College Capsules: Paulus can't pass up chance at QB for Syracuse

RALEIGH, N.C. - Greg Paulus is returning home to Syracuse to play football.

The former Duke point guard will enroll in graduate school at Syracuse and try to make a comeback in football for the Orange, he said Thursday.

"My gut and my heart were telling me that (Syracuse) was the best place for me," Paulus said from Durham, N.C., during a conference call.

The decision ends a month of speculation whether the one-time star high school quarterback from Syracuse would resume his football career.

He worked out for the Green Bay Packers in April, acknowledged meeting with Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez about playing for the Wolverines, also visited Nebraska and said he was contacted by about two dozen programs.

"It got me thinking, got me throwing again (and) once I got doing that, the itch and the desire came back," Paulus said. "To have this opportunity where I have two sports, and to be able to do them both at the college level, it's something that's pretty unique and special."

He said he called new Orange coach Doug Marrone on Thursday morning to notify him of his decision.

The three-year starting guard graduated from Duke earlier this month. He has one season of eligibility remaining and can play immediately if he receives a waiver from the NCAA.

Marrone was not available and could not comment on the announcement because the NCAA paperwork has not been completed, university officials said.

Paulus was a record-setting high school quarterback in high school at Christian Brothers Academy, located less than a mile from Marrone's office, and now has a legitimate chance at Syracuse, a proud program that's fallen on hard times.

"I've seen a lot of great years at Syracuse," Paulus said.

The Orange hired Marrone in December to resurrect the team he once played for - Syracuse has gone 10-37 over the past four seasons. He already has moved former starting quarterback Andrew Robinson to tight end and demoted Cam Dantley, last year's starter, to backup behind redshirt freshman Ryan Nassib, who has never thrown a college pass.

Paulus said Marrone has made "no promises, no guarantees" about playing time.

At CBA, Paulus was one of the nation's top prep quarterbacks. As a senior running a potent spread offense, he threw for 3,700 yards and 43 touchdowns in a 13-0 season. He finished his prep career with 11,763 yards and 152 touchdowns passing.

Miami and Notre Dame offered him football scholarships, and he received a basketball offer from Syracuse before choosing to play basketball at Duke. For most of the past four years, his only flirtation with football came when he threw the ball around with his younger brother, Mike, a quarterback at North Carolina.

Having been away from the game for so long has raised doubts about whether Paulus, at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, can succeed at the Division I level, especially for a team like Syracuse, which has struggled to build a solid offensive line.

"There's going to be challenges along the way with getting into football shape, learning the system, getting back to speed," Paulus said. "It's a different challenge, and it's one that I'm looking forward to."

Since Paulus did not redshirt and will complete his degree at Duke in four years, he can go to graduate school elsewhere and compete right away if he is granted the waiver. Paulus said he plans to drive back to Syracuse in the coming days to deal with the necessary paperwork.

NCAA forms ethics panel in men's basketball

INDIANAPOLIS - Michigan coach John Beilein has read the NCAA's long, complex rulebook and sees how varied interpretations can be.

He wants to clarify all that legal mumble-jumble.

Beilein accepted a job Thursday as chairman of the new men's basketball ethics coalition, a panel that hopes to clarify the rules and the intention of those bylaws so coaches don't inadvertently run into trouble.

"There's a spirit to the rules we all need to follow. We don't want to be, as coaches, trying to find our way around the rules," Beilein told The Associated Press. "There's a spirit we have to live by."

The committee consists of 14 members: 11 head coaches, two assistants and one former head coach. They include Boston College's Al Skinner, Oklahoma's Jeff Capel, Stanford's Johnny Dawkins, Butler's Brad Stevens, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings and former South Carolina coach Dave Odom. Four members, including one current head coach, have yet to be named.

Five of the six BCS conferences already have representatives. Only the Big East, where Beilein coached West Virginia before heading to Ann Arbor two years ago, does not.

"It's going to take a little time for word to get out and people to trust you," Skinner said. "We don't really have enforcement power, so we're trying to get people to understand some of our problems."

Beilein wants discussions to focus on a variety of topics, including a rule's intent. He also anticipates debating issues such as the expanding use of social networking sites.

"These areas do come up with Twittering and Skype, and with advice, we can address these things," Beilein said. "We have to ask, is it inappropriate, for instance, to e-mail a player the night before we go to a game to see if he's healthy and going to play before we travel 2,000 miles away?"

Beilein also wants the panel to be educational. For instance, what is a coach supposed to do when a recruit's parents walk over and say hello during a non-contact period? NCAA rules say anything beyond a greeting is considered contact with the recruit and an infraction.

Beilein wants to clarify the gray areas for all coaches and give recruits and their families more information to explain why coaches act the way they do.

"That's a situation where you have to politely exit the situation," Beilein said. "If you say nothing, that's rude. So we have to educate recruits on why coaches need to be anti-social sometimes or sit in a certain area at games."

The NCAA has increasingly attempted to close loopholes in its legislation.

When former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson was under NCAA phone call limitations as punishment for making hundreds of impermissible calls at Oklahoma, Sampson relied heavily on text messaging to contact recruits. There were no limitations on text messages at the time, but the NCAA now has an outright ban on text messages.

"I think, on the whole, that's been well received," Beilein said. "Some young men were being caught with very high phone bills and that couldn't continue. But I see e-mails being on everyone's phone in the future, so is that something we'll have to examine?"

Essentially, though, the goal is simple: Beilein wants coaches to know what's right and what's wrong before they run afoul of the rules.

"We have a great game and an awful lot of coaches who always do things the right way," Beilein said. "Whenever someone does something wrong, it gives us all a black eye. There are gray areas in terms of recruiting, scheduling and summer camps, and we want to get rid of those gray areas."

-- Michael Marot

Lucca Staiger will remain with Cyclones

AMES, Iowa - Iowa State coach Greg McDermott announced Thursday that starting guard Lucca Staiger will return next season, ending a brief flirtation with the idea of returning to his native Germany.

Staiger had recently told McDermott that he was debating whether to remain with the Cyclones or pursue opportunities in Germany, but McDermott said Staiger called him Thursday to say he'll return next fall.

Staiger said in a statement released by the university that McDermott and his coaching staff were "very supportive" as he weighed all his options.

"After discussing my future with my parents over the last day, I felt the best decision for me was to stay at Iowa State," Staiger said. "The chance to come back to play for a team which I feel will be much improved is very exciting."

Staiger, who will be a junior next year, averaged 8.2 points and shot 38.5 percent from 3-point range last season for the Cyclones. He said he plans to play with the German national team this summer.

The return of Staiger, along with the decision by star Craig Brackins to return for his junior season, puts Iowa State in position to make a run at a postseason berth next season.

Staiger and Brackins join Diante Garrett as returning starters, and the Cyclones also bring back veteran post players Justin Hamilton and Jamie Vanderbeken and guards Charles Boozer and Dominique Buckley.

Iowa State has bolstered its roster by signing junior college forward Marquis Gilstrap and LaRon Dendy and highly touted prep guard Chris Colvin.

"We are optimistic about the future of this program and Lucca will be a big part of our success," McDermott said.

-- Luke Meredith

Eastern Nazarene College drops Crusaders nickname

QUINCY, Mass. - A Massachusetts Christian college has dropped its Crusaders sports team nickname because of the word's "negative connotation."

Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy announced Wednesday that its athletic teams will now be known as the Lions.

College President Corlis McGee says the former nickname was once seen in a more positive light, "but Crusader no longer represented the positive message of Christian love we aim to share with the world."

Alumnus Dr. Mark Mann, a former varsity basketball player and the grandson of former college President Edward Mann, who selected the old name, says it is time to distance the 1,200-student school from "the atrocities of the medieval Crusaders."

McGee says Lions was chosen because it is a "symbol of courage and strength."

Board advocates dumping UND nickname, logo

DICKINSON, N.D. - North Dakota's Board of Higher Education has agreed to drop the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo, a move intended to resolve a decades-long campus dispute about whether the name demeans American Indians.

The name and logo, which is a profile of an American Indian man with feathers and streaks of paint on his face, could still be saved if North Dakota's Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes agree by Oct. 1 to give the university permission to use them for at least 30 years.

However, tribal officials say that possibility is remote. Unless the name and logo receive tribal endorsement, they will be retired for good on Aug. 1, 2010.

The board, which met Thursday at Dickinson State University, voted 8-0 to retire the logo and nickname. UND President Robert Kelley began making plans for replacements.

"This has been a long-standing tradition at UND, and I think the board action now instructs the university to develop new traditions," he said.

Board member Grant Shaft, who is chairman of a committee that has been studying the issue, said the move may help UND's likely application to join the Summit League, an 11-member NCAA Division I conference that is seeking a 12th school.

Tom Douple, the Summit League's commissioner, has said the University of North Dakota won't be considered for membership as long as the nickname and logo dispute festered.

The education board's action does not suggest any blueprint for UND to follow in choosing a new nickname and logo.

Richie Smith, the president of the Board of Higher Education, said the issue would be left to the campus, and jokingly suggested "Moose" as a new nickname. Kelley said a transition team will be appointed to oversee the process.

"What this permits the University of North Dakota to do is to start a marketing initiative," Kelley said. "Over time, I think we would see enhancement of our revenue structure for athletic programs. I think we would see the enhancement of fan interest."

UND sports teams have been known as the Fighting Sioux since 1930, when the moniker replaced Flickertails.

Arguments against the nickname's racial origins have flared regularly for decades. Its supporters say the name is intended to honor North Dakota's Sioux tribes, while critics say it is demeaning and fosters racial tension on the university's campus in Grand Forks, in northeastern North Dakota.

The debate came to a head in September 2005, when the NCAA declared Fighting Sioux as "hostile and abusive" to American Indians and said UND would be barred from hosting NCAA postseason tournaments if the school continued using it.

The Board of Higher Education then sued the NCAA, arguing the organization had not followed its own rules in issuing its edict. The lawsuit was settled in October 2007; its terms gave the University of North Dakota permission to continue using the nickname and logo if the school could get approval from the Standing Rock and Spirit Lake tribes by November 2010.

Ron His Horse Is Thunder, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a fervent opponent of the nickname and logo, cheered the board's decision.

"It's not an easy step," His Horse Is Thunder said. "And it is full of controversy. But I think every great step in this country was filled with controversy ... The civil rights movements in the ‘60s didn't happen with a whimper."

American Indian backers of the nickname, who have been campaigning on the reservations to garner support for it, asked the Board of Higher Education before Thursday's vote to back the nickname and logo. Many residents of both reservations take pride in "Fighting Sioux," they said.

-- Dale Wetzel

Attorneys end arguments in Quinnipiac equity case

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Attorneys for Quinnipiac University's women's volleyball team argued in federal court Thursday that the school hasn't done enough to ensure equity for female athletes and shouldn't be allowed to drop the team until it can show it has fixed that problem.

The school disputed that claim and argued that the federal law mandating equal opportunities for female athletes, Title IX, shouldn't be used to micromanage the budget decisions of a private university.

"Title IX is not intended to compel schools to maintain any particular program or cut any particular program," Quinnipiac attorney Mary Gambardella said.

Thursday's closing arguments came after three days of testimony about the university's announcement in March that it would eliminate women's volleyball, men's golf and men's outdoor track and would promote cheerleading to varsity status.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut is seeking an injunction on behalf of volleyball coach Robin Sparks and her team to keep the squad intact until a gender equity lawsuit against the school can be heard. Judge Stefan Underhill said he'll rule soon.

To comply with Title IX, a school can show proportionality of female athletes to female students on campus; or show a history of increasing sports for women; or prove it has met the interest and ability of the underrepresented group.

Jon Orleans, the ACLU attorney representing the volleyball team, argued that the school has failed to meet all three tests. He also said the university's plan to meet Title IX obligations next year is dubious, relying on roster manipulations and the addition of competitive cheerleading, which is not recognized as a sport or even as an emerging sport by the NCAA.

"You can't cut any existing women's opportunities until you are already in compliance," he argued.

Quinnipiac, a private university with 5,400 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students, acknowledges that its teams don't have the same gender ratio as the general population but argues that will change next year because of a school policy that sets roster sizes at specific levels.

Quinnipiac has been relying on its history to meet Title IX requirements but plans to use the proportionality test next year.

But during the hearing, the school acknowledged that some coaches have been getting around the roster requirements by dropping female athletes or adding male athletes after the squad sizes have been reported to the federal Department of Education.

Orleans said Title IX "is not about making the numbers."

"Title IX," he said, "is about real participation opportunities for real athletes."

Gambardella said Quinnipiac would be harmed if the volleyball team were reinstated because the school already has eliminated men's golf and outdoor track. She said reinstating volleyball would leave the school without gender equity.

She also argued that the judge should consider competitive cheer to be a sport, citing, among other things, testimony from the team's coach about competitions that are scored on gymnastics and dance elements.

"A lot of schools, I believe, are waiting for this decision, because they have instituted competitive cheer programs," she said outside the courtroom.

-- Pat Eaton-Robb

Nicholls St. drops women's golf

NEW ORLEANS - The women's golf team at Nicholls State will disband after this season, one of at least two Division I college teams in Louisiana that will disappear as a result of the state's budget cuts affecting public universities.

Nicholls State spokeswoman Renee Piper confirmed on Thursday that members of the women's golf team had been told they would not have scholarships, or a team to play for, if they return to the university's Thibodaux campus to continue their education next fall.

Only two days earlier, Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond announced it was suspending its 10-player men's tennis squad.

There are seven members of the women's golf team at Nicholls, thought two are seniors, and Piper stressed that the university was trying to help the other five players transfer.

"I wouldn't want the impression to be that we're putting them out on the curb," Piper said. "We're working with the women's golf team to find a place for them to play."

The move reduces the number of sports at Nicholls to 14, the minimum for NCAA Division I status. Piper said head golf coach James Schilling will be retained and continue to coach the men's team.

At the University of New Orleans, all teams are under threat, though last week New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn formed a task force aimed at saving sports at the main public university in Louisiana's largest metropolitan area.

UNO first tried to save sports by doubling the athletic fees students pay in addition to tuition. Students narrowly voted down the measure. UNO Chancellor Tim Ryan said that left him little choice but to eliminate athletics unless another source of funding could be found.

LSU's athletic department, which is self-supporting and does not rely on state tax revenue, has yet to announced any planned cutbacks. But every other public university in the state is planning to trim spending in athletics, even if they do not eliminate teams.

Nicholls also is not filling four vacant assistant coaching positions in other sports and eliminated a fifth assistant, who was with the softball team. The school also plans to reduce its travel budget and the number of games scheduled.

"This has been a very difficult and frustrating time for the Nicholls community," Piper said. "To meet the budget challenge, cuts have been made to all areas of the university - athletics, academics and administration. The decision to cut services, programs and personnel has been extraordinarily difficult."

-- Brett Martel

Currie hired as Kansas State as AD

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - John Currie will be Kansas State's next athletic director, inheriting a department whose major sports programs that have fallen behind those of archrival Kansas.

Currie, 38, will be introduced on Monday, the school announced Thursday. It's the first major decision by incoming president Kirk Schulz, who officially succeeds the retiring Jon Wefald on June 15.

"We wanted to fill this position with the best candidate possible, and with John we feel we have accomplished that," Schulz said in a statement. "He brings energy, integrity and experience to his new role at Kansas State."

Currie replaces Bob Krause, who stepped down earlier this year. A nine-person search committee headed by Amy Button Renz, head of the alumni asociation, narrowed the list to three last weekend.

Currie earned a history degree from Wake Forest in 1993. He has spent the past 10 years at Tennessee, serving in various capacities. Most recently, he was executive associate athletic director.

"My family and I are thrilled to be joining the Wildcat family," Currie said. "We are anxious to get to Manhattan and I am looking forward to this incredible opportunity."

Working under Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton, Currie was in charge of a variety of departments, including men's basketball, fundraising, ticketing, public relations and broadcasting.

Currie was also instrumental in hiring Bruce Pearl as men's basketball coach. Pearl won Southeastern Conference coach of the year honors in 2008 after leading the Volunteers to their first outright conference championship in 41 years.

At Kansas State, Currie will inherit a financially challenged program that has been struggling to keep pace with the more affluent members of the Big 12 such as Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska and Kansas.

The Wildcats have fallen behind their archrival Jayhawks in both football and men's basketball in recent years, creating restlessness among alumni.

Wefald shocked many in the Kansas State family last year by talking Bill Snyder out of a three-year retirement and installing him once again as football coach. Snyder, 69, is credited with saving major college football at Kansas State during a remarkable run of more than 15 years, and the stadium itself is named in his honor.

-- Doug Tucker

Concordia-Austin hires ex-big leaguer Tommy Boggs

AUSTIN - Former big league pitcher Tommy Boggs has been hired as head coach at Concordia-Austin.

The 53-year-old Boggs joined the Division III school Thursday after more than 20 years of leading a select baseball program in Austin that lists Houston Astros first baseman Lance Berkman among its alumni.

The Texas Rangers took Boggs second in the 1974 draft out of Austin Lanier High School. After two years with the Rangers in 1976-77, Boggs spent six seasons with Atlanta. The right-hander's best year was 1980, when he was 12-9 with a 3.42 ERA.

Arm trouble forced Boggs out of baseball in 1986 after he missed the 1984 season and made a brief return to the Rangers a year later. He was 20-44 with a 4.22 ERA in 114 career appearances.