The Morning Dish – Wednesday, June 11th:
Lots of quick hits today – so let’s get rolling.
Tulane Staying: Tulane’s board of trustees voted yesterday to keep the school at D-I level in football, as well as every other sport. As mentioned last week, the school was considering dropping down to D-III, but the trustees voted unanimously to keep football and its D-I classification. Facing a budget shortfall, the school sold plenty of extra season tickets for football in the last month after a publicized sales drive.
Volunteer Ousted: As mentioned yesterday, Tennessee junior forward Elgrace Wilborn was arrested for assault of his roommate and teammate Brandon Crump, breaking his jaw. Well, yesterday afternoon, head coach Buzz Peterson kicked Wilborn off the Volunteer squad. Wilborn issued an apology in a news release.
AD Shuffle: It’s official. Kansas has hired former Connecticut AD Lew Perkins, as mentioned yesterday. Meanwhile, UConn wasted no time in hiring a replacement, announcing yesterday that Colorado State’s AD Jeff Hathaway has been hired. Hathaway was an assistant under Perkins at Connecticut.
Rickert Signs: Two months ago, Minnesota’s Rick Rickert announced his intention to enter the NBA Draft, but in no way would he be hiring an agent to keep his college eligibility. Well, no more. Yesterday, following a workout with the Timberwolves, Rickert announced that he signed with California agent Bill Duffy, thus eliminating the possibility of Rickert returning to the Gophers.
Mediate, Alleviate: Virginia governor Mark Warner requested that the NCAA or some other mediation agency step into the ACC-Big East battle before the courts get involved. Four days ago the Big East Five (those football playing schools staying in the Big East) sued Miami and BC. Two days ago, Duke and North Carolina re-considered their vote for expansion. Yesterday, NCAA president Myles Brand indicated that the NCAA had no authority to step in. Governor Warner made the statement to help Virginia Tech, who is getting the short end of the stick in this deal.
Fresno Going Down: The Fresno Bee has reported that Fresno State has been found to have a lack of institutional control, one of the harshest charges from the NCAA. Several school officials failed to report multiple NCAA violations, including boosters providing money and free meals, ineligible players participating in practice, and academic fraud. The NCAA will hear the case later this summer. While the school certainly was to blame, let’s keep our fingers crossed for coach Ray Lopes, one of the good guys, who like Michigan’s Tommy Amaker, is being punished for his predecessors’ indiscretions.
Neuheisel Out?: Reports out of Seattle say that Washington head football coach Rick Neuheisel is about to be fired for illegally participating in a NCAA Tournament pool. Neuheisel bet $5,000 on Maryland in 2001-02, and won $20,000, and such gambling is a violation of NCAA rules. Neuheisel, who is 66-29 over eight seasons at Washington and Colorado, is still in the process of cleaning up his NCAA violation mess at Colorado.
