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Missouri: Former Deputy Chancellor on the Columbia campus Middleton will serve as Interim Prez for the System, Middleton was a longtime administrative leader & is no foreigner to social conflict as he founded the Legion of Black Collegians & delivered the first list of demands to a Mizzou Chancellor in 1969, says of the current situation, "It is clear to me that a first step is to devote our attention to addressing those demands," later emphasizes the word "addressing" as opposed to "meeting" the demands of Concerned Student 1950, more key comments from Middleton; Also, Interim Chancellor Foley will take the reigns in Columbia immediately, not on January 1st as was previously planned, more - link (article), link (Twitter list to other developments), link (More: Inside Higher Ed piece on where Mizzou goes next)
CBSSports.com's Solomon with his weekly 'Inside College Sports' segment that leads with some interesting insight from ADs on how the Missouri situation could impact others, one unnamed AD, "This could happen at other schools. If you're not proactive, it could hit you in a hurry." Big 12 Commish Bowlsby says the events show the power of student-athletes & group activism, also, "I think the thing we all need to do is communicate and understand what others are thinking and saying, and why they're thinking and saying that. That's a two-way street. I think it's best accommodated by high-level and frequent conversation." - link
In its continued bid to ensure the viability of Olympic sports, the USOC is hiring a new role of Director of Collegiate Partnerships by early 2016, Chief of Sport Performance Ashley detailed the move with USA Today's Berkowitz, "Part of it is to say ‘OK, let’s actually get somebody on board who’s thinking about this 24/7’ … so that by the end of the year you can say, ‘Yeah, we took action against these things and we had some outcomes that help us to continue to find solutions.’" At the 2012 London Olympics, 62% of U.S. athletes participated in college athletics, AVCA Executive Director DeBoer & other notables comment on the leadership addition - link
NCAA MBB Selection Committee will move its operations on selection week from Indy to New York City in an effort to more easily engage with key media outlets, Oklahoma AD & Committee Chair Castiglione, "Our motivation behind this change is simple. We want even more focus on selection week...We think this is an exciting, yet practical, initiative to do something different without jeopardizing the intent of the meeting." Also, from recent meetings from Phoenix, there's still little support for any in-seasons rankings, a la the College FB Playoff - link
Developments on the academic saga at North Carolina lead to the dismissal of two, Assoc. Director of the Academic Support Program for Student-Athletes Blanton & Admin. Asst. Gore from the Department of African, African American & Diaspora Studies, Assoc. AD for FB Holliday cleared of any wrongdoing, as was former Director of FB Student-Athlete Development Williams, plus one other university staffer, another Professor & former Assoc. Dean was sanctioned, but not terminated - link
NCAA Committee on Infractions set to review the Louisiana Lafayette case today in Indy, former FB AC Saunders has been implicated in the situation, but says he was "prevented from responding more fully" to the governing body because, "he lacks the financial resources to do so," per a lawyer, AD Farmer & FB HC Hudspeth will both be in attendance, COI is expected to take at least 60 days to decide if additional penalties are necessary beyond the self-imposed measures of scholarship reductions & vacating the 2011 season - link
Another NCAA investigation update as alleged madam Powell will meet with the association next week to discuss her claims around the Louisville MBB program that have been widely reported, Powell's attorney says she will turn over a number of documents to the NCAA, including her journal that detailed supposed interactions with student-athletes & recruits as brokered by former DOBO McGee, the Commonwealth of Kentucky is continuing to push its criminal investigation of Powell's activities, as well - link
Florida State makes some changes to Seminole Boosters giving levels in preparation for the 2016 FB season, increases levels by 8% across the board, as well as some changes to minimum thresholds depending on the seating location, the latter of those two will impact 47% of season ticket holders, only two other times, in 2001 & 2006, has FSU bumped everything up, motivation is to provide more funding to keep athletics competitive in the current landscape & simplify the giving process, more - link
Michigan State receives a $1m gift from the Deary family that will set up an endowment & go toward the scheduled improvements for the Breslin Center, twentieth commitment of $1m or higher since July of 2011 as part of the 'Empower Extraordinary' campaign, Dearys founded Great Lakes Caring back in 1994 that is now one of the nation's largest provider of hospice & home health care - link
More on Colorado AD George & the open Illinois AD spot, "I call Boulder home. That's where we're at now. My wife and family really love it here. We've been here once before. My family is still in southern Illinois right outside of St. Louis. We consider that home as well." Says he's had zero contact with anyone connected to the opportunity in Champaign, article also notes the Buffs have now raised $85m in a push to get to $105m - link
Listen: Former Stony Brook AD Fiore commented on details around his departure from the university back in 2013 for the first time, lengthy interview on the Tao of Sports podcast has a number of interesting nuggets, notes he was paid $900k as severance, which would presumably indicate he did nothing wrong, says being an AD in the current environment is, "visible, vulnerable & volatile," speaks to the key importance of a solid Presidential relationship, has moved on & is involved in a number of new biz endeavors, "Be defined by your purpose, not your goals." - link
Why China? Scale. Wednesday was 'Singles Day' in China, which is somewhat comparable to Black Friday here in the States, only way, way, way bigger. Alibaba did $14.3b in sales in 24 hours, as a point of reference Amazon did $89.9b in all of 2014, 310m packages to be delivered as a result of purchases, Kevin Spacey in character as Frank Underwood (House of Cards) & Daniel Craig were a couple of the notable names who celebrated the boom in a nationally televised event - link
FCS leaders discuss how COA is impacting their competitive cohort, Montana's Haslam is one AD not currently offering the upgrade, "Recruiting is not a level playing field anyway. Cost of attendance just becomes one more tool to use." MVC FB Commish Viverito believes a number of departments are waiting to see how the topic shakes out before making a commitment, Monmouth AD McNeil thinks student-athletes should take out a loan to take care of additional expenses, "like every other student in America," wonder where recruiting wars will end - link
RPI AD McElroy comments on the state of college athletics, as well as some thoughts on college hockey, "I think college sports is headed where the marketplace wants it to go. And that is those who generate the greatest resources and have the greatest level of investment get the greatest amount of attention. And that’s the American way. It’s called capitalism." Wants to make sure the athletic-academic balance is monitored closely, compares his Men's program to Union's recent National Championship - link
A sampling of emails sent to Nebraska Chancellor Perlman after the Huskers FB loss to Purdue a couple of weeks back includes comedy, vitriol & even one Iowa fan with some sharp thoughts, Perlman responded to a number with understanding, but also push-back on the analysis by some, "...honestly, I think your analysis is just not accurate." Also, questioned one fan who believes AD Eichorst is just waiting to go back to Wisconsin, a notion Perlman doesn't subscribe to, "...do you really think he would improve his chances of doing so if he didn't improve our football program?" - link
Ticket sales & attendance a mixed bag so far this year at UNLV, over 20k more FB tix have been moved than the same point last season, some students speak to the need for more incentives to attend match-ups, off-campus location of Sam Boyd Stadium also noted, Senior Asst. AD for Communications Wallington discusses the push to enhance FB revenues to one day match MBB & supply more cash for the overall department - link
Wisconsin AD Alvarez promotes Morris to Assoc. AD for Business Operations & to his senior staff, Morris joined the Badgers in 2010 & replaces retiring admin Marnocha who will exit next summer, Morris was a member of Alabama's 1992 FB National Championship squad, earned a JD in Madison back in 2006 & is current working on his Ph.D. in educational leadership & policy - link
We can all agree this will never happen, but a number of journalists around the nation debated the benefits of adding a Las Vegas oddsmaker to the College FB Playoff Committee, analyst Fuhrman says one key thing is missed in the Committee's make-up, "youth," CBSSports.com's Solomon & ESPN's McMurphy chime-in, oddsmaker Cooley, "Inclusion of an oddsmaker would add to the process a nonpartisan college football expert devoid of affiliations or external agendas. An oddsmaker could provide the committee a ranking that is more objectively quantified," more - link
A number of the most influential private money players in sports think virtual reality will be a massive win down the road as NextVR raised a $30m Series A earlier in the week, cash comes from the likes of Comcast Ventures, Time Warner Investments, RSE Ventures (portfolio entity of Miami Dolphins owner & mega Michigan donor Ross), Peter Gruber (Golden State Warriors & LA Dodgers co-owner) & The Madison Square Garden Company - link
Temple's FB success continues to be in the spotlight, a new on-campus stadium & retaining HC Rhule are major topics, AD Kraft, "There is no surprise in what's happening. Absolutely we can maintain this success. Matt's done a great job of building a culture of success." Kraft obviously adds he's committed to keeping Rhule in Philly, working with university leaders on the feasibility of a new FB home, "...we're on a fact-finding mission" - link
Miami Sun Sentinel piece on who may be helping Miami AD James make a decision on the Hurricanes FB HC opening, Prez Frenk has said he'll take a backseat & only wants to meet the finalist(s), Board of Trustee members & major donors DiMare & Miller are believed to be involved in the process, DiMare recently gave UM $12.5m, Miller has reportedly given the school more than $221m with a significant amount going to the university's medical school, both are also highly active in athletics - link
Notes from Clemson: MBB HC Brownell says he now has a better appreciation for fans who live in Greenville & regularly attend games on campus as his squad now makes the hour-ish trip from one to the other for every game with the major renovation project occurring in Littlejohn Coliseum this season, at the same time Brownell & Asst. AD for Marketing & Game Management Money are excited about recruiting Greenville-area fans to games this season who don't normally attend MBB tips (link); The Nerve Center also covered usage of a state plane for university leaders thus far in 2015, including AD Radakovich, Prez Clements, FB HC Swinney & others (link)
East Tennessee State AD Sander discusses a new strategic plan for his department, includes a number of $4.091m for athletic scholarships in 2015-16 that is a $250k increase from the current campaign, stems partially from a 6.1% bump in tuition costs, includes a SWOT analysis with interest in FB & declining enrollment in opposite camps, "If you look at any other athletic program or organization, what they do is allocate resources based on return on investment and objective, which is pretty much what we did," more - link
South Alabama AD Erdmann says his team has selected three consulting firms to work through the financial, logistical & infrastructure challenges of a new on-campus FB stadium, Populous, CDFL Architects & Engineers, as well as Hunden Strategic Partners will all play a role, Populous & CDFL to handle concept, design, engineering, pricing, possible locations & more, Hunden on revenue-generation, community impact & local marketplace dynamics - link
Terrific idea: Colorado State executed its first 'Declare Your Major Day' to celebrate the key step of student-athletes deciding where they want to focus their academic pursuits, around 100 student-athletes took part in the dinner & signing ceremony last Sunday, push came from Senior Assoc. AD for Diversity & Inclusion Bimper who called the event a, "huge success," release includes a video recap with comments from a number of student-athletes on what the day meant for them - link
