News and Issues

Great week for Miami (Ohio): The RedHawks hoopsters won three staright, the hockey team climbed to #1 and alum Ben Roethlisberger had a Super week. . . . . . From the media capital of the world this weekend was intro’d “Play” mag by the NY Times. “Play” will be a 4x/yr supplement to the Sunday Times. The debut issue was very impressive: 124 pgs, lengthy articles by top writers, marquee advertisers, plus a massive 7000-word piece about Coach K which we shall soon summarize succinctly in Clips. . . . . . In the time it took the Beach Boys to sing “Barbara Ann,” Christian Smith set a new NCAA record in the 1000-meter run, w. a 2:19.57 in Lincoln, Neb., to break a collegiate record set in 1986 by Doug Consiglio of the University of Arkansas. . . . . . Penn State’s JoPa selected the Walter Camp Coach of the Year, voted on by 119 D1-A coaches and SIDs. Paterno also won the award in 1972 & 1994. . . . . . Happy 74th Coach Chaney, Jan. 21: UMass 60, Temple 34. A teams is unlikely to win when it scores 40 fewer points than its coach’s age. . . . . Eastern College Athletic Conf. commish (since 1998) Phil Buttafuoco has resigned to pursue new opportunities. The ECAC is the nation’s largest athletic conference w. 323 D1,2 & 3 schools, sponsors 100 championships in 37 sports and assigns more than 5100 officials in 14 sports. . . . . . Pickens 165, Lewis 101: Peter Lewis, a Princeton alumnus, will contribute $101-million to expand the school’s creative and performing-arts programs. The gift is the largest in Princeton’s history, beating the previous record by a single dollar. . . . . . Sixth NAIA Best Soccer Coach Award for Lindsey Wilson College men’s soccer coach Ray Wells. Way to go Coach. . . . . . The Winthrop Eagles are flying: Men’s basketball team has a 22-game home win streak (4th in nation), attendance up 60% v. LY, and 22-game Big South Conf. win streak (the longest conference run in the land). Winthrop’s had 5 NCAA tourny appearances in 7 yrs since coach Gregg Marshall came to Rock Hill. . . . . . D1-A FB coach changes: only nine of the 119 D1-A schools have new coaches. Unless there are more changes, that will be a record-low of 7.6% since tracking began in 1947. . . . . . . Penn became the 8th school in D1 men’s basketball history to win 1600 games. Penn has won a total of 23 Ivy championships in its history. . . . . . . Ole Miss soph goalie Ann Shelton had the best goals-against avg in D1 soccer w. 0.268. Shelton had 771 consecutive shutout minutes, and did not allow a goal in 14 straight contests. . . . . . Biggest athletics donation ever: Boone Pickens is donating $165 million to the Oklahoma St athletics dept. Ralph Engelstad gave No. Dakota $100 million in ‘98. Nike Chairman Phil Knight gave Oregon over $50 million in the 80s. . . . . . AFCA Coach of the Year winners: D1-A: Joe Paterno (Penn State); D1-AA: Jerry Moore (Appalachian State); D2: Chuck Martin (Grand Valley State); D3: Bob Berezowitz (Wisc Whitewater). . . . . . . . This week’s nomination for coolest coll. athletics name: Yngve Ramstad, U-Rhode Island Faculty Athletic Rep. . . . . . Florida Atlantic U is progressing w. plans for a $120 million, 40,000 seat domed stadium on its Boca Raton campus. . . . . . . 1st signage at UNC’s Smith Center: Wachovia Bank will have virtually the first signs hung since the arena’s 1986 opening. Cost: $9.1 mill over 8 yrs. . . . . . . NAIA Football Coach of the Year: Mike Van Diest of Carroll College (Helena MT), which won an unprecedented 4th straight NAIA nat’l championship. Van Diest is 78-16 at Carroll over seven seasons. . . . . . . New single-season D1 NCAA record: Indiana’s Cyndi Valentin made her 61st straight free throw on Jan. 12. She’s 78-of-82 (95.1%) for the season. Overall D1 record (over two seasons) is 66 by Ginny Doyle of Richmond. . . . . . . . . . . Best TV rating ever: Texas-USC Rose Bowl w. a 21.7 Nielsen rating (35.6 million viewers), best for a national championship game. The Rose Bowl had not had a rating as big since the ‘86 UCLA-Iowa game, which had a 22.7. Last year, the Texas-Michigan game was a 12.4. . . . . . Length of bowl games: Orange (3 OT)- 4:49; Fiesta- 3:45, Sugar- 3:57, Rose- 4:00. Rose Bowl by qtr: 1st- 41:05; 2nd- 58:56; Halftime- 23:01; 3rd- 41:12; 4th- 68:41. The final 6:42 of the game lasted just over 30 minutes. The last 57 seconds needed nearly 13 minutes to complete. . . . . . . Bowl booty: Some of the gifts bestowed on bowl players (per player NCAA limit was increased by $150 to $500 this yr.): MasterCard Alamo Bowl (Xbox 360), Rose Bowl (Sony PlayStation), Nokia Sugar Bowl (customized Trek mtn bikes), Holiday Bowl (iPods), Champs Sports Bowl (Sony Camcorders), Music City Bowl (portable DVD players), Las Vegas Bowl (tkts to Blue Man Group), Hawaii Bowl (Oakley sunglasses). . . . . . Best bowl records: John Robinson, USC / UNLV (8-1); Frank Kush, Arizona St. (6-1); Gene Stallings, Texas A&M / Alabama (6-1); Warren Woodson, Hardin-Simmons / NM St. (6-1); Pat Dye, E. Carolina / Auburn (7-2-1); Dick Crum, Miami (OH) / No. Carolina (6-2); Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse (6-2); Bud Wilkinson, Okla. (6-2) and Barry Alvarez, Wisconsin (7-3). . . . . . . Wisconsin contract figures announced: Barry Alvarez (now solo AD after dual role as AD / FB coach) to be paid $600,000 ($500,000 fr. UW and $100,000 fr. private funds). New FB coach Bret Bielema’s contract is $750,000 ($350,000 fr. UW). . . . . .