The first is athlete health, availability, and long-term performance. The conversation has shifted. It’s no longer just about seeing how hard we can push athletes, how tough we can make them, or how much we can squeeze out of them in a season. It’s about how long we can keep them healthy, how we can help them handle the demands of their sport, and how we can make sure they leave better than they arrived. That requires smarter training, better scheduling, and more intentional recovery practices. It also requires something we’re seeing more of now than ever before: true collaboration with hospital systems, health institutes, and high-level medical professionals. When athletic departments partner with elite healthcare organizations, everybody wins. Athletes get better care. Staff gains better resources. And decision-making becomes based on expertise, not ego.

We love to talk about talent, strength, speed, and skill, but there’s a reality we can’t ignore in this new era of collegiate athletics: availability is the best ability. If your best players can’t stay on the field, on the court, or in the pool, it doesn’t matter how gifted they are. Keeping athletes healthy, prepared, and able to consistently compete has to be the standard, not a luxury.

The programs that do this well in 2026 will be the ones that understand athlete health isn’t a support piece, it’s foundational. If an athlete isn’t available, they can’t perform, and if they aren’t well, performance doesn’t matter. That requires humility in leadership. It requires communication across departments. It requires people to stop working in silos and start operating as a unified care system. The future of collegiate athletics belongs to programs that prioritize health in a real, structured, and accountable way.

The second thing to keep an eye on is technology and sport science. Everywhere you look, there’s more tech. More wearables. More dashboards. More numbers. More “cutting-edge tools” promising to take performance to the next level. But here’s the truth: tech alone doesn’t win games. Data alone doesn’t keep athletes healthy. What matters is whether a program has professionals who know how to take that information, interpret it, simplify it, and make it actionable. That’s where sport science departments become absolutely essential. You need people whose job is to make the data meaningful, not overwhelming. You need people who can speak both “coach language” and “science language” and bridge that gap in a way that helps everyone.

I feel fortunate because at Louisville, I get to see this in real time. I get to witness what it looks like when sport science isn’t an accessory, but a partner in performance. When coaches respect the data, and sport scientists respect the coaching craft. When everyone works together to pull the best out of athletes instead of burying them under charts and metrics. That’s what the best programs in 2026 will look like. Not just tech-heavy departments, but tech-smart departments. Not chasing trends, but building systems that actually help athletes train better, recover better, and perform better.

The third big area we all need to watch is culture, leadership, and retention in this new era of collegiate athletics. With NIL, the transfer portal, shifting NCAA structure, and new program expectations, the environment athletes live in has changed. So has the environment coaches and support staff live in. Pressure has increased. Movement has increased. And if a program doesn’t have strong leadership, clarity, communication, and a healthy culture, people won’t stay. That applies to athletes, assistants, strength coaches, athletic trainers, and everyone else in the building.

Programs that thrive moving forward will be the ones that build environments people want to be part of. Environments where athletes feel valued and not just used. Where assistants feel developed and not just drained. Where communication is honest. Where expectations are clear. And where leadership doesn’t hide behind titles but chooses to serve, guide, and grow the people they’re responsible for. Culture has never mattered more than it does right now, and it’s going to matter even more in 2026.

If we want collegiate athletics to be strong, healthy, and sustainable, we’ve got to take these areas seriously. We’ve got to keep athletes healthy and prioritize long-term performance over short-term payoff. We’ve got to invest in sport science and the professionals who know how to use it the right way. And we’ve got to lead people well, build cultures that last, and create environments where athletes and staff can thrive. That’s where the future is headed, and the programs who embrace it now will be the ones leading when 2026 arrives.