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Terrible news out of Missoula as Montana FB student-athlete Swartz died of an accidental gunshot wound on Sunday, Griz DC Gregorak, "(You) hope to never hear news like this again," incident occurred during gathering with friends when a gun Swartz was handling accidentally went off, university community gathers to mourn the loss of Swartz & another student who also passed away on Sunday - link
Colorado State set to hire Texas Tech Deputy AD Parker as their new AD, presser this morning at 10a MST, Parker had been in Lubbock for the past four years after a lengthy stint at Michigan, also spent time at Washington State & Oklahoma, inherits new FB HC Bobo & a new FB stadium project to be financed by $242m in revenue bonds, search firm DHR International told CSU Prez Frank early on that he'd have a better candidate pool if he waited until the spring to make a hire - link, link
Bradley moves quickly to fill their open AD spot as Northwestern Deputy AD Reynolds will return to his hometown of Peoria to lead the Braves, yesterday was the last day in the office for former AD Cross, Reynolds will be introduced tomorrow, spent nine years at Indiana as well as stints at Notre Dame & Michigan State, Duke AD White calls the hire, "an absolutely game-changing appointment" - link
Penn State AD Barbour announces vertical restructuring of the Nittany Lions department, creates four administrative divisions, comes with a number title upgrades for team members, increasing the ease of communication between units & sports & creating more synergy are expected outcome of the changes, "This move will enable us to better position out staff, coaches & key stakeholders as we continue to provide the very best conditions for success for our student-athletes." - link (article), link (reorg diagram)
Boston College AD Bates details the school's decision to vote against a package of autonomy at January's NCAA Convention, the lone dissenting vote among 80 delegates, "We clearly wanted people to pause. It was really more trying to put up a flag." Notes the potential compromise of values in our higher education system & the stress added expenses place on the athletic department & entire university - link
North Carolina's settlement with former academic adviser Willingham comes in at $335k, after legal fees Willingham will receive the equivalent of three years salary as she notes the time it buys her to find a new job, university spokesman White, "We believe the settlement is in the best interest of the university & allows us to move forward & fully focus on other important issues" - link
UMBC AD Hall comments on situation surrounding his Women's LAX program that has seen four student-athletes suspended for reportedly sending threatening text messages to some teammates, notes he asked co-HC Giro to stay away from the program as a precaution, calls language in the text messages, "very concerning," also, "Our student-athletes are safe. Their welfare is our highest priority" - link
Northern Illinois AD Frazier expects to have details worked out on the Huskies full cost-of-attendance coverage by June or July, "We got outside the gates on this pretty aggressively," working with financial aid office & admissions to figure out the nuts & bolts, points to student-athlete welfare as the primary focus of his department, wants to continue to be good stewards of the budget, especially in light of potential state cuts - link
Clemson MBB HC Brownell talks about declining hoops attendance numbers around the nation, points to recruiting trips as he sees a lack of student support down to the high school level, also mentions the number of games on TV to watch, College of Charleston AD Hull knows his program needs to play better to attract more support after a 8-23 campaign, South Carolina has success with family value sections, more - link
Big news from the NBA yesterday as Adidas announced it won't pursue a new apparel deal with the league once their current pact expires in 2017, Nike & Under Armour expected to hotly compete for the new license previously valued at $400m over 11 years, Adidas to re-position their hoops effort to focus on sponsoring more players & investing in the game at the youth level - link
Notre Dame & Kentucky MBB point to foreign trips prior to this season as catalysts for their successful campaigns, the Fighting Irish went to Italy in late August & the Wildcats played six games in the Bahamas in the same month, ND HC Brey on foreign tours, "Man, I'm a big believer in it," as it was a great opportunity for him to reinsert stand-out Grant into the line-up after a suspension, no less than six other NCAA Tourney teams also took trips, more - link
Bloomberg review of Louisville's MBB money-making machine as the program produced $40.6m in revenue for the 2014 fiscal year according to EADA reports, resulted in an astounding $24.2m in profit that outpaced peers by a wide margin, AD Jurich still thinks the Cardinals have only scratched the surface as a department with their move to the ACC, Kentucky's financial results also noted along with comments from AD Barnhart - link
Excellent New York Times piece on the decision of former UConn WBB star Taurasi to focus on her play in Russia & not participate in the upcoming WNBA season, talks about the cultural realities of life in the country, "Any Russian team: You win, you drink. You lose, you drink." Details her WNBA decision & not afraid to discuss the financial aspects of the deal that her agent said would be fiscally irresponsible to pass up, lots more - link
Notable Washington Post columnist Feinstein writes on how to improve the NCAA MBB Tournament selection committee, advocates for putting former HCs in the group & eliminating the number of administrators involved who may not have as intimate a level of knowledge about the game, notes the touchy subject of mid-majors trying to get regular season games against 'Big 5' opponents, usually to no avail, more - link
HCs for those who barely missed the MBB NCAA Tourney sum up thoughts from their student-athletes, Colorado State boss Eustachy, "They're devastated, & they should be, because they're certain they're an NCAA Tournament team," Murray State HC Prohm says his group is disappointed, but have always played with a chip on their shoulder, Yale HC Jones calls it "just plain unfair" that his Bulldogs were left out of the NIT - link
Miami (FL) set to host the first-ever NFL Finance Camp starting today with the aim of educating NFL players on investments & the financial world to leverage their on-field earnings, led by the Hurricanes School of Business Administration & includes presentations by TD Ameritrade, the league's VP of Player Benefits Kerney & the Miami Dolphins Director of Player Engagement Thornhill - link
Hoops HC developments: Too many to detail individually, on the MBB side Penn hires former BC & Cornell HC Donohue, departures at Northern Kentucky, George Mason & San Diego, UNLV HC Rice & Georgia Tech boss Gregory to get another year; For WBB, Georgia is on the search for a new leader as longtime HC Landers retires & Detroit isset to make a change - link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link
Fanatics SVP of Strategy & Business Development Swallow is looking for the right Director of Business Development to join him to support & grow the company's partnerships in college athletics that already includes 125 DI schools & every 'Big 5' conference, "I used to perform the duties of this position myself & it opened up several important & rewarding relationships within the collegiate space." - link
Villanova MBB HC Wright with a great quote on why he loves his spot in Philly, "I always say that the Philadelphia Eagles make this the best place to coach college basketball in the country. You can fly under the radar." Wildcats Director of Development Rigsby says the culture at VU is simply different than other places & that's what makes it special, AD Nicastro believes Wright continues to be the perfect fit for the school, more - link
With the NCAA MBB Tourney tipping tonight, the obligatory annual piece on what those participating make financially & how very few turn a profit per ESPN reporter Rovell, as noted above Louisville leads the pack, Notre Dame reported a $2m loss for the 2014 fiscal year though AD Swarbrick notes key differences with top-producing programs including the lack of corporate signage, suites & alcohol - link
Discussion on private plane usage continues at Kansas as university officials told lawmakers yesterday that the $1.5m in expenditures on planes returns more than the investment, Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs Caboni on owning the planes, "It is a powerful asset," Jayhawks AD Zenger notes the importance of access, "(MBB HC) Self has said a number of times he couldn't do without this tool" - link
Middle Tennessee AD Massaro says the cost to host a CIT game is between $35k & $36k, but the Blue Raiders had some private support step-up & pay for two-thirds of the fee as they'll host Kent State on Wednesday, unlikely that MTSU will push to play a second round game at home if they win unless a bunch of tickets are moved tomorrow - link
Meerkat integration: Liberty will use the live streaming app today at 1p to give fans a tour of the school's new Softball stadium set to open later this week, tour to be hosted by four Softball student-athletes; Nebraska live streamed their WBB squad's reaction to seeing their name appear during the NCAA Tourney selection show last night, looks like over 75 viewers joined the event; Meerkat also about to get some upgrades including search functionality & recording options - link, link, link
Akron Prez Scarborough says changing the school's name has been discussed as part of strategic planning for the future, doesn't offer any further comments other than a possible change could reflect the unique strengths of the institution, certainly wouldn't be the first university to change its name, though it would have to be approved by state lawmakers - link
