The season of scandal, highlighted by controversies at Auburn, Oregon and Ohio State, all BCS participants, has given way to summer conversations about changing the way college sports operate. Maybe that’s changing the rules. Maybe it’s changing the circumstances. Should players be paid? Or at least get more assistance from the schools that profit from their efforts? The Big 12, which has remained relatively scandal-free throughout the past year, has at least one big advocate for giving players a boost. “It definitely needs to happen,” Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said. ”Something needs to be done.” Tuberville doesn’t support an outright “pay-for-play” scenario, but says changes in college athletics and the world within which it exists, necessitate something being done. “The first priority should be the athletes, because they’re the ones that do the competing and do the hard work,” Tuberville said. “I think the money is out there. I just think it’s gotta start from the top and work down.” Teams that go to the BCS cash an extra large paycheck, a portion of which goes back to the conferences. “Each school gets a cut at the end of the year of TV money and bowl money. But then the conference gets a cut of that. Why isn’t there a cut there for the players?” he said. “Say, ‘OK go split this up in the conference, all your players.’ I’m talking NCAA basketball tournament, everything. There should be some kind of cut for the players. It’s just getting too expensive to live and it’s getting to the point where we’ve got to show the athletes that we want to take care of them, and I’m all for that.” Extended summers — for all sports — means players can’t take the time off and work part-time jobs like Tuberville did as a player at Southern Arkansas in the 1970s. “They have two full-time jobs: going to school, and athletics now in any sport is full-time,” Tuberville said. “They just don’t have enough time.” Details are difficult, but if a plan could be hatched, Tuberville would have support from his coaching brethren, Big 12 and elsewhere. “I’m for anything we can do within the rules to help our kids,” Texas coach Mack Brown said.
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The Big 12 and the pay-for-play debate
Filed under Basketball, Football by on Jul 18th, 2011. Comment. 
Are Boise State and TCU gaining respect from coaches around the country? Texas coach Mack Brown became the latest coach to say he would not have a problem with a non-AQ team making it into the national championship game if they deserved to be there at the end of the year. When asked earlier this week whether he would be OK with that scenario, Brown said this, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: “The way the [BCS] rules are, absolutely. If you don’t like it, change the rules.” Brown went on to add that he expects his team to be in the mix should it go undefeated, and believes it would finish higher than an undefeated Boise State or TCU. He is right there. But with the rules as they are currently configured, he seems to have a more inclusive approach should either or both of the non-AQ teams be the only ones to go undefeated. “I have not been a proponent of everything in the BCS,” Brown said. “I would think strength of schedule should be a bigger part of it than it is. And it’s not. And if that’s the case, then TCU and Boise have to be considered top teams. If somebody doesn’t like it, they need to go back and change the formula.” Last month, Florida coach Urban Meyer told The Sporting News, “If Boise State is the best team in America at the end of the season, you better believe I would vote them No. 1 . If they deserve to play in the BCS championship game, they should play in it.” Boise State and TCU inched up higher in the latest coaches’ poll this week, with the Broncos moving up two spots to No. 3 and TCU moving up two spots to No. 5. No non-AQ team has played for a national championship before, and it remains to be seen whether undefeated Boise State and/or TCU would be voted into the top two spots at the end of the season. That has been a big source of debate and contention in the past week, since both teams won their openers against schools from automatic qualifying conferences. It is easy for coaches to say today that Boise State and TCU would deserve a spot in the title game, but it is another thing to say it come December, with the actual championship on the line.
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Boise State, TCU gaining cred from coaches
Filed under Football, News by on Sep 9th, 2010. Comment.
He epitomizes a winner that plays by the rules on and off the field.” The news was met with wide elation from Longhorns head coach Mack Brown and the entire student body of the University of Texas at Austin . Signs outside the Texas Union were raised at… Source: Bleacher Report
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Reggie Bush Heisman Taken Away: Don’t Mess With Vince…Young, That Is
Filed under News by on Sep 7th, 2010. Comment.
It’s my conference, so those are the rules. Oklahoma will not be invited to join my conference, either. Don’t bother. Sorry. No offense, Sooner Nation, but you’re nuts. And don’t bother to petition because I can’t shake the image of that poor screaming… Source: Oregon Live
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Canzano: Time on your hands? Start a conference
Filed under News by on Jun 13th, 2010. Comment.
Editor’s note: ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham recently officiated Nebraska’s spring game. The following is his account of the experience. It’s official; I’m a football official. It feels good to say that because not many people in the world can. Do you personally know any? As a college football analyst for the past 13 seasons, I have commented and second-guessed and critically analyzed hundreds of calls. What qualifies me to do this? I have attended many refereeing seminars with a supervisor of officials going over the rule changes for the upcoming season
Filed under Football by on Apr 19th, 2010. Comment.
