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News and Notes

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Judge sends message to the NCAA: "No more SAT!"

302 NCAA Division I programs were cast adrift in a boat without a rudder or sail by a decision that sent shock waves throughout all of college football. U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Buckwalter ruled that the NCAA and its institutions may not use a minimum test score as a basis for eligibility. However, on March 31, an appeals court issued a temporary stay order to halt the imposition of the judge's ruling which would have completely disallowed the use of SAT scores as a basis of eligibility. The appeals court basically said that it would allow the rule to stand during the spring recruiting period, while the court considers the appeal.

The case was filed by four athletes that were denied admission to D-I schools as a result of the NCAA eligibility requirements that mandate a minimum of 820 on the SAT. This rule is known as Proposition 16. The judge said the rule had an, ". . . unjustified disparate impact on African-Americans." Judge Buckwalter said no more of this unfair practice and, for all intents and purposes, decided that each school was able to determine for itself its own admissions policies.

Proposition 16 states that an athlete must have scored at least 820 on the SAT. In 1998, the average score of the 1.2 million youngsters who took the test was 1,017. The highest possible score is 1,600 irrespective of his high school grades (for example, two of the plaintiffs finished 27th and 5th respectively in their high school graduating classes).

It is universally accepted that certain minorities do not score as well as other groups on the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). Further, the NCAA's own research indicates that the practical application of Proposition 16 adversely effected black athletes' chances of being declared eligible more than other minorities or Caucasians. These factors and others led the judge to decide to throw out the whole system.

Fry jumps into the fire with new autobiography

Legendary head Hawkeye, Hayden Fry, less than three months into retirement, announced his new autobiography, Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic. Fry says that considering his career, the title of the book is more than appropriate. "It simply means having a great time," said Fry.

The book, written with former Iowa sports information director, George Wine, reflects back on Fry's wonderful 37-year career at SMU, North Texas and Iowa, and the games and players that made his life so special. Fry candidly talks about his childhood growing up in Odessa, Texas, leading his high school team to a state title, his college career at Baylor, and his years in the Marines. But, some of the best stories involve Fry's heroic recruitment of Jerry Levias as the first black football player in the old Southwestern Conference.

While the book details the many highs of Fry's life, one potential low was laughed off by Fry in his typical good-natured way. "When the producers of the TV show "Coach" began the show. . . ," (the show and its lead character Hayden Fox were loosely based on Fry and his Iowa program). "They offered me a royalty. I read through the contract and said, 'If its done tastefully, you don't owe me anything.' I never dreamed it would go on for 10 years plus reruns. . . if I had just a half of one percent, I could have said adios a long time ago."

NFL takes and option on the Arena League. . ."It's good for football at all levels."

On Feb. 8, 1999 commissioner David Baker of the Arena Football League announced that the NFL acquired an exclusive option to purchase up to 49.9 percent of the AFL. The option can be exercised over the next three years, and is subject to the approval of NFL owners.

"Our goal is to support football at all levels," said NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. "An interest in the Arena Football League would enhance our stake in the future of the game, both in the United States and internationally."

"The NFL is the preeminent sports organization in the world," said Baker. "It is an honor to work together to further the vision of year-round, worldwide football for a new generation of fans."

Baker commented on the NFL-AFL alliance, "The goal of the association is to ensure the future of football at all levels, which includes promoting interest in small to medium-sized markets, developing football as a year-round sport, and supporting grass-roots participation in the game."

Vike's coordinator, Chip Myers, dies less than a month after getting his dream job

The Minnesota Vikings were dealt a severe blow just a month after completing one of the franchise's most successful campaigns when newly-appointed offensive coordinator Chip Myers suddenly passed away from a heart attack. Myers, named the Vikes' OC after Brian Billick left to become the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, died after returning home from the NFL scouting combine on February 23.

Myers, a 14-year NFL coaching veteran with five (Tampa Bay, Indianapolis, New York Jets, New Orleans and Minnesota) different teams, had just ascended to the top spot of the Vikings' offense after serving for three years as WR coach and this past year as the QB coach.

He was known to his players and colleagues as great coach, dedicated and loyal friend, and an even better man. One of the stories that most who knew him believe sums up Chip Myers was told by CNN/SI NFL Insider Pat Kirwan, in his cnnsi.com column, Remembering Chip Myers. Kirwan told of the time in 1994 when Myers left the Jets and looked unsuccessfully for another job in the league. The only job he could find was as a "volunteer" quality-control coach for the Saints. Soon after Myers took the job with New Orleans, Dennis Green called and offered him a well-paying job as the WR coach for the Vikings. Myers turned it down because he had given his word that he would stay with the Saints for one season. His word meant more to him than the money in Minnesota. Those who knew him well never forgot this incident, nor did Dennis Green, who offered him the job again after the season was over.

Myers will be missed by his family, the Vikings and the entire football world.

Arena Football League announces the formation of a minor league to begin play in 2000

As part of its strategic development plan for the next millennium to deliver football to small and medium-sized arenas and communities, the Arena Football League (AFL) Board of Directors voted to establish "arenafootball2[TM]" or "af2[TM]" initially as a two-division minor-league beginning in April of 2000, announced AFL Commissioner David Baker.

"We are thrilled to be able to extend an affordable and fan-friendly football experience to markets that others can only reach indirectly," said Commissioner Baker. "There are 152 minor-league hockey teams throughout the United States and within the next decade our goal is that there will be at least that many arenafootball2 teams as an off-season summer complement."

The initiative for creating and operating a minor-league system ­ similar to Triple-A class baseball ­ is part of the "Arena Football 2000[TM]" 10-year strategic plan for league development for the next millennium that includes domestic, international, and youth football initiatives.

Few adjustments made in NCAA rules for 1999 season

Changes in the penalties for holding behind the neutral zone and intentional grounding were among just a handful of adjustments approved by the NCAA Football Rules Committee for the 1999 season.

The committee, chaired by University of Georgia athletics director Vince Dooley, met February 15-17 in San Diego, California. "This was the fewest number of rules changes approved during my seven-year tenure on the Football Rules Committee," Dooley said. "I believe that is a strong indication that coaches and officials are very satisfied with the rules. The changes that were made were minor ones."

Holding behind the neutral zone will be penalized 10 yards from the previous spot of the ball. The current rule, which went into effect in 1991, penalized the offending team 10 yards from the spot of the foul.

Intentional grounding will result in a penalty of loss of down at the spot of the foul, rather than the existing rule of loss of down and a five-yard assessment from the spot of the foul. That rule has been unchanged since 1949.

"The committee considered the difficulty for an offense to keep a drive alive if it commits one of these penalties," Dooley said. "These changes may make them not as damaging."

Among the other changes:

Visible bandannas will be considered a uniform attachment, which is illegal, teams may not break a huddle with 12 or more players; and dead-ball fouls by both teams that are considered to be part of a continuing action or of a retaliatory nature ­ and that are reported at the same time ­ will be canceled and the penalties disregarded, except that any disqualified player must leave the game.

The committee also identified as points of emphasis for 1999 rules regarding players properly wearing all mandatory equipment, particularly knee pads and mouthpieces, and the continuation of the teaching and implementation of proper blocking techniques in game situations.

In addition, the implementation date for a previously-approved rule stating that all gloves or hand pads worn by players must be gray was changed by one year to August 1, 2000. When the rule was passed in 1998, the effective date was set as August 1, 1999.

Girl signs football scholarship

National signing day saw a first; a girl signed a football grant-in-aid. NCAA officials say they know of no other female signing a football scholarship in history. The Riverdale (Ga.) HS place-kicker, Tonya Butler inked her name to play next fall for Middle Georgia, a junior college.

This was no publicity stunt by the school. Butler made 64 of 65 extra point attempts and was 7-for-12 on field goal tries. She helped Riverdale make it to the Georgia Class AAA semifinals.

The Associated Press reported that Butler said, "I always wondered if this day would ever come for me," as she signed the historic documents. "I'm just so thankful that Middle Georgia gave me this opportunity."

The 5-foot-6, 125-pound Butler was a three-year starter and was no fluke or "flash in the pan." She's a legitimately good high school kicker. Her longest field goal was 39 yards, but she has kicked longer ones during practice. And, she became the first woman elected to the Georgia All-State team.

Her hope is to perform well enough at Middle Georgia to move on to a Division I school in two years.

Bama to move games out of Birmingham

The University of Alabama is making a move. The school has agreed to pay the city of Birmingham more than $1 million to move three home games over the next three seasons from Birmingham's Legion field to Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, the on-campus home of the Crimson Tide. With $35 million in renovations completed at Bryant-Denny, the facility now seats 83,817 and has 81 luxury boxes-which is why the Tide is making the move to switch all future SEC games to Bryant-Denny. Birmingham's Legion Field, long the site for most of the Tide's biggest SEC games, will be phased out gradually. Alabama coaches feel it's a tremendous recruiting edge to have games on campus rather than 60 miles away in Birmingham.

Staff Meetings. . . *

1998 was not a good year for job stability at the top of the 30 NFL teams as eight teams changed head coaches (27% of the total head coaches in the game).

Six coaches lost their jobs (Ray Rhodes, Dom Capers, Ted Marchibroda, Dave Wannstedt, Dennis Erickson, Kevin Gilbride. . . dismissed early in the season), and two resigned (Mike Holmgren, Marty Schottenheimer. . . actually, another coach June Jones resigned as interim head man at San Diego). Also, the addition of the expansion Cleveland Browns created another job opening, filled by Jacksonville offensive coordinator, Chris Palmer.

What effect did these nine hirings have on the complexion of NFL staffs? Prior to the start of the 1998 season, there were 383 assistant coaches in the league (this number excludes strength & conditioning coaches). There were an average of 12.8 coaches per team, with the Broncos and Lions leading the league with 15 each, and Pittsburgh employing the fewest with only 10.

After the 1998 season and the eight coaching changes (not counting Cleveland), there were 83 jobs that changed in the assistant ranks, or put another way 22% of the total job pool was altered, or an average of 2.76 new coaches per team. Many of these coaches simply changed from one team to another, such as John Marshall going from San Francisco as the DC to re-join George Siefert at Carolina; or Jim McNally going from Carolina to the New York Giants in the same capacity as OL coach, while others came from the college game, such as Louisiana Tech's head coach Gary Crowton, who was hired to be the OC of the Bears (interesting was the fact that the Bears led all teams in hiring assistants from the college ranks with 5).

The teams with new head coaches led the way in number of changes per team (Chicago 11, Green Bay 11, Seattle 8, Baltimore 7, Carolina 7, Kansas City 6, Philadelphia 5, San Diego 5. . . and brand new Cleveland hired 10 full-time assistants). Whereas, some teams were able to keep their entire staff intact (Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, New York Jets and Tampa Bay).

Counting Cleveland, there were 93 jobs that changed hands. That's a lot of families moving, new schools to attend, moving vans to fill and new bosses to work for. But, such is the life of an assistant coach.

*Numbers as of March 1, 1999

Money Talk. . .

NFL assistants are near the top of the feeding chain in the football coaching world. The following is a break down of what assistants are paid with a high, low and average salary for each position:

Offensive coordinator

High: $525,000
Average: $250,000
Low: $170,000

QB coach

High: $220,000
Average: $154,000
Low: $100,000

RB Coach

High: $225,000
Average: $145,000
Low: $90,000

OL Coach

High: $325,000
Average: $201,000
Low: $125,000

WR Coach

High: $220,000
Average: $170,000
Low: $110,000

TE Coach

High: $195,000
Average: $138,000
Low: $90,000

Defensive coordinator

High: $450,000
Average: $266,000
Low: $178,000

DL Coach

High: $220,000
Average: $167,000
Low: $125,000

LB Coach

High: $225,000
Average: $152,000
Low: $90,000

DB Coach

High: $215,000
Average: $160,000
Low: $110,000

Special Teams coordinator

High: $240,000
Average: $168,000
Low: $110,000

Quality Control Coach

High: $142,000
Average: $95,000
Low: $26,000






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