Browse published articles attributed to Stephen Brennan, with full-archive search.
College football Letter of Intent Signing Day was a couple weeks ago. One recruiting pitch to potential signees is that the school has a strong history of qualifying to play in a bowl game at the end of the season. What is so enticing to a student-athlete about playing in a bowl game at the end of the season? It's the perks, baby.
Major college athletics received some heavy jolts to public perception this week. Two high-profile athletic programs were embarrassed and humiliated by actions of the leaders in their most high-profile sports. At the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, head football coach Bobby Petrino was fired "for cause", the causes being that he continually lied to his superiors about his affiliation with a young female employee and about the circumstances surrounding a motorcycle accident that he was involved in.
College basketball coaches have August 1, 2011 written in red magic marker on their recruiting calendars. That is the day that the NCAA Division I Board of Directors designated as the starting date for unlimited calls and unlimited text messages to high school recruits after June 15 following their sophomore year. The coaches will also be allowed four evaluation days in April, previously a dead period. But the July recruiting days will be pared from 20 to 12.
Well, folks, we have another national championship to attend and cheer for this fall. It's the classic battle to see who is the best EIGHTH-GRADE football team in the nation.
The NCAA took two of its most prestigious public universities to the proverbial woodshed because of infractions within its football programs. Just this week, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill received its penalty from the NCAA. Ohio State received its penalty in December 2011.
I was shocked and saddened to learn of the medical diagnosis regarding Tennessee head women's basketball coach Pat Summitt: early onset Alzheimers. It's also scary for me because she isn't 60 years old yet, and I just turned 60 this year. Former head men's basketball coach at North Carolina, Dean Smith, has also been diagnosed with Alzheimers. He's nearing 80 years old, so this diagnosis isn't as discerning as Summitt's.
With the conviction last month of former Pe State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky on sexual abuse charges, most people around University Park were probably breathing a sigh of relief that the horror story was now over. For the Board of Trustees and upper management, it's only beginning...again.
My apologies for being a little late with the May 15th edition. I just got back in town from conducting the 2012 Recruiters Institute webcast from the campus of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. I'll tell you all about it in the June 1st edition of this blog.
ASSESS YOUR GREATNESS: THE SUCCESS FACTORS SCALES® - CORPORATE EDITION How do you assess greatness in an individual? The research literature often states that individuals who can be identified as “great” possess specific character traits. Some of those success traits include self-confidence and motivation. But there are many more unique traits that have been scientifically proven to allow you to discover your level of strength in these success traits.
Mike Van Diest is the head football coach at Carroll College in Montana. Beginning his 14th season as the leader of the Saints in 2012, his teams have won six NAIA national championships, been runner-up in three more of those national championship games, and won 12 straight Frontier Conference Championships. Despite his team's loss to Division I Portland State in their season opener on Saturday night, Van Diest still has a 157-23 record as a head football coach.
For this landmark 50th blog, I'm going to tell you how proud I am of my kids and how I think sports played into their success. But first, I need to thank my wife's genetics for helping make the kids really smart. They were all Dean's List people during college. Mom gave the kids the intelligence. Dad, I believe, gave them the world of athletic competition in which to build a solid foundation of life skills.
Wow, Christmas is 10 days away and I'm way behind in my shopping. I'm not worried. My philosophy is to hit the stores on December 23rd, get what I need, and get home without injury. Let's see what's in the mail bag... * With football bowl season upon us, I always enjoy the stories that come out proving the college football rankings are biased. Heck, who needs a study to know that? Of course, they're biased. You have college football coaches voting. You don't think they're biased, especially the ones whose teams are in the Top 25?
It seems like the month of March has been nicknamed "March Madness" because of the popularity of the NCAA conference basketball tournaments culminating in the Final Four extravaganzas for Division I Men's and Women's Basketball Championships. March is also an exciting time for NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball referees. This is the month that they are chosen to officiate conference tournaments. But it is also the time when they are assigned to officiate the NCAA tournament games. And to college officials, the Holy Grail of officiating is being chosen to referee "The Dance."
I'm a season-ticket holder for University of Nebraska Cornhusker football games. Head coach Bo Pelini did not return to the field with his team to begin the second half against Arkansas State yesterday on Saturday afternoon, September 15, 2012. Radio reports indicated that he had fallen ill and was taken to a local Lincoln hospital for tests and observation. To say the least, the record 320th straight sellout crowd of 85,000+ were shaken by the news.
The Enforcement Working Group within the NCAA created a matrix of penalty guidelines that will go into effect for Division I athletics in August 2013. The major focus of the group when developing the guidelines and the penalties that go with the level of infraction was the need to squelch the "risk/reward" analysis NCAA members believed some people were conducting as they weighed the consequences of violating bylaws. In other words, the group wanted to send this message to potential violators: "Cheaters Beware!"
Mentioning Title IX to a college athletic administrator usually makes him/her shiver in their shoes. Since it's birth back in the 1970's, its purpose was to make sure that female athletes get the same treatment and have the same opportunities as their male counterparts. Those "opportunities" mean comparable facilities, locker rooms, academic support, training table accessibility, coaching salaries...you get the picture. And that's all good.
I am just sickened by the sex abuse scandal at Pe State. I'm also very angry. When all the investigations play themselves out, I believe we all will be aghast at how many individuals were aware of Jerry Sandusky's pedophilia tendencies and didn't do anything about it. What we are reading now and experiencing in the media is only the tip of the very sad iceberg.
Ivy League athletics. "What about 'em?" you ask. That's exactly right. What the heck is with Ivy League athletics today? Their teams are among the nation's elite. How did that happen? For us Baby Boomers, back in the 1950's and 1960's, Harvard and Yale and Princeton used to be the leaders in college athletics. Throw in Penn, too. It seemed to be where the best students and athletes attended school. The rich kids were always the best athletes, and their parents could send them to the best schools. And who doesn't want to have an Ivy League graduate in the family?
Happy New Year, everybody! I hope 2011 was a good year for you, and I hope 2012 brings you lots of success and happiness. Let's get to the blog.
There is good news on the horizon for student-athletes at NCAA Division I schools. It is expected that the NCAA Division I board of directors will act upon a proposal to increase the value of individual scholarships by $2000 in the top-tier schools in Division I, moving them closer to covering an athletes' full cost of attending school. The $2000 would be at the top of the scale.
Nebraska Head Football Coach Bo Pelini got fired yesterday. No, the formal announcement wasn't made by the new Husker athletic director, Shawn Eichorst. And it didn't come from Chancellor Harvey Perlman. It came from Bo himself.
The state of Nebraska probably doesn't pop into your mind when you think of good college basketball programs and players. Well, folks, in 2014, that's the fact, Jack.