Shoes to Peru, Army changes policy and Big East TV deal - Jul 24, 2008
posted by: Howard
- Remember Ron Hunter, the IUPUI basketball coach who coached a game barefoot last season? Hunter's mission was to help raise awareness for Samaritan's Feet, a charitable organization that donates shoes to poverty-stricken kids around the world. He ultimately helped the group collect more than 150,000 pairs of shoes. Hunter was planning on leading a group of about 40 people to Nigeria to personally deliver shoes this summer. However, due to the current violent situation in the area, they will instead travel to Peru to give out the shoes. What a remarkable story, one that Hunter and the IUPUI community should be very proud of. President Brand discussed the importance of coaches giving back on his weekly podcast, Monday's with Myles.
- A few weeks ago, we talked about Army graduate and star football player Caleb Campbell and how his service requirement was being waived so that he could play with the NFL's Detroit Lions. Well, the day before Campbell was supposed to report to Lions training camp, Army changed its rule and is forcing Campbell serve for two years before he will be eligible to play football. Despite this tough break, Campbell has an unbelievably positive attitude about the situation: "When I got drafted, I told people that I was going to have the best of both worlds. I was going to be in the United States Army and I was going to have a chance to play professional football. Now, I have the best of one world and I'm very positive about that. It's all going to work out." What do you think about Army's decision to change this rule?
- The Big East Conference announced a new television partnership with regionally-based SNY to be the official home of the conference. This doesn't appear to be a Big 10 Network-like situation where viewing in the rest of the country would be more limited because the conference says that it plans to announce a continuation with its ESPN relationship in the near future. Do you think the Big East's partnership with SNY is good for the conference and college athletics in general?
- Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano currently has a 10-year contract with the school, but he has been in the news recently due to an unusual clause in the deal. If Schiano leaves the school before 2009, he will be forced to pay a $500,000 penalty, which is standard for many contracts. However, if a stadium expansion is not completed by that time, then Schiano can leave without any penalty. This seems like a great deal for Schiano and it puts a lot of pressure on the school to finish the construction in a timely fashion. What do you think of this clause in Schiano's contract?
- Las Vegas hosts the stars of high school basketball in four annual prestigious summer tournaments. Recruiting regulations by the NCAA, which are strictly enforced at the tournaments, help to combat the possibility for foul play. However, perhaps the bigger problem is what occurs outside of the gym where it is much tougher to monitor what is going on between the high school players and college coaches. To help combat this issue, the NCAA enforcement staff has a serious presence around the city, which helps ensure that coaches are staying within the recruitment rules.
