College Sports Capsules: Hancock says Big 12 losses won't affect BCS
DETROIT (AP) — Part of the discussion at the Mid-American Conference Media Day centered around expansion and the BCS.
Bill Hancock said that the Big 12's losses to the Big Ten and Pac-10 earlier this summer won't influence the BCS.
"As far as the BCS's future and operation, there's no effect," Hancock, the BCS executive director, said at the Mid-American Conference Media Day. Nebraska will leave for the Big Ten in 2011 and Colorado will exit for the Pac-10 in 2012.
Hancock also said — while not in favor of a playoff system for college football — any potential playoff system would have to include 16 teams.
"A 16-team playoff in the only way to have a playoff because it would include all of the conferences." he said.
But Hancock said he thought any type of playoff system would hurt college football by making regular-season games less important. "We have the most compelling regular season of any sport." he added.
MAC commissioner Dr. Jon A Steinbrecher said he didn't know how the moves of Nebraska and Colorado and any future movements and potential changes in the college football landscape will affect his conference.
"I can't begin to predict what the future holds," Steinbrecher said. "... We're a stable conference. Would any movement create an opportunity for us? Time will tell."
Temple was the choice to win the East Division and Northern Illinois the pick to win the West Division in the MAC Media Poll. The Owls received 17 first-place votes in a poll of 20 members of the league's media contingent and Northern Illinois had 15 first-place votes.
Temple went 9-4 (7-1 in the MAC) and was the East Division co-champion en route to the 2009 EagleBank Bowl. Temple returns 56 letter winners and 16 starters in 2010 under fifth-year coach Al Golden.
Among the returning starters is sophomore running back Bernard Pierce, who rushed for 1,361 yards to break Temple's all-time record with 16 rushing touchdowns and was the MAC Freshman of the Year. He will run behind three 2009 All-MAC offensive linemen in junior center John Palumbo, senior right guard Colin Madison and senior right tackle Darius Morris.
Defensive linemen Adrian Robinson, the MAC Defensive Player of the Year last season, leads five returning All-MAC selections on defense. Robinson, who had 13 sacks in 2009, is joined by junior tackle Muhammad Wilkerson, senior linebackers Elijah Joseph and Amara Kamara and senior safety Jaiquawn Jarrett.
Ohio was piked second and received the other three first-place votes in the East Division.
Northern Illinois has 49 returning letter winners and 17 starters. The Huskies were 7-6 (5-3 in the MAC) and played in the International Bowl.
Among the returning starters are senior running back Chad Spann, an All-MAC selection in 2009, who rushed for 1,038 yards and led the conference with 19 rushing touchdowns.
A surprise returnee is defensive lineman Jake Coffman.
The 25-year-old senior and ex-Marine who did two tours of duty in Iraq, changed his mind and decided to play in his final season of eligibity.
"The things that he has seen and been through, it means a lot more to the other players when he walks through the locker room than when I do," said Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill.
Defending MAC champion Central Michigan received the other three first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the West.
Clemson's Cloy's commitment more than football
CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Mason Cloy has chosen to follow a path that he knows will define him more than anything he does on Clemson's football field.
Cloy spent a month this offseason at Fort Knox, Ky., in accelerated U.S. Army leadership training. The 6-foot-4, 310-pound junior will become a military officer upon graduation, no matter whether the NFL takes an interest in him.
"I always felt when I recruited him, he was mature beyond his years," Clemson offensive line coach Brad Scott said.
At a time when almost all scholarship players cling to NFL dreams, Cloy locked onto a different calling. Cloy said his mind is made up and won't be swayed no matter on much success he has on the field during his final two seasons.
Pro football "won't weigh into my decision," Cloy said. "I've already made my mind up."
The Tigers hold their first practice for the fall on Tuesday.
The military is in Cloy's DNA. His father, retired Col. Michael Cloy, spent 27 years in the Army. Both Mason's grandfathers served. His older sister is married to an Army officer.
Cloy was born while his father was stationed in Germany and said he moved 13 times growing up. Cloy watched his dad deploy to various hotspots around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan, yet grew to cherish what his father did.
"Living the Army life really makes you appreciate the little things," he said. "It makes you see what's important in life, like family."
Cloy grew into a highly regarded college prospect at Spring Valley High School while his family lived at nearby Fort Jackson. His military goals never left even as recruiters talked about his football potential.
Cloy's final three of Clemson, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech were all selected because of their ROTC programs. The Tigers gave him the best opportunity to balance his career choice and football, he said.
So many players "think they're going to be in the NFL," Scott said. "But do they have a Plan B?"
Cloy decided to make Plan B his prime choice. He took the first real steps toward that career this summer at the Leader's Training Course, four weeks of sunup to sundown military training.
"A day seemed like a week sometimes," Cloy said.
Cloy and 199 other cadets were up at 5:30 a.m. — "And not the way your mother wakes you up," Cloy said — for hours of physical and mental training. Cadets learned to effectively communicate with fellow officers and the men they lead.
There were 10-kilometer marches with full "ruck sacks" over the fort's infamous hills named "Agony" and "Misery."
There was even a "Survivor" style exercise where groups were given supplies and ordered to navigate on their own from Point A to Point B. Cloy and the cadets worked with M-16s and were evaluated on their leadership potential.
"They come in kind of deer in the headlights, and at the end, they're ready to be part of an ROTC battalion," said Lt. Col. Chuck Schretzman, who headed up Cloy's training at Fort Knox and who played football at Army from 1985-88.
Cloy got a few wisecracks from Clemson teammates upon his return to campus. More of them, however, wanted details on the training. "I'm glad he's on our side," Clemson center Dalton Freeman said.
Mason's father, is proud of his son's choice and says he could feel the mission to serve growing as Mason matured into a star athlete.
"He has told me time and time again that football is not his identity," Michael Cloy said.
At the moment, the Clemson junior is all about football. The Tigers will open practice Tuesday with Cloy listed as a co-starter at left guard with David Smith. Cloy started 17 of 27 games his first two seasons, but missed spring practice recovering from a leg broken in Clemson's ACC title game loss to Georgia Tech in December.
Cloy said he feels healthy and ready to go.
The same way he'd never abandon his fellow cadets, Cloy won't slacken at football with his career choice made. The Army "is not by any means going to stop how hard I work here or how far I get here" at Clemson, Cloy said.
Cloy will take part in Clemson's ROTC program the next two years. Upon graduation, he'd be commissioned a second lieutenant. He knows he'll have some ask about the NFL since even a rookie low on the depth chart made $310,000 in 2009.
"It's not about the money," Cloy says. "Half the things people did, if it were about the money, they wouldn't be doing them."
-- Pete Iacobelli
NCAA talks with 2 Clemson football players
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips said Friday that the NCAA had been on the Tigers' campus this week to talk with two members of the football team.
Phillips issued a statement Friday about the visit, but did not say what the inquiry was about. Phillips also did not identify the athletes, but said Clemson is cooperating fully.
"We do not have reason for concern," Phillips said.
The NCAA is investigating Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia and South Carolina in connection with possible rules violations at a party in Miami.
A person familiar with the situation tells The Associated Press that the Clemson inquiry is not linked to the investigations looking into improper contact with agents at the other schools. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the subject of the inquiry is confidential.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney did not return messages Friday left by The Associated Press. However, Swinney has said that his players are educated about the rules regarding contact with agents and he won't hesitate disciplining those who break them.
"You can't legislate integrity," he said at the ACC's football gathering in Greensboro, N.C., last week. "People are still going to do things wrong. It sounds like the NCAA is trying to send a real strong message. I think it's a good thing."
The NCAA's contact with Clemson means both of the state's major football programs have had to respond to inquiries from the governing body. Earlier this month, South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders spoke with NCAA officials about his possible link to the South Beach gathering.
Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier said Wednesday he had no update on Saunders' status.
Clemson and South Carolina begin summer practice Tuesday night.
-- Pete Iacobelli
AP source: Masoli accepts invite to visit Ole Miss
Former Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli has accepted an invitation from Mississippi coach Houston Nutt to visit the school this weekend, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Friday.
Masoli made the decision early Friday morning to visit the Oxford campus. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because Masoli has not yet enrolled in school.
Masoli was considered a possible Heisman Trophy candidate after a breakout season at Oregon, but coach Chip Kelly kicked him off the team after two brushes with the law in six months.
Nutt said earlier this summer that the Rebels weren't interested in Masoli, but the situation changed when backup quarterback Raymond Cotton left the team last week, just two weeks before the start of preseason practice.
The Rebels lost last season's starter, Jevan Snead, when he decided to skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft. That leaves Ole Miss with just two scholarship quarterbacks — redshirt sophomore Nate Stanley, whose experience came when he played briefly in the Cotton Bowl last January after Snead was injured, and junior college transfer Randall Mackey.
Masoli's been looking for a second chance and a new home this summer. He can play immediately this season under NCAA rules because he has already earned his undergraduate degree, but he must be accepted into graduate school.
Masoli joined the Ducks in 2008 as a fifth-string junior college transfer who was expected to redshirt. But he got a chance to play because of injury and held onto the job. In 2009, he guided the Ducks to their first Pac-10 title since 2001 and their first Rose Bowl since 1995. He threw for 2,147 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 668 yards and 13 touchdowns.
The San Francisco native pleaded guilty in March to misdemeanor second-degree burglary in a plea deal after he was charged with a felony for stealing a pair of laptop computers and a guitar from a fraternity on campus last January. Kelly suspended him for the 2010 season. He was expected to redshirt and Kelly allowed him to practice with the team during spring practice.
Kelly dismissed him from the team after police cited him for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and driving with a suspended license and failing to stop upon exiting a driveway in June. Masoli entered a guilty plea and paid a $613 fine last week.
The plea may be considered a violation of his probation for the burglary conviction, but it was unclear how Lane County prosecutors would handle the case. Masoli has fulfilled all of his other obligations in connection to that case, his attorney said.
A phone message left with the district attorney's office was not returned.
Nutt and Ole Miss can expect to take criticism if Masoli eventually joins the team. Masoli began repairing his image by launching his own website, www.jeremiahmasoli.net, to tell his side of the story and apologize.
"I made a few very poor decisions in the past year, and I apologize to my family, friends and fans for them," a letter on Masoli's home page reads. "But I am not the person who has been portrayed in many media stories.
"I am not a thief nor a thug. The people who know me best know that is the truth."
The website features pictures of Masoli, including one of him hugging his grandmother, a biography, career timeline, endorsements by former coaches and others he's close with, a resume and a section entitled media mistakes, detailing inaccuracies Masoli says have been made in stories about him.
Masoli concludes his letter by writing: "I love playing football and want to continue to play. I'm still trying to figure out where that might be.
"Lastly, I want to thank my family, who I love very much. They have shown great support and forgiveness for the mistakes I made. I do not ever want to let them down again."
--Chris Talbott
Troy's Clark switches position, number
TROY, Ala. (AP) — Tyler Clark will open Troy's season with a new position and a new number.
The Troy offensive lineman, who is moving from left guard to center for his senior season, will wear No. 54 in the Sept. 4 opener against Bowling Green in honor of a close friend who died in the spring.
Cody Dean wore that number when he played next to Clark on the line during their senior years at Thompson High School in Alabaster. He died in an accident while working in a quarry on May 5.
"I had four really close friends I considered like my best friends in high school, and he was one of them," said Clark, who is giving Dean's family tickets to the opener. "I don't know the details of it, but he got run over by one of those really heavy machines.
"I love him. He's a really good friend of mine. Just for his family, I want to do that. I can't do much, so I just want to do what I can."
Doing what he can is the kind of mentality that has helped Clark go from a walk-on to a 31-game starter for Troy, which opens fall camp on Saturday.
The 6-foot-1, 285-pounder got some recruiting interest from Division II programs North Alabama and West Alabama and from Football Championship Subdivision team Jacksonville State out of high school.
The only offer he got was a partial scholarship from NAIA Faulkner in Montgomery.
He calculated that paying his own way at Troy, where his father spent two seasons as a walk-on linebacker, would still be cheaper than attending Faulkner.
Clark quickly worked his way up from practicing with the fourth-teamers to begin that first fall camp, starting the final five games and playing in 12. He has started every game since then. After two years, he was even put on scholarship.
"Recruiting's an inexact science," Trojans offensive line coach John Scharman said. "He was probably a little bit undersized coming out of high school. He didn't have the stature that a lot of Division I signees have, and I think he probably had a chip on his shoulder. He felt like he probably had something to prove, and that kind of motivated him."
It might have helped that Schlarman was hired only a few weeks before Clark arrived, meaning he didn't have any preconceived notions about his new players.
"It was definitely divine somewhere in there," said Clark, who didn't allow a sack in the first 11 games last season. "It just worked out perfectly.
"I just got brought in at the perfect time."
He is moving back to center, his high school position, for his senior season with the graduation of Danny Franks. It's a position that seems a good fit for a player who's relatively undersized for a Division I offensive lineman.
"I really love guard. I loved a lot of things about it," Clark said. "But for someone of my size everyone's like, 'You must be a center if you play offensive line.'
"I think I'm a little better at center than guard just because that's where I played in high school. After the first few days of spring it was just natural, like riding a bicycle."
-- John Zenor
ECU's McNeill hires Texas Tech assistant
GREENVILLE, N.C. (AP) — East Carolina has hired Texas Tech assistant Duane Price as its defensive tackles coach.
First-year coach Ruffin McNeill on Friday also said running backs coach Clay McGuire would coordinate the Pirates' special teams and shifted tackles coach Marc Yellock to defensive ends coach.
The staff shuffle comes after Mark Nelson resigned as an assistant earlier this week. School officials said he admitted to violating NCAA rules by evaluating players during voluntary summer activities.
The 34-year-old Price was a graduate assistant last season at Texas Tech. He had been retained by new Tech coach Tommy Tuberville and spent the spring coaching the Red Raiders' secondary.
McNeill calls Price "a master technician and motivator with an unmatched work ethic."
Iowa State football player pleads not guilty
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The attorney for Iowa State defensive back David Sims has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf to a charge of unauthorized use of a credit card, an aggravated misdemeanor.
Online court records show Sims' plea was filed Thursday along with a waiver of his right to a preliminary hearing.
Sims' attorney, Matthew Boles, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
Sims, a senior and one of the Cyclones' top players, is accused of charging gas, groceries and more than $400 worth of shoes on the debit card of a Des Moines woman. She had loaned the card to her son before he visited Ames earlier this month. Police told her Sims reportedly found the card on a sidewalk.
Cotton plans transfer to South Alabama
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Raymond Cotton's father says the quarterback is transferring from Mississippi to South Alabama.
Raymond Cotton Sr. told the Mobile Press-Register Thursday that the redshirt freshman was granted his release from the Rebels only for the fledgling program.
Cotton led the city's Faith Academy to the AISA championship game as a junior before moving to Maryland. He initially committed to play for Auburn.
Cotton would be eligible to play immediately since South Alabama doesn't reach Football Bowl Subdivision status until 2013, when it is scheduled to join the Sun Belt Conference.
The Jaguars had their first season in 2009, playing seven games.
South Alabama can't confirm the transfer until Cotton signs a scholarship.
NCAA, Florida St. to pay $325k to media attorneys
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida State and the NCAA are paying $325,000 in legal fees to compensate the attorneys of news media companies that sued to force the release of documents in the Seminoles' academic cheating scandal.
The records were part of an NCAA investigation that eventually implicated 61 athletes and stripped the school of victories in 10 men's and women's sports.
Florida state and the NCAA tried to block the release in a series of appeals. But the Florida Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision determining the records were public and refused in May to reconsider the case.
Under the agreement filed Friday in court, the school will pay $65,000 and the NCAA will transfer $260,000 to the attorneys who represented more than 20 outlets, including The Associated Press.
Illini player enters jail after theft plea
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — University of Illinois football player Walter Aikens has started serving a two-week jail sentence after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge.
Champaign County officials say the 19-year-old Aikens started serving the sentence Thursday.
Aikens admitted to possessing a computer stolen from a dorm after initially pleading not guilty following his April 21 arrest.
Aikens is a sophomore defensive back from Charlotte, N.C. He was expected to contend for a starting safety spot before his arrest
Illini coach Ron Zook said Friday that Aikens remains suspended from the team.
South Carolina's 1st practice week open to public
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's first week of football practices is going to be open to the public. The school announced its schedule of summer practices on Friday.
The Gamecocks begin workouts on Tuesday night at their practice fields across from Williams-Brice Stadium. The team will practice each day after that, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Later practices that will be open to fans will be announced later on.
On Saturday, Aug. 7, the Gamecocks will work out in full pads for the first time. South Carolina opens the season Sept. 2 against Southern Miss at Williams-Brice.
Temple, N. Illinois picked to win MAC divisions
DETROIT (AP) — Temple is the choice to win the East division, and Northern Illinois is the pick to win the West at the conference's media day at Ford Field in Detroit.
It was announced Friday that Temple received 17 first-place votes in a poll of 20 members of the league's media contingent, and Northern Illinois had 15 first-place votes.
Men's Basketball
Aide: Pitino never mentioned seeking abortion
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Rick Pitino never said a woman who claimed the Louisville basketball coach got her pregnant after a one-night stand had to get an abortion but did advise she "go out of town" to get medical care, his longtime aide told a jury Friday.
The aide, Tim Sypher, was testifying against the woman, his ex-wife Karen Cunagin Sypher. He testified about helping her get an abortion at her extortion trial. The two divorced after she was indicted last year on charges of demanding cash and gifts worth millions from Pitino to keep secret their 2003 tryst on a restaurant table.
Tim Sypher, 49, testified that he called clinics in Indiana and Ohio before taking the woman, then known as Karen Wise, to Cincinnati, where she terminated the pregnancy on Aug. 29, 2003. Tim Sypher said he paid for the procedure from $3,000 Pitino gave to Karen Sypher for medical care.
"I just figured it was a good thing to do, go out of town," Tim Sypher said. "Yeah, he (Pitino) said go out of town."
Pitino, married and Roman Catholic, has said he intended for the money to be used for medical insurance, not an abortion. The Roman Catholic Church is opposed to abortion.
Karen Sypher, 50, has pleaded not guilty. After she was indicted, she told police Pitino raped her, but authorities didn't pursue charges.
Tim Sypher, who has worked for Pitino in various capacities since 1996, told jurors the coach called him on Aug. 23, 2003, and asked to use his condo to meet with a woman about a "supposed pregnancy." That meeting took place just less than a month after Pitino and Sypher had sex after hours at Porcini, an Italian restaurant where they met a few hours earlier.
As Pitino and Sypher met downstairs, Tim Sypher said, he waited for about an hour in an upstairs bedroom.
"In a situation like that, you know, I just wanted the day over with," Tim Sypher said. "I heard nothing."
Defense attorney James Earhart asked Tim Sypher why Pitino called him, then a single 43-year-old, to take care of a pregnant woman.
"This is a situation that is potentially devastating to Rick Pitino, let's be honest," Earhart said. "This doesn't need to come out."
"True," Tim Sypher said. "... If he hadn't asked me, who then?"
Six days after the meeting at the condo, Tim Sypher drove Karen Sypher to a women's clinic in Cincinnati, where she had an abortion. Jurors saw records from the clinic on Thursday indicating she was about 5 weeks pregnant. As Karen came out of the clinic, Tim Sypher said he extended his hand, prompting "a look I'll never forget."
"Sir, I'm not lying to you. We hit it off. It was quick," Tim Sypher testified. "I'm not lying to you, I'm not lying to anybody here. We clicked."
Once back in Louisville, Karen Sypher asked if she could see Tim Sypher again. The two began dating and were married less than a year later. Over the next five years, Karen Sypher attended functions around Pitino without problems, Tim Sypher said.
Tim and Karen Sypher had given each other nicknames drawn from the movie "Driving Miss Daisy," Tim Sypher said. She was "Daisy," while he was the driver, "Hoke."
"Every time you make reference to her as Daisy and you as Hoke, you are resurrecting memories of the trip to get an abortion," Earhart said.
"You might have looked at it that way, but it was just pet names," Tim Sypher said.
By 2007, the marriage deteriorated, Tim Sypher said. Then, on Feb. 26, 2009, Pitino received two anonymous calls threatening to expose the one-night stand and accuse the coach of rape. Pitino sent a text message that said "red alert," then called, asking for a meeting with Karen Sypher, Tim Sypher said.
"When you get red alert, something serious is going on," Tim Sypher said. "I didn't know what to think. I just waited for the next step."
Jurors earlier in the week heard from Lester Goetzinger, a longtime friend and sometime sexual partner of Karen Sypher. Goetzinger said he made the calls after receiving sexual favors from Karen Sypher. He testified as part of a deal with prosecutors.
The meeting failed to produce answers about who made the calls, Tim Sypher said. Tim Sypher said Karen Sypher started making several demands when they met on March 6, 2009, days after Pitino received a third phone call.
"It got to a point of, 'What do you want? What do you want?'" Tim Sypher said. "She started blabbing all these things."
He said he told her to write down what she wanted because he couldn't remember all of it. He delivered the letter to Pitino that evening but said he didn't know what was in it.
"Before I handed it to him, I was thinking about ripping it up because I knew how crazy she was," Tim Sypher said.
Karen Sypher's former attorney, Dana Kolter, also testified Friday, telling jurors he and Sypher had sexual relations three times before he wrote a letter to Pitino on March 22, 2009, demanding $10 million and threatening to file a lawsuit accusing Pitino of rape and forced abortion.
Kolter said Karen Sypher seemed believable, despite inconsistencies in her story.
-- Brent Barrouquere
Huggins' tumble blamed on medicine, empty stomach
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia University says basketball coach Bob Huggins' rib-breaking fall occurred because medication taken on an empty stomach left him lightheaded.
President James Clements and Athletic Director Oliver Luck told the Charleston Daily Mail that Huggins stood too quickly, tripped and fell into a table in his Las Vegas hotel room last week.
WVU spokeswoman Becky Lofstead on Friday confirmed the report. She wouldn't say what the medication was.
Huggins broke seven ribs and was hospitalized for several days.
Last summer, Huggins got two black eyes when he walked into a door in the middle of the night.
In 2008, he was checking phone messages on an airport tarmac when he tripped on a cone, fell and hit his head.
Women's Basketball
Havre native named Puget Sound basketball coach
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — University of Puget Sound athletic director Amy Hackett has announced the hiring of Havre, Mont., native Loree Payne as the school's women's basketball coach.
Payne spent the last three years as an assistant coach at her alma mater, the University of Washington. She was a two-time All-Pac-10 player, holds or shares six school records and played on a Husky team that advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2001 Women's NCAA Tournament.
Payne also has been an assistant at Northwest Nazarene and the University of Portland.
Payne takes over for Suzy Barcomb, who left after 13 seasons at the NCAA Division III school to take the head coaching job at Cal State East Bay.
Baseball
Winthrop hires Clemson assistant as baseball coach
ROCK HILL, S.C. (AP) — Winthrop has hired Clemson assistant Tom Riginos as its head baseball coach.
The school announced the hiring Friday. Riginos replaces Joe Hudak, who was let go after 19 seasons with the Eagles.
Riginos spent the past eight seasons working for the Tigers and coach Jack Leggett. Riginos served as associate head coach and the program's recruiting coordinator. He worked with Tiger hitters and outfielders and was part of two Clemson teams that advanced to the College World Series in 2006 and this past spring.
Winthrop athletic director Tom Hickman said he thinks Riginos will have success attracting topflight athletes to the Eagles.
This will be the first head-coaching job for Riginos. The Eagles were 27-30 overall and 13-14 in the Big South Conference this past season.
