NCAA – Page 153 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

No U Program Cuts for Next Year

Posted on November 14, 2011December 28, 2011 by David Shama

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi said there are no plans to cut any of Minnesota’s 25 men’s and women’s intercollegiate sports for 2012-13, despite an anticipated extra $450,000 his department will pay athletes on full scholarships.

The Big Ten Conference is expected to follow an NCAA initiative made this fall that will increase grants by up to $2,000 each to athletes to more closely cover the cost of attending college. Maturi said the change will impact approximately 225 Gophers athletes on full scholarships. (It’s presumed that all ─ or at least most ─ Big Ten schools will give each qualifying athlete the full $2,000, rather than put themselves at a competitive recruiting disadvantage against other major conference programs).

There are no large revenue increases anticipated at Minnesota to offset the $450,000 but eliminating sports isn’t Maturi’s intent. Instead, he will look at various ways to address the budget including sometimes not giving staff pay raises.

There has long been empathy for college athletes who come from financially needy backgrounds and find that scholarships providing tuition, fees, room, board and books aren’t enough to meet their needs. Maturi and others question providing the extra $2,000 to all athletes.

“I am not opposed to giving those that really have a need some spending money,” he said. “But if Joel Maturi’s son or daughter is on a full scholarship, quite frankly, they don’t need the extra $2,000. I make enough money. If they don’t work I can get them the pizza money, whatever it might be.”

Financially needy athletes already receive Pell Grant money that can provide over $5,000 annually. Maturi said those receiving that grant money will also get the $2,000.

With the $2,000 being given to athletes, will that lessen the alleged illegal paying of college players at some schools? “No, not a bit,” Maturi said. “Not in my mind.”

Comments Welcome

Big Ten Football Glory Continues to Fade

Posted on November 4, 2011December 28, 2011 by David Shama

Big Ten Conference football long ago gave up its claim to playing the best college football in the land, but its slump in 2011 is newsworthy.

The league’s highest ranked team in the BCS standings is Nebraska at No. 10. There’s not one undefeated team among the 12 Big Ten schools. No one is betting his or her IRA account on the Big Ten having a team in the national championship game next January.

Don’t look for Big Ten players to come even close to hoarding the post-season college football individual awards that recognize player of the year and best performers at various positions. Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson was the league’s glamour guy earlier in the fall but he’s fading fast in the Heisman Trophy race.

And don’t expect search firms to park outside the offices of league coaches after the season trying to woo them to other football programs across the country. The Big Ten football coaching scene is short on star power, although Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz is among the top paid coaches in the nation and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald ranks with the best 40 and under coaches.

What’s the problem with the Big Ten? Let’s start with the reality that the mighty Ohio State program has slipped because of tattoo-gate. And Michigan, college football’s winningest program, is trying to recover from three seasons under coach Rich Rodriguez.

Ohio State and Michigan were once national powers but not in 2011. Conference newcomer Nebraska boosts the league’s resume and adds a program serious about football, but these aren’t the Cornhuskers that Tom Osborne had winning national championships.

The Big Ten simply doesn’t have enough programs that are both capable and want to compete at the highest level of college football. Southeastern Conference teams have won the last five BCS national titles. The best college football every fall is played in the SEC and Big Ten fans can only drool in anticipation of Saturday’s game of the year showdown between No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama.

Big Ten teams have won two national championships in the last 30 years. During that time conference teams have only won 11 Rose Bowls. There have been five players from Big Ten schools who won the Heisman Trophy, and a few head coaches who have won various national coach of the year awards.

Comments Welcome

Southern Teams Got Religion: It’s Football.

Posted on November 4, 2011December 28, 2011 by David Shama

What happened to the Big Ten ─ the best conference in America in the 1950’s and early 1960’s ─ is that teams from the south long ago integrated their teams with black players. Then, too, population shifts with more Americans living in the south and west produced greater numbers of high school football players. And warm weather allows players to be outside practicing throughout the year.

In places like the deep south and Texas there’s a zeal and commitment about football that helps fuel the success of college teams from those areas. The Big Ten likes to boast about its history, but in the SEC teams are making history.

The SEC produces monster players and coaches. A lot of college coaches will tell you the most difficult high school player to recruit is a stud defensive lineman like Nick Fairley who helped Auburn to last season’s national championship. The south’s football factory specializes in guys like Fairley and South Carolina freshman defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. And the old factory turned out a monster quarterback in 6-5, 248-pound wonderman Cam Newton, the QB on last year’s Auburn team.

Two coaches with Big Ten ties will be on the sidelines when Alabama and LSU play tomorrow. Don’t hold your breath that either Alabama’s Nick Saban or LSU’s Les Miles have any plans to come back to the Midwest. Saban, who once was head coach at Michigan State, left the NFL to coach at tradition-rich Alabama and Miles reportedly turned down Michigan to stay at LSU where he’s won one national title (Saban has championships at both LSU and Alabama). Miles was once an assistant coach at Michigan.

The SEC coaching roster also includes the “old ball coach,” Steve Spurrier. He has a national trophy in his cabinet, too, winning one at Florida before going to the NFL and then landing at South Carolina.

The 12 Big Ten head coaches have a total of three national championship trophies in their awards vaults. But Penn State’s Joe Paterno, 84, won all three before his school joined the Big Ten.

So what can the Big Ten do to improve its football product? Well, don’t count too much on improvement. The league is likely to ride along on a scale that from year to year has it weighing in as somewhere between the second best conference and the fourth or fifth.

You can dream about Big Ten programs spending more money on their programs attempting to overtake the SEC, or at least be entrenched at No. 2 among conferences. More cash might attract even better coaches and produce better teams, but Big Ten programs know they are already in a football arms races and are trying to preserve some fiscal balance to maintain a long list of other men’s and women’s sports.

League teams could lower their admission standards and recruiting values to attract talented players with academic and behavioral issues. Not likely, though, since there is only so far schools will go in recruiting problem children.

More realistically what may give the Big Ten football product a boost is growing momentum among schools across the country to improve academic performance and make eligibility more demanding. It seems possible that this measure could cause more of a talent drain on some conferences than on the Big Ten.

Maybe one day we can confidently chant: “We’re No. 2! We’re No. 2!”

Comments Welcome