|
D1 College Football News
May 8 , 2006
Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.
MONDAY’S CHALKTALK
Changes Made to Rules, Deferred on I-AA designation
The NCAA Football Rules Committee passed measures to lower the kicking tee
from two inches to one and start the clock when the ball is spotted on
change of possessions. The changes are among the rule modifications made by
the committee recently to help speed up games next season, particularly at
the I-A level. The committee also enacted a rule that will start the clock
when the ball is kicked off rather than when it is received. Conference
commissioners also sent recommendations to the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight
Panel that would cut halftime to 15 minutes and allow coaches to challenge
calls made by officials, a slight variation to the replay system already in
place. Meanwhile, the NCAA Board of Directors postponed the long-discussed
name change to the Division I-AA designation to an undetermined later date.
Orange Bowl Tabs Eric Poms as their new Executive Director
The Orange Bowl Committee named Eric Poms, the committee’s C.O.O. over the
last 13 years, as the Bowl’s new Chief Executive Officer on Tuesday. Poms
takes over for Keith Tribble, who left last week to become the new athletics
director at the University of Central Florida. In his new role, Poms will
oversee the events surrounding the Orange Bowl Festival leading up to the
FedEx Orange Bowl, one of the five designated Bowl Championship Series bowl
games every year. The Committee surrounds the bowl game with the Basketball
Classic, Beach Bash, Youth Football Championships and other events geared
toward building momentum toward the game. Poms takes over the 72-year-old
event as a new “double-hosting” format will allow the Orange Bowl to host
two BCS games, the other being the BCS National Championship Game, in 2009.
Poms becomes the fifth leader in the Orange Bowl's history, joining a list
that includes current NFF President Steve Hatchell and Central Florida
Athletics Director Keith Tribble.
Busy Off-season Continues for National Champion Longhorns
The whirlwind off-season continued the last couple of weeks with a variety
of events for the Rose Bowl champion Texas Longhorns. Head Coach Mack Brown
played a round of golf with Masters’ champion Phil Mickelson in Cabo San
Lucas, Mexico. Rose Bowl MVP Vince Young donated his Tennessee Titans
draft-day jersey to a 12-year-old boy with Hodgkin’s Disease. On Monday,
the Texas State Legislature recognized the Longhorns’ 2005 national
championship with honorary resolutions congratulating the team. On hand to
receive the acknowledgements were Head Coach Mack Brown, Athletics Director
DeLoss Dodds, University President William Powers, University Vice President
Patricia Ohlendorf, Associate AD Cleve Bryant and wide receiver Limas Sweed.
All this as the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners extended their agreement
to play their annual Red River rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas
through 2010.
Two-Minute Drill
Among the Aggies suiting up for Dennis Franchione this year at Texas A&M
will be junior college transfer Mark Dodge, who was stationed at the
Pentagon on September 11, 2001, during his four-year stint in the Army...
Andia Winslow, the cousin of former Missouri tight end and 2002 College
Football Hall of Famer inductee Kellen Winslow Sr., became the first African
American player to participate in an LPGA event in five years when she
missed the cut at the Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open on April 27-28... Tyrone
Prothro’s remarkable catch against Southern Miss last season earned Alabama
a $100,000 donation to the school’s general scholarship fund at halftime of
their spring football game for recognition as the national Pontiac
Game-Changing performance of the year... Cody Hawkins will compete for the
starting quarterback position at Colorado, where his dad Dan begins his
first season as head coach...
“We Are…Marshall” director McG donated $20,000 to Marshall University after
converting four consecutive field goals during halftime of the school’s
spring game... Chowan University in North Carolina changed its nickname from
the Braves to the Hawks... Construction on Alabama’s Bryant-Denny Stadium,
scheduled for completion in July, will make the stadium the fifth-largest
on-campus seating capacity in the nation, behind only Michigan, Penn State,
Tennessee and Ohio State... Former Tennessee quarterback Heath Shuler earned
the nod in the Democratic primary on Tuesday to oppose incumbent Charles
Taylor in the North Carolina 11th District congressional race this Fall...
Oklahoma State Director of Football Operations Jimmy Gonzales and his wife
Mary created the Mya Gonzales Foundation to benefit children with special
needs... Former New Mexico head coach Bill Weeks died at the age of 76...
Idaho Head Coach Dennis Erickson and Athletics Director Rob Spear both spoke
at the second annual “Coaches Cruise” last Saturday to benefit the Vandal
Scholarship Fund... Katharyn Richt, wife of Georgia head coach Mark Richt,
is expected to make a full recovery following surgery to treat her cervical
cancer... Baylor will showcase the spread offense this year, familiar to
head coach Guy Morriss from his days at Kentucky...
2006 Draddy Trophy finalist Tyler Emmert from Carroll College (Mont.) won
the 2006 Montana AAU Male Little Sullivan Award last weekend… Youngstown
State’s Jon Heacock took home the Lee Tressel Ohio College Coach of the Year
Award presented by the National Football Foundation’s Northeastern Ohio
Chapter. Also at the banquet, Bernie Kosar, the former Miami (Fla.) and
Cleveland Browns quarterback, extended his yearly $20,000 donation to fund
the chapter’s scholarship awards... Florida State’s David Castillo, a 2006
Draddy Trophy finalist, received the Overall Male Scholar-Athlete of the
Year award and an Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar Award from the April edition of
“Black Issues in Higher Education”... The Field Scovell Scholarship
Foundation named its 2006 recipients of $2,000 college grants that honor the
memory of Field Scovell, the longtime Cotton Bowl team selection chairman...
Florida Citrus Sports announced it will host the Champs Sports Bowl on
December 29, just three days before it hosts the Capital One Bowl. Three
other regions (San Diego, New Orleans and Phoenix/Glendale/Tempe) will host
more than one bowl game this year... The newly created New Mexico and
Birmingham Bowls will be owned and operated by ESPN Regional Television, as
announced on Thursday… Bowling Green and Wisconsin will play the first-ever
Division I-A college football game in Cleveland Browns Stadium on September
2... Former Pitt and Penn State greats will join together in the Pitt vs.
Penn State gold challenge on June 6 in Blairsville, Pa., to benefit the
Second Mile charity and the National Youth Sports Program... 2005 College
Football Hall of Fame inductee Mark May’s new book, “Tales from the
Washington Redskins”, details his experiences as part of the Redskins three
Super Bowl championship teams...
Former guard Fritz Heisler leads the newest class of inductees into the
Miami (OH) University sports Hall of Fame... Steve Smear, a standout on Penn
State’s undefeated teams in 1968 and 1969, was inducted in the Pennsylvania
Sports Hall of Fame’s Western Chapter on Saturday... Maryland Athletics
Director Deborah Yow and former football co-captain Howie Dare are among six
2006 inductees into the University of Maryland Athletics Hall of Fame... The
Black Coaches Association will honor Orange Bowl Committee President Albert
Dotson and new Central Florida AD Keith Tribble with its 2006 Images of
Excellence Award...
Longtime sports journalist Malcolm Moran was recently appointed as the
inaugural Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society at Penn State... Joe
Dan Rogers was named the executive director of the Hula Bowl... Pam
Gerig-Bland, the executive director of the Palm Beach County (Fla.) Sports
Commission, home of the Lou Groza Award, announced her retirement effective
in August... Tennessee hired Jason McVeigh as its new head athletic
trainer... Oregon State hired Jeff Macy to be its new strength and
conditioning coach... Arkansas tabbed Louis Campbell as the team’s new
secondary coach... South Carolina named Fred Chatham the new tight ends and
special teams coach... Allen Eggert announced his retirement after 38
seasons as the head trainer at Rice... Mike Shula, head coach at Alabama,
received a new six-year deal on Wednesday.
On This Date:
May 14 & 15, 1874: Harvard and McGill squared off on consecutive days in
Cambridge in games that began to incorporate rules from both rugby and
soccer, including catching the ball and running with it, kicking field
goals, downs and tackling. Harvard won 3-0 on day one, but played to a
scoreless tie on day two.
Schedule Spotlight: The Big East
Team – Date – First Opponent (Home/Away)
Cincinnati – September 2 – Eastern Kentucky (H)
Connecticut – August 31 – Rhode Island (H)
Louisville – September 2 – Kentucky (H)
Pittsburgh – September 2 – Virginia (H)
Rutgers – September 2 – North Carolina (A)
South Florida – September 2 – McNeese State (H)
Syracuse – September 2 – Wake Forest (A)
West Virginia – September 2 – Marshall (H)
|
