blackhawks, which was apparent with Luke Richardson’s firing on Thursday. They’re more competitive than a season ago — they’ve led, been tied or within a goal in the third period in 25 of 26 games — but their record is even worse. Does a new coach change that? We’ll see. But they have to win a lot to meet the bold prediction. — Scott Powers

Preseason bold prediction: Cale Makar will have 100 points

Outlook: Still in play

This prediction is looking solid through the first two months of the season. Makar leads all defensemen with 34 points, which ranks 13th amongst all players. He’s on an 82-game pace of 103 points, so he’s right on track. As expected, Makar is getting a lot of his production done on the power play, where he’s tied for fourth in the NHL with 14 points. — Jesse Granger


Yegor Chinakhov has had an impressive start to the season with the Blue Jackets. (Jason Mowry / Getty Images)

Preseason bold prediction: Yegor Chinakhov will bloom as a goal scorer

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Outlook: Still in play

Chinakhov threatened to make this prediction look like pure genius with three goals and seven points in the Blue Jackets’ first five games. He’s since cooled off and is currently out of the lineup day to day with an upper-body injury. But once he returns, the 23-year-old Russian will get a top-six role on a club that’s been surprisingly productive. He has seven goals in 21 games, meaning our prediction of 25-plus is still in play. Our prediction of increased ice time? He’s gone from 15:10 last season to 17:01 under coach Dean Evason. — Aaron Portzline

Preseason bold prediction: The Stars will win the Stanley Cup

Outlook: Still in play

Top 10 in goals per game, top five in goals-against per game, top five in penalty kill and a top-10 goalie in Jake Oettinger. The Stars are right where we expected them to be, among the league’s best teams, and they’re doing it with an underperforming power play and relatively slow starts from Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston, all of which likely will positively regress to the mean. Even with Tyler Seguin’s potential season-ending surgery (something which likely will make the Stars more aggressive in the trade market), Dallas remains a leading contender for the Stanley Cup. — Mark Lazerus

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Preseason bold prediction: Dylan Larkin will score 40 goals

Outlook: Still in play

This season hasn’t gone how the Red Wings would have hoped, but Larkin is indeed close to being on pace to threaten 40 goals. There’s a lot of season left, of course, but he’s been a force, particularly on the power play. Detroit could really use some more offense from down the lineup, but their top players (Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat) have been scoring to begin the year. — Max Bultman

Preseason bold prediction: Stuart Skinner will finish top five in Vezina voting

Outlook: Not happening

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Skinner went from perhaps the presumptive starter for Team Canada at the 4 Nations tourney entering the offseason to not making the team because of his subpar start. Skinner sports an .889 save percentage in 17 appearances. He’s also surrendered 5.26 more goals than expected in all situations, per Natural Stat Trick. His last start before rosters were due was one of his best, but it was too little too late. — Daniel Nugent-Bowman

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Preseason bold prediction: Adam Boqvist will break out

Outlook: It’s a long shot

It’s not that Boqvist has been horrendous — an expected goal rate of around 50 percent for a cheap, third-pair defenseman could be worse — but he hasn’t come close to a breakout, either, and actually played his way out of the lineup for most of November. He’s back, though, and scored in consecutive games through Thursday. More than anything, that prediction was based on Boqvist getting a whole bunch of power-play time, and that’s once again Aaron Ekblad’s job to lose. Probably not happening. — Sean Gentille

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Preseason bold prediction: Quinton Byfield will become the Kings’ best player

Outlook: Not happening

Can I say I was kidding? No? Hey, I bought into the idea of Byfield building on his breakout season. Seeing him with just three goals and 11 points nearly a third of the way into the season is a bit baffling. He’s back at his natural position but the transition from playing on wing with Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe to centering his own line hasn’t been seamless. It’s not that he’s hurting their lineup but the Kings becoming a real threat in the Western Conference will look more realistic if he starts to look more like a leading player on their roster like Kopitar and Kempe are. — Eric Stephens

Preseason bold prediction: Matt Boldy will score 40 goals and 40 assists

Outlook: Still in play

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This felt like a lock in mid-November when he had 10 goals in his first 16 games, but Boldy has gone six games without a goal and has one in his past nine. Still, he was on pace for 36 goals and 43 assists for a 79-point total through Thursday, which would establish career highs. This is a guy who has a tendency to get white hot, especially because he is a high-volume shooter (93 in 25 games this season, 3.7 per game). — Michael Russo

Preseason bold prediction: Juraj Slafkovský will hit 70 points

Outlook: So far, not so good. But there’s time …

Slafkovský has 14 points in 23 games and has 56 games left to get 56 points. Doesn’t seem ideal. But last season at this point, Slafkovský had 7 points in 25 games and finished with 43 points in his final 57 games. Putting up a point per game from here on out is a high bar, but Slafkovský has not yet reached the level we saw from him last season. There is a lot of room for him to grow. I’m not willing to write off this prediction just yet, though it’s not looking great so far. — Arpon Basu

Preseason bold prediction: Juuse Saros will win the Vezina Trophy

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Outlook: Not happening

Saros is the absolute least of the Preds’ concerns. He’s having a fine season — you might even call it an extraordinary season, given the utter lack of help he’s getting. But he isn’t standing on his head enough to deliver wins for the league’s worst offensive team. Or is this just the worst team, period? Team failure to this extent repels individual awards. — Joe Rexrode

Preseason bold prediction: The Devils will finish with the East’s best record

Outlook: Still in play

The Devils’ offseason overhaul has led to a successful start to 2024-25. Their position in the East standings is a bit inflated by games they have in hand, but they were still fourth in points percentage through Thursday. One hot streak and they could be right in the mix with the leaders. — Peter Baugh

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Preseason bold prediction: Noah Dobson will score 70 points again — and get a big extension

Outlook: It’s a long shot

The 70-point thing is a pipe dream with Dobson sitting on 12 points through 27 games. And the eight-year $8-million-or-so extension might be a pipe dream too. Dobson is still just 24, but he’s hit a plateau this season for the middling Islanders. Whoops. — Arthur Staple

Preseason bold prediction: Igor Shesterkin will win the Vezina Trophy

Outlook: Still in play

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The Rangers are in a bit of a rut, but Shesterkin has had a good year. His 8-9-1 record isn’t overly impressive, but he has taken most of the Rangers games against playoff teams and had a .908 save percentage through Thursday with better underlying numbers. He’s not among the Vezina front-runners at this point, but him winning the award isn’t impossible. He also now doesn’t have any contract talk hanging over him. He agreed to a record-setting eight-year extension Friday. — Peter Baugh

Preseason bold prediction: Travis Green will win the Jack Adams Award

Outlook: It’s a long shot

If the Senators reverse their fortunes after a less-than-ideal start, Green’s case for the Jack Adams could be made. When Ottawa plays at its best, it looks like a playoff team. The issue is consistency. That’s on Green to help instill in his own group. But right now, we don’t think Green will end up on many ballots for coach of the year honors. — Julian McKenzie

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Preseason bold prediction: The Flyers will have a top-15 power play

Outlook: It’s a long shot

It looked so promising early. The Flyers converted on eight of their first 31 power-play chances through eight games, good for eighth in the NHL. Since then it’s resumed its place at the bottom of the league. Since Oct. 27, only the Bruins have a worse power play than the Flyers’ 10.4 percent success rate. At some point, perhaps soon, the Flyers may be forced to make a decision on assistant coach Rocky Thompson, who just can’t seem to get this part of the Flyers’ game going. — Kevin Kurz


Marcus Pettersson could be a big target for teams at the trade deadline. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Preseason bold prediction: Marcus Pettersson will become a trade-deadline commodity

Outlook: Lock it in

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Pettersson was No. 2 on our big board and would-be UFAs that high on a trade list don’t usually end up staying with their teams. The Penguins won four consecutive games before Friday, their best run of the season. They’re within striking distance of a playoff spot — and it’s possible that means they hold on to Pettersson. But a case can be made for striking while the iron is hot. There are no indications a long-term extension is on the table here in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are in the mushy middle but closer to the bottom than the top. Keeping a player like Pettersson doesn’t make much sense. — Rob Rossi

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Preseason bold prediction: William Eklund will lead the team in scoring

Outlook: So far, not so good. But there’s time …

With his 18 assists and 23 points, Eklund is second in those categories to Mikael Granlund so the possibility does exist of the 22-year-old overtaking the veteran. The chances of that will greatly increase if the Sharks were to move Granlund before the trade deadline. Eklund can build up his goal total as he has only five in 28 games, and he may have to hold off a hard-charging Macklin Celebrini who’s nearly at a point per game since returning from injury. But the left wing in his third full season has become the front-line core player the Sharks imagined when taking him at No. 7 in the 2021 draft. — Eric Stephens

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Matty Beniers is struggling to produce in his third full season with the Kraken. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

Preseason bold prediction: Matty Beniers will score 30 goals

Outlook: Not happening

I’m ready to capitulate early on this prediction. After what appeared to be a snake bit, sophomore slump campaign for the 2023 Calder winner, the gifted Kraken center has somehow remained in shooing-percentage hell this season. Through 27 games before Friday, Beniers had scored just four times on 51 shots and is carrying a 7.8 percent shooting clip that’s less than half of the conversion rate he managed in his electric rookie season. Beniers would have to score at a 44-goals per 82-game pace over the balance to hit 30, which is a massive stretch for a player that has scored just 19 goals in his most recent 104 games played through Thursday. — Thomas Drance

Preseason bold prediction: Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway’s success will lead to more offer sheets

Outlook: Lock it in

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I’m more confident about this now than I was at the start of the season. Broberg missed 12 games with an injury, but when in the lineup, he’s been arguably the Blues’ best defenseman. Likewise, Holloway has perhaps been their most versatile productive forward. There may not be an identical situation where two talented players are available on a team — in this case the Oilers — that can’t afford to match an offer sheet. But with the way Broberg and Holloway are playing, the vultures will be out. — Jeremy Rutherford

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Preseason bold prediction: Andrei Vasilevskiy will be a Vezina Trophy finalist

Outlook: It’s a long shot

Vasilevskiy may have more two-way support this season, but he isn’t in the Vezina Trophy race right now. That’s a conversation led by the likes of Connor Hellebuyck, Lukas Dostal and Filip Gustavsson. Vasilevskiy is having a fine season so far — he has saved 3.97 goals above expected through 20 games while earning a .909 save percentage — but those numbers aren’t sparkling like some of the league’s best or even his peak years. The season isn’t over yet and he tends to heat up as the pressure rises, but he has a lot of ground to make up. — Shayna Goldman

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Preseason bold prediction: Mitch Marner will score 40 goals

Outlook: Still in play

Marner had one goal in October. Then, a heater shooting the puck in November. He had eight goals in 12 games. Marner is still off the 40-goal pace though. He appears headed more for his third 30-goal season than his first 40-goal campaign. If head coach Craig Berube gets his way though and Marner starts shooting the puck more aggressively, there’s still a chance Marner comes close to or even hits 40 goals. During the back half of the 2021-22 season, Marner shot the puck more aggressively than ever and punched in 29 goals during a 46-game stretch. That’s what he’ll need the rest of the way to hit 40. — Jonas Siegel

Utah Hockey Club

Preseason bold prediction: Utah will finish as one of the NHL’s highest-scoring teams

Outlook: Not happening

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Did anyone here whiff as much as this prediction? Other than an early flurry to start the season, Utah has struggled mightily to score this season, sitting 23rd in goals per game and 24th on the power play through Thursday. A lot of the Hockey Clubbers’ young talent has failed to break through, with Logan Cooley on pace for fewer than 20 goals and a lot of their 20-goal producers from last season coming up well short of those projections in the early going. Connor Ingram’s struggles in goal and injuries on defense have hurt their record, but regressing offensively to this extent is the bigger surprise given the cast up front. — James Mirtle

Preseason bold prediction: Elias Pettersson will bounce back and lead the team in scoring

Outlook: Still in play

It certainly hasn’t been an out-of-the-gate, no-doubt-about-it, he’s-back-like-John-Wick level bounce back for Pettersson this season, but the star Canucks center has found his form of late. He’s back to controlling play and still has a chance to lead all Vancouver players in scoring. Through Thursday, he ranked first in points and points per game among Canucks forwards, but what I didn’t expect was Quinn Hughes to hit even another level of preposterous form this season. Through Thursday, Hughes was holding a six-point lead over Pettersson in the point production department this season, so Pettersson still has some catching up to do. — Thomas Drance

Preseason bold prediction: Pavel Dorofeyev will finish second on the team in goals

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Outlook: Still in play

The hope with this prediction was that Dorofeyev would take advantage of a bigger opportunity than he’s had to this point in his career, and that’s exactly what has happened through two months. Through Thursday, Dorofeyev was second on the Golden Knights with 12 goals, only one behind team leader Ivan Barbashev. He has contributed both at even strength and on the top power-play unit, and has been an integral part of Vegas’ seventh-ranked offense. — Jesse Granger

Preseason bold prediction: The Pierre-Luc Dubois deal will pay off

Outlook: Still in play

There’s plenty of road left before I can do a victory lap, but I feel good about predicting good things for Dubois. Is he playing to a 70-point pace, as I said he would? Not quite. Has he been a major catalyst for the Caps’ early-season success? Absolutely. He’s crushing most of his minutes as the 2C, which allowed Washington to set up favorable matchups for Alex Ovechkin’s line, and has helped Connor McMichael get off to a scorching start. So far, so good. — Sean Gentille

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Preseason bold prediction: Nikolaj Ehlers will play out the season and then walk as a UFA

Outlook: Still in play

Ehlers is a point-per-game player now, mostly because he’s been every bit as good on the top power play as advertised: helpful on entries, good in the high slot, creative with options in the zone. He’s also hurt, nursing a lower-body injury suffered against Vegas on Nov. 29. It’s difficult to say what any of this means for his future, though. I believe the “self-rental” option is still on the table for Winnipeg. If recent call-up Brad Lambert bursts offensively, Ehlers could become a trade chip. (For the right return, it might not take that Lambert burst.) An extension does not appear to be a front-burner, midseason option, but must also be considered a possibility. — Murat Ates

(Top photo of Red Wings center Dylan Larkin celebrating after scoring a goal: Brian Bradshaw Sevald / Imagn Images)

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Randy Moss taking extended leave of absence from ‘NFL Countdown’ due to personal health issue

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Randy Moss taking extended leave of absence from ‘NFL Countdown’ due to personal health issue

Hall of Famer Randy Moss is going to take an extended leave of absence from ESPN’s “NFL Countdown” to deal with a personal health issue, the network said.

“Pro Football Hall of Famer Randy Moss will step away from ‘NFL Countdown’ for an extended time to focus on a personal health challenge,” ESPN said in a statement. “He briefly addressed the matter at the start of the show on Dec. 1. For nearly a decade, Randy has been an invaluable member of the team, consistently elevating ‘Countdown’ with his insight and passion. He has ESPN’s full support, and we look forward to welcoming him back when he is ready.”

Moss’ exact diagnosis is unknown. Moss, 47, will not be replaced in the interim period. The previous Sunday, Moss addressed his issues on “Countdown,” while sporting sunglasses.

“I just wanted to let the viewers know that me and my wife, me and my family, we are battling something internally,” Moss said. “I have some great doctors around me. I couldn’t miss the show. I wanted to be here with you guys. I feel great.

“But if y’all see me with these Michigan turnover glasses that I have on, it’s not being disrespectful because I’m on television, man. I’m battling something. I need all the prayer warriors.”

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Moss is considered one of the greatest receivers in NFL history. He is fourth all-time with 15,292 receiving yards in 14 seasons. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

He previously worked on both Sunday and “Monday Night Countdown,” but cut down by his own choice to just Sundays prior to last season.

(Photo: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)

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Lewis Hamilton’s final F1 lap with Mercedes: A year of challenges, a decade of triumphs

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Lewis Hamilton’s final F1 lap with Mercedes: A year of challenges, a decade of triumphs

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Atop the Mercedes hospitality unit at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, cooled by nearby fans working hard in the midday heat, Lewis Hamilton sat at a table with his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, for some pre-race weekend planning.

It was a routine they’d been through plenty of times before — 245 times, in fact — but the 246th time carried a little more emotion. After 12 years, 84 race wins and six world championships, marking it the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history, this was the last race weekend for Hamilton as a Mercedes driver.

Hamilton’s conversations with Bonnington, affectionately known as ‘Bono’ and someone Hamilton has likened to a brother, remained as professional as ever. They knew there was a job to do. But speaking a few hours later, the seven-time world champion admitted these chats involved an extra degree of emotion.

“You’re sitting there, and you’re realizing these are the last moments with the team, which is … it’s hard to describe the feeling,” Hamilton said. “It’s not the greatest, of course, but I think mostly I’m just really proud of what we’ve achieved.”

The ‘last dance’ for Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes has been ten months in the making. On Feb. 1, Hamilton announced he would move to Ferrari for 2025, securing the 39-year-old a last blast in F1’s iconic red cars to end his glittering career. Abu Dhabi was always going to be a significant grand prix.

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But at the end of a taxing year on the track, filled with the highs of victory at Silverstone and Spa to the late-season lows, both Hamilton and Mercedes are committed to ending with a celebration.

“It’s a really beautiful journey you go on together,” Hamilton said. “And being that it was so long, the emotions run so deep.”


Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, had an inkling of what was coming when Hamilton arrived at his Oxfordshire home for their pre-season catch-up.

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s F1 chief and a close friend of Wolff’s, hadn’t replied to a text asking if he was “taking our driver,” and the father of Carlos Sainz, who Hamilton would replace, had tipped off the Mercedes boss that something might be happening.

Looking back on Thursday, Hamilton admitted to it being an “awkward” meeting with Wolff to break the news that their partnership would end. Only eight months earlier, they’d agreed on a contract extension that appeared to reaffirm their commitment, one Hamilton had previously envisaged lasting long beyond his time racing in F1 was over. Their joint work on campaigns to assist long overdue change concerning diversity and equality in F1 is a legacy that means more to Hamilton than his racing achievements.

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It also made for a year he admitted that he “massively underestimated” from an emotional point of view. “It was straining on the relationship very early on; (it) took time for people to get past it,” Hamilton admitted. “And then just for my own self, it’s been a very emotional year for me. And I think I’ve not been at my best in handling and dealing with those emotions.”


Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff talk on the grid at Lusail International Circuit on Nov. 30, 2024. (James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)

Hamilton has always worn his heart on his sleeve, evidenced by the tears that flowed after ending his two-and-a-half-year win drought at Silverstone. The intimacy of his relationship with Mercedes permits a brutal honesty that has survived significant disappointments — like his 2016 title loss to teammate Nico Rosberg or, more controversially, what happened in Abu Dhabi three years ago when he missed out on a record eighth world title.

Wolff has always liked to prod at any open wounds, knowing that is often the only way to understand how to make a situation better. He felt that Hamilton and Mercedes had “done a good job” handling the emotions of this year.

“When he took the decision at the beginning of the season to go, we knew it could be a bumpy year ahead,” Wolff said in Qatar. “He knows he’s going to go somewhere else. We know our future lies with Kimi (Antonelli). To go through the ups and downs and still keep it together between us, that is something we have achieved.”

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“I’m just slow.”

For these words to be uttered by a seven-time world champion might seem fanciful. But there was a degree of resignation as Hamilton digested a difficult Friday of practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, where he couldn’t feel the car giving him back the kind of performance he needed. It continued a season-long trend.

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For much of the year, the Mercedes W15 car hadn’t gelled to his driving style or allowed him to extract the kind of pace that he’d needed, particularly over a single lap. Through 23 races this season, Hamilton trails George Russell 18-5 in their qualifying head-to-head and is 24 points behind in the drivers’ standings.

The day after Hamilton made that comment, when he’d qualified sixth in Qatar while Russell was P2 and almost half a second quicker, he was asked to expand on it. Did he really mean that he’s lost the edge? Is this a sign of the decline most elite drivers and sports stars encounter as they near their forties?

“I know I’ve still got it,” Hamilton said. “(It’s) just the car won’t go a bit faster. I definitely know I’ve got it still. It’s not a question in my mind. (I’m) looking forward to the end.”


Lewis Hamilton enters his final race with Mercedes seventh in the drivers’ championship. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

It wasn’t the first time Hamilton had given such a bleak outlook. After the race in Brazil, where he’d lagged to 10th in rainy conditions while Russell had been in the mix for victory prior to the red flag, he admitted he “could happily go and take a holiday” instead of doing the final triple-header. In Las Vegas, when the W15 came alive in the cold and allowed Mercedes to sweep to a 1-2, Hamilton seemed downbeat that he’d not been the one to lead it home after qualifying down in P10 while Russell was on pole.

“These last races, maybe even the whole season, was clearly not what we expected,” Wolff said in Qatar. “That car is a handful to drive on its worst days.”

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But how much of that has hurt Hamilton in a way that it has not for Russell? Wolff put part of it down to Hamilton’s driving style. “One of his strengths is how he’s always able to brake late and attack the corner, and the car can’t take it,” he said, adding that when the grip kicks in the slow-speed corners, the problem worsens. “Then if the car slides more and it lacks grip, that contributes to (him) probably suffering more than George.”

In Qatar, Vasseur said he was “not at all” concerned by the form of his incoming star signee. “Have a look on the 50 laps that he did in Vegas, starting P10 (and) finishing on the gearbox of Russell,” Vasseur said. “I’m not worried at all.”

The progress made by Ferrari this year, recovering from its mid-season slump to put up a late fight to McLaren for the constructors’ title, will also encourage Hamilton that he can rekindle more of his old form. He stressed on Thursday that while his focus remains on Mercedes for his final weekend, there was a natural excitement building about the next chapter.

“It really sparks motivation,” Hamilton said, “and it’s a dream scenario for any driver to have an opportunity like this. I don’t take that for granted.”

go-deeper

Whenever Hamilton hangs up his helmet and calls time on his enormously successful career, this period with Mercedes will be the lasting, most definitive part of his racing legacy.

When he decided in 2012 to make a shock move away from McLaren, then consistently one of F1’s leading teams, it was scoffed at as a mistake: a step into the midfield, away from the team that had brought Hamilton up to F1, and into the unknown.

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It proved to be the right move at the right time. McLaren was about to start a decade-long decline, while Mercedes was on the verge of starting a record-breaking F1 dynasty with Hamilton as the centerpiece.

The move also allowed Hamilton to become himself. His evolution from a 27-year-old one-time champion into one of F1’s elder statesmen, on the cusp of his 40th birthday with seven world titles to his name, with interests and a celebrity status stretching far beyond this paddock, has been impressive.


Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton sits on his car, posing for a group photo with his team ahead of the Abu Dhabi GP. (Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP)

On the entrance to Mercedes’ garage for this weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit are two large pictures of Hamilton, one from Hungary 2013 — his first win for Mercedes — and the second from Silverstone this year, arguably the most emotional of his record 104 victories. Across it reads the message: “Every dream needs a team.”

Even the challenges of this year and the difficulty of a year-long goodbye will not diminish what Hamilton and Mercedes built together.

“Nothing is going to take away 12 incredible years with eight constructors’ and six drivers’ championships,” Wolff said. “That is what will be the memory, and after next Sunday, we’re going to look back on this great period of time rather than a season or races that were particularly bad.

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“We will stay with the good memories.”

Good memories. Historic memories. So heavy in emotion that, when the checkered flag drops for Hamilton on Sunday night and he hoists himself out of a Mercedes F1 car for the final time, they will surely come flooding back.

go-deeper

Top photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images, Clive Rose/Getty Images; Design: Meech Robinson/The Athletic

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