The IX Sports Podcast

The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition: Aqua Franklin

Lamar Women’s Basketball coach Aqua Franklin starred as a high school hooper in East Texas before matriculating to Texas A&M, where she was a three-year captain and two-time All-American honorable mention. She led the Aggies to their first-ever Big 12 championship, an Elite Eight, and was named to the school’s Hall of Fame in 2018.After spending a few seasons in the WNBA, Franklin moved to the bench, where she learned under some of the best program builders in the country, including Gary Blair and Vic Schaefer. Now, she finds herself at Lamar, where she has been the head coach since 2019. Under her guidance, the Cardinals have won at least 20 games each of the last four seasons, and were Southland Champions in 2024.In this episode, Coach Franklin walks us through what it means to coach in the mid-majors in this era of NIL and revenue sharing, how she’s successfully kept her players in Beaumont year after year, the excitement she feels for the coming season, and the hilarious story of how she ended up at Lamar in the first place.

The IX Sports Podcast Hockey Edition: What's Next for the Vancouver Goldeneyes?

Merry off-season, podcast listeners! The entire PWHL is taking a much-needed week off, but there's still news to talk about. Montréal Victoire's captain and playoff MVP, Marie-Philip Poulin, announced that she will be undergoing knee surgery and is out for the foreseeable future. What does that mean for Montréal and why is it going to take so long? Maya breaks all of that down in the #1 at the IX. Then Maya gives a recap of the other PWHL headlines of the week, including a few of the players at NHL development camps this week, like Chloe Primerano and Abbey Murphy. She also talks about the recent signings and what they might mean for teams going forward. Finally, she kicks off an off-season series doing a deep dive into each PWHL team and where they stand heading into next season. Starting with the Vancouver Goldeneyes, Maya talks about who is under contract, some key question marks, like whether Claire Thompson will re-sign, and what pieces they need to figure out before training camp begins. Dylan's article on Montréal's future without Poulin: https://www.theixsports.com/the-ice-garden/pwhl/pwhl-montreal/how-the-montreal-victoire-are-built-to-withstand-marie-philip-poulin-absence/ [https://www.theixsports.com/the-ice-garden/pwhl/pwhl-montreal/how-the-montreal-victoire-are-built-to-withstand-marie-philip-poulin-absence/] Maya on the Golden V Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1869778/episodes/19419041-maya-smith-the-ice-garden-vancouver-goldeneyes-pwhl-catchup [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1869778/episodes/19419041-maya-smith-the-ice-garden-vancouver-goldeneyes-pwhl-catchup] Follow Maya on X: https://x.com/mayaxeverysport [https://x.com/mayaxeverysport] Photo credit: PWHL

The IX Sports Podcast Basketball Edition: Liberty win Commissioner’s Cup & Alyssa Thomas Speaks Out

It was a wild day and some change in the WNBA and Jackie Powell and Howard Megdal broke it all down. They start at the game that was actually played on Tuesday night, the Liberty vs. Aces for the Commissioner’s Cup Championship and then address the off-court drama that is still brewing in the aftermath of Alyssa Thomas’ suspension. The IX Sports’ Dylan Kane joins the show to explain what we learned from Thomas addressing the media for the first time since the suspension where she called out the league after receiving threats over the Caitlin Clark incident. And then her former head coach Stephanie White, who is now on the Fever side, condemned the racist attacks that her former player Thomas has been receiving. And finally for court vision, Jackie and Howard return to this idea of head coaching in the WNBA and who and what credentials are actually ones that lead to success. Becky Hammon spoke passionately on Tuesday about why the lack of women being hired in the NBA are influencing what we are seeing now in the WNBA. 0:00 - Introduction 1:57 -  # 1 at The IX 3:03 - Takeaways from the Liberty’s Commissioner’s Cup win 13:24 - Dylan Kane joins the show to discuss Alyssa Thomas speaking out on death threats following her one game suspension  21:34 - Fever head coach Stephanie White responds to Thomas’ frustrations and agrees with them 25:41 - How did Nate Tibbetts talk about this? 28:32 - Court Vision: Revisiting how head coaches get jobs in the WNBA with thoughts from Becky Hammon about the NBA’s role in this Left: New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) waves to the crowd after being named the game MVP after winning the Commissioners Cup Championship against the Las Vegas Aces at Barclays Center. Photo Credit: John Jones | Imagn Images Right: New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu (20) reacts after winning the Commissioners Cup Championship against the Las Vegas Aces at Barclays Center. Photo Credit: John Jones  | Imagn Images Links to click that are referenced throughout the show:  Howard’s takeaways from Commissioner’s Cup championship:  https://www.theixsports.com/newsletter/live-from-new-york-liberty-assert-who-they-are/ [https://www.theixsports.com/newsletter/live-from-new-york-liberty-assert-who-they-are/] Dylan Kane on Alyssa Thomas speaking out  https://www.theixsports.com/the-ix-basketball-newsroom/wnba/alyssa-thomas-wnba-threats-caitlin-clark-incident/ [https://www.theixsports.com/the-ix-basketball-newsroom/wnba/alyssa-thomas-wnba-threats-caitlin-clark-incident/] Jackie on someone who needs to be considered for a WNBA head coaching job:  https://www.nbcsports.com/wnba/news/wnba-spotlight-roneeka-hodges-has-earned-her-shot [https://www.nbcsports.com/wnba/news/wnba-spotlight-roneeka-hodges-has-earned-her-shot] Howard wrote about coaching back when Hammon was first hired by the Aces:  https://www.legends-mag.com/wnba-legends-breaking-barriers [https://www.legends-mag.com/wnba-legends-breaking-barriers]   Cheryl Reeve brings up the idea of a coaching diversity taskforce:  https://youtu.be/C9gp5GUxLec?t=247 [https://youtu.be/C9gp5GUxLec?t=247] Follow us & Subscribe on:  YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/@TheIXSports [https://www.youtube.com/@TheIXSports] Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/0vn5r287B0oS3wX2fHmLZ8?si=39f2fd261ec1467f [https://open.spotify.com/show/0vn5r287B0oS3wX2fHmLZ8?si=39f2fd261ec1467f] Apple Podcasts  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ix-sports-podcast/id1845604905 [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ix-sports-podcast/id1845604905] BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/theixsports.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/theixsports.bsky.social] Instagram  https://www.instagram.com/theixsports/ [https://www.instagram.com/theixsports/]

The IX Sports Podcast Soccer Edition: NWSL Challenge Cup recap, Sam Kerr joins Gotham FC

Host Kathleen Gier and guest Thomas Costello recap Gotham FC's 2-0 win against the Kansas City Current in the 2026 NWSL Challenge Cup, and discuss Gotham FC's big new addition in Sam Kerr. They also talked through a couple of the big storylines they'll be watching as the NWSL returns to action this week. Follow Thomas Costello: https://www.theixsports.com/author/thomas-costello/ https://bsky.app/profile/thomascostello.bsky.social Photo credit: Barbara Perenic | Imagn Images

The IX Sports Podcast College Basketball Edition: Talia Goodman

In this episode of The IX Sports Podcast: College Basketball Edition, hosts Melissa Triebwasser and Michael Waterloo sit down with On3 National Reporter Talia Goodman to break down a chaotic women's college basketball offseason. With the transfer portal dust finally settling, the conversation offers an insider's look at the moving pieces shaping the upcoming 2026–2027 season.The trio dives into Talia’s preseason Top 25 rankings, analyzing major roster overhauls at programs like Oklahoma State, Tennessee, and UCLA. Talia shares her journey to becoming a premier national news-breaker and talks about a power-balance shift in the Power Four and which mid-majors she's keeping up with, along with much more!