Tag Archives: Athletics

Binghamton U Coach Gets $1.2 Million to Resign

The New York Times: Binghamton Coach Gets $1.2 Million to Resign

The tumultuous tenure of Kevin Broadus, the coach who oversaw the Binghamton basketball program’s first N.C.A.A. tournament berth and also its subsequent implosion, has ended.

On Thursday, the university announced that Broadus had received a $1.2 million settlement to resign from the university. Binghamton’s president, C. Peter Magrath, said that Broadus would receive $819,115 from the Binghamton athletic department and that $380,884 would be paid by the State University of New York.

SC keeps lone black trustee on university board

The State: SC keeps lone black trustee on university board

COLUMBIA, S.C. — State lawmakers voted to retain the only black member of the University of South Carolina’s board of trustees Wednesday in a vote that drew attention to the board’s lack of diversity and threatened the school’s football recruiting.
Leah Moody, an attorney, was elected by an 80-77 vote to continue to represent York and Union counties. She defeated Alton Hyatt, a white pharmacist and lawyer who was considered a favorite last month before black lawmakers decried the prospect of losing Moody.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/04/14/1243066/legislators-could-elect-all-white.html#ixzz0lBQZbXfu

Chancellor Zimpher Announces Steps to Strengthen Academics and Athletics at Binghamton University and Across the SUNY System

Chancellor Zimpher Announces Steps to Strengthen Academics and Athletics at Binghamton University and Across the SUNY System

New York City – Following the report of former Chief Judge Judith Kaye, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced SUNY will take steps to strengthen the relationship between academics and athletics at Binghamton University and across the SUNY System.

“SUNY’s ongoing commitment to intercollegiate athletics is important and meaningful to the total student experience and the life of our campuses,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “Accordingly, we have taken proactive and deliberate steps to ensure that the academic integrity of the Binghamton campus and the system overall is maintained, while providing our student athletes the opportunity to compete at the highest levels.”

Those steps include ensuring that academics, the core of SUNY’s mission, are seen as the highest priority. To that end, the chancellor has asked SUNY Provost David K. Lavallee to lead the effort for System Administration.

Racial Gaps in Bowl Teams’ Academic Performance

Inside Higher Ed: Racial Gaps in Bowl Teams’ Academic Performance

Large racial gaps remain in the academic performance of football players who will appear in bowl games this year, according to a study released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida. Among the findings on 67 teams (with one still to be determined):

  • 57 colleges (up from 56 in 2008‐9) or 85 percent had graduation success rates of 66 percent or higher for white football players, which was more than 2.8 times the number of colleges with equivalent rates for African‐American football athletes.
  • 21 colleges (up from 19 in 2008‐9) or 31 percent graduated less than 50 percent of their African‐American football athletes, while only two colleges graduated less than 50 percent of their white players.
  • Seven colleges (up from five in 2008‐9) or 10 percent graduated less than 40 percent of their African‐American football student‐athletes, while no college graduated less than 40 percent of their white football players.
  • 14 colleges (up from 12 in 2008‐9) or 21 percent had graduation success rates for African‐American football athletes that were at least 30 percent lower than their rates for white players.
  • 35 colleges (up from 29 in 2008‐9) or 52 percent had graduation success rates for African‐American football athletes that were at least 20 percent lower than their rates for white football athletes.

Labor Fight Ends in Win for Students

The New York Times: Labor Fight Ends in Win for Students

The anti-sweatshop movement at dozens of American universities, from Georgetown to U.C.L.A., has had plenty of idealism and energy, but not many victories.

In August, members of United Students Against Sweatshops picketed a Target store in Washington, to pressure the retailer to stop selling products made by Russell Athletic.
Until now.

The often raucous student movement announced on Tuesday that it had achieved its biggest victory by far. Its pressure tactics persuaded one of the nation’s leading sportswear companies, Russell Athletic, to agree to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when Russell closed their factory soon after the workers had unionized.

UC Berkeley faculty wants sports subsidies stopped

AP: UC Berkeley faculty wants sports subsidies stopped

BERKELEY, Calif. — Faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, are crying foul about the millions of dollars in subsidies directed to the school’s athletic department.
The campus Academic Senate on Thursday voted 91-68 in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for an end to campus support of the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and requiring a plan for paying back loans already made.

SUNY Binghamton reinstates lecturer; Inquiry to be conducted by SUNY Central not campus

The New York Times: SUNY Board to Oversee an Audit of Binghamton

The fallout from the implosion of the Binghamton basketball program continued Friday, when the SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher announced that the university would not oversee an independent audit of its athletic department.

Binghamton also reversed the firing of Sally Dear, the adjunct lecturer who taught human development for 11 years before being dismissed earlier this week. Dear believed she was dismissed because she spoke out against the basketball program. The university had cited fiscal reasons. But Dear received a letter Friday saying she would remain an adjunct, althoug

SUNY Binghamton fires lecturer critical of embattled basketball program

The New York Times: Binghamton Lecturer Critical of Athletics Is Fired

The Binghamton University adjunct lecturer who accused the athletic department of giving preferential treatment to men’s basketball players and pressuring her to change her grading policy for players was dismissed Tuesday.

The lecturer, Sally Dear, who taught human development for 11 years, said she felt the decision was linked to her criticism that appeared in a New York Times article in February.

Winner, Creepiest Athletics Logo

small_nicholls_primary_no-shield_clr1-220x150Times-Picayune: New Nicholls mascot has many alumni up in arms

With his chiseled face, military-style cap and saber poised for action, the recently unveiled mascot at Nicholls State University was supposed to convey a new and improved public image, signaling a break from the past and an end to the mascot controversy that has dogged the Thibodaux campus for years.

The Chronicle: Winner, Creepiest Athletics Logo

The best college sports mascots and logos strike fear into the hearts of competitors, but Nicholls State University has managed to terrify its own alumni with its revamped logo.

“It looked like a Nazi soldier — a very angry Nazi soldier,” Hollie Garrison, a Nicholls alumna, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “My jaw dropped. I was speechless. I kind of thought it was a joke.”

Let’s hope the controversy has settled by next week, when Nicholls State unveils the new uniform of its mascot, Col. Tillou, named for the former Louisiana governor and Confederate officer Francis Redding Tillou Nicholls.

Hawaii Suspends Football Coach for ‘Faggot’ Comments

UH Manoa announces actions following inappropriate comments by Coach McMackin

At a news conference this afternoon, University of Hawai’i at Mânoa Chancellor Virginia S. Hinshaw and Athletics Director Jim Donovan today announced the following actions based on inappropriate comments made by Coach Greg McMackin at the WAC conference in Salt Lake City yesterday.

Idaho Statesman: Hawaii coach uses gay slur in reference to Notre Dame, then apologizes

SALT LAKE CITY — Hawaii football coach Greg McMackin said Thursday at the WAC media football preview that Notre Dame did “this little faggot dance” at a banquet the night before last year’s Hawaii Bowl. Click here to hear what McMackin said. (WARNING, EXPLICIT LANGUAGE)

College athletic departments use vague law to keep public records from being seen

Columbus Dispatch: Secrecy 101
College athletic departments use vague law to keep public records from being seen

Universities blocked out large sections of files requested by The Dispatch, incuding news releases from New Mexico, a summer-job report from Ohio State and a 2007 national championship game ticket list from OSU.

Across the country, many major-college athletic departments keep their NCAA troubles secret behind a thick veil of black ink or Wite-Out.

Kansas State Scrambles to Invalidate Secret $3.2-Million Deal Between Ex-Athletics Officials

Wichita Eagle: K-State files suit to stop secret Prince settlement

Kansas State University and its athletic corporation filed suit in Riley County District Court today to stop a “secret” deferred compensation agreement for former football coach Ron Prince that goes beyond the $1.2 million he received as part of his contract extension last August.

Hiring of Thomas Angers Faculty at Florida International

The New York Times: Hiring of Thomas Angers Faculty at Florida International

The former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas will be greeted in his new job at Florida International University with a reminder of his past.

Laurie Shrage, the director of women’s studies and a philosophy professor at the university, said she and some of her colleagues planned to hand-deliver to Thomas a copy of the university’s sexual harassment policy.

Take that Jim Calhoun!

The Chronicle Review: March Money Madness: The Coaches vs. the Professors

Commentary

Thomas Cottle: In March Money Madness, It’s Coaches vs. Professors

College basketball’s March Madness has come at a time when one prominent coach’s salary has been held up for inspection. Apparently, the fact that the $1.6-million annual income of the University of Connecticut’s Jim Calhoun makes him the highest-paid public employee in his state has rankled some people. Or are they more upset that he was caught off guard at a postgame news conference and appeared somewhat haughty?

The Roar of the Crowd; Sports fans’ primal behavior

The Chronicle Review: The Roar of the Crowd; Sports fans’ primal behavior

Commentary

Peter A. Facione: A Straight-Talk Survival Guide for Colleges

By DAVID P. BARASH

Marx was wrong: The opiate of the masses isn’t religion, but spectator sports. What else explains the astounding fact that millions of seemingly intelligent human beings feel that the athletic exertions of total strangers are somehow consequential for themselves? The real question we should be asking during the madness surrounding this month’s collegiate basketball championship season is not who will win, but why anyone cares.

Academic Accountability in Athletics

Inside Higher Ed: Academic Accountability in Athletics
March 9, 2009

A new study of 77 Division III institutions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association reveals a consistent and widening academic performance gap between athletes and non-athletes.

Monday, the College Sports Project – an initiative of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation – released its second annual report as part of a five-year longitudinal study comparing the academic performance of athletes to that of non-athletes at participating Division III institutions. The research project has gained much attention because Division III, unlike Divisions I and II, does not track the academic performance of athletes separately from that of the rest of an institution’s student body.

Fraud and Friction at Florida St.

Inside Higher Ed: Fraud and Friction at Florida St.

NCAA finds that tutors helped 61 athletes cheat in online courses, but university balks at punishment — including giving up wins in football that could cost coach shot at record.

UConn Hoops Coach’s $12-Million Claim Calls for a Lesson in Math

The Chronicle News Blog: UConn Hoops Coach’s $12-Million Claim Calls for a Lesson in Math

The top-ranked University of Connecticut men’s basketball team beat the University of South Florida by 14 points on Saturday. But Jim Calhoun, the head coach now in his 23rd season with Connecticut, was hardly in a charitable mood at the postgame press conference.

Mr. Calhoun quickly lost his cool when a freelance reporter, political activist, and law student, Ken Krayeske, questioned him about the propriety of his annual salary, given the state’s $2-billion budget deficit, The Hartford Courant reported.

Racial and Gender Diversity in College Sports Is ‘Worst’ in Many Years, Report Says

The Chronicle News Blog: Racial and Gender Diversity in College Sports Is ‘Worst’ in Many Years, Report Says

White people still dominate key leadership positions in college athletics, and opportunities for coaches of color in sports other than basketball remain poor, according to a new report on race and gender in college sports.