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News Nuggets, 02.05.05
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

BCS bowl payouts to start escalating in 2006

IRVING, TX — While changes to the Bowl Championship Series ranking system still appear months away, there will be more money for the top teams.

Commissioners from the 11 Division I-A conferences and Notre Dame's athletic director wrapped up three days of meetings Friday without a definite plan for changing the selection formula.

But they did reach agreements in principle with the Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls to remain part of the BCS through 2009. The Rose Bowl is also part of the BCS, but has its own deal.

Under the deal that would go into effect in the 2006 season, team payouts would start around $17 million and increase to about $18.5 million by the end of the deal. BCS teams from last season will get about $16 million each.

``We're pleased with the fact that we've been able to achieve some growth at a time when a lot of people where questioning if that would be possible,'' BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said.

Now the commissioners have to figure out how to pick the BCS teams. The Associated Press in December asked that its poll no longer be used to help determine the teams. The BCS formula also used six computer polls, but was streamlined last season to put a heavier emphasis on the human polls — the AP media poll and coaches' poll.

Last month at the NCAA convention, the commissioners discussed many options, including a ``hybrid'' approach incorporating the coaches and computer polls with a selection committee similar to the 10-person panel used to set the NCAA basketball tournament field.

``Every meeting leads to a little more clarity about what the options are and how they can be constructed,'' Weiberg said. ``The full range of options that we've talked about before remains under consideration.''

Weiberg said a committee approach without some kind of ranking system was unlikely. He said commissioners still want some kind of ranking.

Other conference commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Kevin White, whose school is part of the BCS, referred questions to Weiberg.

There will be a series of conference calls and there could be a meeting of BCS decision makers at the NCAA Final Four, but Weiberg said there still may not be any final decisions at their next scheduled meeting in late April.

``Even if we get a firm direction in mind, it might take another period of time after that to firm it up before we would be prepared to announce all the precise details,'' he said, not elaborating on a timeframe.

It will be the fifth time since the system was implemented in 1998 that the BCS will change the way it computes its standings.

There were also discussions this week about automatic BCS qualifications, and how to determine which and how many conferences should get those spots. But those changes won't be made for at least two years.

NCAA baseball calendar changes still in limbo

OMAHA — The NCAA Division I Board of Directors has nixed a proposal that would have pushed the College World Series into July some years.

Dennis Poppe, NCAA managing director of baseball and football, said Thursday the CWS would continue to end the last week of June for the foreseeable future.

The Division I Baseball Issues Committee proposed last month that the NCAA tournament and CWS begin a week later to accommodate a uniform season starting date of March 1.

Some teams in the South now begin their seasons the first week of February, while most in the North are unable to play games until March. That puts northern teams at a competitive disadvantage, proponents of a uniform starting date have said.

But Poppe said the Division I board supports a uniform start date, but would rather have teams play fewer games than extend the baseball season. The maximum number of regular-season games is 56.

College officials in favor of keeping the CWS dates the same said it would be too expensive to house and feed players into July and that it would increase the time commitment required of players.

Poppe said if a uniform starting date is adopted, it probably would go into effect in 2008.

Doherty eager for opportunity to coach again

Matt Doherty is waiting for his moment.

The former North Carolina coach is enjoying work as a college basketball broadcaster and spending time with small business ventures, but he acknowledges it's getting harder to ignore the pull of the sidelines.

Nearly two years after he went from one of the nation's hottest young coaches to a castoff, Doherty wants to coach again.

And, he says, he's ready to apply the lessons learned from three tumultuous seasons at his alma mater.

``I'm motivated,'' Doherty told The Associated Press in a phone interview Friday. ``I've got the energy of a 42-year-old, but I've got the experience of a guy that's been around the block a few times.

``It's time. It's time for me to go back to work and do what I have a passion to do.''

Doherty boasts a resume that features four years of Division I head coaching experience, a career marked by a rapid rise and even faster fall.

After leading Notre Dame to the 2000 NIT final, he took over at North Carolina, guiding the Tar Heels to a No. 1 ranking and becoming the AP national coach of the year in 2001.

But his second team at North Carolina went 8-20, the school's first losing record since Dean Smith's first season in 1962.

Then came an ugly public split between Doherty and the school in April 2003, which included reports that players and parents complained to athletic director Dick Baddour about Doherty's intense practices and drastic mood swings.

Doherty — who played for Smith and alongside Michael Jordan on the 1982 NCAA championship team — said he is not bitter, calling his time as coach of the Tar Heels ``a positive experience.''

He knows he made mistakes, including making drastic changes to the program from the start, and said the players should not have been blamed for his departure.

``It's all about how you handle situations and whether you're tough enough to bounce back,'' Doherty said. ``And I'm tough enough to bounce back.''

Both sides sound as though they've buried the past. Doherty said he has enjoyed watching successor Roy Williams lead his former players to the nation's No. 2 ranking.

``I have a lot of pride in what they're achieving,'' Doherty said.

``I prefer to look back on those times as, 'Wow, we did make a difference,''' he said. ``That team is successful ... I feel I had a little to do with that, and it's satisfying.''

Meanwhile, school spokesman Steve Kirschner said Baddour would support Doherty in his pursuit of another coaching job, while senior Jackie Manuel — a freshman on Doherty's losing team — said he didn't hold anything against his former coach.

``There's no harsh feelings or anything,'' Manuel said. ``I'm pretty sure he feels the same.''

Doherty has spent the past two seasons in broadcasting, which has given him the chance to talk with coaches across the country and observe them at practices.

He's tried to pick up pointers everywhere he goes, so much so that Davidson coach Bob McKillop — who coached Doherty in high school and gave him his first break in the business as an assistant in 1989 — likened Doherty to a sponge.

``I think he's clearly determined to get back into coaching, and I think he's going to have an opportunity down the road without a doubt,'' McKillop said. ``People will be making a mistake if they don't do it. He's got a tremendous amount to offer.''

Doherty, who talked with St. John's and James Madison about openings last year, said that he is looking for the right fit. Meanwhile, he stays busy by dabbling in commercial real estate in Mooresville, a NASCAR-crazy town north of Charlotte where he now lives.

He also started a marketing firm that does some NASCAR-related business, indulging his growing interest in the motor sport.

But he's ready to drop everything to start coaching again.

``I've done some things well and, of the things maybe I didn't do well, I've certainly learned from those experiences,'' he said. ``I want to put those things to use. I want to think I'm more ready than most to take advantage of an opportunity.''

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from Associated Press and other sources. Copyright 2005 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Page Updated: 02/23/2007 12:21 PM