D1 College Football News

June 18, 2007

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.


Mack Brown Fights Domestic Abuse

Texas head football coach Mack Brown has teamed up with State of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to deliver a message to help prevent domestic violence.

The message, which aired yesterday on Father's Day, encourages men to take a stand against domestic violence by providing nurturing homes and relationships. By adding Brown to the mix, Abbott and other advocates hope a public sports figure will reach out directly to men who may be tempted to hit their spouses or children.

Brown mentioned at a news conference that being a good husband and a good father are the two most important things in his life and that a man's true test of greatness is his integrity on and off the field.

Two-Minute Drill

Longtime Big 12 Conference Commissioner Kevin Weiberg will step down from his position in mid-July, taking a job with the new Big Ten Network as its vice president of university planning and development. The network, a joint venture of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks, will cover Big Ten athletic and academic events starting in August... Indiana assistant coach Bill Lynch will assume head coaching duties for the 2007 season as Terry Hoeppner continues his leave of absence... Navy football student- athletes signed autographs at Baltimore's Camden Yards last week and had a special information table about the '07 season... Central Michigan is offering a special $15 individual game ticket price for youth and seniors throughout 2007... Boston College has won the overall Atlantic Coast Conference Sportsmanship Award by capturing eight sports' league sportsmanship laurels, including football... Brigham Young basketball student- athlete Jordan Cameron is transferring to Southern California to compete in football. At 6-5, 220 pounds, he was a standout receiver in high school and red-shirted at BYU in 2006-07... The Outland Trophy and Bronco Nagurski Defensive Player of the Year committees have released pre-season "watch lists"... Athlon Sports has selected its "Five Most Underrated FBS Head Coaches," which includes Navy's Paul Johnson, Boise State's Chris Peterson, Western Michigan's Bill Cubit, Wisconsin's Bret Bielema, and Maryland's Ralph Friedgen... National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) is partnering with Collegiate Financial Services (CFS) to help form the College Relocation Network (CRN). The new group will assist with home mortgages, financing and family relocation... The U.S. Sports Academy Directors Cup all-around winners for 2006-07 are Stanford (Division I), Grand Valley State (Division II), Williams (Division III), and Azusa Pacific (NAIA)... This December, the FWAA and the Charlotte Touchdown Club will present the first annual Bronko Nagurski Legends Award... Former Purdue stars Drew Brees and Rosevelt Colvin will appear at the third annual NFF Honors Dinner, hosted by the Northwest Indiana Chapter. Brees also spoke at a southern Utah jail last week, encouraging inmates with personal stories of his life and career... Former Cal and Hawaii players will participate in the New Era Bowl on July 8 in Kensai, Japan... Baltimore Ravens Evan Oglesby (North Alabama) and Atiyyah Ellison (Missouri), in conjunction with the nonprofit group KaBOOM! , helped construct a playground at Collington Square School in East Baltimore... Notre Dame honor its 1977 team by wearing green uniforms when playing USC this fall... Former NC State WR Jerricho Cotchery and former Louisville S Kerry Rhodes will host two football camps for disadvantaged kids this summer... The Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III championship game, had its contract extended in Salem, Va., through the 2009 season... Michigan will open its season again Appalachian State, marking the first time the Wolverines have played an FCS (formerly I-AA) team since the division was started in 1978... Arkansas played in three SEC Championship games this year (football, basketball and baseball).

Middle Tennessee State recently made a presentation at the NCAA Regional Compliance Seminar after drastically improving its APR from a national-low two years ago to 949 for the 2005-06 period. Five lost scholarships were returned to the school for the 2007 signing class. MTSU officials explained that they made inexpensive but effective changes, including installing a point system where players earn positive points for things like staying late at study hall and receive negative points for issues such as missing class. MTSU welcomes other schools to learn more about its new academic plan.

VERSUS will televise 18 college football games nationally in 2007 with its opening doubleheader on Sept. 1 with Virginia at Wyoming and Arizona at Brigham Young. The season-ender is Dec. 1 with California at Stanford on the 25th anniversary of "The Play." In between, VERSUS will air several Big 12, Pacific-10, and Mountain West Conference games with no less than a 6-day advance telecast notification... XOS Technologies has joined with the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, Central Connecticut State and Troy for new interactive webcasting agreements. Ohio State also inked a new communications and marketing pact with XOS.

Alabama's Board of Trustees formally approved an eight-year contract for head coach Nick Saban... Chuck Shelton was named assistant athletics director for football operations at Delaware State... The Southland Conference extended the contract of its commissioner Tom Burnett.

Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily named Louisville AD Tom Jurich its 2007 Athletic Director of the Year... Indiana's Will Meyers, Michigan State's Drew Stanton, Minnesota's Matt Spaeth, Purdue's Mike Otto and Wisconsin's Joe Thomas received Big Ten Medals of Honor... The Fairfax County (Va.) Football Hall of Fame announced its 2007 inductees, which includes former Oklahoma State great Keith Burns. Coach Herman Boone, former head coach at T.C. Williams High School and memorialized the movie Remember the Titans, will also be inducted.

The Big South Conference has set its annual football media days on July 26-27 in Charlotte, N.C... Southland Conference media days will be July 24-25 in Houston, Texas.

NFF chapter members can receive $3 off the 2007 edition of the Blue Ribbon College Football Yearbook. The 2007 College Football Yearbook is available by calling toll-free 866-805- BALL. NFF Members can provide their membership number and the "NFF07" as the code to receive the discount. To become a member of the National Football Foundation, please go www.footballfoundation.com.

Former Tennessee standout Mike Emory, 71, died on June 13 in Knoxville... Jim Norton, who was scheduled to be inducted into the University of Idaho Hall of Fame later this summer, died last Tuesday. He was 68.