D1 College Football News

July 9 , 2007

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


NFF Chapter and College Football Hall of Fame Briefs

The College Football Hall of Fame's annual Celebrity Golf Scramble is set for Friday, July 20, at South Bend's Blackthorn Golf Club. Attendees will be given the chance to meet some of the enshrinees such as Emmitt Smith, Bobby Bowden, Charlie Ward and others. All proceeds support the Hall of Fame.

The College Football Hall of Fame also plans to host "Lloyd's BBQ College Football Preseason Special" to be syndicated on ESPN from Aug. 4-Sept. 3, 2007. The show will be taped on Tuesday, July 10, from 11:30 a.m.-3:00 p.m. (CDT), on the Gridiron at the College Football Hall of Fame. The hosts for this event include: Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman, Terry Bowden, and sideline reporter Sarah Kustok. Brando and Tillman also co-host College Football Today, CBS' weekly pre-game program. Tillman was an All-America running back for Oklahoma and was the captain of the 1985 national championship team.

The NFF will hold its Annual National Play It Smart Conference, an intensive three-day training session for academic coaches in the organization's highly successful youth development program, on July 26-29 in Atlanta, Ga. Play It Smart is designed to use the power of football in fostering the personal and academic development of student-athletes from underserved communities. Topics include counseling skills, building relationships, study skills, time management, drug awareness, parental involvement, data collection, college recruiting, financial aid, and the role of community service in developing student- athletes.

Over 140 academic counselors from 85 different cities around the country are expected to attend along with Steve Hatchell, President and CEO of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame; Gary P. Stokan, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and the Chick-fil-A Bowl; Chuck Fruit, Chick-fil-A Bowl Chair & Senior Advisor, Marketing, Strategy and Innovation for the Coca-Cola Company; Len Stachitas, Executive Director of Play It Smart; Dr. Beverly Hall, superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools, and Dr. Albert Petitpas, Ed.D., a leading sports psychologist in the field of athletic counseling from Springfield College.

Two-Minute Drill

An ESPN crew will follow-up with Oregon State offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf and Laurie Cavanaugh next month. In May, Langsdorf donated a kidney to Cavanaugh, who suffers from polycystic kidney disease and is the wife of Beavers offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh... Western Kentucky recently held its annual Coaches Golf Summer Tournament in Bowling Green, Ky., to gain additional funds for their move to the Football Bowl Subdivision... Former Minnesota QB and current Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy will kick off a 10-day national book tour Monday for his personal memoir "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life (written with Nathan Whitaker)... Houston has received a waiver from the NCAA to allow Oklahoma State transfer QB Al Pena to play in 2007... New York Giants DE Michael Strahan (Texas Southern) and New York law firm Dreier LLP are hosting their second annual celebrity golf tournament at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., to raise needed funds for SCAN, a child welfare group rewarding school-based performance... The Big East Conference is discussing a scheduling alliance with Army and Navy... The Manning Passing Academy opens it annual drills Wednesday in Thibodaux, La., with NFF board member and College Football Hall of Famer Archie Manning joining sons Peyton (1997 NFF Draddy Trophy recipient) and Eli (NFF Scholar-Athlete) on the Nicholls State campus... Numerous football coaches and student- athletes are expected to attend the Peaksports Mental Training Bootcamp in Orlando on July 28- 29... New Hampshire is completing the installation of FieldTurf for the 2007 season... SI OnCampus.com rated Florida Gators mascot Albert no. 1 in its mascot power rankings.

Notre Dame had 61,685 requests for its 2007 outing with Southern California. It is the second-most for a ND game following 66,670 requests for the '06 Notre Dame-Penn State contest. The Fighting Irish have changed ticket lottery policies for '07 with better chances for more fans to see home games... Iowa has passed the 46,000 mark in football season ticket sales and already has 800 new purchasers.

John Wristen has been tabbed as new head coach at Colorado State-Pueblo, which is renewing the sport in 2008 after dropping football temporarily in 1985... Grand View (Iowa) chose 31-year college coaching veteran John Woodley to guide its new program, which starts grid play in '08... Matt McGettigan has been named strength and conditioning coach for football at Air Force... Scott Gines has become the new AD at Texas A&M-Kingsville... The Big Ten Conference has named Robin Jentes director of branding and Greg Walter as associate director of compliance.

The Big Ten Network will debut on Thursday, Aug. 30 - two days before the first Big Ten Conference football games open on Sept. 1. "Big Ten Tonight," hosted by Dave Revsine, will be the network's signature news and highlight show... XM Satellite Radio, via an agreement with ESPN Regional Television, will now carry Big 12 sports. This makes XM the official satellite radio network for all six BCS conferences... Former Louisiana-Monroe All-America QB Stan Humphries is joining the school's radio network as '07 analyst... Ticketmaster has entered into an agreement to acquire Paciolan, a fundraising and marketing technology solutions company that provides ticketing for many college and professional athletic programs... Kellwood Co. has acquired California-based Royal Robbins Co. , and both have been involved worldwide in manufacturing sports apparel and specialized equipment.

This season marks the 25th anniversary of Nebraska's Dave Rimington capturing the 1982 Rotary Lombardi Award in Houston... Florida signee QB John Brantley is the Gatorade National High School Football Player of the Year and will be honored Wednesday in ceremonies at Los Angeles... Notre Dame AD Dr. Kevin White will be the commencement speaker and will receive an honorary degree at summer graduation ceremonies on July 20 for the U.S. Sports Academy in Mobile, Ala.

Fred Lynn, who played on three NCAA baseball championship teams at Southern California while also playing football for the Trojans, was one of 11 inductees for the College Baseball Hall of Fame in Lubbock, Texas, last Wednesday. Fellow inductee Phil Stephenson credited former Wichita State football- baseball standout Joe Carter with much of his success. Football-baseball All-Americas Lou Gehrig of Columbia and Christy Mathewson of Bucknell were named to the College Baseball Hall of Fame's inaugural Veterans Class of 2007.

Special Spectators, the Chicago-based nonprofit organization that creates memorable days for seriously ill children and their families at college games nationwide, has several Northwestern notables and Chicago sports figures on its program for a Thursday, July 12, gala at 5:30 p.m. (CDT) at Fulton's on the River in Chicago. For more information and tickets, please access www.Special Spectators.org.

The NCAA is re-examining discussions over learning disabilities, entrance requirements and exceptions for students with such disabilities. The NCAA also is balancing fiscal concerns with logistical challenges as it attempts to perform future testing of student-athletes for street drugs.

Eric Parks, one of the founders of the Woody Hayes Award and longtime leader in the Columbus (Ohio) Sertoma Club, died last week in Ohio... Dr. D.W. Colvard, a civil rights leader in athletics at Mississippi State and North Carolina, died in Charlotte, N.C. at 93... Former Florida and Bethune Cookman DB Avery Atkins died on July 5 in Port Orange, Fla. He was 20.