In a follow-up to Monday’s initial report that former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel would interview with the Detroit Lions for its offensive coordinator vacancy this week, the date of McDaniel’s interview is now set.

Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, McDaniel will interview with the Lions for its OC job on Tuesday. Detroit is working to replace John Morton, who was fired after just one season as the Lions’ offensive coordinator.

McDaniel is widely respected as one of the NFL’s top offensive minds. During his head coaching tenure with the Dolphins, Miami ranked as the NFL’s No. 1 offense and its No. 2 scoring offense in the 2023 season.

In 2025, the Dolphins had the NFL’s No. 13 rushing offense and one of the league’s top five rushers in running back De’Von Achane, who ran for 1,350 yards and eight touchdowns on 238 carries.

Mike McDaniel will interview for the #Lions OC job tomorrow, a potentially big fish for Dan Campbell. https://t.co/I6od059k0e

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2026

McDaniel finished with a 35-33 regular-season record with the Dolphins. Prior to joining Miami, McDaniel spent five seasons with San Francisco where he served as the 49ers’ run game coordinator from 2017-20, and one as offensive coordinator in 2021.

With McDaniel as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator in 2021, San Francisco finished with the NFL’s No. 7 total offense (375.7 yards per game), the No. 7 rushing offense (127.4 rushing), the No. 12 passing offense (248.3 passing) and as the No. 13 scoring offense (25.1 points).

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This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel interviewing with Lions on Tuesday

At his introductory press conference in Orlando, the one player that new Michigan football head coach Kyle Whittingham mentioned by name was quarterback Bryce Underwood. Given that the former No. 1 overall player in the country as a recruit started all season in his freshman year, it was incumbent upon Whittingham that he retain top talent that was already in Ann Arbor.

However, he noticed some flaws, with the previous coaching staff having not taken precious care investing in its top commodity.

Whittingham appeared on The Triple Option Podcast by Fox Sports, and was asked by his former boss at Utah, Urban Meyer, about Underwood, and the new Wolverines leader said that the big thing was that he didn’t have a dedicated quarterbacks coach. And now that he does, he’s already seeing improvement in his game.

“First of all, from what I understand, there was no dedicated quarterback coach working with him on a daily basis, which has to happen,” Whittingham said. “He had a young, young man, 17 years old. He didn’t turn 18 till like mid-season. And so he’s a guy that really could have been in high school last year, as far as his age. But there’s some things in the throwing mechanics and the — just seems to smooth out in his fundamentals and technique. And we’re already got a good start on that.

“And Jason Beck and Koy Detmer, outstanding quarterback developers and coaches. And so we’re already going down that path, but you talk about a ton of upside. I mean, Bryce Underwood’s got it all. He’s 6-foot-4 and 225-plus and has a cannon arm. And so he’s the whole package. We just got to get him refined.”

Underwood took a little over a week to announce his return, but was there any doubt that he would? Whittingham says there was some concern, but it was very little in the way of thinking he could be gone.

Still, he had to get acclimated to the star quarterback and vice versa, but once that happened, it paid dividends in multiple ways.

“It was pretty, pretty much let’s go, you know,” Whittingham said. “There was maybe a little hesitation until he got to know me and the rest of the staff, but once he got to know us, it was on a good trajectory from that point. And then he announced, of course, several days ago, and really helped our recruiting when he announced. And it was a stabilizing factor for us.”

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Kyle Whittingham laments Bryce Underwood lacking a QB coach in 2025

Michigan State basketball is listed as a narrow favorite over Indiana in Tuesday night’s home Big Ten game.

The Spartans are listed as a 6.5-point favorite against the Hoosiers in Tuesday’s matchup, according to FanDuel. The over/under points total is set at 140.5 points.

Michigan State comes into this game looking to keep up with the other top teams in the Big Ten for the conference regular season title. The Spartans are 14-2 overall and 4-1 in Big Ten play this year. This will be the last of a three-game homestand for the Spartans before they head out west for a pair of games against Washington and Oregon.

Indiana is looking to bounce back from a tough loss to undefeated top 10 Nebraska last weekend. The Hoosiers blew a 16-point lead in that loss to the Cornhuskers, and are now 12-4 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten play this year.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday from the Breslin Center. Fans can watch the game on either NBCSN or Peacock.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.

This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Michigan State-Indiana basketball: Betting line, over/under total

Jan. 12—SIOUX FALLS — Matt Wilber enjoyed a successful homecoming of sorts on Saturday when he brought his Northern State Wolves to the Elmen Center and defeated Wilber’s alma mater, the Augustana Vikings.

With the win, the Wolves improved to 6-4 in NSIC play, a game out of first place in the North Division. That’s a good place for NSU to be, coming off a season in which they won only two games. Northern went 12-45 over the last two seasons under prior coach Saul Phillips, which took a bit of the shine off of what is widely regarded as one of the best jobs in Division II basketball.

But Wilber, who spent 11 years as the head coach of Dakota Wesleyan before spending a year as an assistant for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury under his friend Nate Tibbets, has the Wolves back in contention.

More importantly, he’s finding hoops-happy Aberdeen to be everything he hoped it would. He’s having a blast. And encouraging his players to do the same. It sure seems like the Miller native was the perfect choice to rebuild Wolves basketball.

“It’s been great, it’s been awesome,” Wilber said. “It’s a great group of kids. And it’s a great group of people. Three of them are married. One of them is a dad. But they’ve made it really easy. It’s easy to go to work every day because if you’re coaching people that are tough to work with and you’re having a hard time sending messages, then you’re spinning your wheels every day. I’m telling you, every day these guys, I’ve got a great group. So practice is easy. When I’m saying, hey, here’s what we’ve got to be, here’s how we’ve got to do it, all of that stuff going on, I’m just not butting my head against the wall with anybody. So it’s just a great group.”

The Wolves are 6-10 overall, as Wilber ended up — mostly unknowingly — putting together an extremely difficult non-conference schedule.

The roster is made up largely of transfers as Wilber had to scramble a little to get bodies in uniform — but they’ve turned out to be deep and talented. Eight players average at least six points per game.

Newcomers Josh Book and Marshawn Smith have led the way, along with sharpshooting returner James Glenn.

Eventually, Wilber plans to build up a consistent winner through high school recruits, something he’s proven adept at, both from his connections running the TIBBS academy early in his career to the success he had at DWU, where he won 224 games and went to six NAIA tournaments.

It’s all part of the plan to rekindle the D2 success the Wolves enjoyed under Don Meyer and Paul Sather.

“You look at the coaches and the program before when I got there, it had been successful,” Wilber said. “Like, Northern’s been successful. We had two rough years, and there’s a lot of circumstances for that. But previous, you’re talking about, I mean, lots of wins. And there have been ups and downs, but more ups than downs. So the expectation is to be successful, and people there pay attention to it. Northern athletics is central to Aberdeen, and there’s just a lot of good people there, and it’s been really good. Really good. I know winning and losing is important to them, but nobody cares more about winning and losing than I do. So, like, there’s no heat. It’s awesome. I love it.”

Wilber’s wife, Lindsay, also a former Augustana star, is the volleyball coach at Dakota Wesleyan, where she took over a moribund program and made it into a contender. She still lives in Mitchell with the couple’s five children. That reality meant Wilber’s stint in Phoenix was always going to be a temporary one, and by comparison, being in Aberdeen feels like being next door.

“I loved my job in Phoenix. The organization was awesome,” Wilber said.

As he’s saying this, Wilber is jumped by their youngest, five-year-old Lizzie.

“Daddy, you won!” she shrieks as she hugs her dad’s legs. Lindsay gives Matt a quick hug, tells him she’ll see him later, and takes Lizzie away. Matt resumes the conversation.

“That little girl you just saw there, being away from her for six, seven months in a row….” he says, shaking his head. “Aberdeen is a two-hour drive. I can practice from noon to two, hop in the car and be home for a few hours and come back. I don’t mind the driving, it’s worth it. There are still times it’s hard, but it’s wildly better. I’m home so much more. I don’t feel the heartache I used to feel. And none of this would be possible without Lindsay. She’s tough, and she’s the one who runs the household. I can’t thank her enough.”

Wilber’s in his late 40s now, but he still has the youthful exuberance that he displayed as a standout baseball player at Augustana and for two decades in the amateur ranks. There’s pressure to win at Northern, but there was at Dakota Wesleyan, too, and it got to Wilber at times.

He says reuniting with Tibbets in the WNBA reminded him that basketball is supposed to be fun. And that’s colored his outlook in his new job.

“Nate is just so positive, so upbeat, and that was really refreshing to be around,” Wilber said. “So coming back I’m like, that’s how we’re gonna do this. Yeah there’s still times I’ve got to play the heavy and the losses are still tough. But I told our guys the other night (after losing to Jamestown) — listen, I want to win more than anybody else, but you’ve got to have joy playing. We’re going to have fun doing this through the wins and losses. I’m not going to rip that from you. You can’t do that. Whatever your role is, you’ve got to find joy.

“I mean, you see guys coaching for their job, you see players feeling stress and pressure, and I just don’t want to do it that way. If that changes then I’m out, because I’m not going to live miserable. I wasn’t perfect at that at D-dub, but we’re starting over here, so there’s an opportunity to bring in some fresh air. The message has been let’s just have good days. If we stack good days I think everything will work out.”

According to Monday’s official NFL transactions report, the Kansas City Chiefs have re-signed practice squad tight end Tre Watson to a reserve/future contract. The agreement will become official at the start of the new league year on March 11.

Watson joined the Chiefs in April as an undrafted free agent. Although he has combined for 77 receptions for 872 yards over four college seasons spent between Fresno State and Texas A&M, tantalizing athletic testing numbers at the Aggies’ pro day put him on the fringes of the draft radar.

Watson was placed on Kansas City’s non-football injury list at the start of training camp for undisclosed reasons. After being activated on July 27, he appeared in all three of the team’s preseason games and caught a single pass for four yards before being waived at the final roster deadline. Watson was on the Chiefs’ practice squad for the entire season.

Presumably, the tight end will get another look over the 2026 offseason and training camp — though the Chiefs should be expected to make multiple higher-profile moves at the position.

Also on Monday, practice squad contracts officially expired for non-playoff teams. The Chiefs have thus far not signed guard Nick Brocker, wide receiver Jason Brownlee, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, defensive end Malik Herring, fullback Carson Steele and defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu for 2026.

After ending the season on Kansas City’s practice squad, these players are now free agents and eligible to sign with any team, including those remaining in playoff contention.

MLB Pipeline released their updated Top 10 right-handed pitching prospects heading into the 2026 season on Monday, and unsurprisingly two of the Mets’ young arms made the cut. 

Nolan McLean topped the list, and Jonah Tong came in at No. 7. 

Both youngsters are coming off tremendous seasons in which they cruised through the minors and found themselves pitching in big games at the big-league level down the stretch. 

McLean enjoyed a bit more success in the majors than Tong, though. 

The Oklahoma State product finished 11th in NL Rookie of the Year voting after pitching to a 2.06 ERA and 1.04 WHIP with 57 strikeouts over his first eight career outings. 

He’s in line to play a huge role in the Mets’ rotation out of the gate this season. 

Tong, on the other hand, was more of a mixed bag. 

The 22-year-old showed flashes of the potential that helped him secure Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year, but ultimately struggled to a 7.71 ERA over his five outings.

It’ll be interesting to see how things play out for Tong to begin this season. 

The righty certainly could use more time in the minors, but whether or not that’ll be with the Mets remains to be seen, as he is said to be “highly coveted” in trade talks this winter. 

While they are listening, New York reportedly values Tong highly, so they likely wouldn’t actually move him unless they are receiving a top-tier talent in return. 

If he sticks around, he could play a role in the majors at some point this season. 

The rest of the Top 10 is as follows: 

Our preseason rankings kicked off today with the Top 10 RHP prospects: https://t.co/TjidkbGPfnpic.twitter.com/qAY44DsYe1

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) January 12, 2026