College Sports Business News
The Publication for College Sports Administrators

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

The Knight Commission has historically asked that presidents be involved in college athletics, however I am not sure the Commission was asking presidents to get involved so much so that they are aggressively pursuing ventures such as television contracts and conference realignment.  In reviewing the Commission’s efforts starting in the 1990s and continuing through the early 21^st century, their message has been clear: presidents can affect real reform.  Perhaps one of the most striking examples of presidential involvement early on was when in 1995 the Knight Commission was just starting to lead academic reform efforts. Members of the Commission called upon presidents and chancellors to “personally attend” the 1995 NCAA Convention which was a perfect platform for presidents to get involved and affect academic reform.  Since that time presidential involvement gained great momentum and in 1996 the NCAA changed the governance authority of college athletics from the athletics directors to the presidents.  All appeared to be headed in the right direction, or so we thought. 

Fast forward to 2011 and now one of the founding members of the Knight Commission and president emeritus of the University of North Carolina system, Dr. William Friday, seems to have a different message.  In a widely read series from the Chronicle of Higher Education, Dr. Friday is no longer writing to presidents encouraging them to get involved and affect reform, rather he hints at the idea that current university leaders are to blame for being part of the problems associated with college athletics.  In one of his strongest statements in the series, Dr. Friday writes to university officials that it is time to “bring an immediate end to the shameful exploitation and abuse now so destructive of these worthy and essential institutions.”   

The logical thinking years ago was to have presidents become more involved in the NCAA and at each member institution because they would have more authority to make decisions in the best interest of the schools and perhaps act more responsibly than athletic directors and coaches in the past.  Essentially, giving power to those “outside” of athletics would help control the problems within college athletics.  However, by calling for the involvement of more people (including not just presidents and chancellors but boards of trustees, faculty members and conference commissioners) we have taken authority away from the position that could have the most influence and knowledge of such decisions – the athletic director.  Those that are critical of such a thought assume that the athletic director would act only in the best interest of athletics, not the institution.  However, since the mid 1990s when presidents became more involved in college athletics, have things changed that much? Certainly there has been progress, but has presidential involvement really helped?

Such a question is difficult to answer and far be it from me to criticize the position of college presidents.  I have the luxury of not needing to make the final decision on finding the balance between athletics and academics.  The pressure that exists at the presidential level is something most people cannot fathom.  Numerous writings have highlighted the challenges presidents and chancellors have in trying to manage both the internal and external interests in higher education, including college athletics.  College Sports Business News’ Editor Tim O’Brien offered excellent suggestions to presidents in his December 2011 column that outlined how leaders can gain better perspective on the issues facing athletic departments.  However, even those presidents that are involved in the daily minutia of college athletics, as well as those tackling the larger issues at the NCAA level, seem to have been struggling for years.

Take for example this article written by Douglas Lederman that appeared in USA Today in 2004 where he listed examples of how presidents were “helpless.”  President after president, including those that served on the Knight Commission, had become part of the Division I problem, not part of the solution.  Now, as talk of the presidents continuing to lead conversations about conference realignment persists, one has to wonder if presidents have given up efforts to reform college athletics, and are turning their efforts to surviving the transitions. Certainly, the need for survival changes perspective and will have an impact on the decision-making process.  This was highlighted in a Connecticut Post article on January 5^th, written by Ken Dixon.  Dixon recapped UConn’s position in conference realignment by citing email exchanges between administrators.  In September, UConn’s President Susan Herbst highlighted in one sentence the lack of athletic directors (ADs) present in conference realignment discussions when she wrote: "In general, at this point at least, ADs are not running the discussion around the country and a lot is happening."  Around the same time President Herbst sent her email to UConn’s interim athletic director, Paul Pendergast, it was becoming painfully apparent nationwide athletic directors were not running the discussion.  In fact, some athletic directors were completely left in the dark.  The athletic directors’ silence and confusion throughout this past fall and the presidents, boards and curators' quotes and explanations gave a strong indication that some of the most important decisions being made regarding college athletics were being made by people above the athletic director, the person with, possibly, the greatest perspective.

But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that this is not a 21^st century issue, rather it became an issue as soon as presidents were introduced to conference championships and television money.  In a 1995 Sporting News article written by former NCAA president Walter Byers, the problem of presidential control was questioned even then.  It is a fascinating article with statements that capture today’s current landscape.  For example, in the most powerful paragraphs, Byers wrote:

“Unfortunately, the much-publicized presidential reform movement of the past 10 years has been little more than a public-relations venture. Presidents speak nationally of reform and student welfare, but then return to the campus to recruit new colleges for their major league conferences. They want more TV negotiating muscle and more of their teams in bowl games and tournaments. At the national level, presidents gravely cut the number of grants-in-aid, then return to campus to generate more revenue for the campus supervisors and overseer.

“The new Big 12 Conference has been taking bids for a football championship game. Thus far, six cities have filed bids ranging from offers of $6.88 to $8.21 million to host the event. One of the reform-minded presidents of the Big 12 told the Kansas City Star on October 1: ‘It all comes down to money. Whatever generates the most money is what we're interested in doing.’”

Perhaps one issue that needs to be readdressed is the concept of presidential control.  Certainly, the trustees and the presidents have every right to exert their power over athletics, but do they understand the impact of their decisions when they step in?  Are presidents capable of leading a Division I athletic department, all while dealing with other major institutional issues?  Should decisions that will impact the future of college athletics be lead by presidents or should we reconsider the role of the Division I athletic director at the NCAA, conference and even institutional level?  Byers’ 1995 editorial in the Sporting News, and Lederman’s 2004 article suggested a warning that presidential involvement was not working then and Dr. Friday’s article suggests it is not working now.  As written in Lederman’s article, former Arkansas athletics director Frank Broyles said, "I haven't seen presidents do anything different or better than the people who were running the show beforehand — to the contrary, actually."  Perhaps it is time for a new perspective. 

#  #  #

Tony Weaver is an Assistant Professor for Sport and Event Management at Elon University in Elon, North Carolina. He currently serves on numerous advisory boards for local, regional and national organizations within the sport and event industry, and is an active member of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA), North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM) and the College Sports Research Institute (CSRI). Tony’s writings related to college athletics have been featured in the Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, the Knowledge Collaborative and Ultimate Sports Insider.com. Tony served almost 10 years in Division I college athletics administration at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Siena College, Iona College and the University of Connecticut. He coached college and high school basketball and gained practical experience in financial organizations before moving into administration. Tony holds a B.S. from Siena College; an M.A. from the University of Connecticut; and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He became an assistant professor at Elon in 2007. He can be reached at tweaver@elon.edu

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

Efficient recruiting spending relative to team performance continues to captivate our imagination, so we examined seven years of NCAA hockey data and NHL drafts spanning 700+ college players (including 350 top prospects) to explore the relationship between NCAA champions in hockey and top prospects.[1] In this study, we define a “top prospect” as one of the top 50 recruits each year according to www.insidecollegehockey.com (an affiliate of ESPN). Team rosters were sourced from www.collegehockeystats.net, which has the largest amount of readily available rosters for college hockey dating back to the 1999-2000 season.

Fig.1 — Top Prospects and NHLers, 2005-2011

Our study results show a higher amount of top prospects and draftees amongst the teams that were successful in the NCAA Tournament [fig. 1]. The correlation between success in the playoffs and top prospects and draftees was virtually identical at .302 and .303, respectively. The fact that these correlations are so close gives credibility to the study, since both Inside College Hockey and NHL recruiters consider the same players to be the best in the country. While correlations this low are typically deemed far too low to be of statistical significance and are initially unnerving to statisticians, when taking into account that it is a single variable being used as a predictor, it is actually quite relevant. These correlations tell us that distance in the playoffs and these two variables move in lockstep more than 30% of the time, which means that with just one of these variables we can have a pretty good chance of determining which teams will experience success in the NCAA Tournament. Our chances of correctly predicting winners would increase even more were we to incorporate additional variables into this model.

There are two interesting things to consider when looking at these data:

1. Teams that won the Frozen Four were not the squads that averaged the most prospects or drafted players, but instead were the runners-up. While the difference is virtually negligible, it highlights the fact that the best team, or the one with the most talent according to our metrics, does not always take away the first prize.[2] In fact, as Baseball Prospectus writers Dayn Perry and Nate Silver noted in their 2007 book “Baseball Between The Numbers,” even the most successful teams in the MLB regular season will rarely have better than a 30% chance of winning the World Series.  As applied to our analysis of college hockey, we observe that a team might be among the elite during the regular season and have the best players, but have even less than a 30% chance of winning the trophy because of the one-and-done playoff format that is unforgiving of misfortunes or an off game. This was certainly the case for the 2008-2009 North Dakota team that was extremely talented (13 prospects and 15 draftees) and one of the best teams in terms of record during the regular season, but which lost in the first round of the tournament.
2. Note the steep drop-off in both top prospects and draftees that can be seen between teams that made the Frozen Four and those that lost beforehand. This seems to indicate that while a team of lesser caliber might upset a seemingly superior squad (e.g., the 2008-2009 North Dakota team), the best teams have the tendency to rise to the top as the tournament progresses. Also, there are occasionally teams that are either in a weak conference or play beyond their means in the conference tournament. Because an automatic berth goes only to the conference champions, these squads thus make the NCAA Tournament in favor of another team that might be stronger overall.

The implications of this study might help college hockey departments optimize their recruiting efforts. For teams that struggle to make the NCAA Tournament, we can say with reasonable confidence that having close to four top prospects on a team gives it a pretty good chance to take that next step. Moreover, it seems that the one-and-done system of the tournament gives a team of four leading prospects an upper hand not only to make the playoffs, but also to advance to the Elite Eight. For those teams that consistently compete at a high level in college hockey, we can infer that more than five high-level prospects on a team are typically required to make the Frozen Four, and close to seven prospects on a team are needed to win the championship. The net takeaway: if possible, optimize recruiting efforts to have between four and seven top prospects on the team each season.[3]

Observing these data might raise the question as to whether there are enough top prospects to go around for each team to have its fair share. The obvious quick answer would be “no,” since we know before each season that there are teams amongst the 64 of college hockey that do not have a feasible shot at winning the championship. But just how many do have a chance? Over the seven years of this study, there were 29 teams that had at least seven prospects on their squads [fig. 2].

Fig. 2 — Teams with Seven or More Prospects

Of these 29 teams, three won the NCAA Tournament (2008 Boston College, 2009 Boston University, 2010 Boston College) and four were the runners-up (2006 Boston College, 2007 Boston College, 2010 Wisconsin, 2011 Michigan). Considering that only 14 teams possibly could meet these criteria, it is significant that half of the group is made up of teams that had at least seven elite prospects. If we go on to include teams with six top recruits (since after all, seven is only the average), we find only one more unique team entering the field of having seven or more prospects (New Hampshire), while acquiring a new champion (2006 Wisconsin) as well as a new runner-up (2008 Notre Dame). Thus, it would be fair to say that these 10 teams [fig. 2] are the teams that have a legitimate chance to win the championship year in and year out, and that in any given year one of these teams will make it to the championship 50% of the time.

However, this should not be a major concern to college hockey departments that are not included in Figure 2. Digging deeper into the data, we find that there are more than enough recruits to go around for each team to have the chance to experience success in the tournament. Of the 350 top prospects considered over the seven years, only 245 made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. This means that 30% of the most talented players entering college hockey never get the chance to compete in the playoffs! With the understanding that it takes an average of only four players to reach the Elite Eight, teams that have a few high-level prospects would do well to identify players that are going to teams where they will not make the tournament, and show them that their school could offer the chance to skate for a national championship. It is also important to keep in perspective that it is not necessary to have exactly four or seven prospects, since these are merely averages. While there are teams that will have more than average, there are also squads experiencing success that have fewer than the average number of elite prospects expected to be necessary to reach the respective levels of success.

As with any model, this study is not without its fair share of assumptions and limitations. We note three:

1. The model for the study considers only seven years of data, which is limited, especially when considering the teams that went deep into the playoffs. While there are 56 teams in the “tournament” bucket and 28 in the “Elite Eight,” only seven teams’ data are available for the champions and runners-up, respectively.[4]
2. The model does not account for how highly touted the prospect is within the rankings system. In other words, two teams that have four top prospects each could be at very different competencies, as one team’s top prospects might be in the top 15 of their class while the other team’s top prospects barely make it into the top 50. Another similar possibility is that certain positions are more valuable, and thus it is more important to have excellent prospects manning those slots; an obvious example being that the best goalies are more valuable than skaters.
3. The model does not consider the tenure of the players with the college team or the playoff experience they have. It is possible prospects that are upperclassmen fare better than freshmen in the NCAA Tournament, just as there is a chance that those who have been in the tournament before fare better as well.

Despite its limitations, this study should still prove useful to college hockey recruiting departments because of the implications outlined above. The clear correlations between draftees, prospects, and success in the NCAA Tournament give credibility to the research, and the steep drop-off at the Frozen Four gives a good idea of the type of talent that is required to reach each phase of the NCAA Tournament. Additional research about the assumptions and limitations listed above would improve the takeaways available in investigative efforts such as this, and might help identify even more ways that recruiting resources could be better allocated. 

By   Tue, Jan 17, 2012

The NBA eligibility rules have changed over the years thanks in part to Spencer Haywood, a former star player who had challenged the NBA’s prior rule that required that players be at least four years removed from the date of their high school graduation or in the case of players who did not graduate from high school, four years from the date that the remainder of their high school class graduated.  Haywood was successful in his antitrust challenge against the league and the league eventually relaxed its rule dramatically and allowed players to jump directly from high school to the professional ranks. 

For a while, there were not many high schoolers who even attempted to make the leap, let alone succeed, with notable exceptions like Moses Malone and Shawn Kemp.  Then in 1995, Kevin Garnett made a splash as a high draft pick directly from high school who then also made an immediate impact on the league.  This opened the floodgates for the likes of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.  The floodgates also included many current no-name players who risked their collegiate eligibility by declaring for the NBA draft and then either did not get drafted or got drafted in the second round and never made an NBA team.  There were too many of these sad stories to mention and a growing concern that a lot of students were foregoing a chance to attend college on an athletic scholarship to chase a highly unlikely dream, so the NBA reacted and included in its collective bargaining agreement a new eligibility rule.  Although the rule is more extensive than this, it basically breaks down as: a player must be at least 19 years old and out of high school for at least one year.  The latter part was included for players that may be 19 when they graduate but not a year removed from high school yet (see O.J. Mayo). 

This has resulted in the so-called “one and done” syndrome where star high school players who now cannot make the direct step into the NBA go to school for a year and then declare themselves eligible for the NBA Draft.  The “one and doners” have changed the focus of college recruiting and college basketball in general.  Many of the big-time programs know that they are only able to keep the players for a year and instead focus their recruiting on a one-year timeframe and not search for a true student-athlete that will grow with the program and the school.

Many have discussed the pros and cons of this, but it was not until Brandon Jennings spurned the University of Arizona to instead take his “one and done” year and play professional basketball in Italy in 2008 that anyone believed avoiding college for a year was even a possibility.  Jennings was the first known American high schooler to opt for European basketball over playing college basketball.  Jennings did not have a stellar year in Italy but declared himself eligible for the 2009 NBA Draft anyway and was selected tenth overall by the Milwaukee Bucks.  A lot of critics scoffed at the choice given Jennings’ lackluster performance in Italy, but Jennings came into the league as a “rookie” and took the league by surprise.  He was a first-team All-Rookie unanimous selection and even scored 55 points in one game, the second highest total for a player under 21 in NBA history.

Given Jennings’ immediate impact, one could make a plausible argument that playing basketball against professionals, and men instead of young adults, could have played a significant factor in his instant success.  Many believed that Jennings hurt his draft chances by going to Europe where no one except maybe Fran Fraschilla saw him play basketball instead of going to a big-time program like University of Arizona.  Jennings proved them wrong and it seemed as though maybe it would spark a movement of more players opting for Europe instead of college, but it really did not happen.  There had been one or two less publicized failures in this regard, but not the mass exodus you may have imagined.  Being an 18 year old and playing basketball with men in a foreign country where you likely do not speak the language and have never been before probably played a major factor in keeping more players in American colleges.  And, if you have ever read Paul Shirley’s “Can I Keep My Jersey?”, it does not paint the most favorable picture of life as an American basketball player in Europe.

Given all of that, then why would a player want to choose playing overseas over college?  For one, beyond Brandon Jennings providing a strong blueprint for success on this road, many college players for years have felt exploited by their schools for making millions from March Madness while the players are left with their small stipend – playing professionally does away with the amateur status issue.  The players will be making money and also do not have to worry about agent tampering or unlawful gifts.

Additionally, this most recent highly publicized collective bargaining process with the NBA owners and the players’ union resulted in a number of players playing overseas or threatening to play overseas.  The overseas teams paid the players an enormous amount of money for a short time period just to have the players on their teams.  With more high profile American players going to Europe even for a short period, it has made the leap less of an unknown than it was previously.  One of the issues argued over in this most recent collective bargaining agreement was over the rules covering draft eligibility.  The league wants to change the rule to require the player to be at least 20 years old and two years removed from high school.  The players do not agree.  This rule was essentially “tabled” in the agreed-upon collective bargaining agreement with the two sides agreeing to form a committee to work on the issue.

If the rule does get changed, and high school players are now looking at two years post-high school before they become eligible for the draft, why would they choose to go to college and be “exploited” when they can go play professionally where some of the big-name current players have played (or threatened to play), gain experience, and then enter the draft? The “one and doners” never planned to stay in college anyway, so it seems that it would not be a big surprise if Europe, going forward, becomes a more attractive option. 

#  #  #

Josh Winneker is an Assistant Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. He has taught Sports and the Law and the Business of Sports at Rider University. Josh has also taught at Widener University School of Law, Charleston School of Law and Seton Hall University School of Law. He is also an Associate with the O'Brien Sports Group, which specializes in college sports consulting matters.

Josh graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hall University School of Law where he was a member of the Seton Hall Law Review.  He was a summer associate, law clerk and associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York City in the Antitrust/Sports Law group.  He also served for two years as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Garrett E. Brown, Jr., Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.  Josh was also a litigation associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Winston & Strawn LLP.

Additionally, Josh graduated cum laude from Muhlenberg College, where he was a member of the Varsity Soccer team and Centennial Conference Champion.

Josh has published in the Seton Hall Law Review and is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey and the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Josh can be reached at jwinneker@tjsl.edu

By Dave O'Brien, CSBN Editor   Mon, Jan 16, 2012

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with this approach. It makes sense on many levels and is consistent with the American way. The reality is that the most commercially valuable college sports properties are from the equity or BCS conferences. Those are the teams and games that the fans want to watch; as a result, the media deals reflect the preferences of the fans.

There are three main areas of college sports revenue: 1) the television contract for March Madness, which produces almost $900 million annually; 2) BCS bowl/television contracts, which are valued at approximately $200 million and have the potential to exceed the March Madness payment if some form of a playoff develops; and, 3) conference television deals that amount to $1 billion annually for the BCS conferences alone. The lion’s share of these revenue categories go to the BCS conferences/schools, which is simply another way of saying equity conferences/schools. Comparatively, only crumbs are shared with non-BCS/non-equity conferences/schools.

The BCS/equity conferences/schools completely control the revenue from football and conference television deals; and, while they get most of the revenue from the March Madness television deal, they do have to share some of it with other participating schools. The sharing of this revenue produces complications for both the haves and the have-nots. The BCS/equity conferences/schools would prefer not to share any of this revenue since they believe the value of the deal is being driven by them. At the same time, the have-nots are addicted to both the visibility provided by March Madness and the money that flows from it, even if it is heavily weighted toward the teams that go deep into the tournament. In addition, both sides are attracted to the Cinderella drama that occasionally unfolds, although it is important to remember that the last such team to actually win the national championship was in 1985 with Villanova. The likelihood of a Cinderella team actually winning in the future is probably less than in the past because of the growing disparity in the level of resources available.

The reality is that the growing resource gap between the haves and have-nots is making it virtually impossible for the have-nots to effectively compete in sports across the board. At the same time, the growing resource disparity makes it difficult for all Division I schools to agree on a set of rules. This is at the heart of the dispute about allowing schools to pay for the full-cost of attendance. The BCS/equity conferences/schools have the resources to fund this new expense, while the have-nots do not. It is not a philosophical dispute; rather it is simply an economic issue. Simply put, it is impossible to agree on a set of rules that govern a school with a $125 million athletic budget and a school with a $5 million athletic budget.

Change has to occur, but the economic realities have to be faced to effectively do so. History and common sense tells us that the BCS/equity conferences are going to continue to maximize these revenue streams, and well they should. Non-BCS/non-equity conferences/schools need to recognize this reality and refrain from making costly investments in athletic facilities, coaching salaries or operating budgets in the false hope of securing access to these media driven resources. What these schools have to do is create a competitive, economic and regulatory structure that makes sense for them. The addiction to a small revenue stream that flows from the March Madness contract and the impractical dream of a Cinderella victory needs to be placed in context.

It is time to call the question and to recognize that there is as much of a divide (if not more) within Division I as exists between Division I, II, and III. The discussion should not simply be whether the BCS/equity conferences/schools should unilaterally decide that it is in their interest to form Division IV within the NCAA structure or break away from the NCAA altogether, but whether they should be encouraged to leave by the non-BCS/non-equity conferences/schools because it is their interest to separate.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

To understand how much a player will make professionally, you must first understand how the draft works, how going to college impacts your draft stock, and what the real costs and benefits of a college education entail.  I have analyzed the first ten rounds of the MLB draft over the last nine years in an attempt to make sense of the MLB draft and provide guidelines for a high school player who is facing this decision. (See links to the charts at the end of this article.) This information should also be useful to college coaches as they can use it as a recruiting tool, and to baseball professionals to help a player make their decision.

The MLB Draft

The Major League Baseball Draft is usually 50 rounds long.  Typically, the higher a draft pick a player is, the more money they will receive.  But this is not always the case, as the MLB draft is different from other professional drafts.  With leagues such as the NFL and NBA, players must declare themselves eligible for the draft, and when they do, they forfeit any eligibility they have left at the collegiate level.  The same does not hold true for the MLB draft – as long as a player meets the requirements for the MLB draft, he can be drafted whether he has “declared” himself to be eligible or not.  This means a player can negotiate a contract when drafted and still retain his collegiate eligibility rights.  Because of this, MLB teams draft as much on talent as they do on what they call “signability.”

A team may not pick an ultra-talented high school player if he has already made a commitment to play collegiate baseball and intends on honoring that commitment.  Additionally, teams with more limited resources may not choose a player with remaining collegiate eligibility if he has made it clear he will not sign for anything less than a specific amount.  This leads to a common situation where a talented player falls in the draft until a team with the resources to meet his salary demands is picking.  These two scenarios make it considerably more difficult to predict a player’s salary based on draft position.  But they are an ever-present part of draft pick negotiations and must be considered.

Another note to make is the position at which a player is drafted.  It is not always a significant amount, but over the course of the entire analysis it can be seen that pitchers average a higher signing bonus than that of position players.  It tends to change from year to year, and even round to round whether right-handed or left-handed pitchers earn a higher signing bonus, but it is consistent that pitchers in general receive more money than position players.

The Impact of Going to College on your Draft Stock

A graduating high school player has three clear options when he is drafted by an MLB team: he can sign professionally, go and play at a four-year college, or play at a junior college.  Making a decision either way has clear consequences involved with it.  A graduating high school player has the most leverage when negotiating a professional contract as he will ever have.  He can choose to play at a four-year college or a junior college as opposed to signing, and therefore can typically demand and receive more money.  The graphs depicting signing bonus amounts based on the type of school drafted from shows that high school graduates consistently sign for more money than both four-year college players and junior college players.  It is important to understand that choosing to go to college will almost certainly decrease the amount a player will be able to sign for.

If a player chooses to attend college, it is important to choose based on what they want to do.  If they are simply choosing college because they are not getting the signing bonus amount they think they’re entitled to, junior college is probably the better choice.  Players who go to junior college are eligible to be drafted the next year, and each subsequent year they stay in junior college.  This offers a player the chance to play for one more season, try and increase their draft stock, and be drafted a year later.  It is a risk though, because most players will face inferior competition at the junior college level as opposed to the four-year college level, so it may be hard to stick out despite the statistics they may put up.

If a player is choosing college because they value a college education but still want to play baseball, a four-year institution is probably the right choice.  The major factor to consider when choosing a four-year college is that once a player signs a letter of intent and goes to a four-year college, they must wait three years before they are eligible to be drafted again.  Much like choosing junior college, it is a calculated risk because a lot can happen in three years as far as diminished skills, injury and immaturity issues. 

All of this is important to take into account when a high school graduate is making a choice.  The graphs clearly depict that you are not likely to make as much money if you choose either college route.  Despite this, many players believe that they can increase their draft stock by going to college and playing well.  It is possible, but a player still must be drafted considerably higher coming out of college in order to approach the same amount of money they would have made coming out of high school.  Over the course of this research, there have been 136 players drafted in the first 10 rounds that have decided not to sign.  Of those 136, fifty five of them (40%) have been drafted a second time at a higher spot than they were originally drafted.

Costs and Benefits of College

Most people have heard claims of how much more money a person can expect to make if they have a college degree.  As Rolf Winkler of Reuters says (2009), “A common misconception is that a college degree is worth a million dollars over the average working lifetime.”  This may be true in certain instances, but these claims typically only take into account the benefits of a college degree, and not necessarily the costs associated with one.  Anderson (2010) notes important facts about the costs associated with attending college.  First, over two-thirds of college students borrow to pay for college, and the average debt of a student has doubled in the last ten years.  Next, a 2006 survey of graduates less than 35 years old shows that nearly half of them expect it will take more than 10 years to pay off their college debt.  Also, student loan debt in the US has, for the first time, exceeded credit card debt, only exemplifying the debt burden placed on students.

Winkler points to a 2008 study by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges to get a better idea of the true cost and benefits of a college degree.  This study puts the net value of a college degree, taxes included, at $121,539, or close to a tenth of what many people believe.  This may in fact be a conservative estimate, but when making such an important life decision it is more prudent to use a conservative estimate as it provides more clarity than a liberal estimate. 

Making the Decision

With this information in hand, it is possible to compare it directly to what a player can expect to receive based on their draft position.  By looking at the averages for each round over the last nine years, we can see that in 2003, the average signing bonus approached the value of a college degree between the sixth and seventh rounds.  In 2011, we can see that the average signing bonus does not approach this number until between the ninth and tenth rounds.  In fact, the average signing bonus for a sixth round pick has gone from $138,685 in 2003 to $232,167 in 2011.  For a ninth round pick, it has jumped from $49,345 in 2003 to $158,611 in 2011.  It is the tenth round of the 2011 draft where the average signing bonus of $112,600 actually falls below the value of a college degree.      

A player should not make their decision strictly based on whether or not their signing bonus will be more than the value of a college degree.  It is important to understand the risks you are taking when you sign a professional contract as well. 

• Only 5-6% of all players drafted will play in the Major Leagues
  • First round draft pick                          67.8%
  • Supplemental round draft pick           59.8%
  • Second round draft pick                     46.5%
  • Third round draft pick                                    36.2%
  • Fourth round draft pick                      28.3%
  • Fifth round draft pick                         28.5%
  • 6^th -10^th round draft pick                     20.4%
  • 11^th-15^th round draft pick                    8.3%
  • 16^th -20^th round draft pick                   9.8%
  • Outside of the first round, divide the above percentages by 2 to get the percentage of players who will play more than three years
  • You will typically lose 31% of your signing bonus to taxes
  • A typical minor league salary is about $850 a month

Each of these pieces of information would seem to push a player towards attending college unless they are drafted quite high.  But there is one more thing to consider.  It is the Major League Baseball College Scholarship Plan.  Players that wish to pursue a college degree but want to play baseball as soon as they can have the ability to negotiate into their contract participation in what MLB calls “The Plan.”  If enrolled in The Plan, players who choose to pursue professional baseball first can have the team that drafts them pay for college after their career is over.  If enrolled in The Plan, it doesn’t matter if a player is released, retires or goes to the military; their original drafting team is required to pay for their college as long as the player meets the requirements. 

The player must start their college studies within two years of their last day of active service, cannot go two consecutive years without attending college once they have started, cannot be placed on MLB’s Ineligible list, and cannot use The Plan’s funds toward a degree beyond a bachelor’s degree.  A player who takes advantage of The Plan can have the club that drafted him pay for his tuition, fees, room and board, and textbooks.  It is the equivalent of a full scholarship. 

This is significant because there are very few players at the college level that get full scholarships for baseball.  A college baseball team has a roster of 35 players, but they only have 11.7 scholarships to give out.  It is also a rule that any player receiving a scholarship must receive, at minimum, a 25% scholarship.  This forces college baseball coaches to fraction their scholarships to their players, in some cases as many as 30.  It is ironic that the best chance that a baseball player has of getting a full scholarship is by foregoing college early on and negotiating enrollment in The Plan with MLB.

Conclusion

Over the past nine years we can see a significant trend of players receiving higher signing bonuses.  This means that the cut-off point at which a player should consider going to college has been pushed back further and further.  Based on the information, a player drafted in the first seven rounds can expect to make double of what the net value of a college degree is.  Also, players drafted this high should be able to negotiate enrollment in The Plan as part of their contract.  Therefore, these players should typically sign a professional contract. 

Beginning in the eighth round, the choice becomes based on what an individual player wants to do.  Players who want to attend college but are drafted at a point where the value of a college degree may be exceeding that of their signing bonus should at least see if they can negotiate enrollment in The Plan as part of their contract.  If not, a tough choice needs to be made.

Weighing the Real Moneyball Question – 2003-2011

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

#  #  #

Mitchell Woltring is in his final semester of Master’s coursework in Sport Management at Middle Tennessee State University.  Upon graduating, he will remain at MTSU and pursue his Ph.D. in Human Performance.  A native of West Bend, Wisconsin, he received his Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management from Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Mitchell is an avid sports fan with his true passion being baseball, and enjoys researching the sport in many capacities.  He serves as a student manager for the MTSU baseball team and tracks each of the team’s games using the iScore system on an iPod. He then uses that information to provide the coaching staff and players with detailed breakdowns of their statistics.  He can be reached at mitchell.woltring@gmail.com

By   Sat, Feb 04, 2012

"At a time when the ACC buzz meter is relatively low in the two major sports, the league announced a scheduling policy Friday that will take another deep cut into its men's basketball popularity," Caulton Tudor writes in the Charlotte Observer.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Feb 04, 2012

Surveys were conducted on Big Ten campuses during the 2011 football season, showing people became more accepting as the season went on. The one-third who did not like the names, which were introduced with Big Ten expansion in 2010, said they preferred geographical names and described the names as "confusing" and "arrogant," the Chicago Tribune reported.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

It marks the end of an investigation that began last summer after the department realized nearly 500 student athletes had, from 2007 to 2010, received recommended course books under scholarship. NCAA rules prohibit scholarships from paying for anything but required materials.

"The violations, which included a failure to monitor, were narrow in scope and centered on student-athletes in all sports receiving impermissible benefits," reads a statement on the NCAA website.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

When Longwood chose to move from Division II to Division I, the Big South was its first choice. Unfortunately, Longwood’s move coincided with the Big South’s quest to add as many football-playing schools as possible. Longwood’s stance on football hasn’t changed. The school has no plans to add the sport. But the landscape has changed, at least within the Big South Conference.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith told The Plain Dealer that players could still lose their scholarships if they don't fulfill academic or off-the-field requirements. But the multiyear scholarship prevents coaches from running off players if better talent has been recruited at their positions or who no longer fit the team's style of play.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

Swarbrick seems like a fantasy choice but he’s close with Dodds (the Big 12 commissioner behind-the-scenes if you believe conspiracy theorists) so the connection fits.

Banowsky or Luck are more probable hires, especially if the current Conference USA commish loses his post once his own conference and the Mountain West merge. Luck has ties to the Big 12 area and has impressed thus far in his tenure as West Virginia athletic director.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

An NCAA working group recently unveiled preliminary recommendations that would produce clearer penalty guidelines, create four levels of violations, and add at least eight people to the 10-member Division I Committee on Infractions. Changes could happen by August as college sports tries to dig out from a rash of recent high-profile scandals.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

They have played 10 games this month with five flights. The combination of missed class time and fatigue are some of the reasons why Georgia State's Levick has asked the rest of the CAA’s athletic directors to discuss changing the scheduling format when they meet before the league tournament begins March 2.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

"In fact, both UConn. and Mr. Boatright should be commended for their cooperation throughout the process to gather information," NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said. "The school and student-athlete's dedication to uncover the facts should be viewed as a positive example, not somehow construed negatively. Had Ms. Boatright (Tanesha Boatright, the player's mother) cooperated fully from the beginning, this matter could have been settled months ago."

Boatright has missed nine games this season as a result of the investigation, including a six-game suspension to start the season. He also is repaying $4,500 in benefits. He was held out of the last three games as the NCAA looked into additional information.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sun, Jan 29, 2012

Navy AD Chet Gladchuk said Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo and his staff have three years "to gear it up" before joining the Big East, and that plans are in the works to expand Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium as well as the team's facilities.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

ODU stayed about an hour away from the stadium, which made it difficult for the men to make the meeting. ODU was represented by others at the meeting.

"We certainly respect the NCAA for following the policy as it is currently written for championships," Selig said in a prepared statement. "ODU was well represented at this pregame meeting with multiple staff members attending the event."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

Neinas refused to comment on exit fees for Missouri and Texas A&M as they depart the Big 12 for the SEC. Nor would he comment on when he might comment, the Kansas City Star reported.

But as he has on several occasions during the last week, Neinas said he anticipated West Virginia — despite a lawsuit by the Big East to keep them — would join the Big 12 for the 2012-13 season.

“We have a schedule with West Virginia,” Neinas told the Gazette. “We have a contractual commitment with our television partners that we must release a schedule by Feb. 1 and we will do that.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

"The Big East isn’t exactly the Southeastern Conference, but a full slate of conference games will be more demanding than what the Mids currently put together on their own. Big East members Boise State and San Diego State will always be difficult opponents. Louisville, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, South Florida and Central Florida are exactly the kind of schools Army struggled with in Conference USA because they can recruit players the academies can’t even think about because of academics."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

But when the Big East added Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members and Houston, Southern Methodist and Central Florida as full members in December, the Midshipmen were not ready to get on board.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Mon, Jan 23, 2012

Longwood sponsors 14 varsity sports at the Division I level, 13 of which are sponsored by the Big South: men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's tennis, baseball, softball, men's and women's golf, and women's lacrosse.  Only women's field hockey (NorPac) will not compete in the Big South Conference.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sun, Jan 22, 2012

The penalties will not affect the Division III national championship the Knights won in 2009.

By   Sat, Feb 04, 2012

Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville, the lead DFLer (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) on the House Education Finance Committee, described the package as "a golden parachute'' that "will hurt the U when President Kaler comes crying poor to the Legislature for money for our students.''

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

"Research indicates that maintaining a positive perspective and a lack of cynicism helps you receive and use negative feedback productively. Additionally, introspection and self-reflection enable you to more accurately assess criticism. Self-confidence, drive, openness to experience, and conscientiousness also help. Finally, research indicates that people more readily accept criticism when they feel that how they receive it is fair."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

A record turnout of nearly 10,000 (9,923) votes were cast on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at 12 polling locations across campus and 7,334 students voted in favor of the legislation. The voter turnout for a referendum was the largest in recorded University history.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

“The agreement with the University when Maturi came in was that athletics would cut its reliance on central support,” Elizabeth Eull, former associate AD in charge of finance, said. “But it has really been a combination for Gopher athletics that there was a planned reduction, then the state money started to get drawn back and the entire University needed to cut back, including athletics.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

Financial details of his contract with the Buccaneers weren’t disclosed by the team. The Newark Star-Ledger, citing an anonymous person familiar with the negotiations, said Schiano’s NFL deal is worth slightly more than $15 million.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

The National Football League (NFL) tends to market toward a more affluent or "able" customer base; an affluent family of four can easily spend over $1,000 while attending one sporting event. If this family attends 10 events per year, well, you get the picture. 

Likewise, people spend serious money renovating entire rooms of their homes to show support for their alma mater. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

Graham’s contract shows he will be paid $100 in each or all of seven categories tied to the athletic department’s academic and athletic success. The most bonus money he could earn a year is $700. That’s not much on top of the five-year, $260,000-a-year contract he signed Nov. 30, the same day he replaced Paul Kowalczyk as CSU’s athletic chief. But it’s thousands of dollars less than a similar stipulation in Kowalczyk’s contract, and it’s the only oddity of the 16-page contract the Coloradoan obtained from the university.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

In the Luce Field House, the College will enlarge and renovate the men's lacrosse and soccer locker room to accommodate the growing rosters in these sports, reconfigure and upgrade the training room and reconfigure and upgrade additional locker rooms for field hockey; women's lacrosse and soccer; men's and women's basketball, squash and track and field; coed and women's sailing and women's volleyball. Outside, new lights on the artificial turf field will give more varsity teams, club sports and other groups opportunities to use the all-weather field for night games, practices and events.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

The multi-faceted LG campaign, aimed at connecting with the NCAA's extensive network of collegiate sports fans across the country, helps bring the LG brand to life in the minds of LG's target consumers. The partnership provides LG with the opportunity to speak to more than 100 million passionate collegiate fans and alumni across 50 states, to show how LG's stylish design and smart technology can enhance their lives.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

The center will house study space and computers for UNO student-athletes. There will be separate rooms in which athletes can meet with tutors. The center also will have offices for UNO’s Director of Academic Success and other support staff.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 21, 2012

Joyner said former head coach Joe Paterno was not included as part of the severance package. The 85-year-old Paterno, who was fired Nov. 9, is a tenured member of the Penn State faculty.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

Until 2006, Seattle U. had been in compliance with the gender equity requirements stated in the Title IX athletic conditions. Because the gender ratio of all students was consistent with the gender ratio of student athletes, the school was considered to be in agreement with the conditions of the department.

But when Seattle U. began adding sports to the program, the numbers began to get uneven.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

Earlier this month Bohn said that girls lacrosse is the fastest growing sport at the high school level in Colorado and much of the rest of the nation and that it would make sense for many reasons for CU to add women's lacrosse. Bohn said at that time the department is targeting the 2013-14 school year for the new women's program to begin competing. He said it could compete as a club sport prior to that.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

Changes in NCAA recruiting rules, combined with the idea that the best and most efficient way to evaluate players is when they compete in all-star events, has made high school sports competition almost irrelevant for college recruiters in certain sports.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

“All the talk has had zero impact on me,” Hurley insisted Monday afternoon in his small second-floor office above the Spiro Center court. “I never thought that climbing the coaching ladder was important. I always felt that finding a place where I fit in and felt comfortable was what this was all about.” 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

"I don’t like the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl any more than you do. A 6-6 Illinois vs. 6-7 UCLA matchup, with both schools having fired their coach, is bad football. The glut of bowls hurts the television ratings. Cut down on the number of bowls (35 in the 2011 season), and you increase the strength of the remainder."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

This lack of undergraduate interest has led Duke Athletics to sell about 300 tickets per game this season, priced at $65. The general admission tickets are offered first to Iron Dukes and then to football and women’s basketball season ticket holders. If there were still to be tickets remaining after that opportunity, they would be opened up to the general public, though that situation has yet to arise.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 21, 2012

San Diego State quickly built a great atmosphere with an obvious first step: winning. The Aztecs went 34-3 last year and were ranked in the top 10. But it was more than just fielding a good team and watching fans pile into seats. The administration and coach Steve Fisher helped rally the students, and encouraged them to have fun. A group of student leaders has maintained the traditions and chants for the raucous student section known as “The Show.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

In contrast to Penn State’s apparent attempts to cover up the Jerry Sandusky sexual-abuse scandal, Wisconsin administrators on Tuesday night released an independent report about the incident, which took place two days before the Rose Bowl.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sat, Jan 21, 2012

Leach, who coaches Washington State, informed Texas Tech officials in a Nov. 28 letter he would "settle and move on" if he was paid what he was due for his last season in Lubbock. He didn't specify an amount.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

All construction is expected to be complete by January 2014. The funding will come from gifts to the athletic department and revenue generated from UW athletics.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

The stadium currently uses boards that are 13 years old and feature outdated technology. The boards have malfunctioned numerous times on game days and during other events in recent years.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

Court-naming is a fairly recent craze, and Maryland is following the trend. But for those who stand with the Lefthander in protest, one big sticking point is the dismal academic record of Williams' players. In his last 15 years at Maryland, only 21.4 percent of his players graduated. It was the fifth-worst graduation rate in Division I, according to the NCAA.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

This is all part of the arms race in college sports, as schools attempt to attract better recruits, win more games and make more money — three things that are very much related, especially in the Southeastern Conference, which USC joined in 1991.

“The SEC is good news, bad news,” Hyman said. “The good news is it's the best league in the country. The bad news is it's the best league in the country."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

The men and women officially open the College Park Center with a doubleheader against UT San Antonio.

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

The Norville Center also houses the Gentile Arena in addition to world class locker rooms and weight lifting exercise facilities. These two athletic department venues together have already shifted the Rambler culture forward and initiated a true "Rambler Renaissance" for the rest of the university.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

On the night he celebrates a Hall of Fame career with family and friends, including Coach K, it bears repeating what Williams was faced with when he left a good job at Ohio State to take over the Terrapins. The basketball program was still reeling from the tragic death of Bias, and then was slapped with sanctions for recruiting violations — penalties that kept Maryland off TV and out of the NCAA tournament for two years, and cost the basketball program three scholarships.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

In the largest gift ever to F&M for athletics, 1972 alumnus Laurence Shadek and the Shadek Family Foundation will give $5 million to the College to help build Shadek Stadium on F&M's North Campus. 

"This visionary investment from the Shadek family allows F&M to develop our educational excellence in Division III athletics and provide an environment for learning, competition and community that elevates the scholar-athlete experience," College President Daniel R. Porterfield said.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Mon, Jan 23, 2012

Plans are in place for Rice Stadium to receive major upgrades in a $44.5 million project. The hub of change to Rice Stadium will take place in the south end zone, where the seats currently covered by tarp will be replaced by a new entrance with a Hall of Fame, greenery will be planted for a new picnic area and there will be new concessions, restrooms and ticket windows.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

Under the agreement, Collegiate Consulting will focus on new season-ticket revenue for football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and baseball, as well as single-game and group ticket sales for Purdue’s ticketed sports programs.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sun, Jan 22, 2012

Founder George Eastman once said, "What we do in our working hours determines what we have in the world. What we do in our play hours determines what we are." Kodak was a classic paternalistic company and one of Eastman's goals was to make Rochester the best place in America to raise a family.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By Rich Lehmann, CSBN Editor   Sat, Jan 07, 2012

By now we’ve all seen the video footage of new Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien going bonkers on New England Patriots’ franchise quarterback, Tom Brady, during the Pats’ game with the Washington Redskins last month. An apoplectic O’Brien was none too happy about an interception Brady gave up in the Redskins’ end zone and let him know about it. Two Irish guys getting their Irish up. The only things missing were the shillelaghs. 

Based on what little knowledge I had of O’Brien  – other than his Brian Kelly-esque display of sideline aggression – my first thought upon hearing about his hiring was: “Are they (the search committee) nuts?”

It seemed to me the last thing the program needed after the Jerry Sandusky sex scandal and alleged cover-up was to bring in a hot-headed head coach capable of scaring away the four- and five-star recruits he’s going to need to get the program back on the right track – especially when he has no prior connections to Penn State and the Joe Paterno regime.

But after reading about the angry reaction to O’Brien’s hiring by some former Penn State players and other alumni and donors, it strikes me that a guy like O’Brien may be exactly the kind of guy the Nittany Lions need to move forward and begin the next chapter of Penn State football. If you’re going to go outside the fold, as the committee chose to do, it makes sense not to pick a milquetoast without any fight in him. The little evidence we have seems to indicate that O’Brien isn’t the kind of guy who’s going to back down easily to the slings and arrows fired his way by a disgruntled band of Paterno apologists.

Which makes one wonder what the reaction would have been had an established coach like Boise State’s Chris Petersen or some other successful D-I or NFL coach accepted the job? If connections to Penn State are what mattered most to the former Lions, it suggests that some people have yet to come to grips with the gravity of the offenses committed against children that occurred on Paterno’s watch. That’s a gigantic black eye, and it likely wouldn’t have healed any time soon had a Paterno understudy been chosen and had to answer the same questions over and over at every press conference: “How well did you know Coach Sandusky?”; “Did you ever hear any rumors about Coach Sandusky’s behavior?”; “How often did you see kids around the program with Coach Sandusky?”

Make no mistake: the road ahead for O’Brien will be a minefield of epic proportions should the program not show signs of progress in his first two years. At the very least the Nittany Lions’ quarterback play should improve – unless O’Brien continues to channel his inner Kelly – and that in itself will be a step in the right direction. 

By Dave O'Brien, CSBN Editor   Wed, Jan 04, 2012

This past year has been one of the most controversial years for the college sports industry. Unprecedented media deals spurred conference realignments. NCAA violations and criminal investigations led to sanctions against prominent programs and the resignations/terminations of legendary coaches. NCAA President Mark Emmert took office at a momentous time and he has been trying to navigate the organization through a maze of opportunities and challenges. Some of his attempts have been right on the money and at other times he has sat on the sidelines as conference commissioners, college presidents and athletic directors acted with only their institutions’ vested self interest in mind. 

In trying to forge progress and change, Emmert faces incredible obstacles including his relative lack of power. However, he does have the bully pulpit of his presidency available to him and he needs to continue to use it.

In the spirit of contributing to the discussion about how college sports can be conducted legally, equitably, fairly and profitably here are my ten suggestions for reform. Some of them are already in the pipeline of change and others need to be discussed more thoroughly.

1. In virtually every sport reduce the number of games that can be played in a season and limit the number that can be played during the school week. Student-athletes are simply missing too much class time, which hurts academic progress and graduation rates.
2. Eliminate freshman eligibility for all student-athletes who are considered special admits; and, define that term as any student-athlete who would not have been admitted to the institution but for the fact that they were athletes. If you don’t have the grades and are not academically prepared you need a one year period to acclimate to college life and the academic workload.
3. Connect post-season eligibility and both NCAA and conference revenue distribution with academic/graduation success and rules compliance. Simply put, succeed academically and play within the rules or incur immediate competitive and financial penalties.
4. Allow a full athletic scholarship to cover the full cost of attendance as defined by each school’s financial aid office. There is no need to set a national limit since the schools already define what that amount is given their geographical location and academic offerings.
5. Change scholarship offers from one year renewable awards to multi-year scholarships, which could include graduate degrees. If education is the goal why shouldn’t schools be free to offer scholarships that cover more than a bachelor’s degree? Some schools will decide to do so and some won’t offer graduate degrees, but in either case the free market would be making the decision.
6. Grant student-athletes the legal right to their image and likeness following their graduation. Simple economic fairness demands that compensation should be paid to student-athletes for the commercial use of their images.
7. Provide college athletes with the opportunity to enter into contracts to pursue marketing and endorsement opportunities while in college. Why can students with music scholarship earn money playing professionally for the local symphony, but athletes cannot earn money off of their skill or reputation while in college?
8. Provide student-athletes with the opportunity to engage agents/attorneys as they assess professional sports opportunities. Lucrative financial opportunities come across seldom in life and when they do all of us need to be advised appropriately about our marketability and options by true professionals and not by uninformed committees on campus whose interests may vary from those of the student-athlete.
9. Simplify the rule book. Major violations need to be limited to ethical misconduct on topics such as academic integrity, but punishments must be swift and substantive including financial penalties and post season ineligibility. The current rulebook is indecipherable to just about every athletic administrator and coach.
10. Limit institutional athletic spending to some multiple of the amount the institution academically spends per student. There is no reason that athletic profits shouldn’t be spent on institutional priorities other than athletics. This constraint would be a way to slow the arms race and allow the institution to benefit from the media money being spent in college sports.

By   Mon, Jan 02, 2012

FREE Todd O’Brien!! I have been beating this drum via the virtual universe for the past few days in what I see as a blatant example of what is wrong with college athletics and the control over athletes for the purposes of so called “competitive equity.” I make no secret that I feel athletes should be given more rights to maximize their educational utility as much as their athletic utility. After all it is supposed to be about education—right? The athletic scholarship by definition is supposed to be an academic, not athletic, award—right? In reality it is hard to argue that any of this is true with regard to big time commercialized athletics in today’s climate. Who is Todd O’Brien you ask? 

He is just the latest poster boy for one of the major ills that plague college sports—and that is the current one-time graduate student exception transfer rule. A few years ago the NCAA allowed athletes who graduated with eligibility remaining to go to another school with no questions asked, to get another degree or pursue graduate school while continuing to play their sport. What a great opportunity to free students to maximize their educational opportunities using athletics as an impetus to further one’s education. After all, isn’t that what it is supposed to be about? There was not a huge rush of athletes being able to take advantage of this new found educational freedom, but there were some. As opposed to staying at their current school and possibly pursuing an educational option that might not be the best fit just to continue playing, this rule opened up options such as law school or other professional educational opportunities for the few that graduate with eligibility remaining.

Everyone should have been cheering this educational opportunity for a select few, but along the way something happened.  Coaches and administrators feared loss of control over the very athletes that were their meal ticket and who might (shudder) leave them and play for someone else even though it might be in the athlete’s best educational interest. One former head Division I football coach felt “it is not fair for me to recruit a player twice.”  Not fair to whom? Are you kidding me? Colonial Athletic Association Commissioner Tom Yeager contributed this gem and said the rule had many “unintended consequences.” The only unintended consequence he was worried about was losing control of what he and others in intercollegiate athletics view as simply property and their right to control.

As expected and to retain control over the athlete, the NCAA, under immense pressure from people like Yeager, quickly amended the rule to only allow those to use the exception that can prove the move is for an academic, not athletic reason. Meaning if a comparable program is offered at the baccalaureate institution the athlete graduated from, an athlete cannot transfer to another school for an educational purpose because it is available at the first institution. Not as good as the first rule, but at least an opportunity could present itself for some athletes unless schools tried to the fight the “academic exception” and some have. Still, a few athletes have been able to take advantage of this since the change, most notably Jeremiah Masoli who went to Ole Miss after graduating from Oregon in 2010.

Enter O’Brien, who is currently enrolled at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has graduated from St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, after transferring there from Bucknell, and fulfilled his obligation to that school as a scholarship athlete by graduating. According to O’Brien, he enrolled at UAB because of the graduate Public Administration program with a focus in Community Development that is not available at St. Joe’s. Sounds good and within the rules, however nothing can ever be that simple in college sports, especially if it benefits the athlete.

In O’ Brien’s case, St. Joe’s feels like it should not have to release him and they are claiming he is leaving for an athletic, not academic reason. The NCAA inexplicably backed up St. Joe’s by denying O’Brien’s legislative waiver for a release. This goes to prove that the new one-time graduate student exception has about as much teeth as the appeal rights an athlete has for a one-year scholarship cancelled at the end of the term of an award. The cards are held by the coaches and athletic department. Except for rare exceptions, these waivers or appeals are rarely, if ever, approved.

O’Brien claims that St. Joe’s longtime coach, Phil Martelli, is refusing his release based on many reasons, not the least of which is that Martelli feels that O’Brien left them high and dry with a scholarship available at too late of a date to offer it to someone else. He calls O’Brien “disloyal” and seems to be upset that St. Joe’s paid for his final three classes of summer school and then he decided to leave (something O’Brien’s father has offered to pay back to alleviate the impasse). Of course coaches continually leave teams high and dry as they chase the money and better jobs, but their disloyalty is rewarded, while athletes like O’Brien have to sit and watch the year go by.

During the adjudication with the NCAA, St. Joe’s went as far to say that O’Brien’s move was more for athletic, than academic, reasons; but, O’Brien presents a compelling case as he has enrolled in a program not offered at St. Joe’s and in an area he has already worked in via an internship. St. Joe’s and the NCAA are not talking, instead relying on canned statements that state they consider the matter closed. Cyberspace spiked the past few days with dozens of reporters and even Dick Vitale coming to O’Brien’s defense on Twitter. This prompted Joe Lunardi, a St. Joe's administrator, in an apparent momentary lapse of reason to tweet “about you not knowing the whole story” but doing it with a wink icon. That is about as far as St. Joe’s has come in defending and explaining its actions.

They claim they cannot talk further because this is a student privacy issue that falls under the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or what is commonly called the Buckley Amendment. I disagree. St. Joe’s and coach Martelli need to talk about this decision and should do so quickly, or they deserve everything that is coming to them from both a public relations and recruiting perspective.

O’Brien has already released his records via NCAA forms that he signed while an athlete at St. Joes. In other words—St. Joes can talk about this and saying they cannot is a cop-out. They claim that there are two sides to every story and I say—then tell that story. These are O’Brien’s records to release and frankly do not fall under private educational records that FERPA intended to protect, which are educational records linking identifiable academic information.

Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reporters Todd Jones and Jill Riepenhoff did yeoman’s work on the misuse and misapplication of the Buckley Amendment that athletic departments and the NCAA use in an attempt to shield themselves from criticism, academic clustering, and shamefully in this case, simply doing the right thing. I urge everyone involved in college athletics to read “Secrecy 101” in the Columbus Dispatch from December 2010 and Cleaning up Buckley, from Jon Ericson and Matt Salzwedel in the Wisconsin Law Review, to get a full picture of how the Buckley Amendment has been misused specifically with regard to institutional behavior such as this and hopefully get an understanding of how to prevent this in the future.

St. Joe’s is taking a deserved public beating over this matter. It is possible that O’Brien did not do all the right things, but saying he waited too long is a very poor excuse to do this. Is there more? We will not know unless they speak and not hide behind a law that is not applicable in this case. Even if O’Brien chafed St. Joe’s in some way, the university gains nothing by not releasing him to pursue and maximize his educational future. Continuing to act in this way is contrary to the principles of higher education and St. Joe’s can add themselves to a long list of schools and coaches who prove every day that athletic success and revenue generation far outweighs anything academic in today’s college sports landscape.

Sadly in the process they are misusing a federal law to protect the very status quo that we often say does not exist in college sports. Perhaps in this holiday season St. Joe’s might get a heart and do the right thing, or O’Brien’s legal team, led by the capable Donald Maurice Jackson, can legally pull back the curtain of Buckley and shame fine institution like St. Joseph’s into doing the right thing and releasing Todd O’Brien to play basketball at UAB.

#  #  #

Dr. B. David Ridpath, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration at Ohio University in the School of Recreation and Sport Sciences. He began his current position in 2006. Dr. Ridpath has several years of practical experience in the sports industry and teaches classes in marketing, sponsorship, risk management, sports law, issues in intercollegiate athletics, and other areas to include serving as faculty advisor and Associate General Manager of the Southern Ohio Copperheads, a summer collegiate wooden bat baseball team headquartered in Athens. The Copperheads are a main experiential learning laboratory for graduate and undergraduate sports administration and sports management students and is entirely student run. He also serves as Associate Director of the Ralph and Lucy Schey Sales Center and is the director of the undergraduate sport management sales certificate program, currently one of the only specific sports management sales certification programs in the world. This is Ridpath's second stint at Ohio. He previously served as assistant wrestling coach at Ohio from 1994-95. While on legendary head coach Harry Houska's staff, the Bobcat wrestling team won the Mid American Conference wrestling championship in 1995 and finished 19th in the country. He also earned a Masters of Sports Administration and Facility Management degree from Ohio in 1995.

Prior to returning to Ohio University, Ridpath spent two years directing the graduate sports administration program at Mississippi State University placing graduates in positions within the MSU athletic department, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), NASCAR, and minor league baseball. Prior to MSU, he spent over a decade working in intercollegiate athletic administration and higher education including seven years at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, where he served as an Adjunct Professor of Sport Management and Marketing, Director of Judicial Programs and Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Student Services.

He also worked in the athletic department at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, for three years from 1995-1997 as Assistant Director of Marketing and Promotions, Game and Event Management Coordinator, Director of Internal Operations, and Director of Compliance. While at Weber State he served as a media manager at the 1997 NCAA Men's Basketball Western Regional in Salt Lake City and as Co-director of the Mid-American Conference Wrestling Tournament in 1996. As an undergraduate student at Colorado State University, he was a 1990 Distinguished Military Graduate in Army ROTC and spent over 12 years on active duty and in the Army National Guard, including two overseas tours in Germany. He is also a certified college and international wrestling official.

Ridpath received a Doctor of Education in Higher Education Administration from West Virginia University in May 2002. His primary research line is issues and problems in intercollegiate athletics with a focus on academic integrity and governance reform. An accomplished scholar, he has over 30 national and international refereed presentations and eight peer reviewed academic articles in print, two published academic book chapters, and has had writings and editorials featured in the NCAA News, Sports Business Journal, Legal Issues in College Athletics, and will be releasing a book entitled Tainted Glory: Marshall University, The NCAA, and One Man’s Fight for Justice in late 2010. Dr. Ridpath has been retained several times as an expert in litigation involving college sports issues and is regularly interviewed on relevant issues in college sports within the media to include ESPN Outside the Lines, The Paul Finebaum Radio Show, and WATH Sports Radio. Dr Ridpath has also been quoted and featured in several publications discussing issues in college athletics including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Toronto Globe and Mail, USA Today, Indianapolis Star, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Birmingham News, to name a few. Dr. Ridpath can be reached at ridpath@ohio.edu

By Dave O'Brien, CSBN Editor   Wed, Dec 28, 2011

In August the NCAA approved a plan that will allow schools to pay for a cost of attendance stipend beyond tuition, room and board for athletes; the legislation would allow for a $2,000 stipend intended to help with additional school-related expenses. The NCAA believed that unprecedented conference television deals would help cover the cost. However, that plan has been put on hold after a growing number of schools who are not party to these television deals voted to override the decision.

Of the 346 Division I schools, 125 signed on for the override measure, which guaranteed the suspension of the rule. The issue will be reconsidered at the Board of Directors meetings in January. “Based on conversations I have had, I am confident that there remains a very high level of support for this permissive legislation to provide better support for our student athletes,” NCAA President Mark Emmert told the NCAA News.

To the NCAA's credit, the idea of the stipend was to help prevent the modern student-athlete from having to reach outside to boosters to pay for extra expenses such as travel, food, and clothing. Considering many prominent schools have been immersed with issues involving agents or boosters providing players with extra income, the NCAA was trying to provide a solution. Additionally, student-athlete welfare and simple economic justice led to the new proposal.

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier chaired the working group established to examine student-athlete well-being issues. “We understand the situation of our student-athletes. This isn’t about paying student-athletes, but it is about being fair and recognizing that in Division I it ought to be important to meet this need,” Spanier said.

While the stipend is voluntary it is very clear that any schools that don’t provide the extra money to athletes will be at an instant recruiting disadvantage.

Back in June the NCAA reported that the spending gap between the richest programs and the rest of Division I continues to grow. University subsidies and student fees are increasingly being used to fund athletic programs, especially at the non-BCS level.

Only 22 of the 346 athletic programs in NCAA Division I generate more money than they spend according to the NCAA’s most recent report. Of those truly self-sufficient programs, the median annual surplus is $7.4 million. The rest of the Division I schools experience a median deficit of $11.3 million. The nearly $19 million gap between the schools that generate a profit and those that produce a deficit resulting in institutional subsidies and student fee allocations has been referred to by NCAA President Mark Emmert as a competitive equity issue. This assessment understates the problem since it is actually a seismic-size competitive equity gap.

It is within this financial climate that the cost of attendance proposal emerges clearly pitting the haves against the have-nots. Matthew Denhart, administrative director for the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a Washington, D.C., group that studies college finances, says that colleges are moving toward “a breaking point.” Boise State claims that the proposal creates an unfair playing field between institutions.

For many people interested in supporting student-athletes the permissive legislation was a public relations coup for the NCAA; however, the funding inequities that exist within Division I are highlighted by the legislation and these issues are extremely problematic in many profound ways.

Earlier this year Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari said he could see the BCS conferences breaking away from the NCAA. Additionally, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany went public with a view that there needs to be major changes under the umbrella of the NCAA.

As conference realignment continues to occur and the prospect of 4-5 super conferences becomes more likely, and as discussions start to unfold about changes to the BCS format, the prospect of a new and separate structure for Division I BCS teams becomes more of a reality. This well-intended legislation demonstrates the true chasm that exists between BCS and non-BCS schools; regrettably it may be too big of a gap resource-wise to ignore any longer. Fundamental change is in the air.

By   Sat, Dec 24, 2011

In the last few weeks there have been a number of responses to the emerging scandals at Penn State and Syracuse. What has been interesting to me has been the shift in the tenor of the commentary of late. Immediately after these stories surfaced, much of what was said focused on the tragedy and the human element. Yet what has been highlighted in the last few weeks has been more about the state of college athletics. More to the point, rather than asking how this could have happened, the question has now become, “What’s happened to college sports?”

Let’s not be naïve and suggest that college sport is any better or worse than the grand old days of yesteryear. Instead, let’s be more honest and forthright and realize that college sport is perhaps more tainted than before because of the grossly large sums of money at stake, but that the tension of athletic competition and the aims of higher education are still as taut as ever. With these latest scandals the line of questioning has been diverted to ask about the damaging power of intercollegiate sport in higher education.

One of the overlooked responses to these scandals came from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in late November in a statement titled “The Dangers of a Sports Empire.” The AAUP is a quite powerful association of university faculty which aims “to advance academic freedom and shared governance, to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good.” In many cases the AAUP has served as the influential faculty voice on issues in higher education, often protecting both the priority of academic endeavors on campus and the necessity of faculty to contribute to the directions of colleges and universities. Moreover, the AAUP has over the last twenty years provided a number of observations on the burgeoning state of college sports and the need for faculty involvement in athletics programs.

In this most recent statement regarding the Penn State scandal, the AAUP’s National Council said:

“Genuine shared governance, which involves meaningful participation by faculty in all aspects of an institution, could have resulted in these alleged crimes being reported to the city and state police years ago, and might have spared some of the victims the trauma they endured, and indeed continue to endure, because of the memories that remain, and the legal and judicial process they still face.”

It’s taken me reading this statement a number of times to get at what I perceive to be the intended meaning.  In essence, the statement – in concert with the reference to the “Sports Empire” – seems to suggest that the scandal at Penn State erupted precisely because the athletics department operated outside the norms and expectations of the institution which are often guided by the faculty, that in effect, the athletics department grew to be such a monolithic presence that it created its own rules and regulations. Such isolation not only pushed away the primacy of the academic enterprise and the supportive hand of faculty governance, but also gave rise to a culture where the protection of the department was paramount above all else.

I’ve heard this argument before in many forms and in many disguises. The very core of the argument from faculty is one of cultural difference. They will proclaim that intercollegiate athletics and all its departmental members do not value the same things as the academic side of campus, therefore faculty – to the good of the institution – should control athletics. It’s really that simple.

But let me push on this a bit. While it is easy to acknowledge that some faculty care little about students and care deeply about arcane academic subject matter, it also must be acknowledged that there are many coaches who see the value of college athletics in its ability to shape and direct young lives. For them it has nothing to do with the riches at play in contemporary college sport. We are left with a mixed bag with no end in sight. Some care, some don’t and still the problems persist.

No, let me instead argue that the issue at play for faculty is not one of control of athletics, but of shared intention and what is or should be valued. Let me instead make a modest proposal of two points to address the cultural divide.

Point #1 – Abolish athletics departments as “centers” of financial activity and instead make them academic departments subject to the norms and rules that govern faculty.

Point #2 – Make all coaches and key administrators members of the faculty, again subject to the norms and rules of faculty including contract length, salary, and evaluation.

As to the first point, the idea here is that the athletics department often operates outside the norms of faculty department because … well, because it is a different department! It operates more often as a functioning business rather than a teaching center. If faculty want to change it, then they (or the Presidents or the Boards) will need to make it more similar to a faculty department. Certainly there are academic departments that raise money through consulting or grants; athletics could operate in a similar way. Yet the primary function of an academic department is to teach and department policies and intentions shape that very function. That is just not the case in athletics. The athletics team is now less a class or laboratory and more a dress rehearsal for the forthcoming (financial) show.

As to the second point, making coaches and key administrators members of the faculty brings them in line with the core personnel in any institution. It still baffles me that the highest paid persons on campus are not the president or star professors, but instead are often the head football coaches and his coordinators. Creating coaches as faculty not only may address the salary issue, but might also reinforce the connection of faculty to one another and to what they do in the classroom. Instead of firing a coach after two years because of a losing record, perhaps evaluate the coach from the student perspective. Have the players grown in that coach’s presence? Have they developed and learned from being on that team? Essentially, is the coach a good teacher? Moreover, coaches as faculty members might be subject to an evaluation from an outside personnel committee; they might also have something akin to tenure or a more secure job situation which doesn’t have coaches leaping from job to job in search of better paydays.

I’m not naïve to think that many would go for this. It’s not just a modest proposal of only two points, but it’s a bit crazy and scares some folks I’m sure. But our current model of coaching and athletics in higher education is without doubt highly professionalized. My own experience as a college athletic director was rich with this model. At two of my stops as AD, no one in the athletics department possessed faculty rank of any sort nor did they teach in any meaningful way. That very thing in my opinion made my job all the more difficult, but more directly created a divide between athletics and academics. Integration? Mind and body together? Community? Hardly. Coaches at times had little interest in the academic side of things beyond admission and eligibility, while faculty members in general seemed to marginalize and ostracize those in athletics as doing something less worthy. It contributed to a poor environment and made connection of athletics and academics in our college community all the more challenging at the very least, and impossible at worst in some cases.

But perhaps, just perhaps, if we begin to think of coaches and faculty and of academic and athletic departments as somehow being equal and having similar aims, then we might have a better state of affairs. We can all dream, can’t we?

#  #  #

Dr. Travis Feezell currently serves as an associate professor of sport management at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina. He received his doctoral degree in education from the University of Idaho in 2005. In addition, he received his master's degree in British medieval studies from the University of Wales-Cardiff in 1992 and his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Wyoming in 1990.

Dr. Feezell has served in a variety of positions in higher education and athletics over the last 20 years. He has worked as both an assistant and head baseball coach at the college level. In addition, he served as an athletics administrator at the Division I level but worked more recently as the athletics director at two different Division III institutions. During the 2009-10 academic year Dr. Feezell served as the interim athletics director at Belmont Abbey, a Division II school.

During his work as athletics director, Dr. Feezell held membership on a number of NCAA committees including the Division III Management Council, the Division III Financial Aid Committee, and the Strategic Planning Committee. In addition, Dr. Feezell served as president of the National Association of Athletics Compliance Coordinators (NAACC) from 2005 to 2008; NAACC is the primary professional association for those working in intercollegiate athletics compliance.

Prior to his appointment at Belmont Abbey College, Feezell served as the athletics director at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota from 2005-2008. While there Feezell oversaw all facets of the athletics department including varsity, club and intramural sports. He was athletics director at a time when Macalester made over $50 million in investments in athletics facilities including a new baseball/softball complex, new synthetic surface for the football/soccer stadium, and the new $45 million Leonard Athletics and Recreation Center.

Prior to his tenure at Macalester, Feezell headed the Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA) athletics department for five years, overseeing 18 varsity programs, intramurals and teaching classes on sports culture and great books. He was the baseball coach for six years as well. Before working at Whitman, he was an academic adviser in the athletics department at Northwestern University.

In addition to his extensive work in athletics, Dr. Feezell has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at a number of institutions including Whitman College, the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas (MN) and Winthrop University. His areas of research and publication/presentation include administration, governance, policy and leadership in intercollegiate athletics. He can be reached at TravisFeezell@bac.edu.

By Dave O'Brien, CSBN Editor   Sat, Dec 17, 2011

The recent departure of Todd Graham as head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh to take the same job at Arizona State – just one year into his Panther tenure – prompted Pittsburgh officials to call his actions unprofessional. Pitt executive vice chancellor and general counsel Jerry Cochran said, "Obviously this is not the way we would have expected Mr. Graham to handle any possible departure. Beyond normal expectations with respect to professional conduct, he has failed to comply with the terms of his contract." Although that observation is right on the money, it still seems somewhat hypocritical following several actions by the institution and its administrative leadership over the last year. Let’s review the record.

For reasons that seemed unclear to impartial observers, Pitt decided to dump former head coach and alumnus Dave Wannstedt after a fairly successful six-year tenure in which he compiled a solid 42-31 overall record and a Big East record of 24-18. He seemed to have the program heading in the right direction, albeit slowly; therefore the decision to pull the plug on the Wannstedt era seemed premature and perhaps a little unprofessional.

That decision led to the hiring of former Miami of Ohio head football coach, Mike Haywood. However, within 17 days Haywood was dismissed due to charges of domestic abuse filed against him by the mother of his child. According to the legal complaint filed by Haywood, the mother told the court that Haywood was not a danger to their child.

In a lawsuit filed by Haywood against Pitt, it asserts that despite requests on his part he was not given a chance by Pitt officials to present his side of the events before his dismissal, which he claims was in conflict with his contract terms as well as simple due process and fairness practices. He is seeking approximately $4 million from Pitt. While we will have to wait and see what actually occurred and if the handling of the Haywood matter was unlawful, it nevertheless would hardly seem professional to have denied him the opportunity to explain what had happened.

Following the dismissal of Haywood, Pitt quickly moved to appoint Graham as coach. Graham came to Pitt after four years as head coach at Tulsa which followed a one year stint as head coach at Rice. His track record of jumping on the coaching carousel certainly should have been obvious to Pitt. In some ways, in hiring Graham it seems like Pitt got exactly what should have been obvious – a coach with ants in his pants. One year later Graham is on the move again. It has been reported that he used the same press conference speech at ASU as he had used at Pitt last year. Perhaps even worse, Graham didn’t have the courage to address his Pitt team directly, opting instead to inform them by text message. In presumably seeking coaching stability for the Panther program, the hiring of an obviously commitment-challenged coach could be viewed as unprofessional.

Additionally, over the last year the University of Pittsburgh announced that it would be leaving the Big East Conference to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference. During the time period when Pitt was researching its options and having conversations with the ACC, Pitt’s chancellor, Mark Nordenberg, continued to serve as the chairman of the Big East executive committee; which must have presented significant moments of severe conflicts of interest between his obligations to the Big East and his institution’s own best interests that seemed better served by a move to the ACC. Nordenberg did not resign from this position until announcing Pitt’s move to the ACC. Observers could say that Pitt’s handling of this type of conflict hardly seemed professional.

In the end, and without absolving Graham for his inexcusable behavior, an old adage seems appropriate to sum up this unfortunate period for Pitt – and that is that we most often reap what we sow. Indeed, unprofessional conduct often begets unprofessional conduct.

Note: Interestingly, in the press release announcing Graham’s hiring at Arizona State, President Michael Crow was quoted: "What we sought in a football coach was someone who would be in it for the long term at Arizona State…” I wonder whether President Crow actually looked at Graham’s track record of employment.

By   Tue, Dec 13, 2011

Before there was Penn State, there was Bellefonte.  It is home to five of the state’s governors and the final resting place for the founders of the University.  Evan Pugh, a world renowned chemist who became the first president of what was then known as the Farmers’ High School, presided over its transformation into Pennsylvania’s only land grant institution after the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862.  Benefactor James Irvin, a partner in the Centre Furnace, ensured that Penn State would remain rooted in the region through an outright gift of 200 acres of land and sale of another 200 below market value.  Hugh Nelson McAllister, a local lawyer and father-in-law of Civil War hero and later Pennsylvania Governor James A. Beaver, for whom the football stadium is named, was the architect of Penn State’s iconic building, Old Main.

Together in the Union Cemetery, they share the hereafter as they shared their lives, blocks away from the Centre County Courthouse, the site of what was to be a preliminary hearing Tuesday where Penn State graduate and former defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions football team Jerry Sandusky, standing accused on 50 counts of alleged child sex abuse, would face his accusers for the first time.

Whatever did the founders make of the developments of the day?  After a dramatic lead up to the preliminary hearing, an abrupt announcement in the moments after the court was called to order that Sandusky wished to waive his right to a preliminary hearing, opting instead to proceed directly to trial, sparked speculation of a possible plea agreement.  Speaking to the press afterwards, Sandusky’s attorney Joe Amendola denied that a plea deal was under discussion.  With a pledge to “stay the course, fight for four quarters,” Sandusky said leaving the courthouse that he awaited an opportunity to present his side.  His attorney reiterated that position later, describing the challenges ahead as akin to climbing Mt. Everest and an attitude that Sandusky would “fight to the death” to maintain his innocence. 

With this turn of events, attention is shifting to the preliminary hearing taking place at the end of the week in the Dauphin County Courthouse in Harrisburg for two Penn State officials charged with perjury and failure to report, retired vice president for finance Gary Schultz and director of athletics Tim Curley, currently on leave from the University, will occur. 

According to legal analysts, a key aspect of the case against Sandusky hinges on the credibility of reports made by Penn State offensive coordinator and recruiting coach, Mike McQueary, because it is this testimony that will help to establish what Penn State officials knew and whether they did in fact fail to act.  In the first Grand Jury Report issued in early November, McQueary testified that he saw Sandusky sexually assaulting a 10-year old boy in a locker room shower in the Penn State football facility.  In the weeks after the publication of the Grand Jury Report, questions have been raised about the accuracy of these claims. According to the Patriot News, Dr. Robert Dranov testified before the Grand Jury earlier in the year that he was in the room at the time McQueary told his father about the incident.  Dranov’s recollection of the story McQueary told his father differs with the details of what McQueary is reported to have told the Grand Jury. 

As the events of the day settle,what paths will lead to the truth in a tight community where networks intersect, mutually support, and occasionally collide?  It is telling that the scene unfolded today in Bellefonte, where the complexity of community comes through.  It is a reminder of how complicated these relationships are.  Penn State’s founders were neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and friends joined in common cause much as the actors in the scenes playing out in modern day Centre County are. 

For better or worse, the circumstances inspire the raising of questions as the pieces of the puzzle continue to fall into place but also elude.  For example, in recent days it was revealed that Jerry Sandusky was barred from volunteering as a football coach at Juniata College following an employee background check.  While background checks may be routine at Juniata, it is the case that their policy was updated or changed in September of 2010, six months after Sandusky was turned away for failing to disclose that he was being investigated by a high school where he previously volunteered. Is it relevant that the Juniata athletic director at the time is a Penn State graduate? Or that the current athletic director and men’s head basketball coach, Greg Curley, who grew up in State College, holds a master’s degree in sport administration from Penn State and is also Tim Curley’s nephew?  Does this shed any new light on what may or may not have been known by Penn State parties about the allegations against Sandusky?  Will we ever really know? 

The spirits have been stirred in Bellefonte.  It may be some time before they are permitted to rest.  

#  #  # 

Dr. Ellen Staurowsky is Professor, Sport Management at Drexel University.  Dr. Staurowsky is internationally recognized as an expert on social justice issues in sport which include gender equity and Title IX, pay equity and equal employment opportunity, the exploitation of athletes, the faculty role in reforming college sport, representation of women in sport media, and the misappropriation of American Indian imagery in sport.  She is co-author of the book, College Athletes for Hire:  The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA Amateur Myth and is currently working on her second book entitled Women in Sport: From Liberation to Celebration. In addition to publications in scholarly journals such as the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Sociology of Sport Journal, Quest, Journal of Sport Management, the International Journal of Sport Sociology, the Marquette Sports Law Review, the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, and the International Journal of Sport History, her critiques and analyses on a variety of issues have appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Street & Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, The NCAA News, The New York Times, Athletic Management Magazine, and News From Indian Country.  Dr. Staurowsky has received numerous honors over the years.  Temple University recognized Dr. Staurowsky with a Young Alumna Achievement Award in 1998 and in 2005 she was presented with an Excellence in Professional Performance Award.  She has been named to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers on numerous occasions and she is a recipient of a Faculty Appreciation Award from students at Ithaca College.  In 2002, she received the Ithaca College Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship.  In 2005, Dr. Staurowsky received the Ithaca College Office of Multicultural Affairs Appreciation Award and the IC Feminists Woman of Achievement Award in 2006.  In December of 2008, she was named the first recipient of the National Residence Hall Honorary (NHRR – Ithaca) Faculty Member of the Month.  Recognized with the Darlene Kluka Women’s Sports Foundation’s Research Award in 2008, Dr. Staurowsky was also honored that same year with a Presidential Award from the National Association for Girls and Women in Sport.   In 2009, Dr. Staurowsky received the Ithaca College Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.  Dr. Staurowsky is frequently sought after for interviews to discuss contemporary sport issues.  She has served as president of the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and the AAHPERD Research Consortium.  She is an executive board member of the College Sport Research Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the NCAA Scholarly Colloquium, where she also serves as secretary-treasurer.  She has made several appearances on ESPN Outside the Lines, ESPN Classic, ESPN Cold Pizza, and Public Broadcasting’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.  Dr. Staurowsky served as a director of athletics at the college level for nine years before moving to Ithaca College, and then on to Drexel. Previous to that was a college coach in the sports of field hockey, men’s soccer, and women’s lacrosse. Dr. Staurowsky can be reached at  ejs95@drexel.edu

By Timothy O'Brien, CSBN Editor   Wed, Dec 07, 2011

There is nothing easy about running a college or university these days. The fiscal pressures brought about by the economic troubles facing the country have exacerbated the situation. Presidents certainly have their hands full and the resulting financial allocation decisions can be difficult and painful. In this type of climate, many presidents leave the athletics departments to sink or swim on their own.

For some presidents, their involvement may simply be limited to appearing at a few “marquee” events throughout the year.  If you ask them a substantive question on a team or specific aspects of the athletics program or experience, they would not be able to provide a substantive answer even though athletics has its own drop down menu on the institution’s web site.  Instead, they may only know the teams that they have and a number that appears on a financial report associated with the athletics department.   Obviously, this is a generalization and some presidents take a much different and more involved approach to athletics.  However, with all the issues facing the CEO of an academic institution, it is easy for a president to gradually become insulated from the real world of the student athlete, coaches, the athletics department staff and the overall role that athletics plays in the life of the college or university.  In short, what is missing from this equation are two things: perspective and presence.

These two concepts are the foundation for decision making about anything to do with the athletics department.  Unless the president truly understands the issues that confront the operation of an athletics department on a daily basis, it is virtually impossible to make an informed decision on any aspect of the program.  This is not to say that the CEO must understand all the details, nuances and issues associated with all aspects of the athletics program (or any issue) because that would be impossible given the CEO’s other obligations elsewhere on campus.  Instead, a core level of knowledge and exposure to a variety of the issues will better inform the CEO’s decision making.  In other words, by becoming slightly more involved in athletics, the institutional decision making can be sharpened.

With that as the context, there are five actions that every president should take.

Walk through every locker room and facility.  A personal tour reveals everything.  The president, who has not done this before or who has not done it in a few years, will quickly see the true financial state of the athletics department.    Maintenance and upkeep inevitably wain as the years pass and the financial choices become tougher.   Comparisons on the basis of teams and gender can easily be made.  In legal and NCAA speak, the president can quickly assess gender equity and student-athlete welfare issues as the locker rooms and facilities are reviewed.  For institutions that do not receive the ever increasing amounts of television revenue, the challenge of maintaining quality locker rooms and facilities quickly becomes apparent.  In the end the president must see and understand these things because they are the face of the institution to the student-athletes, their parents, the athletics staff and every other institution’s team that arrives for a competition.  The president needs to know if the quality of the locker rooms and facilities are consistent with and reflective of the quality of the institution as a whole.  

Walk in the shoes of the student-athlete.  If no one else understands the academic pressures and conflicts imposed upon student-athletes, the president must understand them.  To do so, the president must be directly exposed to the life of a student-athlete.   The president should meet with a team for its 6 a.m. strength and conditioning session and then reconvene for its practice session from 4 to 6 p.m., and then see how quickly the president can shower, change and make it to the dining hall.  In the middle of the week, the president should travel with a team to a competition at another institution.  The idea of a four- to six-hour bus ride just to get to a competition is an eye-opening experience.  Similarly, at even the large institutions, the geographic spread of conference members now creates exceptionally long travel days involving connections at airports.  In either case, the president must personally experience the impact of the travel on the student as a student and the student as an athlete.  While traveling with the team, the president should elicit the student-athletes’ views on the impact of traveling on their studies, the relative level of flexibility and understanding shown by professors for their travels, how they deal with missed class time and tests, the issues around class registration and scheduling in general, as well as for particular majors and a myriad of other issues confronting student-athletes.  The discussion will certainly be illuminating.

Sit in on a detailed meeting on the athletics department budget.  The president should understand the choices that are being made based on the limited financial resources that are available to the athletics department.  The president needs to understand what is and is not being funded and why (particularly after having toured all of the locker rooms and facilities). 

Identify and offer to meet with prospective donors.  Many presidents wait for the athletics director to suggest a meeting with a prospective donor who is being cultivated for an athletics related gift.  While that will always happen, every institution’s president should be identifying one or more athletics related donors on an annual basis and initiating the contact with them.  The president’s involvement conveys a message of support for and commitment to the athletics department and is a recognition of the importance of athletics to the institution. 

Interact with student-athletes, parents, coaches, and staff.  The statements that “It’s hard, I just don’t have the time” or “I have other commitments” are not reflective of a leader.  A true manager and leader finds the time (even though it may be limited) and makes choices so that he or she can have a presence and gain a critical perspective.  At the same time, the presence of the president tells everyone involved in athletics that the president cares about and supports the program.  Rest assured, everyone will talk about the president being at a practice or a game.  Heck, I still remember many years ago how as a freshman cross country runner at Notre Dame, a priest came out of the administration building and joined a group of us as we jogged to practice.  He made his way to front and center of the group, asked a bunch of questions and received candid responses about our experiences as freshman as we jogged along.  Three things jumped out at me then and now about that experience.  First, he was the president of the University (Father Hesburgh) and he did not hesitate to join in and interact with a group of freshman runners even though he was in his priestly attire.  Second, he had time for us even while we were running and he was truly interested in our thoughts and suggestions.  Third, he led from the front.

Remember, involvement is always better than insulation.  The institution will be better off and people will never forget it.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

He also quotes from a column by Boston Globe sports writer Bob Ryan who helped kill any chance Adams had to become NCCA President by calling him "a clever and ruthless politician...not a leader, a schemer and intimidator." 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

Spoonhour, who also coached at Missouri State and UNLV, died Wednesday. Spoonhour was diagnosed in 2010 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which required a transplant at Duke University Medical Center in nearby Durham, N.C.

His career record was 373-202.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

The BU men fell to 0-21 (0-9 in the America East Conference) with a loss at the University of Maine on Saturday, becoming the last winless team in Division I this season. To the chagrin of ESPN's Tony Kornheiser, a Binghamton alumnus, the 22-game losing streak dating to last season is the longest in the history of the men's basketball program at any Division and the longest active streak in Division I.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

“Every person, from fan to student-athlete, plays an important role in complying with NCAA rules,” the opening statement on the BYU Athletics Compliance page says. “BYU is held responsible by the NCAA for the actions of its boosters. If a booster commits a violation, BYU may be subject to penalties from the NCAA.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

"Watching Kansas City’s oldest brand of vitriol from seats close enough to hear the curse words will cost you about $2,000. Normally, that’s insane. Normally, nothing short of a severe allergy to money would justify the cost, but normally, you cannot watch symphonic hatred at its historical peak," Sam Mellinger writes in the Kansas City Star.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

This season, the 49ers beat Pitt, 86-76, and Xavier, 68-58, on the road. They narrowly lost to Kansas, 88-80, and North Carolina, 84-78.

"But as we've said every year, just playing the toughest schedule in the country and competing in it and winning in it are different things," explained Monson. "I think this is the first year that they really felt every game, we are not going in to play against these teams, but to beat them."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

“Absolutely I got backlash, primarily from my colleagues in what you would call the AQ (Automatic Qualifying) conferences back then because obviously they were opposed to what we were advocating back in 2003,” Cowen said. “So it was intense for about a year or two, but over time I think everyone came to realize that everyone was doing what they thought was best for their particular conferences, and we didn’t personalize it, and the relationships are excellent today, so there has been no permanent sort of damage in our relationships with others. But back in 2003, it was tense.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sun, Jan 29, 2012

Could the merged school ultimately expand its athletic program to the Division I level, offering scholarships and building greatly expanded facilities on those 600 acres of land Rowan owns off Route 55 in southern New Jersey?

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sun, Jan 29, 2012

First, big-time sports are clearly a major source of “free advertising” in the form of press coverage: an analysis by economists at Northwestern University and Mathematica Policy Research found that athletics account for more than half of newspaper articles about public universities. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

"We were not aware of this specific party and I wanted to make that perfectly clear," Alvarez said. "We knew nothing of this particular party."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

Navy's move leaves Army, Notre Dame and BYU as the lone Football Bowl Subdivision independents.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Mon, Jan 23, 2012

“I think it’s pretty simple,” White said. “I’m a product of my environment and my past experiences. And I think the senior team here feels the same way. I’ve had a strong interest in providing pluralistic opportunities for student-athletes. If we really think seriously about this entire education hypothesis behind college athletics, this is really an educational experience. To provide an artificial representation in terms of race and gender, rather than a real-life eclectic representation is for me, something I couldn’t support.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sun, Jan 22, 2012

“He died as he lived,” the family statement said. “He fought hard until the end, stayed positive, thought only of others and constantly reminded everyone of how blessed his life had been. His ambitions were far reaching, but he never believed he had to leave this Happy Valley to achieve them. He was a man devoted to his family, his university, his players and his community.”

The cause was lung cancer, the hospital, Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pa., said in a statement.

To read more, click here.

By   Sun, Jan 22, 2012

The Colts hired him in September as a game-day replay consultant and after a public outcry, suspended him for the first seven games of the season.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sat, Jan 21, 2012

Trustees said the bills will be paid out of a special account. No taxpayer or tuition funds will be used. They also pledged to do their best to avoid lengthy litigation, sparing the accusers a drawn-out ordeal in court.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Fri, Jan 20, 2012

University officials say they are not releasing details about the misconduct allegation because they want to allow an independent review panel to complete its investigation. Sources have told the State Journal it stemmed from an incident when the UW football team was in Los Angeles to play in the Rose Bowl.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

The agreement is for a minimum of 18 conference games, including the NCHC’s semifinal and championship games.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

The growth of social media continues to shape the college recruiting landscape. As more high school athletes turn to Facebook and Twitter to update their status — whether about official campus visits or what movie they’re going to — more college coaches are keeping a close watch. And with national signing day Wednesday, at least one top football recruit found comments posted on his Twitter feed cost him scholarship offers.

 To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

The league believes the platform will be a key component to its future success and growth.

“We all know that TV today — from a dollars standpoint in terms of advertisers — there’s a lot of dollars there,” David Aufhauser, the conference’s new vice president and general manager of digital media, said in an interview. “But fast-forward five to 10 years down the line, and digital is going to be what holds the cards.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

Wright, a standout at Don Bosco Prep in Ramsey, N.J. until he was expelled last week, committed to Colorado on Tuesday. He was expelled after school officials said he ignored months of warnings about his racially insensitive and sexually explicit tweets, the Boulder Daily Camera reported.

Wright, who lives in Spring Valley, N.Y., had other scholarship offers from Rutgers, Notre Dame (where Don Bosco teammate Elijah Shumate recently committed), Alabama, Georgia, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, USC, Virginia and Wisconsin. Michigan withdrew its offer after a concerned alumnus sent the school verbatim tweets. 

To read more, click here.

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

In 2011, USA Today was the ninth biggest sports property online, attracting an average of about 10 million unique visitors a month, about one-fifth the size of Yahoo Sports, according to comScore.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

CBS Sports executives are now hoping to create a hub for this universe of mom-and-pop fantasy operators by letting them build products that will live on CBSSports.com. The site will offer free and paid apps, with CBSSports.com keeping a 30% share of sales of paid ones.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

Caldwell, a former student athlete, received his doctorate from Iowa State University and earned certification as an administrative leadership evaluator. He received a master's degree in health, physical education and recreation from the University of Alabama and a bachelor's degree in sociology/psychology from Miles College in Birmingham, Ala.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Feb 03, 2012

DiStanislao will work directly with the administration, student affairs and human resources. She will also work closely with the provost and the office of the president “to facilitate university-wide strategic planning,” according to Thomas MacKinnon, chief of staff to the president at Marquette. He added that DiStanislao’s biggest focus will be on students.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

At a press conference at TCF Bank stadium, Kaler said: "Joel has consistently said he has more to offer, and I think that's true. ... He is a persuasive advocate for the institution."

Talking to the media, Maturi, 66, said that the pace of the job was starting to take a toll on him physically.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Thu, Feb 02, 2012

An announcement is scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Wed, Feb 01, 2012

Liddle started her Arcadia (Glenside, Pa.) career in 1993 when the college was poised for the opening of the Kuch Center. Within a few years, Liddle was a factor in the college’s NCAA induction and served five years as President of the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference (PAC).

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

“I’ve known the guy for 20 years. He’s a hard worker, he’s an honest recruiter, he’s a hell of a football coach and he’s somebody that I think will be a person who can keep this thing together as much as it can be kept together in the short term,” Rich Hansen, the head coach of Jersey City high school power, St. Peter's Prep, said. “In the long term I think he’ll be great.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 31, 2012

"Coach Cluess not only has a proven track record of success throughout his 21-year coaching career, but, more importantly, he is also a man of the highest character and integrity consistent with the vision of Iona College," school President Joseph E. Nyre said.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Mon, Jan 30, 2012

At Hartford, many good things have happened on Meiser's watch. One of the best was hiring Jennifer Rizzotti as head women's basketball coach. Many years ago, one of her Hartford Blizzard pro teammates said of Rizzotti, "That girl is like a rock star.'' She still has that kind of appeal, even on the sidelines.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

The college did not specify Cremins' medical condition or put a time frame on his return, and asked reporters to respect his privacy. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Sat, Jan 28, 2012

Larranaga said Friday that he wasn't informed by university officials about allegations of misconduct involving dozens of Hurricanes athletes and some coaches until last August, months after he left George Mason to take the UM job.

Larranaga was hired to replace Frank Haith on April 22. His original five-year contract was scheduled to take Larranaga through the 2015-2016 season.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

"Any AD has a list in his pocket all the time," Pernetti said. "In my mind, we hoped and expected we could keep Schiano in place long term, but I've been ready for this moment since I walked onto this campus."

According to Tom Luicci of the Star-Ledger, names that have emerged include: Steve Addazio of Temple, Mario Cristobal of Florida International, N.Y. Giants O-Line coordinator Pat Flaherty, James Franklin of Vanderbilt, and Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Fri, Jan 27, 2012

Brown is currently the third-longest tenured coach in FBS. Larry Blakeney has been at Troy since 1991. Frank Beamer has been at Virginia Tech since 1987. In a few years Brown could take over the spot at the longest tenured coach. Blakeney is 64. He is an icon at Troy, but he did just suffer his first losing season since 2005, so it is tough to tell how long he will stay. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

"He will make what first-year NFL coaches in his situation typically make, which between $2.8 and $3.8 million per year," an NFL official who requested anonymity told The Star-Ledger.

To read more, click here.

By   Thu, Jan 26, 2012

"In two years as San Jose State's head coach, Mike MacIntyre created a new dynamic that articulates all the positives of our football program to our fans, alumni and future Spartans. He is a passionate and exceptional leader, a wonderful University ambassador and his football knowledge will point us in the right direction to succeed as an FBS program," says Bowen. "We're looking forward to a very bright future for Spartan football with Mike MacIntyre as our head coach."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

Jones guided Cincinnati to just four wins in his first year, but followed it up with a 10-win season in 2011 where the Bearcats won a share of the Big East title and defeated Vanderbilt in the Liberty Bowl. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

Henschel joins Milwaukee from UW-Whitewater, where he led both the men's and women's programs to Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and NCAA Tournament berths this past fall.

To read more, click here.

By   Wed, Jan 25, 2012

While winning the Big Ten is the priority, Erstad believes Nebraska has the facilities and resources to compete for more.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

Stevens, 53, had been the UC interim AD since Nozica's death last October, and previously was the senior women's athletic administrator for the West Virginia Conference school.

Stevens has held multiple roles at UC, progressing from coaching volleyball and swimming to physical education instructor in 1996, assistant professor of sports administration in 2000, and associate athletic director in 2005.

Stevens also earned a master's degree in exercise physiology and a doctorate in education administration.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

Hegmann is from Pittsburgh and earned his Bachelor's degree at Bucknell University and his Master's degree at Springfield College. His doctorate is from Temple University. Under his leadership UMW has grown from six sports to 23 and all but one of the programs reached national championship competitions.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

Kelly is 34-6 at Oregon and has won three conference titles in just three seasons. He led the Ducks to a 45-38 victory over Wisconsin in this year's Rose Bowl, their first Rose Bowl win in 95 years, and also guided Oregon to a berth in the 2011 BCS championship game, where the Ducks lost to Auburn.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

While at Brockport, LeFevre oversaw the day-to-day operations of a Division III athletic program that consisted of 23 sports and over 625 student-athletes.  Under his leadership, Brockport launched a new athletic website, embarked upon an athletic department rebranding initiative, expanded the department's academic support staff, and renovated three separate facilities with private funding.  In addition, he revamped the Golden Eagle Society, the fundraising arm of the Brockport athletic department, resulting in increased giving and alumni relations. 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

"Auburn is one of the special jobs and special places in college athletics, with a tremendous amount of history and tradition," Loeffler, 37, said in a news release issued by Auburn. "It's an honor to be joining Coach [Gene] Chizik's staff and I'm very appreciative of this opportunity."

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free.

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

B-W announced in October at its Board of Trustees meeting that lacrosse would be added as one of its 23 varsity sports.  The Yellow Jackets will compete as an intercollegiate sport in 2012-13 and will compete their first full varsity schedule in the spring of 2014.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Tue, Jan 24, 2012

Collier comes to JU after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at South Carolina. She will take part in the spring indoor season and head up the Dolphins’ inaugural sand volleyball slate in March.

To read more, click here.

By   Mon, Jan 23, 2012

Washington released details contained in the memorandums of understanding that the Huskies’ new assistants have signed. Finalized contracts are still pending. In total, Washington will commit $2.73 million in base salary to its assistants in 2012. That total does not include the approximately $1 million being paid to fired assistants Nick Holt, Mike Cox and Jeff Mills.

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Mon, Jan 23, 2012

DeAngelis is the director of athletics at East Central University, an NCAA Division II program in Ada, Oklahoma. DeAngelis oversees 13 varsity sports, athletic support groups and all marketing and promotions efforts. Previously, DeAngelis served as the senior associate athletic director at Texas A & M University (Corpus Christi, Texas).

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sun, Jan 22, 2012

“Tom has been committed to Ball State athletics since his arrival,” Ball State president Jo Ann Gora said in the statement. “I appreciate his hard work and service to the university.” 

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!

By   Sat, Jan 21, 2012

“Just like the head football coach search, the Chancellor has created a process designed to succeed in finding the right person for this critical position,” said co-chair Archie Manning. “We have been charged by Chancellor (Dan) Jones to find someone with integrity, proven leadership in athletics, excellent management and interpersonal skills as well as someone who can be the public face of the University’s athletics department.”

To read more, click here.

Click here to subscribe to CSBN. It's Free!