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News Nuggets, 06.25.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

N.Y. Times halts participation in BCS rankings

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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