A Bowl Game in December, In New York?
March 9, 2010 10:25 am EST
NEW YORK - The first Pinstripe Bowl will be played at Yankee Stadium on December 30th, including the No. 3 team in the Big East and the No. 6 school in the Big 12, excluding Bowl Championship Series participants.
ESPN agreed to a six-year contract to televise the first bowl in the Northeast since the 1981 Garden State Bowl at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. This will be the first bowl game at Yankee Stadium since Nebraska defeated Miami 36-34 at the old ballpark on December 15, 1962.
New Era Cap Co. Inc., known primarily as the supplier of major league caps, agreed to a four-year deal to be the title sponsor in its most notable venture outside baseball.
Not only do we not really need another bowl game, will there be a lot of Big 12 fans traveling up to New York in December?
Oregon Running Back Arrested
February 19, 2010 6:51 pm EST
(AP) — EUGENE, OR - Oregon coach Chip Kelly will wait before deciding whether to take disciplinary action against LaMichael James, the star tailback jailed this week on domestic violence charges.
"There can't be a rush to judgment," Kelly said at a Friday press conference. "When a decision is made, and if he's convicted, we'll make a decision."
James, 20, was arrested after his girlfriend told police he choked her and threw her to the ground during an argument. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday and was released from jail Thursday afternoon. The arrest was the third for Oregon this offseason, prompting criticism of the coach who took the Ducks to the Rose Bowl in his first season.
Kelly told reporters he stresses discipline and reminded them he recently dropped two players from the team for violating unspecified team rules. One of those players, defensive end Matt Simms, had been arrested for investigation of misdemeanor assault.
"I have let players go from this program already because they haven't lived up to the rules that are set forth for our program," Kelly said. "But I need to get all the information first before I do that."
James rushed for 1,546 yards last season despite starting the year as the backup to LeGarrette Blount. He got his chance, and made the most of it, when Blount was suspended for punching a Boise State player immediately following the Ducks' season-opening loss to the Broncos.
Kelly suspended Blount for the season before deciding to let him return late in the year. On Friday, he dismissed the suggestion that reinstating Blount showed he was soft on discipline and contributed to the recent problems.
The Government Wants to Challenge Legality of BCS
January 29, 2010 6:01 pm EST
(AP) — WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.
In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.
"Importantly, and in addition, the administration also is exploring other options that might be available to address concerns with the college football postseason," Weich wrote, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.
Several lawmakers and many critics want the BCS to switch to a playoff system, rather than the ratings system it uses to determine the teams that play in the championship game.
"The administration shares your belief that the current lack of a college football national championship playoff with respect to the highest division of college football ... raises important questions affecting millions of fans, colleges and universities, players and other interested parties," Weich wrote.
Weich made note of the fact that President Barack Obama, before he was sworn in, had stated his preference for a playoff system. In 2008, Obama said he was going to "to throw my weight around a little bit" to nudge college football toward a playoff system, a point that Hatch stressed when he urged Obama last fall to ask the department to investigate the BCS.
Weich said that other options include encouraging the NCAA to take control of the college football postseason; asking a governmental or non-governmental commission to review the costs, benefits and feasibility of a playoff system; and legislative efforts aimed at prompting a switch to a playoff system.
Weich noted that several undefeated teams have not had a chance to play for the national championship, including TCU and Boise State this year and Utah last year.
"This seemingly discriminatory action with regard to revenues and access have raised questions regarding whether the BCS potentially runs afoul of the nation's antitrust laws," he wrote.
Hatch, a Utah Republican, was steamed that his home state team was deprived of getting a chance to play for the title last year.
"I'm encouraged by the administration's response," he said in a statement. "I continue to believe there are antitrust issues the administration should explore, but I'm heartened by its willingness to consider alternative approaches to confront the tremendous inequities in the BCS that favor one set of schools over others. The current system runs counter to basic fairness that every family tries to instill in their children from the day they are born."
Under the BCS, the champions of six conference have automatic bids, while the other conferences don't. Those six conferences also receive more money than the other conferences, although the BCS announced this week that the ones that don't have automatic bids will receive a record $24 million from this year's bowl games.
BCS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Florida Coach Urban Meyer to Step Down After Bowl Game
December 26, 2009 7:30 pm EST
During the ESPN coverage of the Pittsburgh-North Carolina bowl game, it was announced that Florida coach Urban Meyer, who was admitted to a hospital because of chest pains following the Southeastern Conference championship game, is stepping down because of health concerns.
Meyer resigned Saturday, calling it quits after five seasons in Gainesville and two national titles. He goes into the bowl game with a 56-10 record at Florida that includes a 32-8 mark in league play and a school-record 22-game winning streak ended early this month against Alabama.
Urban Meyer is stepping down at Florida after the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and he goes out on top among current FBS coaches. His win percentage (95-18 .841) is the highest among active coaches with at least five years experience.
Meyer, 45, says he consulted with his family, his doctors, school president Bernie Machen and athletic director Jeremy Foley before deciding it is in his best interest to focus on his health and family. Meyer has been to the hospital at least twice since suffering chest pains after the SEC title game, a Florida source told ESPN.
The problem is not life threatening, a Florida source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN's Chris Mortensen. The same source said Meyer will remain in Gainesville in a non-coaching role to be defined later.
Meyer will hold a news conference in New Orleans on Sunday afternoon and will coach his final game in the Allstate Sugar Bowl against Cincinnati on New Year's Day.
Meyer has a wife and three children -- the oldest recently started college at Georgia Tech -- and has said repeatedly he would never stay in coaching long enough to be like Florida State's Bobby Bowden or Penn State's Joe Paterno.
Potential successors to Meyer could include Oklahoma's Bob Stoops, Boise State's Chris Petersen, Arkansas' Bobby Petrino, who was the other top candidate in 2004 when Meyer got the job, former Florida Gator and Super Bowl-winning NFL coach Mike Shanahan and former Meyer assistants Dan Mullen and Charlie Strong. Former Florida offensive coordinator Mullen just finished his first season as head coach at Mississippi State. Defensive coordinator Strong was named the head coach at Louisville earlier this month.
Big Ten Looks to Become Big Ten Plus Two
December 11, 2009 10:00 pm EST
Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez says the Big Ten will soon make a more aggressive push toward adding a 12th member. Speaking to Wisconsin's athletic board, Alvarez, the former longtime Badgers football coach, said the conference already has investigated possibilities for expansion "from all over the country." And though he places no timetable on the search, Alvarez thinks conference commissioner Jim Delany will respond to a group of athletic directors and coaches who want expansion.
"I have a sense he is going to take this year to really be more aggressive about it," Alvarez told the board. "I just think everybody feels [expansion] is the direction to go, coaches and administrators."
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been the most vocal advocate of a 12th Big Ten team, and he has support from several of his fellow coaches.
A 12th team would allow the Big Ten to split into divisions and hold a conference championship game. The Big Ten typically ends its football season two weeks before the other BCS conferences, though the addition of a permanent bye week in 2010 will shrink the gap by a week.
"We're irrelevant for the last three weeks of the football season because we're not playing," Alvarez said Friday.
Paterno has stumped for expansion several times, but Delany -- who was unavailable for comment -- told ESPN.com this spring that the league has no immediate plans to add a 12th team.
"There's not an obvious move," Delany said in May. "There might be to some coaches, including Coach Paterno, but it's not as obvious to the university presidents and to the athletic directors.
"There are a lot of schools that could take a lot away, but there aren't a lot that could bring so much to make the choice an easy one. You have to have a lot to make something go like this, and it's broader than really a championship game or a basketball tournament."
The Big Ten most recently expanded with Penn State, which began competing as a league member in football in 1993. The league has made runs at Notre Dame but hasn't had serious discussions for several years.
Oklahoma to Forfeit all 2005 Wins
July 11, 2007 9:47 pm EST
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Oklahoma must erase its wins from the 2005 football season and will lose two scholarships for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years, the NCAA said Wednesday.
The penalties stem from a case involving two players, including the Sooners' starting quarterback, who were kicked off the team last August for being paid for work they had not performed at a Norman car dealership. The NCAA said Oklahoma was guilty of a "failure to monitor" the employment of the players.
Oklahoma President David Boren said the university will appeal the NCAA's "failure to monitor" finding and the ruling that Oklahoma must erase the wins from the 2005 season. Oklahoma has 15 days to notify the NCAA in writing of any such appeal.
The Sooners went 8-4 and beat Oregon in the Holiday Bowl to end the 2005 season. Records from that season involving quarterback Rhett Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn must be erased, the NCAA said, and coach Bob Stoops' career record will be amended to reflect the erased wins, dropping it from 86-19 in eight seasons to 78-19.
Oklahoma also will have two years of probation added to an earlier penalty, extending the Sooners' probation to May 23, 2010.
Those sanctions are in addition to those already self-imposed by Oklahoma, which has banned athletes from working at the car dealership until at least the 2008-09 academic year and moved to prevent the athletes' supervisor at the dealership, Brad McRae, from being involved with the university's athletics program until at least August 2011.
Oklahoma also will reduce the number of football coaches who are allowed to recruit off campus this fall. The Sooners also dismissed Bomar, Quinn and walk-on Jermaine Hardison from the team.
Paul Dee, the athletic director at Miami and the interim chairman of the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, said Oklahoma will be allowed to keep the money it received for playing in the 2005 Holiday Bowl, because the NCAA does not regulate bowl games.
"Although this case centered on a few violations involving three student-athletes, the committee finds this case to be significant and serious for several reasons," the NCAA report said, noting the length of time of the violations and the fact that Oklahoma had appeared before the committee in April 2006 regarding violations in its men's basketball program.
On August 3rd - the day before the Sooners began preseason practice - Stoops dismissed Bomar and Quinn from the team after the university determined they had been paid for work not performed at Big Red Sports and Imports.
That led to an NCAA investigation, which found that Bomar, Quinn and Hardison had been paid for time they did not work at the car dealership and that Hardison had received payment for time he spent participating in a scrimmage and spring game.
The players and McRae engaged "in a deliberate scheme to deceive both the employer's payroll system and the university's employment monitoring system in an attempt to violate NCAA rules of which they were real aware," the report stated.
The committee found that Oklahoma "demonstrated a failure to monitor" the employment of several athletes, including some football players who worked during the academic year. The NCAA said that failure led to the university not detecting NCAA rules violations.
During the investigation, the university disputed that allegation, arguing that the NCAA should applaud, not penalize, its efforts to root out violations and noted that NCAA president Myles Brand told one news outlet that the university "acted with integrity in taking swift and decisive action" in the case.
Dee said Wednesday that Oklahoma should be praised for quickly dismissing the players from the team, calling that action "very influential on the committee."
Still, the committee said that Oklahoma should have undertaken more extensive efforts to monitor the players' employment, because the dealership apparently was the largest employer of Oklahoma athletes.
Boren disagreed, saying in a statement that "any mistakes made by the athletic department compliance staff while monitoring would not have prevented the intentional wrongdoing by the student athletes and the employer involved."
Stoops said he "strongly supported" Boren's decision to appeal.
"Our current team is focused on the upcoming season," Stoops said. "The university is dealing with a matter that relates to the 2005 season. This group of players and those that will join our program later have no reason to be concerned about our goals or the direction of our program. Those things remain unchanged."
Both Bomar and Quinn lost a season of eligibility. Bomar has been ordered by the NCAA to pay back more than $7,400 in extra benefits to charity, while Quinn was told to pay back more than $8,100. Both players transferred to Division I-AA schools - Bomar to Sam Houston State and Quinn to Montana - where they can resume their careers this season.
Through Sam Houston State athletic department spokesman Paul Ridings, Bomar declined comment Wednesday.
When reached on his cell phone, Quinn said he did not pay any attention to the infractions committee's ruling on Oklahoma, calling it "dumb" and referring to it with an expletive.
"I have no idea," Quinn said. "I don't care."
Oklahoma officials also appeared before the Committee on Infractions in April 2006 following an investigation into hundreds of improper recruiting phone calls by former basketball coach Kelvin Sampson's staff.
Oklahoma escaped major sanctions in that case, as the infractions committee also found the university guilty of a "failure to monitor," a less severe ruling than "lack of institutional control," which had been recommended by the NCAA's enforcement staff.
The committee mostly accepted the university's self-imposed sanctions, which included reductions in scholarships, recruiting calls and trips and visits to the school by prospective recruits.
NCAA NEWS - Around the Country
Click B50 Logo to Return to Home Page
12/12/09
2000-2010 Buckeye50.com, All Rights Reserved
