News Nuggets, 09.03.03
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Cowen's battle to bring down BCS moves to Capitol Hill

Less than three months ago, Tulane was seriously considering whether to throw in the towel in its struggle to maintain a Division I-A football program in the face of the overwhelming odds stacked against it and similar schools in the age of the Bowl Championship Series. In the end, not only did the university decide to recommit itself to big-time football, its president has gained the friendly attention of an institution far more powerful than the BCS.

Scott Cowen's brainchild, The Presidential Coalition on Athletic Reform, has attracted dozens of other CEO's of non-BCS schools as allies and instigated a national debate about the cartel-like characteristics of the BCS.

Congress is about to join that debate.

The House Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a Thursday hearing on "Competition in College Athletic Conferences and Antitrust Aspects of the Bowl Championship Series" to look into the lucrative BCS arrangement, which excludes schools from five of the 11 Division I-A conferences and bars all independents except Notre Dame from membership.

The BCS leagues include the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, PAC-10 and SEC. The syndicate was formed, according to its defenders, to crown a national champion, but no non-BCS school has been invited to participate in any of its four annual bowl games since the BCS was created in 1998. Detractors say that imbalance has resulted in daunting financial and recruiting disadvantages for non-BCS schools.

Cowen, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, NCAA president Myles Brand and Jim Delany will testify at the hearing, according to a release from the Tulane News Bureau.

Cowen's school, Tulane, belongs to Conference USA, a non-BCS league, while Young's alma mater, Brigham Young University, is a member of the non-BCS Mountain West Conference. Delany's conference, the Big Ten, is a vocal proponent of the BCS.

Thursday's 10:00 a.m. hearing will be conducted in the Rayburn House Office Building and a press briefing with Cowen will immediately follow, according to the Tulane announcement.

NCAA graduation rates on the upswing

INDIANAPOLIS — Division I college athletes are graduating at a record rate of 62 percent and are 3 percent more likely to graduate than non-athletes, according to an NCAA study released Tuesday. The report showed athletes with a 2 percent overall increase in the graduation rate compared with last year and a 1 percent increase over the rate of non-athletes.

The study covered athletes on scholarship who entered college in 1996 and measured the percentage of students who graduated within six years. The NCAA has tracked graduation rates since 1984, but this was the first study compiled since more stringent academic requirements took effect.

"This shows that academic reform is making progress," NCAA president Myles Brand said. "But it is not yet complete."

The numbers showed almost across-the-board increases. The only declines were among white male basketball players (52 percent) and white football players (61 percent). Both rates dropped by 1 percent. But it was mostly good news for the NCAA, which has been hit by numerous scandals in the past year. Two schools, Georgia and Fresno State, withdrew their men's basketball teams from postseason play last winter because of academic fraud.

'Official Station' puts together TV syndicate for ECU-UNC game

GREENVILLE — WITN-TV will bring the East Carolina-North Carolina football game to viewers throughout the Carolinas, the NBC affiliate announced on Tuesday. The game time for the Oct. 11 matchup has been set for 3:30 p.m. It will be the Tar Heels' first-ever visit to ECU's Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

"We are excited to be producing and distributing the ECU-Carolina game to the state of North Carolina," said Mike Weeks, WITN-TV President and General Manager. "This will be the college football contest everyone wants to see in 2003."

WITN will produce and distribute the game, which will air on six television stations: WRAL in Raleigh, WXII in Winston-Salem, WJZY in Charlotte, WECT in Wilmington, WBSC in Greenville (S.C.)-Spartanburg-Asheville, and WITN in Greenville-New Bern-Washington. The station estimates that 300,000 homes will tune in to the game.

The Pirates and Tar Heels last faced each other in Chapel Hill in 2001, with UNC-CH winning that contest 24-21. It was the schools' first meeting in 20 years.

WITN-TV — which is in the midst of a multi-year agreement with ECU as "The Official Station of the Pirates" — is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Gray Television, Inc. The company operates 15 CBS-affiliated TV stations, seven NBC-affiliated stations and seven ABC-affiliated stations, as well as four daily newspapers.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically from staff, ECU, Conference USA and its member schools, and from Associated Press and other reports. Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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