D1.ticker - News from Saturday, December 17, 2016

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By now you know Minnesota's FB student-athletes backed away from their boycott of the Holiday Bowl & will continue preparations for the post-season affair with Washington State two days after Christmas in San Diego. The Star Tribune's Christensen: "The reversal came about early Saturday, several sources told the Star Tribune, because the details of the 80-page sexual assault investigation report — revealed to most players late Friday — “changed the narrative” of the situation. [...] Facing heavy national criticism, the Gophers players knew they were losing negotiating leverage. [...] one of the 10 suspended players spoke up in a meeting. According to one source, the suspended player said, 'We appreciate all of you for standing up for us, and we still feel like we’ve been wronged [by the university]. But we don’t want 102 [players] to take the fall for us five.'" Senior student-athlete Wolitarsky, who has served as the team's spokesman, "Let me first state so there is no misperception: sexual harassment and violence against women have no place on this campus, on our team, in our society and at no time is it ever condoned. There is only one acceptable way to treat all women and all men, and that is with the utmost respect at all times." Prez Kaler: "Coaches are in a challenging position. They need to support their players. At the same time, they need to be responsible for their actions, and there are times in which those two demands put coaches in very difficult positions. We’ll talk about that with them and try to improve both their understanding and our understanding." AD Coyle: "This is an educational moment. The great thing about college campuses is you can have different opinions and can express those opinions. But you have to be respectful during that process. This was a learning experience for all of us." (link); The Star Tribune's Fuller adds to the narrative with comments from key Gophers supporters. Former student-athlete Dickson, who was on the 1960 FB National Championship team, "Just because they’re going to the bowl game doesn’t mean the problem goes away. We keep damaging ourselves. We will never be a national contender. We will never live up to the Minnesota I know if we don’t start doing things to build better structural leadership." (link); Over 200 protestors pushed outside TCF Bank Stadium yesterday in support of the woman at the center of the developments, "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Rape Culture has got to go!" (link)

Louisville & Virginia Tech received $25K fines from the ACC for accepting information from former Wake Forest FB AC & radioman Elrod. Commish Swofford: "I am deeply disturbed something like this would occur, and regardless of the degree of involvement, the protection of the competitive integrity of our games is fundamental to any athletic contest. Sportsmanship and ethical values are at the core of competitive integrity and in these instances, those were missing." $25K is the largest ACC bylaws allow the conference to levy on member institutions without the approval of CEOs. (link); From ESPN's McMuphy: "Army officer will conduct an investigation into allegations Tommy Elrod provided Army inappropriate info before Wake games." (link)

Brenda Tracy emailed Oklahoma AD Castiglione & FB HC Stoops after viewing the Mixon video with the main question of, "If Joe Mixon punched a woman today, would he be kicked off the team?" In a Huffington Post entry, Tracy went deeper & pointed to her relationship with Stoops, "Lets be honest, your program looks really terrible right now - and justifiably so. As a public voice on the issue of violence against women I have been inundated with interview requests and questions. Do I regret my involvement with the football program? Were Coach Stoops and the Athletic Department using me to push their own agenda? Do you think you are making a difference? and then of course there are the vicious Baylor fans who are calling me a hypocrite and so on and so forth. […] You have the opportunity to be the change college football so desperately needs. I want to continue to partner with you, but I think at this point that includes some action. This has moved beyond an apology and a promise to do better at a press conference. It's time for Oklahoma to show and prove." More. (link)

New Liberty AD McCaw comments at length on the direction he wants to lead the Flames, "I think what people will find as they get to know me and see how I operate is I’ll earn their trust as we move forward." Says the profile of athletics is already solid given the work of Prez Falwell Jr. & former AD Barber, but the facilities portfolio still needs work to become FCS-quality & Title IX, as well as sexual assault issues, will be a focus. Baylor WBB HC Mulkey: "He’s going to make sure his coaches are successful. When his coaches are successful, he’s successful." BU Deputy AD Patulski: "He’s going to be well-liked at Liberty. It’s not going to take long for Liberty to realize they have an incredible person and incredible leader they just hired." (link)

Oregon will reportedly pay new FB DC Leavitt over $1M annually & Colorado AD George provides perspective on that type of commitment, "I wasn't going to touch that money. I want people that want to be in Colorado and we want to pay them fairly, no question about that; but we don't want to overpay and overreact because somebody is throwing a ton of money at him." Leavitt was making $512K with the Buffs & had been offered a raise prior to departing for Eugene. (link)

Since 1997, Dartmouth has spent roughly $120M in facility upgrades, but a new $20M indoor practice facility will need more time for negotiations with neighbors in Hanover after the local planning board voted down plans for the new digs last week. AD Sheehy: "We’re still digesting the decision and have to re-evaluate and figure out what our options are. We were surprised but it wasn’t totally unexpected." This long Valley News piece covers the history of facility enhancements over the years for the Big Green & notes the importance of an indoor home for a number of programs, plus the advantage within the Ivy League if such a venue came online as only Princeton & Harvard have similar overall benefits. More. (link)

As things boiled in the Twin Cities, plans were being made in DeKalb for Northern Illinois FB to serve as the replacement for Minnesota in the Holiday Bowl. After AD Frazier & HC Carey huddled on Thursday night, all student-athletes, though dispersed after the season had ended, were on board with playing. Logistics weren't a considerable challenge given a veteran staff familiar with post-season processes & having played in San Diego bowl games in two of the last three years, plus plans the Golden Gophers had already made that could have been assumed. Frazier also pointed to a Compliance staff that had started working on eligibility framework given Fall grades, "It would have been great exposure for the Holiday Bowl and NIU." (link)

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Stanford captured the Women's Volleyball National Championship last night in Columbus with a 3-1 victory over Texas. Cardinal HC Dunning, who has the most pleasant sideline demeanor I've ever seen, had gone 12 years between titles & now has five total on his resume. espnW's Voepel wonders if the side from Palo Alto is entering "dynasty mode" with a litter full of contributing student-athletes set to return next season. Dunning: "It's going to be a little easier than this year. Because when we started, we had zero players in the same position as last year. I don't know what next year will bring, but I guess everybody should look at us and [say] we have some good players returning." (link)

We're not yet to the New Year & Washington AD Cohen has already been asked about the future of MBB HC Romar after a 4-5 start, "I’m not going to talk about hypotheticals. I’m not going to speak to something that may or may not happen. Our focus is on the here and the now, and helping this program get better and improve and be where we want it to be. […] They have talent on this team, so it’s a question of these kids kind of jelling together, as far as what I see when I watch them play. They have different people in different positions, a lot of new faces in those roles. It’s not an excuse at all. They need to click, and they need to come together. And I see enough talent for them to be able to do that." Romar's Huskies haven't appeared in the NCAA Tournament since the 2010-11 season. (link)

Behind the scenes on how Louisville FB student-athlete Jackson prepared for this Heisman speech last weekend from WDRB's Crawford. Asst. SID Gasparro "didn’t try to put a bunch of words into Jackson’s mouth. What he did want to do is make sure Jackson thanked the people he wanted to thank, and said the things he wanted to say." Gasparro: "It’s a big moment. I think he was surprised at the emotion of it." Jackson danced around his script once he got to the podium & Crawford aptly notes, "Jackson is not an orator. He won the night by being himself." More. (link)

HC Moves: Stetson AD Altier pegs Maine Baseball HC Trimper to replace legendary Hatters boss Dunn, "He has been successful on the field at both Maine and Manhattan, but he has also had a tremendous impact in other areas." (link); Black Bears AD Creech turns to AHC Derba to lead the program in Orono this season & then will conduct a full search once the '17 slate is complete. (link); Former interim Houston FB HC Orlando is headed to Texas as DC & will become the first Longhorns AC to make $1M or more annually. (link); Middle Tennessee State interim Volleyball HC Huebner & UAB AC Reed are in the final four candidates for the HC job at Northern Michigan (DII). (link)

Since 2012, the Hy-Vee Classic has annually brought together Iowa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa & Drake for some friendly MBB competition in Des Moines & the Hawkeyes won handily over the Panthers yesterday. AD Barta: "I think it’s either lived up to or exceeded everything we thought about when we came up with the idea. I think the greater Des Moines area likes it. They’ve been a sellout, or close to a sellout, the last several." Former high-profile student-athletes comment on no longer playing all the rivalry games on campus, including when 25K+ would pack into the UNI Dome. (link)

The 'Total Audience Measurement' framework Nielsen is pushing to bring to the TV ratings market, which would include counting audience viewership across all linear & digital outlets, is under attack from some ad executives. NBCUniversal's Yaccarino says the Nielsen solution, "...fails to deliver on this objective. […] Bad, inaccurate and misleading data is far worse than no data at all." At the center of the controversy is lines of code that networks need to place in programming tailored for every broadcast medium. Nielsen indicates it's undeterred, still plans a roll-out in 2017. (link)

The former Title IX staffer at Florida, Chris Loschiavo, who was originally assigned to the case involving FB student-athlete Calloway had "both a conflict of interest and a lack of independence." As you'll recall, Calloway's situation got reassigned to a lawyer who was FB booster, which raised some eye brows & eventually saw the standout Gators wide receiver be found "not responsible" in the situation. The conflict of interest stems from Loschiavo’s relationship with NCHERM, a firm that specializes in consulting with universities on how to avoid Title IX lawsuits, but the "lack of independence" is less clear as that section of the recently release report is heavily redacted. (link)

Air Force & IMG College will continue their multimedia rights & licensing agreements all the way out to 2026. The new pact comes with a new 50' videoboard in Falcon Stadium & tacks on seven years to the previous deal. AFA has leveraged IMGC's entertainment ties to get Brad Paisley, Tim McGaw & Train in Falcon Stadium with Blake Shelton, plus Big & Rich, setup for next season. The licensing program has increased by 253% since the two started working together. (link)

Profile on Columbus State (DII) AD Reeser that finds its way to this space as Reeser says he used to have a "Division I ego" prior to taking over the Cougars two-plus years ago after stops at Georgia State, UCF, Illinois State & Drake. "When this was brought to my attention, I got to admit at first I was like, ‘I was at the second largest school in the country (UCF), now I’m at an urban campus. I wasn’t sure how a D-II program fit.' I was encouraged to take a look at it. When I did, I was like, 'Wow. On facilities alone, wow!' Then you start digging deeper and you find out they’ve had a great deal of success competitively. Then I went downtown, or Uptown, and thought, 'This is amazing. I had no idea.'" Also, on one key corollary between DI & DII, "Winning is winning." More. (link)

Mississippi State's Davis Wade Stadium got spray painted with "Hoddy Toddy," "#FailState," & "Go Rebs," at some point on Friday night or early Saturday morning. No comment yet from new Bulldogs boss Cohen or university spokesman Salter on the incident. Ole Miss AD Bjork: "Hope they catch whoever did this. Unacceptable for sure." (link)

One attribute that makes Seattle Seahawks HC & former USC boss Carroll so successful: consistency. Defensive standout & former Purdue student-athlete Avril: "After a win or a loss, you’re going to get the same guy on Monday. Most coaches aren’t like that. If you lose, the next week sometimes coaches decide they want to coach even harder. Same coach. And THAT’S impressive. Now, I don’t know what they’re saying in the meeting rooms, but to come down every week and be the same person every week is pretty impressive." (link)

Also Noticed: Have you seen the behind-the-defender's-back catch from last night that launched Youngstown State & former Nebraska HC Pelini into the FCS National Championship game? (link); New FAU FB HC Kiffin says he'll donate to the university for every season ticket purchase, plus send a signed photo of himself to every account. (link); Funny video from Eastern Illinois MBB HC Spoonhour on the Panthers' 12-hour journey from Charleston to Columbia (normally takes four) that included a lot of sitting & lots of tacos prior to finally arriving & getting a win over the Tigers yesterday. (link); Washington U.'s (DIII) Men's Soccer team is the latest program to be suspended for inappropriate remarks & behavior toward females. Wash U. is led by former North Carolina Chancellor Thorp & was home to current Illinois AD Whitman for two years prior to his arrival in Champaign. (link); Check out the video technology Indiana's hoops programs now have at their finger tips, I assume thanks to Dallas Mavericks owner Cuban's tech upgrades to Assembly Hall. (link); Amazon delivered its first package of the fully-automated drone variety last week in England. Here's the video. (link); The new Star Wars spinoff "Rogue One" did $71.1M at the box office on Thursday & Friday, with aims of $150M through the weekend, which would make it one of the Top 15 openings of all time. (link)

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(Posted from most recent over the last 30 days)

Assistant/Associate Director of Development, Intercollegiate Athletics (The Pennsylvania State University / State College, PA): Assistant/Associate Director of Development needed to join the Nittany Lion Club external fundraising unit supporting Penn State Intercollegiate Athletics, a member of the Big Ten Conference. More details HERE.

Head Coach - Women's Soccer (University of Massachusetts Lowell / Lowell, MA): This position responsible for leading, developing and managing a competitive Division I program. To learn more and apply, please visit: jobs.uml.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=55269. EOE. More details HERE.

Associate Athletic Director, Facilities and Capital Projects (UCLA, Department of Intercollegiate Athletics / Los Angeles, CA): This Senior Staff position will lead and oversee all aspects of current and future athletic facilities, Capital Projects, and venue scheduling related to the Department of Athletics. Requisition#25086. More details HERE.

Head Coach, Women's Soccer (The University of Delaware / Newark, DE): The Head Coach for Women’s Soccer is a valued member of the Head Coaches’ team within the Department and is responsible for all aspects of operating a fully funded NCAA Division I varsity program. More details HERE.

Head Coach, Women's Volleyball (The University of Delaware / Newark, DE): The Head Coach for Women’s Volleyball is a valued member of the Head Coaches’ team within the Department, upholding and embracing the departmental mission of “Inspiring Greatness Together.” More details HERE.

Senior Associate Commissioner / Legal Counsel (Big 12 Conference, Inc. / Irving, TX): The Big 12 is hiring a sports administrator and attorney who thrives in an independent, exciting and fast-paced environment and who can thrive in the complex and varied world of collegiate sports. More details HERE.

Client Partner (Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement / Irvine, CA): Responsible for assigned territory’s transaction revenue target and client retention; provides strategic consulting & best practices in areas of ticketing, marketing, fundraising & fan engagement. More details HERE.

Assistant Director of Athletics - Marketing & Ticketing (Brown University / Providence, RI): This position is responsible for increasing the overall visibility of Brown University Athletics by leading & managing marketing, promotions, & ticket sales. Brown University is an E-Verify Employer. More details HERE.

Associate Director, Annual Giving Programs (University of Michigan Athletics / Ann Arbor, MI): The Associate Director of Annual Giving will lead strategy of our Annual Giving efforts to retain approximately 27,000 donors and acquire new donors in support of Michigan Athletics. More details HERE.

Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations (Western Illinois University / Macomb, IL): Responsible for managing academic services, business operations, compliance, and equipment services, in addition to sport programs. Resource on issues for female student-athletes, including Title IX. More details HERE.

Assistant/Associate AD for Marketing, Promotions & Ticketing (Fordham University / Bronx, NY): Fordham University, a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference & Patriot League, seeks to hire an individual for the position of Assistant/Associate Athletic Director for Marketing, Promotions, & Tickets. More details HERE.

Assistant/Associate AD for Facilities & Event Management (Fordham University / Bronx, NY): Fordham University, a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference & Patriot League, seeks to hire an individual for the position of Assistant/Associate Athletic Director for Facilities & Event Management. More details HERE.

Director of Development (University of South Carolina Upstate / Spartanburg, SC): The director is responsible for major gifts, planned gifts and annual fund support designated for the benefit of the Upstate Athletics facilities, programs and student-athletes. AA/EOE employer. More details HERE.

Associate Athletic Director for Student Support Services (Cleveland State University / Cleveland, OH): Assists the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics to develop goals and set direction for the department and assigned sports. More details HERE.

Assistant Athletic Director for Sponsorships & Group Sales (IUPUI / Indianapolis, IN): Join the Jaguars team and help create and execute strategies to expand athletics sponsorship and group ticket revenue by identifying, assessing, and developing new business opportunities. More details HERE.

Director of Development, Major Gifts (Western Kentucky University / Bowling Green, KY): Western Kentucky University, a member of Conference USA and Football Bowl Subdivision NCAA member institution, seeks to hire an individual for the position of Director of Development, Major Gifts. More details HERE.

Director of Major Gifts - Athletics - 0407755 (James Madison University / Harrisonburg, VA): The Director of Major Gifts will manage a portfolio of 150+ entities capable of making commitments of $25,000 or more to support projects for James Madison University Athletics.The Director of Major Gifts will manage a portfolio of 150+ entities capable of making commitments of $25,000 or more to support projects for James Madison University Athletics. More details HERE.

Manager, Trademark & Licensing (Athletics) (The University of Delaware / Newark, DE): Oversee the coordination of all constituents (CLC, apparel partner, University & Athletic Dept teams) needed to manage the program & drive the initiatives that will lead to successful team outcomes. More details HERE.

Video Production Assistant (4th Floor Creative / Cincinnati, OH): This position will work together with our video creative department, creating videos and animations for clients across the country. Experience in post-production, animation & videography is required. More details HERE.

Annual Giving Associate (University of Michigan Athletic Department / Ann Arbor, MI): The Annual Giving Associate is a key member of the Development team providing vital support to our donor service needs through direct contact via phone, email, direct mail and in person. More details HERE.

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