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News Nuggets, 07.21.03
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...
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Compiled from
staff reports and electronic dispatches
ACC raid draws attention of Congress
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07.20.03: Meet,
mingle and eat with the Pirates... .. Date dampens demand for
WVU-VPI ducats... .. Non-BCS CEO's sign up in big numbers for
Cowen summit... .. Monetary affairs discourage in-state
rivalry... .. 49ers lose one, keep one... ..
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07.19.03: C-USA
formally shifts into football mode... ..
Get
up close and personal with J.T... .. Key U of L football
players banished... .. Gators get head start in rejecting ACC... ..
Physician admits torching dead player's medical data... .. LSU
football coach survives aquatic knockout plunge... ..
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07.18.03:
East Carolina names new ticket operations boss... .. Dollar
draws NCAA wrath... .. Athletes' rights crusader gains
steam... .. Banished football program seeks new life... ..
Blood clot stymies Buckeye lineman again...
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The "M-word" is being uttered
on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the Atlantic Coast Conference's
controversial poaching of Miami and Virginia Tech from the Big East. As in
"monopoly."
The
Washington Post has reported that Wisconsin Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.,
Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will schedule a
hearing to discuss the application of antitrust laws to major college
sports, including the Bowl Championship Series. Both the ACC and the Big
East are members of the exclusive, six-league BCS, which some observers
compare to a cartel or monopoly.
According to the newspaper,
Sensenbrenner's spokesman said the congressman decided to schedule the
hearing after conferring with the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. John
Conyers Jr. (Mich.). The spokesman said the hearing would be scheduled after
the August recess. In a formal request to Sensenbrenner, Conyers contended
that the 63 schools from the six BCS conferences and Notre Dame split $104
million of the $109 million in BCS revenue last season.
There are 117 member schools
in Division I-A, the NCAA's highest classification for collegiate football
programs. But since the creation of the BCS in 1998, no school from a
conference not a part of the BCS pact and no independent other than special
BCS signatory Notre Dame, has
qualified for one of the four lucrative bowls.
"The recent ACC raid on the
Big East threatens to exacerbate this problem." Conyers wrote in a letter to
Sensenbrenner, said the paper. "The last thing any of us want to see is a
conspiracy among our major colleges leading to a dynamic where conferences
raid other conferences.... This is the very situation the antitrust laws
were designed to avoid."
West taps into Clemson connections
for assistant coach
Memphis football coach Tommy West has reached back to his Clemson ties for
the newest addition to his staff. Johnson "Jeep" Hunter, who served the past
two seasons working with the Eastern Kentucky secondary, will coach the
Tigers' tight ends. Hunter worked as a graduate assistant at Clemson from
1996-98 and was named by West, then the school's head coach, as Assistant
Athletic Director for Football Management in 1999. Prior to his stint at
Eastern Kentucky University, Hunter coached defensive backs at
UT-Chattanooga during the 2000 season. During the summer of 2001, Hunter
served an NFL Minority Internship with the St. Louis Rams. A native of
Denver, NC, Hunter is a graduate of Catawba College, where he lettered as a
quarterback, running back, defensive back and kick returner before a
career-ending injury.
Arena football player dies on bench
VALLEY CENTER, KS — An arenafootball2 player died Saturday night after
collapsing during a game. A league official said Bakersfield Blitz
linebacker Julian Yearwood, 31, collapsed while sitting on the bench in the
first quarter of the game against the Wichita Stealth. Emergency officials
tried to resuscitate Yearwood in the Blitz sideline area before placing him
in an ambulance, Stealth spokesman Deuane Howard said. Yearwood was
pronounced dead at a Wichita hospital at 9:37 p.m., Howard said. The game
was immediately called off. Arenafootball2 spokesman Ron Deuter said the
league planned to wait for autopsy results before discussing any potential
cause of death. Yearwood, a product of the University of Nevada, was a
fullback/linebacker for Bakersfield.
News Nuggets are
compiled periodically from staff, Associated Press, ECU, Conference USA and
other reports. Copyright 2003
Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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