JHU Student to Get a $20,000 Shot

BALTIMORE, MD - One current Johns Hopkins University undergraduate will get a chance to make a dent in this year's tuition as the Department of Athletics, the Alumni Association and the Department of Student Life are sponsoring a shot for $20,000 at halftime of the Johns Hopkins-Haverford women's basketball on Saturday, February 7. The Johns Hopkins-Haverford women's basketball game on February 7 is the second game of a men's-women's doubleheader. The women's game should start at approximately 3 pm and the doors to Goldfarb Gym will open at noon.

All Johns Hopkins undergraduates over 18 who attend the men's game at 1 pm and the start of the women's game (and meet all criteria for eligibility - criteria, rules and regulations above as a PDF) will receive a raffle ticket upon presentation of their valid Johns Hopkins University ID and a valid driver's license. One randomly selected student from all entries will be picked with ten (10) minutes remaining in the first half of the women's game. Each eligible student will receive one (1) raffle ticket.

The selected participant, who must be present, will have one shot from a designated spot on the floor to win the $20,000 prize. No warm up shots may be taken and the participant will get just one shot at the prize.

Students are encouraged to arrive early for the men's game and stay for the women's game.

Mules Speak Out on Super Bowl XLIII

From Muhlenberg's "Mule Sports Daily"

The Super Bowl is no longer just a game — it’s an entire festivity. People around the country are prepping for this Sunday, buying chips, wings, pizza and new television sets. Whether we watch for the commercials, the halftime show or the actual football game, no one will be missing the party.

And that includes Muhlenberg’s own. Three diehard football fans and Mule athletes spill their thoughts on the big game.

Editor's Note: Since I love Bruce Springsteen's music ... according to Nicki Notarianni, I now qualify as middle age. Thanks Nicki!

NCAA Convention Review

The 103rd annual NCAA Convention came to a close on Saturday in Washington, D.C. and as Conventions go, this one was pretty quiet. The Centennial Conference was 8-for-8 on its votes on legislative proposals, siding with the majority position. The delegates voted against August 15 as a new date for the start of the fall preseason, while voting in the affirmative to specify that a season of participation shall not be counted when a student participates in the one date of nontraditional competition (baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, women's volleyball).

The most important legislation that was adopted specifies that each head coach shall be certified in first aid, CPR and AED. Endorsed by the national SAAC, the vote carried 420-33-6.

The Convention concluded the service of John Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall College, as chair of the NCAA Division III Presidents Council. Fry was recognized by the delegates for his service to the Association.

The most important news to come from the Convention was that the Centennial Conference has added Susquehanna University to the Conference as an associate member in football and women's golf. The Crusaders will participate in the 2009 golf championship and will compete for the CC title in 2010. Susquehanna's gridders will begin Centennial play in 2010.

Centennial Conference Joins START Officiating Program

The Centennial Conference and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Associate Executive Director Robert A. Lombardi, in conjunction with four other NCAA Division II and III conferences, announced the initiation of the START program at the Pennsylvania State Alliance of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (PSAHPERD) annual convention recently.

START stands for Students of Today Are Referees of Tomorrow, with a goal of recruiting new officials in all sports on the collegiate campuses as well as increasing opportunities for scholastic officials to advance to the intercollegiate level.

Member institutions of these conferences will be offering classes to become a registered sports' official with Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association or their sister association in each member institution's respective state throughout the Middle Atlantic Region.

Working in conjunction with the Centennial and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association are the commissioners of the Division II Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) along with Division III Capital Athletic Conference (CAC), Colonial States Athletic Conference (CSAC) and Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation (MAC).

"This program will enable students to learn about what it takes to become an official and give graduates of START the opportunity to begin working games immediately," stated Steve Ulrich, Executive Director of the Centennial Conference.

The initial courses are to be offered during the spring semester at several college campuses.

The pilot program offered by the Centennial Conference will aim to recruit officials for baseball, softball, boys lacrosse and girls lacrosse on the first three Thursdays of February, 2009 (2/5, 2/12 and 2/19).

The three sessions will run approximately 75 minutes, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Steinman College Center at Franklin & Marshall College. Although the program is primarily for students from any college or university, others interested in becoming scholastic, and potentially collegiate, officials are encourage to attend.

At the end of the third meeting, students with proper college ID will be offered the opportunity to take the PIAA officiating test for that sport free of charge. Non-students may take the PIAA test at the regular $30 fee.

Those that pass the test will be assisted in contacting local officiating chapters so they can begin officiating PIAA sanctioned events (and other intramural, youth or recreation league events) as soon as possible.

Other pilot programs are tentatively scheduled to be offered at York College of Pennsylvania (CAC), Cabrini College (CSAC), DeSales University (MAC) and Lock Haven University (PSAC).

End of the Recruiting Rainbow Isn't Always Gold

After investing so much time and money in a sport, an athlete makes their college choice. Sometimes it's a dream fulfilled; sometimes it's disenchanting.

You might have perceptions about the world of athletic scholarships, but chances are they don't match up with the complex realities. This Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune series aims to debunk some of the myths about scholarships and explain who gets them, how much money they get and what price some athletes ultimately pay.

PART I: Parents and athletes who think they are in line for a full ride often learn the realities of the scholarship are just as elusive as the scholarships themselves.

PART II: A look at life as a student-athlete and the role of money in NCAA Division I, II and III.

PART III: Several steps can help an athlete get a scholarship, but even the best-laid plans can change in a hurry.

College athletes cluster majors at most schools

When the NCAA adopted new rules in 2003 intended to improve graduation rates of athletes, critics countered that under pressure to keep athletes progressing toward a degree, schools might cut academic corners to help the athletes stay eligible to play.

Teams now can lose scholarships and access to postseason play if enough athletes are not on track to receive a degree or do not graduate.

But giving athletes a more meaningful academic experience also was part of the new rules' intent, NCAA president Myles Brand told USA TODAY for a story in 2003. However, Syracuse University athlete Dylan Malagrino, who had headed the NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, expressed concern that "coaches and academic administrators in the athletic department might be strongly encouraging students to take easier majors or to choose a major and never switch."

Graduation rates have improved as the rules have phased in over the past few years. Whether that has been due to students taking easier majors has not been studied.

To study the extent to which athletes disproportionately group in particular majors, USA TODAY chose five sports, selected to give a mix along gender, revenue-generating and seasonal lines: football, baseball, softball and men's and women's basketball. USA TODAY reviewed media guides and school websites at 142 schools — the 120 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools and 22 Division I schools with standout basketball teams over the past few years, based on USA TODAY coaches' poll rankings. The result: a list of about 9,300 upperclass athletes on the team rosters during the 2007-08 school year.

- USA TODAY

College athletes studies guided toward 'major in eligibility'

Steven Cline left Kansas State University last spring with memories of two years as a starting defensive lineman for a major-college football team. He left with a diploma, credits toward a master's degree and a place on the 2007 Big 12 Conference all-academic team.

He also left with regrets about accomplishing all of this by majoring in social sciences — a program that drew 34% of the football team's juniors and seniors last season, compared with about 4% of all juniors and seniors at Kansas State. Cline says he found not-so-demanding courses that helped him have success in the classroom and on the field but did little for his dream of becoming a veterinarian.

"I realize I just wasted all my efforts in high school and college to get a social science degree," says Cline, who adds he did poorly in biology as a freshman, then chose what an athletics academic adviser told him would be an easier path.

His experience reflects how the NCAA's toughening of academic requirements for athletes has helped create an environment in which they are more likely to graduate than other students — but also more likely to be clustered in programs without the academic demands most students face.

Some athletes say they have pursued — or have been steered to — degree programs that helped keep them eligible for sports but didn't prepare them for post-sports careers.

"A major in eligibility, with a minor in beating the system," says C. Keith Harrison, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida, where he is associate director of the Institute of Diversity and Ethics in Sports.

- USA TODAY

Athletes' academic choices put advisers in tough balancing act

B. David Ridpath has a confession to make. As the athletics department's compliance director and liaison to academic services for athletes at Marshall from 1997 to 2001, he often told athletes to avoid tough majors if they wanted to play their sports.

"Academic advisers say that all the time," he says. "You'd do it in more subtle kinds of ways, but I have directly told kids myself, 'You can be in this major if you want to be, but if you want to play football, or want to play basketball, you may want to look at this major.' And that's what happens."

These days Ridpath is an assistant professor of sport administration at Ohio University and a member of the Drake Group, a national network of faculty members and others who advocate broad reform of college sports, particularly in terms of academic integrity.

"These kids are getting steered into these less rigorous majors, or majors with friendly faculty," Ridpath says. "I do admit I did it myself, and I'm ashamed of it, and I wish I'd never done it."

A USA TODAY study of the majors of juniors and seniors in football, men's basketball, women's basketball, baseball and softball at 142 of the NCAA's top-level schools shows athletes at many institutions clustering in certain majors, in some cases at rates highly disproportionate to those of all students.

- USA TODAY

D-III: Football's Purest Form

Here is an article from the San Antonio Express-News on Division III football. We hope you enjoy it.

“The whole point of Division III is that student-athletes can be real student-athletes and put academics first,” he said. “They can make education the highest priority while continuing to play sports.”

"On a sunny afternoon this fall, Sul Ross State quarterback Monte Morales completed 13 of 25 passes and ran for a touchdown as the Lobos beat Howard Payne 17-0 at Alpine's Jackson Field.

Less than 24 hours later, Morales started an overnight shift at High Frontier, a residential school for teenagers who are, according to its Web site, “experiencing a wide range of emotional, behavioral and educational problems.”

Morales works at the center, which is between Alpine and Fort Davis in the mountains of West Texas, three nights a week. And takes a full course load at Sul Ross. And practices every day with the football team, makes the bone-wearying bus trips of the American Southwest Conference and manages to have a small sliver of a life outside school and football.

“I'm dragging pretty much the whole week,” he said wearily. “It's pretty rough.”

But for a lot of young men, if they're going to play NCAA Division III football, it's life."

Read the complete story

Recent Campus SAAC Meetings

January, 2008 - NCAA
Sept. 7, 2008 - Gettysburg
Sept. 23, 2008 - Haverford