College Sports Capsules: WAC commish calls latest departures ‘selfish'
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Fresno State and Nevada should not expect any parting gifts from the other members of the Western Athletic Conference when the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack leave for the Mountain West.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson said on Thursday the departing schools will have to pay $5 million to his league and wait until 2012 to move after accepting the MWC’s invitation and dismantling an agreement the WAC was on the verge of completing with BYU.
The Cougars were in line to rejoin the WAC in all sports other than football, in which BYU would have become an independent.
Benson called Fresno State and Nevada’s decision "selfish."
"In a 12-hour period, the WAC went from having a secure and prosperous future to once again not knowing what the future will hold," Benson said in a conference call.
The WAC had already lost Boise State to the MWC earlier this summer, then on Wednesday both Fresno State and Nevada received and accepted invitations to join the Mountain West — less than a week after WAC members formed a buyout pact intended to keep what was left of the league intact.
Although Nevada did not actually sign the buyout agreement and loyalty pledge, Benson said WAC lawyers believe the Wolf Pack are still subject to the terms of the deal and will seek the money, due 60 days from Wednesday.
"I recommended (the buyout) to the board. I wish at this time I had made it $20 million," Benson said.
And because Fresno State and Nevada didn’t declare they were leaving before July 1, Benson said both are obligated to the WAC until 2012. Letting the schools go in time for next season will be up to the remaining six WAC schools.
"Only if the WAC believes that it would be in the WAC’s best interest that there would be an early out, would there be an early out," Benson said.
In the meantime, the WAC is looking for members once again. Since it formed with six teams in 1962, the WAC expanded to the point of two eight-team divisions in the mid-1990s before eight schools departed and formed the Mountain West in 1999.
The WAC has managed to persevere through all the turnover, but Wednesday’s departures were a definite setback, especially if the league and BYU can’t rework their agreement for the Cougars to come back, albeit without football.
Benson said the arrangement was for BYU to still play four to six WAC teams per season in football and schedule the remaining openings on its own, taking advantage of the exposure on the school’s BYU-TV network.
If the Cougars are still up for it, Benson said the door is open. But he didn’t seem optimistic about that possibility and the Cougars were keeping quiet for a second straight day as they considered options.
West Coast Conference commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said in an e-mail he had contacted BYU to see if the school would be interested in joining his conference but had not heard back Wednesday night. The WCC does not compete in football, which would allow BYU to remain independent and would give them another potential option if they don’t want to join a depleted WAC.
The remaining WAC members are Utah State, New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, San Jose State and Idaho. Benson said the league will look at other schools, including members of the Football Championship Subdivision that may be interested in moving up a division and joining.
"I would expect that we’re going to continue to see other movements and additional restructuring across the board," he said. "Obviously as the WAC rebuilds we will need to look at other conferences. Unfortunately over the course of the last 15 years the WAC has done that on a fairly regular basis. When we’ve done it, we’ve done it in an aboveboard fashion."
While Benson was still seething about Fresno State and Nevada, his remarks softened a little when asked about the moves from the Mountain West’s standpoint and MWC commissioner Craig Thompson’s quick push to get the Bulldogs and Wolf Pack on board if BYU did in fact leave.
"He has a job to do and I have a job to do. Our jobs are to put our respective organizations in the best possible position for success for our member institutions. I don’t look at it as necessarily predatory," he said. "I think we’re all chasing the BCS. We’re chasing recognition and notoriety and we’re chasing the financial benefits that come with the BCS."
Thompson said Wednesday night that adding Fresno State and Nevada was not designed to thwart BYU’s departure by weakening the WAC.
Benson had a very different take.
"My opinion, it was very clear to me and to the WAC membership that the Fresno and Nevada invitation was direct result of BYU’s interest of going independent and joining the WAC," he said.
Benson said the WAC will also have to re-negotiate its TV deal with ESPN.
Nevada athletic director Cary Groth said Wednesday night that the move made sense for the Wolf Pack in enough ways to jump despite the potential buyout and negative feelings from the rest of the league. The Reno school expects to be able to cut travel expenses now that Hawaii and Louisiana Tech will no longer be on upcoming schedules.
"The exposure of the Mountain West also has been a little stronger than the WAC," Groth told The Associated Press. "I’d say those two factors particularly played a role."
UNR Prez: Mountain West offer too good to refuse
RENO, Nev. (AP) — More money, more exposure, less travel, more stability and a reunion with your downstate archrival to boot?
Former colleagues left holding the bag in the Western Athletic Conference see Nevada as one of the bad guys, but the chance to bolt for the Mountain West was an offer the Wolf Pack could not refuse.
"As president of the University of Nevada, there is no doubt in my mind my responsibility is to do what is best for the university, the community and the state of Nevada," school president Milton Glick told The Associated Press.
"And frankly, in what I am hearing from this community, there really was no choice," he said in an interview Thursday evening. "I do not know how I would have gone out to this community and said we chose not to join the Mountain West."
WAC Commissioner Karl Benson lashed out at Nevada and Fresno State earlier Thursday for being "selfish" in deciding to abandon the league to seek their fortune elsewhere.
In a conference call with reporters, Benson characterized the two schools as partners in crime who — practically overnight — caused the WAC to go "from having a secure and prosperous future to once again not knowing what the future will hold."
Glick said he feels bad that Benson "feels so hurt," but declined to comment directly on the criticism.
Nevada athletic director Cary Groth echoed Glick's sentiment that "we have to do what is best for our student-athletes, our program and our institution."
"There's a whole bunch of reasons that this makes more sense for us but the travel is a big one," she said, pointing to football games on the road this year at both Hawaii and Louisiana Tech.
"The exposure of the Mountain West also has been a little stronger than the WAC," she told AP.
Perhaps more important, Groth said the Mountain West has outperformed the WAC "BCS-wise" in terms of bowl games in recent years, "which affords us more opportunity for revenue and obviously that is critical right now."
Another factor was Louisiana Tech's long-held position that it would entertain an offer from Conference USA or any other conference that was a better geographic fit than its current spot in the WAC, she said.
"There might be a little more shifting going on in the WAC, whereas I think the Mountain West provides a little more stability," Groth told AP.
The move that will put Nevada and UNLV in the same conference for the first time since the Big West in 1995 brought a strong rebuke from WAC Commissioner Karl Benson on Thursday.
Still to be resolved is the "exit fee" that Nevada apparently is on the hook to pay as a result of an agreement recently calling for as much as a $5 million buyout penalty for any school leaving the WAC.
Glick said Nevada understood the exit fee with a "high end" of $5 million was contingent on BYU joining the WAC and that if BYU did not join, the fee would be something less.
"We believe that whatever that exit fee is, if you spread it out over five years, we still come out ahead in terms of revenue and expenses," Glick said.
Glick indicated the Mountain West might help cover part of the fee, saying the league had made it "very attractive for us to join them."
Benson said the WAC intends to hold Nevada and Fresno State to the deal and that they cannot leave the league until 2012.
But Groth said she hopes they can negotiate a deal to make the leap in the fall of 2011 because lame duck conference members do no one any good.
"I think it is difficult to stay in a league — after you have announced your departure — for everyone. It would be our preference to go in 2011-12," she said.
Glick defended the way Nevada officials handled the negotiations leading up to the move. He said they had initial talks with the Mountain West on Tuesday and that league officials made a formal offer at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. He said the Mountain West "didn't give us a firm timeline."
"But they were anxious to have a decision as we were anxious to make a decision," Glick said. "We think once that offer is out there it is best that you bring closure as soon as possible rather than let rumors go. I think we and they and also Fresno all agreed the sooner we could each come to a decision, the better off everyone is.
"I think it is very healthy for our athletic program to know what is going to happen, to focus on how we have a great season this year and not spend time wondering what is next."
-- Scott Sonner
Football Features
Slimmed-down Powe ready to power Ole Miss
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — For six years, everyone else has had their say. Now it’s Jerrell Powe’s turn.
As the Mississippi defensive tackle enters his senior season, he’s in the best shape of his life, he’s on the verge of earning his degree and he’s up for a handful of national awards.
His message to the people who said all those mean things about him over the years?
"Go buy a paper and read about the positive stuff now, and keep it positive," Powe said. "You hit the wrong guy. And go spread rumors about the good stuff like you were telling people about the bad stuff."
There was plenty of bad stuff. Fans of rival teams picked up on a quote attributed to Powe’s mother and spread rumors across the Web that he couldn’t read. Critics of college sports said he didn’t belong in the higher education system. Even the NCAA piled on, accusing him in a news release of using help to qualify, then forcing him to prove he could make it in college for a year before relenting.
It’s been a long journey, one of the longest any college senior has had to undertake.
Was it worth it? A slimmed down Powe, who looks nothing like the tubby, uncertain guy who entered college as a 20-year-old freshman, says you had better believe it.
"I’m close to getting my degree, which is the most important thing in my life, and I’m close to obtaining my goal, and that’s to play in the NFL," Powe said. "I don’t know what the outcome will be but I’m close, so I’m excited to see what will happen."
So are the folks at Ole Miss. Powe is a nominee for the Outland, Lombardi and Nagurski awards. Some draft analysts list him among the top seniors at defensive tackle in the nation.
After all this time, Powe says he’s ready to show he deserves all the accolades.
"To be honest with you, I should be able to hold up to the expectations," he said. "You can expect that. I don’t mean to sound cocky or arrogant or nothing, but I feel like I’m working that hard, where I’m going to be the best defensive lineman in the country. That’s what I want to be and I’m putting my grind in."
Powe entered training camp at about 317 pounds and hopes to be about 310 when the season starts. There have always been flashes of the athleticism and speed that made him one of the nation’s most-sought recruits his senior season at Wayne County. He had all the accolades, appeared on all the lists. There’s a story — perhaps apocryphal — that Bill Parcells said he was NFL-ready even as he was coming out of high school.
All that promise meant little, though, when he failed to qualify.
Powe never once wavered in his dream to play for Ole Miss and attended Hargrave Military Academy and took correspondence courses in an attempt to make grades. But the NCAA invalidated most of that work and Powe started a two-year journey to become a Rebel. He could have attended a junior college, but chose the more difficult path, a decision he does not regret.
That long journey, in fact, has fueled his desire even on the hottest days of summer, when he pushed through the end of every workout.
"It comes up when I don’t feel like going very hard today or when we get to this drill and I’m out of gas," Powe said. "I always find myself pushing. When we get to conditioning and the time is 18 seconds but I know I can make it in 16, I get a little wind and I find myself saying, ‘Naw, you got to make it in 16, you’ve got to be the best.’
"I use those things out there to keep me motivated."
He needed plenty of motivation to get his weight down to a reasonable level. He was 384 pounds when he first practiced with the Rebels three years ago, and carrying all that weight slowed him down. He dropped below 350 last year and started to show some of that promise. He finished with 12 tackles for loss, eighth in the SEC, and three sacks with 10 starts at tackle.
He had enough success that it fed an offseason workout frenzy, and Powe 2.0 is something to behold on the practice field. Consider the time he ran down Jesse Grandy, the Rebels’ fastest player, on a reverse during spring practice.
"It wasn’t shocking because last fall I actually saw Powe run down Devin Thomas in the open field," running back Brandon Bolden said of another of the team’s fastest sprinters.
"He just ran him down," Bolden said. "He horsecollared him, but it was the fact that Powe went from a three-point stance, turned around and went and caught Devin. I’ve seen Powe do some amazing things. I’ve been hit by Powe. Powe just doesn’t cease to amaze me."
What’s it like to get hit by Powe?
"You ever been in a car wreck?" Bolden asked. "It’s quite similar to a car wreck."
It’s the anticipation of collisions like those that has made Powe a nominee for those major national awards. Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt says Powe’s story alone is worth a trophy.
"Without question, where he came from academically just to get into school, the distance, the perseverance just to say, ‘I want to be here, I want to make it,"’ Nutt said. "I was worried about him just making it academically. But man, not any more. His name doesn’t show up on lists, the professors like him. He’s come 1,000 miles. Now he’s one of our leaders."
-- Chris Talbott
Moore finds motivation following injury, absences
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida receiver Carl Moore missed the 2008 national championship game because of a back injury, missed last season following surgery and even missed several days last spring because of personal issues.
All frustrating absences. All reasons to work harder.
Moore, once a highly coveted junior college prospect from Roseville, Calif., has a chance to turn his career around this fall. The fifth-year senior has emerged as a starter and a leader for the Gators. He also could become quarterback John Brantley’s go-to guy.
"You appreciate what these guys go through," offensive coordinator Steve Addazio said. "High expectations, buildup, injuries, disappointment. They’re still kids. They’re young and sometimes they don’t handle those things always exactly textbook, but they bounce back and they learn and they grow from it.
"Carl’s come back, and to me, he’s come back with a great attitude, a great outlook, and I like where he’s headed right now a lot."
One of Florida’s concerns this season is replacing receivers Riley Cooper, David Nelson and Brandon James. Deonte Thompson, Chris Rainey and Andre Debose are expected to shoulder some of the workload, but none of them has Moore’s 6-foot-3, 225-pound frame.
Still, questions surround the entire receiving corps.
Will Thompson avoid the dropped passes that plagued him early last season? Will Rainey and Debose, both undersized speedsters, stay healthy? Will freshmen Quinton Dunbar and Chris Dunkley contribute right away?
There might be even more doubts about Moore.
He was supposed to give Florida a proven pass catcher when he transferred from Sierra Community College in 2008. He had 73 receptions for 1,068 yards and 16 touchdown as a sophomore at Sierra, and Gators coach Urban Meyer envisioned him having similar success in Gainesville.
But Moore has spent more time in the training room than in the end zone.
He caught 14 passes for 184 yards and a touchdown as a junior in 2008, but hurt his back in the Southeastern Conference title game against Alabama. He missed the national title game against Oklahoma a month later.
He returned for spring practice, but re-injured his back during offseason workouts. This time, it didn’t heal. Doctors determined he needed surgery to shave down a bulging disk in his lower back.
"It was sore and then we got it checked out and it didn’t get better," Moore said. "With disk bulge, you don’t necessarily have to get surgery, but it just kept hitting my nerve and my nerve kept firing up so it got to the point where I needed to get surgery.
"It’s frustrating, but at the same time, I understand the sport I’m playing. ... What can you do? Injuries come up, you know."
Moore was granted a medical redshirt, giving him a second shot at his senior year.
"I’m definitely motivated," he said. "I’m more motivated for team success, though. I’m more concerned with us winning a national championship, especially with this being my last year. I want to go out there and try to (go out) on top."
He didn’t look like a team player in March, when he stormed out of spring practice and missed the next two sessions. But Moore said his absence had nothing to do with playing time or his role in the offense.
"I was just dealing with some personal issues on my own, but that was just a couple days, and after that it was out (with) the wash," Moore said. "I met with the coaches, talked to the coaches every day and really I just got through it."
Coaches and teammates insist Moore’s mind and body are where they need to be now.
"Carl’s had a great preseason," Addazio said. "He’s really locked in right now. I’m real happy with Carl, for Carl. I think Carl’s really got the right mindset and I think Carl’s going to have a really good year."
-- Mark Long
Clemson's Parker relieved to settle his future
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Not much has changed for Clemson's newest millionaire — at least not yet anyway.
Quarterback Kyle Parker says he still can't afford to buy dinner after agreeing to a deal with the Colorado Rockies for about $1.4 million. "They don't realize I haven't gotten paid yet," he said Thursday. "So I'm just the same broke college student as anyone else on this campus right now."
Parker won't see the bulk of his baseball money until he's in the Rockies' organization full-time.
That's OK with Parker, who's ready to put baseball on the back-burner and focus fully on football, a sport that Clemson coach Dabo Swinney thinks could bring Parker even more financially with another standout college season.
"I think the much bigger decision is front of" Parker, Swinney said. "I would say he is probably motivated to have a really good season this year to improve his stock, his leverage and his options."
Parker, a 20-year-old redshirt sophomore, would be eligible for the NFL draft next April. Parker isn't worried yet about his football future beyond this fall.
"Hopefully, I can sit back at the end of the season and kind of look at it and maybe make an evaluation" about football, Parker said. "If not, I'll go play baseball and be the happiest person in the world doing that."
Parker wasn't too pleased when negotiations with Colorado stalled until the minutes before the MLB deadline. He already felt stressed his last few football practices and grew frustrated as Monday's midnight deadline ticked closer.
Parker was excused from both Clemson's workouts Monday to talk with the Rockies. But he felt anxious and worried as the sides went back and forth into the night.
"A lot of heavy language and indecision," Parker said. The agreement was reached at 11:55 p.m. Eastern time, five minutes before the Rockies would've lost Parker's rights.
"That's just the way it's done," Parker said. "But there's so much time in between, why do you have to cram it into the last two hours."
When it was done, Parker was satisfied that both his baseball and football futures were intact. "I'm just happy those doors are open and I'm happy (Colorado) would invest that in me to be a professional player," he said.
Parker missed Tuesday's scrimmage at Clemson after his stressful night. There was no practice Wednesday with the start of classes so Parker didn't return to action until Thursday's two-hour afternoon workout.
Swinney's been impressed with Parker's steadiness and attitude throughout camp as the baseball contract loomed. The coach says Parker's kept his eyes on Clemson's goal of an Atlantic Coast Conference championship, something the Tigers sorely want after losing to Georgia Tech in the title game last fall.
Parker started all 14 games last year as a redshirt freshman, throwing for 20 touchdowns and 2,526 yards. His poise and strong arm were big reasons why Clemson ran off six straight wins on the way to its first Atlantic Division crown.
Last spring, the junior outfielder and designated hitter hit 20 homers — the first Division I athlete to go 20-20 in TDs and home runs the same academic year — and led the Tigers into the College World Series.
Parker was playing at an NCAA regional in Auburn when the news he was taken with Colorado's first pick touched off a mini celebration among family and friends in attendance.
Parker acknowledged that, as a first-round pick, he thought he was finished with Clemson. However, Colorado would not meet the Parker family's terms to give up football and Parker was soon back on campus and reconnecting with teammates.
The Rockies didn't try and talk Parker out of college football this time around.
"I felt like I got the best of both worlds," he said. "I get to come back here and hopefully play an awesome team every Saturday and enjoy the experience.
"Then I can go play baseball and pursue that in the spring," he said.
-- Pete Iacobelli
Hilltoppers eyeing reboot under Willie Taggart
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Western Kentucky coach Willie Taggart's favorite catchphrase is "chase greatness and you'll catch excellence."
It peppers every meeting, practice, film session and interview. Sophomore tight end Jack Doyle puts the over/under on the number of times Taggart says it day at around 5,000.
The 33-year-old Taggart, the youngest head coach at a Football Bowl Subdivision school in the country, believes the phrase applies to every aspect of life.
For struggling WKU, however, just catching on in big-time college football would be enough. The Hilltoppers enter the 2010 season on a 20-game losing streak, the longest in the country. They are just 1-26 against FBS opponents since beginning the move from the Football Championship Series in 2007.
It's not exactly the kind of buzz president Gary Ransdell had in mind when he and former athletic director Wood Selig spearheaded the jump from the FCS to the Sun Belt Conference.
Yet there is no sense of buyer's remorse, even in the face of sagging attendance figures by a fan base already tired of losing. The thriving school on the hill 90 minutes south of Louisville has a proud football history, one that includes 12 conference championships and a 2002 Division I-AA national title.
Playing big-time football is appealing, particularly in a state where football is finally making inroads on basketball in terms of popularity. Losing is not.
"I think people realize, 'Maybe it's harder than what we thought, in terms of the transition,'" said athletic director Ross Bjork, who replaced Selig last spring. "But the ingredients are there. Now it's just a building process.'"
Even if the process is taking a little longer than most anticipated.
Finding a balance between long-term goals and immediate success is difficult one, and WKU raised some eyebrows when it fired David Elson last fall despite assurances from Selig that success wouldn't be measured in simple wins and losses until at least 2012.
Yet watching enthusiasm erode as the Hilltoppers limped to an 0-12 record, the administration felt a change was necessary.
WKU averaged just over 14,000 fans last season at Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium, a more than 10 percent drop from 2008. Hardly what officials envisioned when they spent nearly $50 million to renovate the facility in conjunction with the move to the FBS.
Enter Taggart, a former WKU quarterback whose No. 1 jersey has already been retired by the school. Despite his youth and relative inexperience, he beat out several veteran coaches for the chance to reboot the program.
"Willie bough the intangibles that offset a more experienced resume," Ransdell said. "That's a gut feeling that we had to make."
One that they hope made good business sense too. Taggart's ties, enthusiasm and charisma are part of WKU's rebranding efforts.
Despite the program's rough start in the FBS, season ticket sales are on pace with last year, a fact Bjork credited largely to Taggart and a redoubled effort by the school to sell the program.
WKU recently hired a ticket sales director for the first time and will use students in a marketing class to help generate interest.
"We're trying to be more proactive in our approach," Bjork said.
And Taggart has good reason to be a salesman. In addition to the typical bonuses awarded for reaching certain victory plateaus, his contract also includes a $6,000 bump if season ticket sales exceed 10,000 a year.
Corporate sponsorship has also been steady, and there's a waiting list to get into the 832-seat Topper Club, the plush suite level at the top of the south end of the stadium.
The move to the FBS hasn't been cheap, yet WKU has found a way to make it work financially even if it means learning a few painful lessons on the field.
The Hilltoppers schedule for the next four years is littered with nonconference games against Bowl Championship Series heavyweights. Their September slate this year includes road games at Nebraska, Kentucky and South Florida.
Though Taggart says he's already envisioned the joyful plane ride home after WKU upsets the Cornhuskers, the $800,000 guarantee the school will receive for making the trip will be beneficial — win or lose.
That's the way it has to be for the foreseeable future, WKU taking big money to face long odds on the road. It's one way to bolster a $19 million athletic budget. Compare that to Kentucky, whose self-supported athletic operating budget for the 2009-10 season was over $70 million.
It doesn't always make for a fair fight. That's fine by Taggart. He wasn't supposed to be a head coach at 33 either. Yet here he is, in charge of his alma mater trying to chase greatness one practice at a time.
"We're not going to settle just because we're going through the transition," he said. "We don't have to do that. We don't have to buy in to what everybody is telling us, how bad we are. That's a bunch of talk. We've got to go work. Nobody is going to give us anything. We've got to take it."
-- Will Graves
Michigan's Rodriguez says Forcier earned his wings
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Tate Forcier got his wings back.
Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said the quarterback practiced Thursday with the famed decals for the first time during training camp.
"We wanted to see some consistency a few days in a row," Rodriguez said.
Forcier started all 12 games last season, but he might not keep his job this year because he's being pushed by fellow sophomore Denard Robinson and highly touted freshman Devin Gardner.
"It helps when they know there's some competition," Rodriguez said. "Tate knows he has some."
Forcier has been called out by at least one teammate this summer for his work ethic.
"He's been challenged," Rodriguez said. "And he's responded to it."
Michigan is hoping some players in the secondary respond to a chance to play because Troy Woolfolk was injured Tuesday, delivering another blow to one of the weakest links on the team. His father, Butch, told the Detroit Free Press his son dislocated his ankle and had bone and ligament damage.
Rodriguez said he's still waiting to find out how long Woolfolk will be out.
As discouraged as the coach might be about his lack of experienced defensive backs, he has been happy with the team's overall morale and effort.
"I love their attitude and their work ethic," Rodriguez said. "That's a start."
Michigan will have its first scrimmage Saturday, taking another step in preparations for its opener Sept. 4 at home against Connecticut.
College football's winningest program has lost some luster the past two years, losing a school-record nine games in Rodriguez's debut with the Wolverines and flopping to a 5-7 finish last season.
-- Larry Lage
Football News & Notes
Former coach Parseghian gives Irish a message
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Ara Parseghian knows a thing or two about winning football games at Notre Dame and the 87-year-old former Fighting Irish coach delivered a message to the current team Thursday.
As players gathered around in a huddle just after warmups, current coach Brian Kelly introduced the white-haired Parseghian, who then gave about a five-minute talk to the players, many of whom had never met him or heard him speak.
"It was really cool to be on the field and have him come out and really take control of the huddle," Kelly said
"This was not walking out a guy that doesn't have an aura about him. He walked out there, took over the huddle right away and talked about toughness — mental toughness and physical toughness — and what it takes to win. It was just a great message."
Parseghian was 95-17-4 in 11 seasons starting in 1964 and led the Irish to national titles in 1966 and 1973.
"It was just kind of neat to hear it from someone who was so successful here. It was just kinda of awesome," place-kicker Nick Tausch said.
"It was really inspirational. Actually I had never seen him or met him in person. It was a great experience," said linebacker Anthony McDonald, who was sidelined by a hyperexteded knee and entered the practice facility using a cane.
Kelly, who had talked previously with Parseghian after taking the Notre Dame job, said he didn't go into great detail introducing the famous coach.
"I didn't preface it by talking about him other than here's somebody who's talking to you who's won two national championships at Notre Dame," Kelly said. "I don't think you can have a better message than this one."
NOTES: McDonald, a potential starter, was hurt during a goal line stand drill when he got hit, his foot stuck and he got knocked backward. He could be back in a couple of days. ... NG Ian Williams is bothered by an infected toe and two players who've had concussion symptoms, C Dan Wenger and OT Matt Romine, are progressing but being teated cautiously because of the heat. ... Kelly said star TE Kyle Rudolph, bothered all camp by a sore hamstring, has been shut down until Monday. ... TE Mike Ragone, who'd been hospitalized last week for heat illness, was able to go full speed for half of the practice. Kelly said he expects all of the injured to be ready for the opener against Purdue on Sept. 4.
-- Rick Gano
Vols strength coach joins players for workouts
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee strength and conditioning coach Bennie Wylie is hard to miss. He's the 34-year-old dressed in sweats while running and lifting with the Volunteers in the steamy Knoxville summer heat.
His behind-the-scenes role has been twofold since coach Derek Dooley took over at Tennessee.
Wylie was tasked with getting the Vols back in shape over the summer while helping them bond after the turmoil of a second coaching turnover in as many years during a time when the other coaches had no access to the players.
According to the Vols, he's succeeded at both tasks.
"We've gotten closer as a team just by the way we work," senior defensive end Chris Walker said.
Wylie added a few extra running drills to the team's workouts. He took a page out of basketball coach Bruce Pearl's book and had the Vols do sprints up Neyland Stadium's Gate 10 ramp all the way from street level to the upper deck of the 102,455-seat stadium.
He also had the Vols running about 1.5 miles from campus to Locust Street. Then he had them run up Locust — one of the steepest hills in downtown Knoxville — then all the way back to campus.
"For football players, that's different for us. We're not distance runners," senior linebacker Nick Reveiz said. "It was cool because coach Wylie really changed up things. He made us uncomfortable, and I feel like that's the key to getting better, is being uncomfortable and being able to react to change."
Just in case anyone wanted to complain, Wylie was running along with them — in his sweat shirt and sweat pants on days where temperatures soared near 100 degrees.
Wylie completed every conditioning drill with the team and lifted weights right alongside the Vols at least once a day.
"If you're going to be a strength coach, you're have to practice what you preach a little bit too," Wylie said. "It also really helps us as a staff dial into what our players need. If my hamstrings are sore the next day, I know theirs are sore. If I feel good the next day, I know we can continue to push."
It also adds a little extra motivation for the Vols.
"You don't want your strength coach beating you at anything because he's a 40-year-old man," Walker said, laughing. "He just fuels us with his energy, just with his work ethic."
The Mexia, Texas, native spent the last five seasons as the head strength and conditioning coach at Texas Tech, and his workouts were grueling enough to earn him the nickname "The Executioner" from then-coach Mike Leach. During his time there, the Red Raiders went 46-18, and players credited him with improving their performance on the field.
"Bennie is a phenomenal developer of football players," Dooley said.
Wylie also spent four seasons as an assistant strength coach for the Dallas Cowboys and was a running back at Sam Houston State from 1998-99.
He's the Vols' fourth strength coach in three seasons, and Walker and Reveiz claim he's the toughest. He's helped both of them regain their strength after injuries in the 2009 season.
"This is definitely, in the five years I've been here, the hardest offseason I've gone through, and I feel like the best offseason," Reveiz said. "Coach Wylie does a great job. He knows when to really pour it on, but then he also knows when to pull it back."
He's dialed back the intensity now that the Vols are working through a month of fall camp practices, but he's still working out with them.
In his sweats.
"I told him, 'You just make me hot looking at you,'" Walker said.
-- Beth Rucker
NCAA declares Tide freshman LB nonqualifier
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama freshman linebacker Alfy Hill has been ruled an academic nonqualifier and replaced on the Crimson Tide's roster.
Alabama compliance director Mike Ward said Thursday that the NCAA's eligibility clearinghouse didn't accept certain classes taken by Hill as core courses for certification. Hill had been on the Crimson Tide's 105-man roster for preseason camp but got the ruling before the start of fall semester.
"I think there's a little bit of a new emphasis on any kind of correspondence courses guys take," coach Nick Saban said. "There's just a new standard. For whatever reasons, and I don't know all the details, a few of his courses were not accepted after they were reviewed. That put him as a nonqualifier."
Tight end Harrison Jones took his roster spot and practiced Wednesday — the first day of classes — and Thursday. Jones had planned to enroll in January.
Jones' older brother, Barrett, is Alabama's starting right guard. Their father, Rex, played basketball for the Tide.
Hill's plans for the school year weren't immediately known. He could head to a junior college, a prep school or possibly take a course to become eligible.
"I feel horrible for Alfy," Saban said. "He's a good guy, he worked hard, he made really good grades in the summer. He passed nine credits at really, really good grades. So he is capable of getting an education. He will be successful academically in a college.
"I think you just have to be real consistent with what the rules are and what the standards are and you can't allow a guy to take courses that when he takes them he feels like they're OK, and then they're not OK. That's not fair."
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Hill was the first player from North Carolina to sign with the Tide since Jeff Dunn in the 1980s. He was rated a four-star recruit.
-- John Zenor
Hatch plans to keep pushing BCS
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Another conference realignment hasn't changed U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch's views on the Bowl Championship Series.
Hatch says he has no plans to back off the BCS regardless of what league Utah and BYU are playing in.
Utah is leaving the Mountain West Conference for the Pac-10. BYU is also considering leaving the MWC and becoming an independent in football.
"I have no doubt that BYU and Utah officials made their decisions with the best interests of their schools, students and athletes in mind," Hatch said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Thursday. "I am equally certain that regardless of their conference status, both schools — along with most Utahns — would welcome fixes to the BCS to ensure fairer access and revenue distribution for all universities."
Hatch, who has served in the Senate since 1977, and fellow Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) wrote to BCS executive director Bill Hancock this spring with questions about the system that has left Utah out of the national championship game despite the Utes' unbeaten seasons in 2004 and 2008.
And Hatch was livid with Hancock's response:
"While I appreciate your interest, I believe that decisions about college football should be made by university presidents, athletics directors, coaches and conference commissioners rather than by members of Congress," Hancock wrote, repeating a stance he has taken when lawmakers and public officials have threatened the BCS.
Hatch's state is also home to Utah State, which is in the Western Athletic Conference, another league without an automatic bid to the BCS. The WAC's future is unclear now that an arrangement to have BYU join in everything but football fell apart when the MWC reeled in Fresno State and Nevada.
-- Dou Alden
At LSU, new group must establish running game
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU is used to stellar rushing performances.
In the last 10 years, stars such as Joe Addai, LaBrandon Toefield and Charles Scott finished their careers at LSU with more than 2,000 rushing yards each.
That all seemed far away last season when the LSU rushing attack fell apart. No back rushed for 550 yards. The Tigers averaged only 122.8 yards per game on the ground. Injuries ended the year for LSU's top three tailbacks — Scott, Keiland Williams and Richard Murphy.
Scott and Williams have used up their eligibility. So a new group of backs will have to re-establish a productive rushing game.
There are five tailbacks on the roster — veterans Murphy and Stevan Ridley, redshirt freshman Michael Ford and true freshmen Alfred Blue and Spencer Ware.
Tigers coach Les Miles has not identified any depth chart involving the running backs after two weeks of preseason camp. But it certainly seems that Murphy and Ridley are at the head of the list. They're the only two backs who've carried the football in college.
"Everybody is trying to get a place in the rotation," said Ford, who rushed for nearly 3,000 yards in his senior season at Leesville (La.) High School. "We have to get back to LSU-style, hard-nosed running football. Hopefully, we'll have a good running game going into the season."
Murphy, a fifth-year senior, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the 2009 campaign against Vanderbilt. Murphy had two carries for ten yards. But Murphy has gone through rehabilitation and is ready to challenge for the role of starting tailback.
Injuries piling up for Kentucky as season nears
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Injuries are starting to pile up for the Kentucky Wildcats, with one player lost for the season and three others held out with various afflictions.
Head coach Joker Phillips says sophomore tailback Donald Russell, who had been competing for playing time, was wearing a protective boot for an undisclosed injury. Senior defensive end DeQuin Evans and sophomore defensive end Collins Ukwu, both projected starters, have missed time recently with injuries.
Junior wide receiver Gene McCaskill tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on Aug. 14.
Thursday marked the Wildcats' 15th day of preseason camp, and Phillips has held 16 practices over that span.
Kentucky's season opener is Sept. 4 against rival the University of Louisville.
Willis withdrawing from North Carolina
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina coach Butch Davis says freshman defensive tackle Brandon Willis is withdrawing from school.
Davis said the family informed the coaches Thursday. Willis' father, Gary, recently found work in California and wants to keep the family together.
Willis was a four-star prospect who committed to Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, but he switched to the Tar Heels after Kiffin left for Southern California.
Davis says he hasn't decided whether to grant Willis a release from his scholarship, which would allow him to play right away.
Willis' departure cuts into North Carolina's depth on the defensive line. The Tar Heels are still waiting to find out the status of star tackle Marvin Austin, who is at the center of an NCAA investigation.
Coxson leaving Florida to be closer to home
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida receiver Adrian Coxson, a freshman from Baltimore, has been granted his release and intends to transfer.
School officials say Coxson wants to move closer to home.
Coxson, a 6-foot-2 standout at City College High, was one of five receivers in coach Urban Meyer's highly touted recruiting class. Robert Clark and Solomon Patton got a head start on Coxson by enrolling in school in January, and coaches have raved about Quinton Dunbar and Chris Dunkley during training camp.
Coxson worked as an option-style quarterback as a high school senior, rushing for more than 1,200 yards, passing for 650 more and accounting for 19 touchdowns. He chose Florida over Georgia, Maryland, Penn State and West Virginia.
Cowbell violations to draw hefty fine
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Violations of Southeastern Conference rules for using cowbells during football games at Mississippi State University will draw hefty fines.
MSU Athletic Director Scott Stricklin tells The Clarion-Ledger that fines are $5,000 for a first offense; $25,000 for the second offense and $50,000 for the third.
Stricklin says SEC athletic directors meeting in Orlando, Fla., finalized the fine structure.
Cowbells can be used before a game, at halftime, during timeouts and after scores.
MSU has begun a campaign to educate its fans on when to use them. The campaign includes a website and pamphlets.
WVU AD Luck still strongly backs Stewart
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia University athletic director Oliver Luck was quick to back football coach Bill Stewart after the NCAA accused the Mountaineers of five major rules violations this month.
A few days later, some players wore lightweight shoulder pads during the first two days of practice in violation of an equipment rule, prompting WVU to say it planned to self-report to the NCAA.
After the latest issue, Luck didn’t waiver in his strong support for his coach.
Luck says he told Stewart to focus on getting the team ready for the upcoming season and leave the task of defending the violations to the athletic department.
Former Tennessee lineman Steve DeLong dies at 67
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Former Tennessee defensive lineman Steve DeLong, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and winner of the 1964 Outland Trophy, has died. He was 67.
A Tennessee spokesman confirmed DeLong passed away at the Mercy Medical Center St. Mary's in Knoxville but did not specify the cause.
Despite Tennessee's 4-5-1 record in 1964, DeLong was named All-American and was awarded the Outland Trophy, given annually to the nation's best collegiate interior lineman — the first such national award won by a Volunteer.
DeLong's brother, Ken, was a Vols tight end from 1967-69, and his son, Keith, was an All-American linebacker from 1985-88.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Men’s Basketball
UAB hoops schedule includes visit to Duke
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — UAB will play a tough nonconference schedule in men’s basketball, including a visit to national champion Duke.
The Blazers’ schedule, released Thursday, also features visits to Arizona State, Georgia and Arkansas. The Conference USA schedule is expected to be released sometime in early September.
Coach Mike Davis says this is the type of schedule that will prepare the Blazers for league play.
UAB visits Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 5 for the Blazers’ final nonconference game. It will be their first meeting since 1985.
Television
Get ready for conspiracy theories as ESPN adds BCS
NEW YORK (AP) — With each victory on the way to starting 9-0 in 1996, Army’s football players and coaches were convinced this would be the one that launched them into the polls.
It took until that ninth win for them to slip into the AP Top 25.
"Week after week, we’d think we were going to get into the rankings, but you’d have some ESPN guy saying, ‘West Point, they’re playing a powder-puff schedule,"’ recalled New Mexico coach Mike Locksley, an assistant on that squad.
Passionate fans will always bristle when they feel the talking heads on TV are disrespecting their favorite team — that’s part of the fun of sports. But the topic is especially prickly in college football, where human voters help determine who plays for the national championship.
For fans already fretting that some commentators may hurt their beloved school in the BCS standings, a new wrinkle arrives this season. ESPN, home to endless hours of college football debate, takes over the broadcasts of the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls and the title game.
It’s just more fodder for the great American tradition of conspiracy theories: Get ready for insinuations that ESPN is hyping particular teams that it believes would draw higher ratings in the BCS contests.
"Any time you have the human element involved, that’s a possibility," ESPN senior coordinating producer Dave Miller said of voters being swayed by the analysts on TV. "But we don’t have any directive or any goal of trying to influence that we need to get this team in or that team in."
The BCS games were previously on Fox, which wasn’t likely to be accused of conflict of interest because of its lack of other college football programming. ESPN’s contract gives it the package for the next four years; it already had the Rose Bowl on partner ABC.
"You always have to be careful," Miller said. "Perception can be reality."
Consider new analyst Mike Bellotti’s take on his hire: "I think in some ways they’re bringing me on with the intent to even off the perceived East Coast bias," the former Oregon coach and athletic director said.
But to Bellotti and his new colleagues, the difference between perception and reality is simple.
"The No. 1 thing is your credibility," he said, and obvious bias would instantly undermine that.
At New Mexico in the Mountain West Conference, Locksley is at one of those schools that lacks the big-name recognition in the college football perception game. He’s also been at the other end of the spectrum as an assistant at BCS conference programs Maryland, Florida and Illinois — and believes those power players get their fair share of coverage: "I’m not a conspiracy theorist."
"I think there is a perception problem, but it’s not just ESPN," Locksley said. "Any media that follows conferences and teams has the ability to persuade."
ESPN analyst Ed Cunningham chuckled when asked if fans will howl that the network is trying to manipulate BCS bowl matchups. He figures it’s inevitable — and part of the job.
"It has been in the past," he said. "Certainly everyone always says ESPN has too much power and we get blamed for people wining and losing the Heisman."
He wonders if ESPN’s ever-expanding coverage of college football, while increasing its overall imprint on the sport, also serves to dilute any one opinion. As Miller said, if you watch seven different analysts on ESPN on a given Saturday, "you’ll get seven different opinions."
This season ESPN will air about 25 hours of college football programming in a typical week, with ESPN2 adding another 15-20. And that doesn’t count all the coverage on ABC, ESPNU and other outlets.
More hours of debating mean more hours to discuss a wider variety of teams. Cunningham doesn’t have any scientific evidence to back up his sense that the network’s commentators have chatted about non-BCS conference schools more often the last couple of years.
"But it certainly feels like we talk about them a whole lot more," he said.
"Just so everybody doesn’t forget," said Temple coach Al Golden, "ESPN is the one who put college football on the map and made it the second most popular sport to watch behind the NFL."
Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe recalled that an old athletic director of his used to say: "There’s no bad beer and no bad TV."
"And I don’t know about the first part," he said, laughing.
His Demon Deacons are also the sort of team that may fall behind in the perception game: a BCS conference member that’s not a traditional power. But he has no concerns about the coverage they received when they stunned the ACC to win the league in 2006 — and seemed to play in prime time every week as the season went on.
"I don’t think they’re going to pick a team and say, ‘That’s our favorite team,’ and put them on every week," Grobe said. "I think they’re going to put on teams that people want to see, and people want to see winning football teams. So if you’re a coach, your focus shouldn’t be, ‘How big is ESPN getting? And are they picking favorites?’ Just start winning and you’ll be on."
-- Rachel Cohen
