Michael Carrick has lost just one of his 10 games in charge at Man Utd and there is a reason he is now the odds-on favourite to get the job permanently.

What started out in January as a long list of potential Manchester United head coaches for next season should have shrunk considerably over the previous three months, thanks to the man currently sitting in the hot seat.

Michael Carrick’s run of 23 points from a possible 30, with just one defeat in his 10 games in charge, has significantly strengthened his own candidacy to the extent that it should have ruled plenty of others out.

When Carrick was handed the reins until the end of the season just over two months ago, there were numerous potential targets and several current Premier League bosses in the frame.

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Now, it feels like Carrick has seen off those potential challengers. Oliver Glasner remains second or third favourite with most bookmakers, but his time at Crystal Palace isn’t ending particularly positively. He has already been beaten by Carrick, and his back-three system is an obvious sticking point.

So impressive has Carrick’s reign been, featuring wins over potential rivals for the job in Glasner, Marco Silva and Unai Emery and a draw with Andoni Iraola, that it’s difficult to see the sense in promoting someone from a mid-ranking Premier League club now.

Thomas Frank’s experiences at Tottenham show how difficult it is to make the leap from an upwardly mobile but ultimately under-the-radar club to one of the league’s supposed elite. At least Carrick has shown he can deal with the Old Trafford pressures, has the players on his side and can get results.

That counts for an awful lot when there are so many unknowns about other potential candidates, such as Glasner and Iraola, or even Gareth Southgate, who somehow still features highly in the betting.

Carrick has stabilised United and has them on course for a return to the Champions League. His approach to the job has delivered a sense of calm to Old Trafford that has been absent for an awful long time and that will count for a lot among the club’s executives.

Old Trafford insiders continue to insist that the process to recruit a new head coach will be a thorough one and that there is no rush to make a decision. Although United have only seven games remaining, there is plenty of time left in the season and there isn’t likely to be an early coronation of the kind bestowed on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seven years ago.

United have been impressed with the work Carrick has done. While there is no guarantee he will get the job, it now feels like it’s either Carrick or one of the very few elite managers the club might be able to attract to Old Trafford.

Top of that list will be Luis Enrique, the Paris St-Germain boss who has a glittering CV and an attractive style of play. He has previously expressed an interest in working in the Premier League and speaks excellent English. The question is whether the rebuilding project at United would be attractive enough to Enrique, whose PSG side look to be coming to the boil at the perfect time again this season.

Another ‘elite-level’ contender is Julian Nagelsmann. He is leading Germany into the World Cup this summer and has a contract with the German Football Association that runs until 2028, which would make it a difficult appointment, but he has a long-standing relationship with the director of recruitment, Christopher Vivell, and experience managing a super club in Bayern Munich.

For many, the choice of head coach is now down to these three. There could be more twists and turns to come, but with every passing week, Carrick is doing his bit to rule others out.

Tulsa and New Mexico both advanced to the NIT semifinals with victories Tuesday and will face each other on April 2 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. 

No. 1 seed Tulsa advanced with an 83-79 win over Wichita State behind a standout performance from guard Tylen Riley. He finished with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists in the win over the Shockers. 

No. 1 seed New Mexico moved on to the semifinals after defeating Saint Joseph’s 84-69 behind 27 points from Tomislav Bulijan.

Wednesday will see the other side of the bracket get filled out. No. 1 seed Auburn hosts No. 2 seed Nevada, while No. 2 seed Dayton will face No. 4 seed Illinois State. Auburn, the only remaining high-major team in the field, has never reached the semifinals of the NIT. The Tigers’ last appearance in the NIT came in 2009, when they lost to Baylor in the quarterfinals.

Only four power conference teams are competing in the NIT this year: Auburn, Cal, Wake Forest and Oklahoma State. Multiple programs — such as Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Belmont and San Diego State — declined an invitation to the NIT after missing out on the NCAA Tournament.

Here is a look at the full bracket.

2026 NIT schedule 

Games in the first three rounds to be played at the higher-seeded team’s home arena. All times ET

Quarterfinals

Tuesday, March 24 

• No. 1 Tulsa 83, No. 3 Wichita State 79 | Recap
• No. 1 New Mexico 84, Saint Joseph’s 69 | Recap

Wednesday, March 25 

• No. 2 Dayton vs. No. 4 Illinois State, 7 p.m. | ESPN2
• No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Nevada, 9 p.m. | ESPN2

Semifinals

Thursday, April 2 

Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis

• No. 1 Tulsa vs. No. 1 New Mexico, TBD | ESPN
• TBD vs. TBD | ESPN

Championship

Sunday, April 5

Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis

• Semifinal winners |  8 p.m. | ESPN2

Auburn Region

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Auburn 78, South Alabama 67 | Recap
No. 2  Nevada 89, Murray State 75 | Recap
Liberty 77, No. 3 George Mason 71 | Recap
No. 4 Seattle U 67, St. Thomas (MN) 52 | Recap

SECOND ROUND

No. 1 Auburn 91, No. 4 Seattle U 85 | Recap
No. 2 Nevada 73, Liberty 63 | Recap

Albuquerque Region

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 New Mexico 107, Sam Houston 83 | Recap
No. 2  Cal 91, UIC 73 | Recap
No. 3 Colorado State vs. Saint Joseph’s | Recap
George Washington 79, No. 4 Utah Valley 78 | Recap

SECOND ROUND

No. 1 New Mexico 86, George Washington 61 | Recap
Saint Joseph’s 76, No. 2 Cal 75 | Recap

Winston-Salem Region

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Wake Forest 82, Navy 72 | Recap
No. 2 Dayton 80, Bradley 66 | Recap
UNCW 68, No. 3 Yale 67 | Recap
No. 4 Illinois State vs. Kent State | Recap

SECOND ROUND

No. 4 Illinois State 78, No. 1 Wake Forest 75 | Recap
No. 2 Dayton 80, UNC-Wilmington 61 | Recap

Tulsa Region

FIRST ROUND

No. 1 Tulsa 89, Stephen F. Austin 84 (OT) | Recap
No. 2 Oklahoma State 84, Davidson 80 | Recap
No. 3 Wichita State 74, Wyoming 70 | Recap
UNLV 75, No. 4 UC Irvine 72 | Recap

SECOND ROUND

No. 1 Tulsa 77, UNLV 66 | Recap
No. 3 Wichita State 96, No. 2 Oklahoma State 70 | Recap

The Pittsburgh Steelers are unofficially being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers’s gruesomely unpunctual decision-making, and if Rodgers ultimately decides to retire, Kirk Cousins could be the Steelers’ fallback plan.

Pittsburgh may need a contingency plan, and Cousins is firmly in the conversation.

That’s the word recently from NFL insider Jason La Canfora, who claimed that Cousins is Pittsburgh’s current insurance policy.

The Steelers Continue Weighing Cousins as a Backup Plan

Cousins could start after all in 2026.

La Canfora: Steelers Keeping an Eye on Cousins

In article explaining that Cousins may not find a new team until after the NFL draft, La Canfora mentioned, “While several GMs told me they believe the Falcons would have been far better off keeping Cousins as their starter for this season, Atlanta did not attempt to bring him back, the sources said, and at this point it might make the most sense for him to wait until inevitable injuries occur, rather than make a decision now.”

“Cousins is not going to be signing anywhere for the veteran minimum, and there are fewer options available to him now. Pittsburgh is monitoring Cousins and view him as a viable alternative if Aaron Rodgers opts to retire.”

If not Cousins as the contingency plan, the Steelers are down to Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, and Jimmy Garoppolo from free agency, in addition to their incumbent second-year passer, Will Howard.

Rodgers’s Cringeworthy Delay

Before the 2025 regular season began, reporters naturally asked Rodgers if the campaign was his final, and he hinted affirmatively. The first year in Pittsburgh lined up as his final season in the pros, per his lips.

Then, after the Steelers lost in Round 1 of the postseason, he told the media that he wouldn’t make a rushed decision about his future, waiting for the raw emotion to burn off before locking in his return or retirement. That was 2.5 months ago.

Fast forward to late March, and Rodgers continues to lollygag, refusing to notify the public of his plans, despite fearlessness over appearing on national programming like ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. It’s also worth noting that Rodgers and his predecessor for the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre, are the only two NFLers to do this — get to the offseason for multiple years during their career twilight and then just have everyone guess about what they might do.

It’s utterly bizarre.

Raiders as a Bridge Spot for Kirk

On Cousins, suppose Rodgers returns, postponing retirement and guaranteeing the 2027 offseason brings another “Will he or won’t he?” regarding retirement. Cousins would look for a new landing spot, and the Las Vegas Raiders might make sense if probable first overall pick Fernando Mendoza isn’t quite ready to start Week 1.

La Canfora noted on Vegas an option for Cousins, “Las Vegas is still looking for a more established quarterback to buy them time if they need it, if presumptive first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza is not ready to start Week 1.”

The Raiders’ new skipper is Klint Kubiak, and he crossed paths with Cousins in Minnesota. The only quarterback — at all — on Las Vegas’s roster at this very moment is Aidan O’Connell. The Raiders traded Geno Smith to the New York Jets. Some teams, like the Vikings, have four quarterbacks in March. The Raiders have one.

The Other Teams?

If it’s not the Steelers or Raiders, Cousins might be down this list of destinations:

• Arizona Cardinals
• Cleveland Browns
• Indianapolis Colts
• San Francisco 49ers

The Cardinals have Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew ready to do battle for the QB1 job this summer — not an ideal combo unless a team is outwardly tanking. The Browns have three quarterbacks — which means they could have none in a practical sense — in Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson, and Dillon Gabriel.

Colts quarterback and former Viking Daniel Jones is recovering from a busted Achilles, and Indianapolis may trade Anthony Richardson to a team like the Green Bay Packers. The San Francisco 49ers? Why not trade Mac Jones to a team like the Arizona Cardinals for a 2nd-Rounder and sign Cousins for cheap as the QB2?

La Canfora on the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams as landing spots for Cousins: “Several executives have noted Cousins’s past ties to head coach Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco) and Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams), and believe Cousins could be a welcome addition as a back-up there (or perhaps with Andy Reid in Kansas City), but at this point it seems unlikely Cousins would go that route without exhausting any opportunity to start.”

Cousins will turn 38 in August and ranked as the NFL’s 10th-worst quarterback last season per EPA/Play.

Chances are your lineup hasn’t been hit hard enough by injuries yet for you to turn to the waiver wire for replacements. If that’s the case, I want you to think of this article as superfluous. No matchup considerations are enough for you to stray from those big bats you drafted.

But if you have had a couple of injuries already or came out of your draft with some known weak points, these recommendations could be of interest.

I’ll come out with some every week, and they may prove to be more vital as the season plays out. Note that I’ll be limiting my selection this week to those rostered in no more than 75 percent of CBS Sports leagues.

This first week actually requires two lists. With the season beginning on a Wednesday, some leagues will choose to treat opening weekend as its own five-day scoring period (which is the CBS standard), but others will combine it with the first full week for an extra long 12-day scoring period. Rest assured that no matter how your league has opted to handle it, I have you covered.

Best hitter matchups for short Week 1

1. Astros LAA4
2. Marlins COL3
3. Cubs WAS3
4. Mariners CLE4
5. Brewers CHW3

Worst hitter matchups for short Week 1

1. Rangers @PHI3
2. Diamondbacks @LAD3
3. Padres DET3
4. Phillies TEX3
5. Nationals @CHC3

Best hitter matchups for long Week 1

1. Blue Jays ATH3, COL3, @CHW3
2. Cubs WAS3, LAA3, @CLE3
3. Astros LAA4, BOS3, @ATH3
4. Rays @STL3, @MIL3, @MIN3
5. Mets PIT3, @STL3, @SF4

Worst hitter matchups for long Week 1

1. Guardians @SEA4, @LAD3, CHC3
2. Reds BOS3, PIT3, @TEX3
3. Rockies @MIA3, @TOR3, PHI3
4. Padres DET3, SF3, @BOS3
5. Nationals @CHC3, @PHI3, LAD3

NEW DELHI: Rinku Singh enjoyed a double bonanza on Tuesday. First, he was handed the vice-captaincy of the Kolkata Knight Riders ahead of the IPL 2026 season, and then he was appointed as a Regional Sports Officer by the Uttar Pradesh Government. He was handed the appointment letter for the post by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.Rinku has been a key performer for KKR, thanks to his explosive batting and stupendous fielding. He was also part of the victorious India team that won the 2026 T20 World Cup. India defeated New Zealand national cricket team in the title clash in Ahmedabad to lift their third T20 World Cup title, having previously won it in 2007 and 2024.