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NFHS Clarifies Red Card Rule

In a continued emphasis on improving sportsmanship, the "soft red" has been eliminated in high school soccer. Effective with the 2012-13 season, a second yellow card not only will disqualify a player, but the team will not be permitted to substitute for the disqualified player. Previously, a team was permitted to replace a player who had received a second yellow card.

UConn Hires Warde Manuel

The University of Connecticut has hired Warde Manuel as its new athletic director. Manuel, who had held the same position at the University at Buffalo for six years, was profiled by Athletic Management in this 2009 Q&A.

A Triathalon for NCAA-level Athletes

Lake Lure, N.C. is hosting the inaugural Collegiate Community Triathlon for college-level triathletes on Saturday, Mar. 31, 2012 at Rumbling Bald Resort. The overall goal of the exhibition event is to showcase collegiate triathlon as a future NCAA Emerging Sport for Women while creating an opportunity for current collegiate club triathletes, both males and females, to experience Team, Draft-Legal racing with their college peers.

A Pledge for Safety

The Minnesota Hockey Association recently announced a new movement: "Jack's Pledge," named in honor of a recently paralyzed high school player. The pledge encourages players and coaches to play and teach hockey as a skill sport, with less emphasis on violent play.

Jack Jablonski is 16-year-old junior varsity hockey player at Benilde St. Margaret's in Minneapolis, Minn., who suffered two broken vertebra and a severed spinal cord and is paralyzed from the neck down after a check from behind sent him headfirst into the boards on Dec. 30. Jablonski had unsuccessful spinal surgery on Jan. 5, and the prognosis is that he will be confined to a wheelchair.

One day prior to Jablonski's surgery, the Minnesota Hockey Association announced the formation of "Jack's Pledge: Playing Hockey the Right Way." The program is designed to encourage players and coaches to commit to minimizing violence and enhancing safety in hockey. According to Minnesota Hockey, by taking Jack's Pledge, players and coaches

"commit to knowing the rules of hockey and playing by a strict interpretation of the rules. Players pledge to do their best to avoid penalties and situations that lead to dangerous play and unsafe situations. Coaches commit to teaching the rules of hockey, promoting strategies that minimize risk to ALL players and emphasizing clean play and a safe environment."

Maturi to Retire

University of Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi announced Thursday that he will step down this summer after his contract expires. Athletic Management profiled Maturi in a 2008 article.

A polarizing figure in the Minnesota area, under Maturi, the Gophers never achieved the success in football and men's basketball that many fans longed for. However, there were national championships in men's and women's hockey and wrestling and during Maturi's tenure. And the athletic program never had a major NCAA violation.

When he was hired in 2002, Maturi inherited a men's basketball program still dealing with the fallout from an academic fraud scandal that cost the team scholarships and vacated its 1997 Final Four appearance. Also, the department was leaking money and was projected to be $31 million in debt by 2008. Three sports were on the chopping block. And upper-level administrators had decided to combine the men's and women's athletic programs, which had always been separate entities.

Within a year, Maturi balanced the budget and saved those three teams. He merged the men's and women's departments more smoothly than anyone thought possible. And he has maintained broad-based success, as the Gophers have finished in the top 25 of the NACDA Directors Cup standings in each of Maturi's years as Athletic Director.

In figures released by the university last fall, the overall graduation success rate for all Gophers sports reached an all-time high of 80 percent, up from 67 percent in 2005. During that time, the football team's rate jumped from 41 percent to 59 percent.

At Thursday's press conference Maturi said he's more tired these days, not as able to endure the 14 to 16 hour workdays as he once was. He said retirement will allow him to spend more time with his wife, his children, and his grandchildren.

A Day to Celebrate

Wednesday is National Girls and Women in Sports Day and the National Women's Law Center is hosting a "blog carnival" to honor women, girls, and the role of sports in their lives. Whether you're looking to contribute a story about how athletics has helped you or a woman or girl that you know, or just want to read submissions on the topic from around the country, you can find the blog collection here.

NCAA's Top Ref Has Seen Enough

John Adams, the NCAA's National Officiating Coordinator recently sent out a memo to Division I basketball referees imploring them to enforce sportsmanship rules. After attending a number of games in person and watching many others on television, Adams grew frustrated at seeing game officials fail to penalize players and coaches for what he saw as blatant violations of Rule 10, Section 5 of the NCAA college basketball rulebook.

"...I have watched quite a few games in person and on TV, and I have had numerous discussions with the Regional Advisors, and the common theme in too many of the games we have observed is 'officials are reluctant to enforce Rule 10, Section 5," Adams wrote. "This section deals with Unsporting Technical Infractions committed by players, substitutes, and bench personnel, including head coaches.
"The section is well written, not ambiguous and clearly outlines what is unacceptable behavior," he added. "Section 5 clearly and unambiguously spells out the prescribed penalty(s) for violating this rule.

"In games I have attended, I have noticed minor unsporting indiscretions between opposing players, go unnoticed by officiating crews and invariably, these unnoticed acts later turn into much bigger problems," continued Adams. "Pay attention to the interactions of opposing players. Use preventative officiating to head off bigger problems BUT also have very low tolerance for players who violate Article 1, especially when it comes to taunting, baiting, using profanity or threatening gestures towards opponents. You should have a very low tolerance for players who use profanity towards officials or who "wave you off" after a call etc.

"These types of actions call for Technical fouls. Call them! Your coordinators and commissioners will support you."

You can read Adams complete memo, here.

Sportsmanship Video Targets Fans

Watch a larger version of the video at: "View Blog".

Created by students and produced by the Boston College athletics department in collaboration with school's Center for Student Formation, a new video encourages improved sportsmanship at on-campus athletic events. The video is part of a larger social media campaign addressing the topic of fan behavior.

"We want to look at how we can get students involved with tackling some of the challenges that we face relative to sportsmanship overall," Associate Athletics Director for External Relations James Di Loreto told the Boston College Chronicle. "It's not just a BC issue, it's a universal challenge. We want to get students engaged in helping us plan the creative part of this. We are going to invest in and support initiatives created by students and make a campaign around inspirational videos about what it means to be a BC student."

"The goal is for us to get creative and to have students get engaged in a competition to produce videos to highlight some of the things that happen on our campus," Di Loreto added, "and to improve some of the ways that folks sometimes act at games."

According to Di Loreto, student involvement is key to the program's success.

"Knowing that our target audience is students, we thought that having students putting the whole project together--with us advising and supporting them throughout--would be one of the better ways to make it successful," he said.

NFHS Honors Top Coaches

Twenty high school coaches from across the country have been selected 2011 National Coaches of the Year by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association. Go inside our blog to see the names of the 2010-11 winners.

Dress the Part

Each year, basketball teams across the country raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund by wearing pink and completing fundraisers from February 10- 20. This year, tie manufacturer, The Knot, is offering the "Play 4Kay" pink bow tie and will donate 100 percent of sales to the fund to help in the fight against breast cancer.

You can purchase the $35-dollar "Play 4Kay" pink bow tie here. The company will also accept payment from college athletic departments directly through PayPal or via check. Contact them at: theknotco @ gmail.com for more information.

The company is co-owned by Brian Gerrity, Assistant Athletic Director for External Relations at the University of Hartford and a contributor to Athletic Management. You can follow Gerrity on Twitter at: www.Twitter.com/briangerrity. To read more about the mission of the Kay Yow Cancer Fund and the Play 4Kay basketball events, go to: www.kayyow.com.