The Kept-Up Academic Librarian

College Football Coaches Do Well Despite Recession

Here and elsewhere across the landscape of big-time, big-budgeted college athletics, these are sensitive times. A study of compensation reveals that Tedford is one of at least 25 college head football coaches making $2 million or more this season, slightly more than double the number two years ago. Salaries of assistant coaches finds many approaching and even exceeding presidents' compensation and most eclipsing that of full professors. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2009-11-09-coaches-salary-analysis_N.htm

To Attract More Men Start A Football Team

Like other colleges and universities around the country, Pacific hopes football will lure more male students to its campus, where women outnumber men nearly 2-to-1. Many smaller colleges across the country have enjoyed upticks in male enrollment – or at least stabilized it -- after starting football programs, and have reaped revenue gains from tuition, ticket sales, and concessions. That's grabbing the attention of schools without football. Read more at:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/oregon_colleges_look_to_footba.html

Time To End Sports Subsidies At UC Berkeley

When UC Berkeley lends its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics millions of dollars to pay its bills each year - and even forgives that debt at times - it's helping a top-tier college sports program beloved by thousands of fans.But a growing number of Cal academics are disturbed by the practice, arguing that the prestigious research university should not subsidize elite athletes at a time of soaring college costs, faculty furloughs and reduced course offerings.UC Berkeley's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics - whose football team is in the Bowl Subdivision - is projected to run a deficit of nearly $6 million, rising to $6.4 million next year. Read more at:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/27/MN0L1AAUM3.DTL&feed=rss.education

Knight Commission Says Athletic Directors Must Control Football Costs

College and university athletic departments might have to drop some sports unless reforms such as controlling the cost of coaching contracts are implemented, according to a survey released Monday. The survey of presidents of schools at major college football's highest level also suggests even the administrators aren't sure how to rein in costs. That's not saying no one will try: A group representing the athletic directors at those schools will present seven presumably cost-cutting proposals to the NCAA in the coming weeks. Commission members say finding ways to solve financial woes will be its most daunting challenge. Read more at:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gMZyu8G7jFMDCT0xBrpYOj8cc7yQD9BIVGR03

Most College Football Teams Lose Money

Most of the nation's college athletic departments are still trying to get out of the red zone. The NCAA's latest report on revenues and expenses, released Tuesday, showed fewer than 25 percent of all Football Bowl Subdivision schools made money in 2007-08, while the remaining 302 schools competing in Division I struggled to break even. "If you're not selling a bunch of tickets and you don't have a large alumni-booster base making contributions, and you're not in the right conference, you have very little chance of showing net positive revenue," Fulks said in a statement on the NCAA Web site. Read more at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/collegesports/2010103078_ncaa21.html

Golden Opportunity For Change At The NCAA

The N.C.A.A. faces ethical challenges like raging commercialism and escalating salaries for star coaches, and the subsequent tension between athletics and academia. And it must decide whether to recommit to Title IX, and roll back the length of playing seasons, especially in so-called minor sports.  The task of reforming the N.C.A.A. bureaucracy, with all of its vested interests, may be more daunting than reforming health care because the emotions of alumni and boosters are involved. The first step is determining whether Brand’s successor will be another university president. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/sports/04rhoden.html?em

NCAA Advises Some Athletes To Forget About Handshakes

The NCAA has recommended volleyball programs suspend traditional pre- and post-match handshakes in an effort to limit the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, a measure health experts say will do to little to safeguard athletes against the global outbreak.Volleyball and wrestling are the only NCAA sports in which handshakes between opposing athletes are mandated. Read more at:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/volleyball/2009-09-15-volleyball-handshakes-h1n1-flu_N.htm?csp=34

Bringing Beer Back Cautiously To College Football

Beer has long been a social lubricant at tailgate parties in college-campus parking lots during football season. Increasingly, that party is moving inside the stadium. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette this weekend expects to allow fans for the first time to buy beer inside "The Swamp," as the school's stadium is known. Colleges and cities face a delicate balancing act soliciting beer sales where underage students congregate en masse. Problems have erupted in the past. The University of Colorado at Boulder, citing violence linked to drunken fans, banned beer sales in 1996. Schools are also pursuing various measures to prevent potential problems. Read more at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125271416817105157.html

Athletics Administrators Forced To Slash Program Budgets

The signs are there, as plain as a Penn State helmet. Athletic departments are bleeding money. Budgets are being slashed. Coaches are going on furlough. Sports are being eliminated. After decades of excess, is the financial meltdown about to bring nuclear winter to college sports? As they are forced to reduce their budgets, athletics administrators are left to wonder what might happen if the economy doesn't turn around and schools don't change their free-spending ways. Read more at:
http://athleticbusiness.com/articles/lexisnexis.aspx?lnarticleid=1013203781&lntopicid=136030023

College Athletes Often Unaware Of Inadequate Health Coverage

After years of concerns about inadequate health coverage for college athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association started requiring universities to make sure their athletes had insurance before competing. While some colleges accept considerable responsibility for medical claims, many others assume almost none. University officials say they go out of their way to inform students about the limits of insurance. Yet the situation has confused and frustrated athletes and their families, some of whom have had to shoulder large and unexpected medical bills. Read more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/sports/16athletes.html?_r=1&hp