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News Nuggets, 07.15.04
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

BCS to roll out new title scheme today

DALLAS — The leaders of the Bowl Championship Series will introduce a new formula Thursday, one they hope will be less complex, more definitive and will decrease the controversy that has surrounded the championship game in three of the last four seasons.

The new formula is expected to include only results from The Associated Press' media poll, the coaches' poll and the computer rankings, while eliminating the other factors, like bonus points for quality wins and strength of schedule.

The BCS was criticized last season when LSU and Southern California finished as co-champs, with LSU winning the BCS and USC winning the AP national title.

USC was ranked first in both human polls at the end of the regular season, but third in the BCS standings. That left LSU and Oklahoma playing for the BCS title. The coaches were required to vote LSU No. 1 after it won the Sugar Bowl, while USC held on to its top spot in the final AP poll after beating Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

That was the third time in four seasons in which at least one team got left out of the BCS championship match-up with a legitimate argument that it belonged in the game.

The new formula will take effect this season. Also this offseason, BCS officials decided to add a fifth game to the mix, although that change won't take place until the 2006 season.

Catamounts AD rejoins old boss Todd Turner

Newly-hired Washington athletic director Todd Turner announced this week that Jeff Compher will serve in the newly-created position of Executive Associate Director of Athletics. Compher will assume his duties Aug. 16.

Compher comes to Washington after spending the past four years as director of athletics at Western Carolina. He was a member of Turner's senior administrative staffs at North Carolina State and Vanderbilt.

At Washington, Compher will handle the department's daily administrative operations with a special emphasis on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball programs.

He also will help develop operating plans, oversee the senior management team and all senior managers. At Turner's direction, Compher will represent Washington at Pac-10, NCAA and other meetings.

Compher has been the athletic director at Western Carolina since March 2000. He supervised a department that sponsored 15 programs and included about 300 student-athletes.

ECU's Walker Center awarded outreach grant

A grant from the Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation will enable the Walker Center at East Carolina University to bring bowling, horseback riding and adaptive SCUBA diving to Pitt County's disabled population, the school's News Bureau reported earlier this month.

David Loy, an ECU recreation therapy professor and director of the Walker Center's Adaptive Sports and Recreation Center, said the $28,000 grant allows the center to expand its outreach initiatives.

During past two years, the Walker Center has used funding from the foundation to buy equipment and prepare the facility for specialized use. This year's grant will enable the Walker Center to work with local recreational facilities, such as bowling alleys and fitness centers, to better accommodate people with disabilities.

"We are looking at having bowling programs and offering seminars about how to work with folks with disabilities and how to invite them in," Loy said.

"The Walker Center's Adaptive Sports and Recreation Center is about getting people with disabilities active and engaged in the community through recreational activities," he said.

The disabled, said Loy, represent a sizable piece of the region's population. It is important for the university and community to come together to keep the population as active and healthy as possible.

"Traditionally, this population is obese. Traditionally, they suffer from cardiovascular disease and they often have barriers to participating in sports and recreational activities," he said. "We've come a long way to provide opportunities for them."

Planning for Adaptive Sports Day, offered every fall at ECU's Student Recreation Center, is now under way. Other activities, such as the Adaptive Snow Ski Clinic, are also in the works, Loy said. New programs now under consideration include adaptive SCUBA diving, therapeutic horseback riding and bowling.

Through the grant, the center will also sponsor individuals to participate in gym programs at area recreation and fitness centers, he said.

Other local organizations, including STAR (Support Team for Active Recreation) and ECU's ARISE Club, work with the Walker Center for funding and program activities.

"It's a true collaborative effort," Loy said. "It's how things should be done. We have the university, the community and the financial leg, all working together.

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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