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News Nuggets, 04.30.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Memphis-USM football game moved to accommodate TV

After posting a 9-4 record and a victory in the 2003 New Orleans Bowl, the Memphis Tiger football team has become a hot prospect for televised football games during the fall of 2004.

As previously announced, the Tigers' game with the University of Louisville, slated for the weekend of November 6, will be moved to either Wednesday night, November 3 or Thursday evening, November 4 for ESPN.

Now the sports programming network has notified U of M athletic director R.C. Johnson that it would like for the Tigers to move their home game with the University of Southern Mississippi to Friday evening, November 12 for another nationally televised game on ESPN.

"We are pleased that ESPN has elected to give the University of Memphis and Conference USA additional exposure for our football programs," said Johnson. "Coach West and I were both concerned about the game being moved to a night designated for area high school football playoffs but the opportunity to gain more attention for our program and the conference was certainly important as well."

When ESPN first indicated an interest in airing the game, West took the time to call 36 high school coaches in the Mid-South region.

"I talked with 36 prep coaches and 31 told me that I would be crazy not to play the game on national television," West stated. "The other five coaches said they did not like the competition but understood that we need the game to help build our program. We have even talked with Wayne Weedon (athletic director for the Memphis City School System) to see about the possibility of moving the high school playoffs to Saturday night for this one conflict in dates.

"This is not an every year occurrence nor would we consider changing a November game every season," West concluded. "But I also think that the area high school football players will appreciate the fact that when they come to Memphis to continue their playing careers, they will be on television on a regular basis."

It was also announced that ESPN had expressed the possibility of moving the Tigers' game with South Florida from Saturday, November 27 to Friday, November 26. That decision will not be made until later in the season.

ECU-Houston Sunday game time changed

The game time for East Carolina's Conference USA baseball game against Houston on Sunday has been changed to noon to accommodate the Cougars' travel plans, the ECU athletic department announced. The game was originally scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

The Pirates and Cougars will open their three-game series at Harrington Field Friday night at 7 p.m. Game two of the series is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start Saturday.

NCAA to unleash academic police on derelicts

INDIANAPOLIS -- The NCAA approved a sweeping package of academic reforms Thursday that will penalize schools starting in 2006 if athletes perform too poorly in the classroom.

"This is the beginning of a sea change in college sports," NCAA president Myles Brand said. "Landmark legislation was passed to ensure each and every student-athlete has a genuine opportunity to receive a high quality education and graduate."

Athletes will have to stay above a still-undetermined graduation rate for schools to avoid punishment.

Brand said graduation targets for each school are being calculated. This fall, he said, each school will be notified "how much at risk it would have been" had the new standards already been in place.

The Division I Management Council originally proposed waiting an extra year before putting the reforms in place, but the NCAA Board of Directors decided to push it up to 2006 because it felt data wouldn't change much by waiting.

The board previously voted to increase the number of core courses needed for freshman eligibility and to increase the number of hours required toward graduation to remain eligible.

Another piece of the package, approved last fall, required athletes to complete 20 percent of their degree requirements each year to remain eligible. The latest measure was designed to make the colleges themselves more accountable for keeping athletes on track to graduate.

"We're starting immediately to make these reforms real," said Robert Hemenway, chancellor of the University of Kansas and chairman of the Division I board.

The graduation rate "cut line" will be the same in all sports.

Schools that fall below that line will receive warning letters beginning in 2006-07. Consistently poor performing teams could begin losing scholarships in 2007-08 and postseason eligibility and money from NCAA tournaments starting in 2008-09.

Also, if a scholarship athlete leaves school while not academically eligible, that scholarship may not be replaced for one year under a "contemporaneous" penalty that goes into effect this fall.

"This is a critically important set of legislative measures, the strongest ever passed by the NCAA, and different in kind because it holds teams as well as institutions accountable," Brand said.

The board also rescinded the so-called "5-8" rule, which allowed a school to award five basketball scholarships in one year or eight scholarships in a two-year period.

"With so much progress having been made, combined with the pieces already in place, the 5-8 rule probably was unnecessary," Hemenway said.

He said the reforms, with penalties to back up the tougher standards, send a message to athletes "that if you come to our institutions, we're going to do everything in our power to make sure you graduate.

"I think what we did today will result in enhanced standards, in improved measurements of how successfully those standards are being met, and a significant increase in accountability on the part of the institutions, athletic departments, individual teams and individual student-athletes," Hemenway said.

The board also discussed, but took no action, on recommendations by a task force on recruiting.

Brand formed the committee in February following allegations by two women who said Colorado football players or recruits raped them at a party in 2001. A third woman said she was assaulted in a dorm room shortly afterward, and since 1997, at least eight women have accused Colorado football players of rape.

The recommendations will be considered in July and are expected to be sent to the Board of Directors in time to enact new rules before the 2004-05 recruiting season.

"The board looked at it briefly. ... There was some interest in strengthening that package,'' said David Berst, NCAA vice president for Division I.

The task force recommendations include a requirement that each NCAA school adopt a written policy on recruiting and accountability for compliance. They also include a requirement that hosts for athletes either be members of the teams for which the prospects are being recruited or others chosen the same way the college provides hosts to prospective students in general.

The group also urged requiring recruits and hosts to sign a form agreeing not to engage in inappropriate conduct as defined by the college.

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News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2004 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007