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News Nuggets, 06.25.04
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NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...
Previous Day Nuggets...
Next Day Nuggets...
Compiled from staff reports
and electronic dispatches
N.Y. Times halts participation
in BCS rankings
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PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
06.24.04: Cardinals
lose mammoth defensive lineman ... .. Southern Miss to study
wants of hoops fans ... ..
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06.23.04: ESPN
to carry Bearcats-Buckeyes game ... .. Former Houston coach
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06.22.04: Diener,
Novak slated for All-Star trek to China ... .. Taco Bell
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06.21.04: Later
start for baseball season on NCAA agenda ... .. UAB set for
Friday, Saturday TV games ... .. 49ers pivotman pulls out of
NBA draft ... ..
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06.20.04: Contender
for ECU AD position takes USU job ... .. Todd Turner hired
to quell turmoil at Washington ... ..
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06.19.04: ECU's
Jones headlines trio of C-USA All-Americans ... .. C-USA
umps on the job in Omaha ... ..
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06.18.04: Saturday
nights in Greenville in store for Fall ... .. Tidbit: Most
CWS appearances ... .. Kent State QB back on team after pot
plea ... ..
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06.17.04: Cardio
Center bill survives House ... .. UC president clarifies
Huggins suspension ... ..
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06.16.04: Crucial
vote looms as heart center clears committees ... ..
Concussions more prevalent than thought ... ..
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06.15.04: College
baseball polls ... .. Veteran assistant to fill in during
Huggins 'sabbatical' ... .. Louisville transfer guard to
transfer out ... ..
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06.14.04: NYC
has future gaze fixed on Big Apple Bowl ... .. Hornung
booted from Irish broadcast booth ... .. U of L sharpshooter
recovering from surgery ... ..
More... |
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The New York Times pulled its
computer college football rankings out of the formula used by the
dissension-plagued Bowl Championship Series
to determine which teams play for the national championship.
Richard Meislin, editor of
news surveys for the newspaper, said Thursday that the rankings' inclusion
in the BCS was a conflict of interest, according to the Times' ethics
guidelines.
The newspaper also withdrew
from the BCS formula in 2001, citing editorial policy, but rejoined in 2002.
"We've been reviewing a lot of
what we do with an eye toward conflicts of interest," Meislin said. "Being
part of the BCS puts us in position to be influencing events we cover."
Times reporters also are not
allowed to vote for the Heisman Trophy or the Tony Awards, Meislin noted.
The Times' poll was one of
seven used by the BCS.
Meislin said the Times made
BCS officials aware of its intentions about two weeks ago.
BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg
said earlier this week that there were
no plans to add another computer poll
to the Bowl Championship Series formula for the upcoming season.
FSU title trophies snatched
TALLAHASSEE — Florida State's two national championship
trophies were stolen over the weekend, and the school is offering a reward
for their return.
The Waterford crystal football trophies, awarded for
winning the final coaches poll in 1993 and 1999, were taken from their
locked wooden-and-glass case outside coach Bobby Bowden's offices. Bowden
was out of town Thursday and unavailable for comment.
The school is offering a $2,500 reward for information
that would lead to the arrest and conviction of whomever took the trophies,
campus police Maj. Tom Longo said. He would not otherwise comment on the
school's investigation that started Sunday, after authorities learned of the
theft.
The 1993 team, led by Heisman Trophy winning
quarterback Charlie Ward, beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl on a last-minute
field goal by Scott Bentley. The 1999 team went 12-0 behind the school's
second Heisman winner, quarterback Chris Weinke, defeating Virginia Tech and
star quarterback Michael Vick in the Sugar Bowl.
"I was sick to my stomach when I heard it — just mad,"
assistant athletic director Rob Wilson said about the theft. "Woe be unto
that guy if the wrong people get hold of him."
Wilson said the school's booster group would probably
raise the money to replace the two crystal pieces if they're not found.
There are no surveillance cameras in that area and the
trophies were not insured, he said.
Construction workers are finishing an addition to a
building that surrounds the football field, soon to be renamed after Bowden.
The structure also houses the athletic department offices along with other
departments and administrative offices.
CAA invades Beantown
East Carolina's former league, the Colonial Athletic Association, is
extending its footprint further up the Eastern Corridor. Northeastern
University, located in Boston, has accepted an invitation to join the CAA
beginning in 2006.
Currently a member of the America East Conference for
all sports except football, Northeastern will be the northernmost school in
the CAA and hopes to expand its recruiting and admissions into the
mid-Atlantic region, school officials indicated.
"It's an honor to be invited to join a group of
prestigious institutions that have well-established academic and athletic
histories," athletic director Dave O'Brien said Wednesday. "Furthermore, the
CAA member schools cover a wide geographic footprint in the East that will
expose our teams to thousands more alumni, fans, and potential students."
Northeastern will compete in 12 sports, including
basketball, in the CAA, but will remain in the Atlantic 10 for football — at
least for the time being. The CAA currently doesn't have a football
championship, but the addition of Northeastern gives it a sixth
football-playing institution.
A-10 spokesman Ray Cella said that conference will
continue to lobby its football members to stay put.
"This league is the best league in the country if it
stays together," Cella said.
Colonial members Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison,
William & Mary, Towson, and Northeastern play football in the A-10, a
Division I-AA league and another CAA member, Towson, joins the A-10 football
conference this fall.
Northeastern will reunite with Delaware, Drexel,
Hofstra and Towson, which departed America East for the CAA after the
2000-01 athletic season.
The CAA is based in Richmond, VA. Other schools in the
association are James Madison, UNC Wilmington, Old Dominion, Virginia
Commonwealth, and William & Mary.
While ECU's former conference has been mapping a
northeastern expansion strategy, the Pirates' current league — Conference
USA — has taken steps to shift its center of gravity toward the southwest,
adding Rice (Houston, TX), Southern Methodist (Dallas, TX) and Tulsa
(Oklahoma) in 2005, along with Central Florida and Marshall.
News Nuggets are
compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member
schools, and from Associated Press and
other reports. Copyright 2004
Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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