College sports reporter

Jon Wilner

Jon Wilner has been covering college sports for decades and is an AP top-25 football and basketball voter as well as a Heisman Trophy voter. He was named Beat Writer of the Year in 2013 by the Football Writers Association of America for his coverage of the Pac-12, won first place for feature writing in 2016 in the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest and is a five-time APSE honoree.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney walks on the field before the start of the College Football Playoff National Championship at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

College football Top 25 rankings: Clemson is No. 1, then Penn State, Texas

May 7, 2025 at 8:48 p.m.

The Tigers have everything required to win the national title next season, including a slew of players destined for the first round of the NFL Draft.

Joseph Tugler #11 of the Houston Cougars controls the ball as Carter Bryant #9 and Will Menaugh #33 of the Arizona Wildcats defend during the final game of the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament at T-Mobile Center on March 15, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Big 12 in March Madness: Loads of units earned but more mouths to feed

April 1, 2025 at 12:44 p.m.

The conference sent four teams to the Sweet 16 and could win the national title. But expansion undercuts the dollars distributed.

USC football coach Lincoln Riley looks on against Stanford at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 9, 2023. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

CFB recruiting: USC dominates class of 2026 as Oregon stumbles

March 28, 2025 at 10:32 a.m.

Lincoln Riley is focused on California, and the strategy has paid instant dividends.

People take pictures with the Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas sign under hazy orange skies as the sun sets in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 29, 2023. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

How Fox Sports’ new event, the College Basketball Crown, eventually could impact the NCAAs

March 28, 2025 at 10:14 a.m.

The 16-team Crown will be played over a single week at a central location, Las Vegas.

FILE – Pac-12 Senior Associate Commissioner Teresa Gould speaks during the conference’s basketball media day Oct. 12, 2021, in San Francisco. Gould later became commissioner of the conference. The NCAA and the nation’s five biggest conferences have agreed to pay nearly $2.8 billion to settle a host of antitrust claims,a monumental decision that sets the stage for a groundbreaking revenue-sharing model that could start directing millions of dollars directly to athletes as soon as the 2025 fall semester.(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Mailbag: Merger scenarios for the Pac-12, Big 12, ACC, Big East and AAC

March 3, 2025 at 2:17 p.m.

Depending on the next move by the SEC and Big Ten, or the formation of a super league, there could be merger options for other conferences.

Mountain West approaches Pac-12 about mediation over poaching penalty lawsuit

February 28, 2025 at 2:39 p.m.

The Pac-12, Mountain West and three schools moving from one to the other are in a legal standoff that has massive financial stakes for the futures of the conferences.