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As you know, Illinois AD Thomas dismissed FB HC Beckman yesterday based on "preliminary information external reviewers shared that does not reflect our values or our commitment to welfare of our student-athletes," specifically points to efforts to deter injury reporting & influence medical decisions (link); Beckman released a statement in which he plans to "vigorously defend both my reputation and my legal rights," (link); National perspectives of interest comes from USA Today's Wolken on the adjustment HCs need to make given the current landscape (link) & CBSSports.com's Solomon on the increasing influence of student-athlete voices (link)
Baylor Prez Starr says he will create an officer-level position in the athletic department that will report directly to him & has the "authority and oversight of all student-athlete behavior," will also select an outside counsel to handle the investigation into the Bears handling of FB transfer student-athlete Ukwuachu, "Baylor University is committed to maintaining the highest degree of campus safety to protect the welfare of all our students." - link
More on Baylor as the former Bears female student-athlete who is the victim in the Ukwuachu case has hired noted Title IX attorneys, move likely indicates a lawsuit is coming on that front, Hutchinson Black & Cook represented the Oregon student who alleged sexual assault by three Ducks MBB student-athletes that settled for $800k plus education coverage & the female involved in the Jameis Winston developments - link
Michigan AD Hackett in a Q&A, believes high-level academics & athletics by themselves would be impressive, but together at UM "there's nothing like it in the country," on creating a fan experience that out-paces that on TV, "What's so valuable to see in-person that you'd be willing to drive two hours in each direction?...What does the fan learn here...that they can't back at home?" Uses bathrooms for women at Michigan Stadium as an example of how athletic departments need to constantly review investments versus what fans really want - link
Auburn Director of the School of Communication & Journalism Adams wants to set the record straight on the Wall Street Journal article earlier in the week that indicated Athletics may have tried to unduly influence keeping the Public Administration major on the books, "The School of Communication and Journalism has never received money from AU Athletics to pay anyone to teach any class. The School pays the instructor a standard adjunct salary to teach two courses in sports video production." - link
Kansas State letters: Latest communication from AD Currie to fans includes the promotions of Garrett to Senior Assoc. AD for External Operations, Babcock to Senior Assoc. AD for Compliance & Lannou to Assoc. AD for Communications, entire K-State family on-board for Sportsmanship Campaign to continue to lay claim to the 'The Best Fan Experience in the Big 12' (link); FB HC Snyder also penned a letter, this one to campus faculty & staff, "Contrary to all the media TV exposure and money involved in college football, we truly support the concept that our institution is and should be about educating young men and women" (link)
San Francisco Chronicle's FitzGerald on how some coaches on the West Coast handle media's access to their FB practices, Stanford locks-down other than a few public sessions, HC Shaw, "It's not my obligation for everybody to see every single practice." Only the last 20 minutes of morning practices are open at Utah, Oregon & Oregon State are predominantly closed, USC relatively open, Cal HC Dykes, "The in-vogue thing is to be more private. I've never understood why...It's the university's football team, not my football team." - link
Official release on Louisville's plan to upgrade Papa John's Cardinal Stadium to the tune of $55m, capacity will increase to 65,000 in addition to 1,000 new club seats, 65 new premium loge level boxes & 10 new field level suites, funding model, "sponsorships, private donations, ticket sales, and other possible sources," AD Jurich points directly to the Cardinals move to the ACC as gaining a national stage for his brand - link
Sports biz reporter Dosh continues her good work with contributions to Forbes & SportsBusiness Journal, reviews the most expensive single-game FB tickets around the nation led by the Boston College-Notre Dame match-up at Fenway Park in November, also penned a thorough piece on understanding cost of attendance calculations with comments from a number of university-side leaders who are involved in the process - link, link
Louisiana Lafayette will pay for cost of attendance upgrades by phasing in the practice, but also by cutting program & department budget by 5-8%, gap at ULL actually went down year over year, so the total expense is closer to $750k than the original projection of $1.248m, FB HC Hudspeth says the conversation hasn't come up one time yet on the recruiting trail, anxious to see how things go - link
Low fuel prices may finally be leading to some cheaper airline fares as select routes on off-peak times are seeing heavy discounts, Chicago to Boston round-trip for $80, NYC to LA with a connection for $150 round-trip, Wednesdays, Thursdays & Saturdays have the lowest-priced options, thanks to record profits American, Delta & United are able to suppress some rates to push out the likes of Frontier & Spirit, more - link
National Coalition Against Violent Athletes Founder Redmond Brown spoke to Tennessee FB yesterday, says it takes a culture overhaul from top to bottom to really change the narrative at a school, believes the process is heavily built on empathy, starts her discussion by reviewing her own rape situation, what her family went through & how she deals with it today, "It's very much a victim perspective" - link
More on Auburn's approach to improving its FB gameday atmosphere, survey of fans led to the following improvements for this season, in addition to the massive videoboard growth: Sound system upgrade should allow fans a much better audio experience, Verizon added even more technology to upper levels of Jordan-Hare Stadium & to cell towers around campus to enhance connectivity, concessions features new items & some lower prices - link
Despite poor air quality from forest fires in the area, #StittHappens is still on today for the opening college FB game of the season as North Dakota State visits Montana, but the article does note that ADs from both schools will meet today if the rating of the situation is still "very unhealthy," earlier in the week Assoc. AD for Internal Operations Maes said it would have to be "really, really, really bad for us to shut it down" - link
Fresno State student-athletes discuss the impact of cost of attendance coverage, FB senior Bonnheim says he previously had to be really careful the last week or two of each month, but now he plans to open a savings account, WBB graduate student Furr, "You perform better when you have less stress and with more money in your pocket and not worrying about whether you're going to be able to make it through an entire month" - link
Some Ole Miss fans aren't super excited about new rules governing tailgating in The Grove, specifically how spots are reserved the day before a game, no longer can fans hang-out all day Friday to claim an area for their tent, instead the process will start all at once at 7:30p, Senior Assoc. AD for Communications & Marketing Thompson says the move was made to allow landscapers time & space to properly prepare the area - link
New rules for The Grove haven't kept Ole Miss from selling a record number of FB season tickets, total reaches 52,375, AD Bjork via Twitter, "Not much to say other than...Thank You Rebel Nation! We are Ole Miss!" Even more impressive when considering Alabama, Auburn & Mississippi State are all away games this season - link
More TV updates, important because it's arguably the biggest pot of money in our industry, Fox Sports 1 is headed into its third year & Prez/COO Shanks says the network has met or exceed its goals to date, "On a lot of metrics, we have surpasses our targets," increased live events from 664 to 779 year over year, viewership percentage growth better than any ESPN outlet, Women's World Cup, MLB & an expanded college FB lineup leading the way, more - link
Texas another to roll out plans for an improved gameday experience at Longhorns FB tilts, upgraded food options has been covered here previously, partnership with Tailgate Guys could make the pre- & post-game hang out much easier for fans who want to pay for the service & it looks like many already have, all-new Fan Fest area will debut before the Rice match-up that includes a previously announced Brad Paisley concert - link
Small update on potential Sun Belt expansion centered on Eastern Kentucky or Coastal Carolina as USA Today's Wolken writes there are enough votes from current league members to add a 12th FB-playing school, Commish Benson responds with an "I don't know," when asked if a vote will take place next week, Wolken says that move could come in the next few days, if the decision is to stand pat on FB, adding New Mexico State in all sports is another option to get to 12 hoops teams - link
UTSA AD Hickey continues to push for a full practice complex for all her programs at Park West, two miles from campus, in order to position the Roadrunners for high-level long-term success, "We're going to have to do it in phases. But, for us to compete at the highest level, and for what this program and students deserve is to build out the complex at Park West," notes upgrades to locker rooms for Baseball, Softball & FB are nice, but aren't a long-term answer - link
UMass AD Bamford covers FB scheduling as an independent, happy with how the 2016 slate worked out for the Minutemen that will see four games at Gillette Stadium, including 'Big 5' opponent Mississippi State, to go along with road match-ups at the likes of Florida, Boston College, South Carolina & Hawaii, will not use an NCAA waiver for the trip to Hawaii in order to play a 13th game, instead will take a bye week, deal with South Carolina is worth $1.5m & will include hoops - link
Wyoming FB lost 10% of its roster from last year, though it doesn't overly concern HC Bohl, "I think when you have a culture that's a 180-degree difference, you're going to have much more of an exodus of players...The change in the roster did not surprise us. That comes with the territory. We knew that." Cowboys roster for this season features 78 underclassmen vs. 34 upper - link
Two of the four finalists for Iowa's open Prez position have visited campus, Oberlin College (DIII) Prez Krislov & Tulane Provost Bernstein, with two more coming on Monday & Tuesday, Iowa City Press-Citizen reporter O'Leary reviews the challenges the new boss will face, including what he calls "Athletics Department turmoil" as he points to the saga surrounding former Field Hockey HC Griesbaum - link
