WKU President Gary Ransdell supports the proposal that it is in WKU’s best interests, including an opportunity to raise its national profile and to bring football in line with 18 other WKU sports which already compete in the Sun Belt. Ransdell stated that the athletic program was not in federal Title IX compliance in which…
Jeanette Ward, coach of the the Edmonds Community College women’s soccer team told the paper of her tireless efforts to improve her roster from six to 14, but that just five players have soccer experience. “I don’t know if it’s just a gender thing,” Ward said. “But there’s got to be (a reason) because it’s…
Fifteen years after the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics initial report (click on “reports” above for a copy), the Kansas City Star took a look at the state of presidential control of intercollegiate athletics. The results, according to reporter Blair Kerkhoff, are mixed.
How does the academic support athletes receive differ from that available to the general student body? That is a question recently asked in a recent article by the New York Times (link here, subscription required). The article notes that many of the nation’s top athletic programs have recently invested significant funds in their athletic-academic programs.…
Most, if not all, colleges admit athletes who either a) have lesser academic credentials than other students or b) would not have been admitted had it not been for their athletic abilities. Recent articles compared this practice for athletes to other specially talented students, with controversial conclusions. The San Diego Union-Tribune (link here) reported that…
Last week, a hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee discussed numerous financial issues in higher education, including tax write-offs for donations related to certain college sports. As reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education (link here, subscription required), the panel’s bipartisan leaders may call on the Internal Revenue Service to crack down on donor…
As the NCAA debates skyrocketing costs of college athletics programs at its annual convention this week, the public is left to ponder: how much is too much? Two recent headliners demonstrate the issue: the recent $32 million contract from the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa to Nick Saban to coach its football team; and, the approved $40…
An article in the USA Today reported that gamblers are now being offered the opportunity to bet on Final Four game performances of individual players such as Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Derrick Rose and Joey Dorsey of the University of Memphis, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers…
The Indianapolis Star published an article on September 16 which highlights a discussion at the Knight Commission’s June meeting about the purpose and outcomes of self-monitoring practices by NCAA institutions. With a September 17 deadline for Indiana University to respond to NCAA charges of its “failure to monitor” its men’s basketball program, reporter Mike Alesia…
Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics co-chairs William E. Kirwan and R. Gerald Turner authored an opinion piece, below, published in the Los Angeles Times on August 30, 2008. This weekend, Terrapins, Trojans, Mustangs and more take to the gridiron, kicking off the college football season. This week also marks the start of a new era…