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The AthleticManagement.com blog is a weekly collection of interviews and/or links to stories from around the country as they relate to a particular issue or time period. We welcome readers to submit thoughts and comments by clicking on the feedback button.

WEEKLY BLOG ARCHIVE

The Altitude of Your Attitude

By Dan Cardone

With a new school year upon us, now is the perfect time to analyze adjustments we can make in our behavior and attitude. From time to time, we all need to replace negative thinking with a fresh and positive outlook.

Signing On For Good Behavior

By Kenny Berkowitz

Last season, followers of the University of Maryland-Baltimore County men’s basketball team signed a student-fan code of conduct. Pledging to cheer positively and to represent the school with class and dignity, UMBC fans upheld the agreement and the team rewarded them with a fantastic season and a run to the NCAA Division I men's tournament.

Olympics Get Institutional Support

By Mike Phelps

As the world's finest athletes gather in China for the Beijing Olympics, representatives from high schools and collegiate athletic departments from across the U.S. will also be attending the games. Many will assist individual American teams, while another is set to officiate the men's soccer competition.

High School Association Roundup

By Mike Phelps

Across the country, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and high school state athletic associations have been working to prepare for the upcoming school year. Some have altered the rules that govern their respective sports, while one has welcomed eight inductees into its hall of fame. School isn't yet in session, but there's still plenty of work getting done.

Coming Back From Cuts

By Kyle Garratt

After eliminating its wrestling and men’s swimming and tennis programs for budgetary reasons in May, Arizona State University has reinstated two of the teams. The swimming program resurfaced after the program raised $1 million to cover operating costs for the next four seasons and the wrestling program has come up with an $8 million endowment, keeping the program alive indefinitely.

Two For One

By Dan Cardone

Have you ever had an athlete who wanted to play two sports during one season? Contributor Dan Cardone, Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., shares his philosophy on athletes playing multiple sports in a single season.

What Am I Doing this Summer?

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA

David Hoch, EdD, CMAA, Director of Athletics at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore County, Md., shares his approach for working productively during the summer months while at the same time getting the all-important battery recharge.

Cleared for Takeoff

By Nate Dougherty

Are your basketball coaches planning to take their teams abroad? Chances are the thought has at least crossed their minds. This travel primer discusses scheduling and logistical considerations that administrators should be aware of when helping coaches plan trips abroad.

Fighting For Control

By Dennis Read

The relationship between sports teams and the media has long been a complicated one. Daily coverage from newspapers, television, and radio drives interest in games while rights fees fuel most sporting organizations' financial engines. Media outlets would find a lot of dead air and blanks pages on their hands were it not for the games played by athletes at the high school, college and professional levels. But a recent addition to this equation has challenged existing rules, causing both sides to re-examine their place in this ongoing dance.

NACDA Honors ADs of the Year

By R.J. Anderson

As the 2008 National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) convention wrapped up on June 9, the organization announced the 29 winners of the AstroTurf Athletic Director of the Year Award (ADOY). Please join Athletic Management in congratulating all of the deserving recipients. And the winners are ...

Debating an Early Offer

By Christa Cardone and Dan Cardone

Contributor Dan Cardone, Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., and his daughter Christa Cardone, a recent graduate from the University of Kentucky, share their thoughts on a recent decision made by Kentucky Head Mens' Basketball Coach Billy Gillespie to offer a scholarship to an eighth grader.

Q&A with Dave Hart Jr.

On Dec. 31, Dave Hart Jr. stepped down as Athletic Director at Florida State University after 13 years at the school. Six months afterward, Hart will receive the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ highest honor—the James J. Corbett Award. The formal presentation will be made during a June 10 dinner at the NACDA Annual Convention in Dallas.

Skipping Specialization

By Nate Dougherty

In many places, the three-sport high school athlete is an endangered species. Whether it's fall baseball, indoor soccer in the winter, or summer volleyball leagues, more young athletes are being pressured into choosing one sport to play year round. This becomes especially important when college scholarships are on the line and student-athletes are more or less forced to pick one sport just to keep up with competitors.

Not at Home ... Continued

By Nate Dougherty

You may not have heard, but Rutgers University football dealt the University of Notre Dame a loss this spring. It wasn’t exactly on the football field, however. The two schools had been in discussion for a six game home-and-home series, and Notre Dame proposed for Rutgers to give up its home games to play in the yet-to-be-named new NFL stadium for the Jets and Giants. But Rutgers, which is in the process of expanding its current 41,500-seat stadium, didn’t like the idea of moving home games an hour north and ended the talks.

Fading Grades in Spotlight

By Nate Dougherty

For many schools, the news wasn’t good when the NCAA released Academic Progress Reports last week. But the APR is not the kind of report card schools can just hide from their parents to make the problem go away—the NCAA has slapped 218 teams with penalties ranging from warnings to reduced scholarships and recruiting and practice time.

Serving Up Controversy

By R.J. Anderson

The 2007 season at Horseheads (N.Y.) High School was certainly memorable. The Blue Raiders won their fourth straight Class AA Section IV championship and made it to the state tournament semifinals. But the team’s accomplishments weren’t what captured the most attention. Instead, the buzz centered on junior setter Kyle Ray, a boy on the girls’ team.

Testing the Waters

By Kenny Berkowitz

As school districts around the country consider drug tests for student-athletes, attention recently turned to Washington, where the state supreme court declared the Wahkiakum School District's random drug-testing program unconstitutional.

I am Being Discriminated Against

By Laura Ulrich

The cover story of Athletic Management’s April/May issue provided advice on creating an inclusive environment in your athletic department. We follow that story up with a blog this week on what to do when a staff member issues a complaint of discrimination.

Now Batting: Title IX

By Abigail Funk

As the spring sports seasons get underway, and with Title IX continuing to be a hot-button topic in high school and collegiate athletics, AthleticManagement.com takes a closer look at recent news stories about gender equity complaints involving softball facilities.

Questioning Authority: Part II

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone, Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa., also teaches a Program Planning Class that's part of the Sport Management curriculum at Robert Morris University. Here, he lists and answers the five most interesting—and challenging—questions he's received from his college students.

Questioning Authority

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone lists the five most-often asked questions he's received while teaching a Program Planning Class that's part of the Sport Management curriculum at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pa. Luckily for the class, and AM readers, Cardone also shares his answers.

Meet CoSIDA's New Executive Director

On March 1, John Humenik became the first ever Executive Director of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Recently, Humenik, who was previously the Sports Information Director at Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and most recently at the University of Florida, sat down with AM and shared his vision for CoSIDA as it deals with the challenges of new media and the 24-hour news cycle. He also addresses some common misconceptions athletic administrators may have about the sports information profession.

From Behind the Scenes to the Spotlight

March is National Athletic Trainers Month. Kelli Brewer Sabiston, Owner/Consultant at Atlantic Athletic Training Services in Shallotte, N.C., writes about this national recognition and shares her thoughts on how the profession fits in today's athletic culture.

Why Can’t My Daughter Try Out?

By Dan Cardone

Contributor Dan Cardone shares a recent anecdote about solving a conflict that came up when a student at his high school wanted to try out for both the softball team and the school musical.

California Cutting into Sports?

By Tim Herbst

California high schools are facing budget cuts as officials try to get the state's debt under control. As a result, athletic programs may be on the chopping block.

Ask Dan

By Dan Cardone

A big part of an athletic administrator's job is hiring coaches, and making the best selection from a pool of candidates is no easy task. But for contributor Dan Cardone, the process of finding the most qualified applicant is aided by a question-and-answer sheet that he evaluates using a quantifiable, objective grading system to rate each of the candidates' responses. After the jump, Cardone shares those questions and the grading criteria he follows.

Performance Enhancement Awareness

By Dave Ellis

We caught up with Dave Ellis, a frequent contributor to our sister publication, Training & Conditioning, on his way to Major League Baseball Spring Training to get his thoughts on the recent headlines involving performance enhancing drugs (PED). Ellis, a Registered Dietician and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, specializes in recovery nutrition, body composition and frame assessment, and is an advisor to many college and professional sports teams as well as U.S. Anti-Doping Association and the Professional Baseball Strength & Conditioning Coaches Society Advisory Board. Athletic Administrators will find his advice useful and appropriate to share with coaches, athletes, and athletic trainers.

Settling Up

By Abigail Funk

The NCAA recently settled a class action lawsuit filed by former student-athletes unhappy with the organization's scholarship cap bylaws. Reaction to the settlement, which is still tentative, is mixed.

Peer Press Clippings

By Nate Dougherty

Athletic directors have a hectic job to do, whether they’re hiring, firing, or retiring. Athletic Management keeps tabs on high school and college athletic directors who have been making news.

Grappling with Wrestling Injuries

By Dr. Dawn Comstock

Each month, The Center for Injury Research and Policy at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital provides our sister publication, Training & Conditioning, with an inside look at their studies of high school athletic injuries. In this blog, Dr. Dawn Comstock evaluates wrestling's high injury rates and provides information on how to lower these rates and the high treatment costs that go along with them.

Taking a Stand

By Abigail Funk

Fan behavior at high school basketball games is a continuing concern for athletic administrators, with negative incidents making headlines across the country. Here, we take a look at how athletic programs are handling the issue.

Bounced From the Bench

By Nate Dougherty

Bill Resler, former Head Girls’ Basketball Coach at Roosevelt (Wash.) High School is known for winning state championships with a teaching style that emphasizes having fun and letting players solve problems on their own. In 2005, his coaching methods were featured in a critically acclaimed documentary, but before the start of this season, Resler was fired for reasons that remain unclear.

NACDA Honors a Legend

By Julie Work

On December 18, 2007, The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) held the John McLendon Minority Athletics Administrators Awards Luncheon to honor achievements, increase awareness and opportunities in the field of administration, and raise funds for the John McLendon Minority Scholarship Fund. John B. McLendon was the last living protégé of basketball’s inventor, Dr, James Naismith, and one of the most influential coaches and administrators of the 20th century. His influence and legacy continues today.

On the Scene

By Dan Cardone

Frequent contributor Dan Cardone attended the 38th Annual National Conference of High School Athletic Directors, held last week in Nashville, Tenn. Here, he takes a look back at four successful days of learning, networking, and professional growth.

A Night to Remember

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA

Looking to improve your end-of-season athletic awards ceremonies and banquets? In this blog, David Hoch, EdD, CMAA, Athletic Director at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore County, Md., shares his thoughts on planning these important events.

Headliners

By Abigail Funk

Athletic directors are often both the face and the behind-the-scenes support of an athletic department, trying their best to keep things running smoothly. Decisions aren't always easy, and the pressure athletic directors feel on a daily basis often goes unnoticed by the public. Here, Athletic Management has put together a collection of links to recent newspaper stories featuring both high school and college athletic directors on the job.

Spring Forward to Winter

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone, Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. and frequent Athletic Management contributor, provides insight on the challenges of transitioning from the fall to winter sports seasons and how he approaches these important changes.

More Than MRSA

By Dawn Comstock

Recent media attention has athletes, coaches, and parents on edge about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, more commonly known as MRSA. However, despite growing awareness of this potentially life-threatening condition, many student athletes and parents may be unaware that MRSA is just the tip of the iceberg.

Full Steam Ahead

By Brian Gerrity

Brian Gerrity is a 2005 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he was a two-year captain and a 1,000-point scorer for the men’s basketball team. In 2006-07, Gerrity worked at Yale University as an intern in the varsity sports office, where he acted as contest manager for Yale’s nationally-ranked women’s soccer and women’s hockey programs. Gerrity has accepted a fellowship to attend Springfield College in the fall of 2007 to pursue a master’s degree in athletic administration. From time to time, he will share his experiences with AthleticManagement.com.

Labor Day weekend marked the beginning of my career as a graduate fellow and administrator at Springfield College. Although classes did not begin until after Labor Day, as part of my fellowship I was in charge of staffing and managing several contests over the holiday weekend. Springfield was hosting three tournaments—women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and field hockey. One of the aspects of my initial Springfield experience that I found very interesting was the requirement placed on students in athletic-related majors.

Crescent City Turnaround

By Kenny Berkowitz

At the start of 2007, Bernard Griffith was handling player development for the Dallas Mavericks, where his former high school player Avery Johnson has become one of the most successful coaches in the NBA. For two years, following Hurricane Katrina and the closing of the all-boys St. Augustine High School where he’d coached for 28 seasons, Griffith worked with the pros, reinforcing lessons about life and basketball fundamentals.

In August, he returned to New Orleans, where he coaches boy’s basketball and teaches economics at the newly re-opened Sarah Towles Reed High School. In this interview, Griffith talks about his adjustment to public school, the challenges of working in New Orleans, and his goals for the upcoming basketball season.

"Two A Days" Program Investigated

By Dennis Read

For the past two seasons, MTV chronicled the football season at Hoover High School in Birmingham, Ala., for a reality show called “Two A Days.” It turns out the network may have left a year too early, since this season the program at Hoover has become something of a soap opera.

Parents as Leaders

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone is Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a frequent contributor to Athletic Management.

Difference makers are people who follow through on their desires to take an athletic program in a forward direction. So who are these difference makers? They can be athletes, coaches, parents, administrative assistants, or administrators. They can also be maintenance and custodial staff members, booster club organizers—any person or group who helps the athletic department accomplish the goals that produce a positive environment for those participating in interscholastic athletics. These individuals or groups are team players who, as we say here at North Hills, “row in the same direction.” As an athletic director, I feel that it is my job to recognize, empower, and learn from these difference makers.

In my last blog, I covered how the principal of a high school can become a difference maker in his or her role as it relates to sports. This week we are going to look at how to involve parents in this important role.

Polk Pounds Baseball Pulpit

By R.J. Anderson

Recently, our offices received a letter from Ron Polk, Head Baseball Coach at Mississippi State University. The 18-page correspondence was mailed to 1,421 recipients, including presidents and athletic directors from NCAA Division I schools that sponsor baseball. It was largely an appeal for the NCAA to revisit—and eventually override—new rules slated to go into place over the next few years, specifically those regulating the Academic Progress Rate and scholarship restrictions for NCAA Division I baseball teams.

Following the letter's mailing, over 50 Division I schools submitted votes requesting an override for a portion of the recent legislation. Whether or not Polk's letter was responsible for a large percentage of the override votes remains to be seen, but by exceeding the 30-vote minimum requirement, the Division I Board of Directors is required to review the rule at its Nov. 1 meeting. The override centers on the minimum scholarship percentage requirement for baseball players.

Follow the link to read Polk's letter, and for analysis on both the letter and the legislation from around the country.

Heavy Metal Mayhem

By R.J. Anderson

There is a new wave of game-altering behavior hitting athletics fields this fall—one that has nothing to do with performance-enhancing substances or bone-jarring collisions. In a handful of states across the country, thieves are responding to historically high copper prices by trespassing onto outdoor athletics facilities' fields and stealing the copper wiring that conducts electricity to field lights and other electrical entities. It's a trend athletic directors should familiarize themselves with. It's also a good time to keep a more watchful eye on fields and lighting systems.

The Importance of Principals

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone is Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a frequent contributor to Athletic Management.

Difference makers are people who follow through on their desires to take an athletic program in a forward direction. So who are these difference makers? They can be athletes, coaches, parents, administrative assistants, or administrators. They can also be maintenance and custodial staff members, booster club organizers—any group or person who helps the athletic department accomplish the goals that make a positive environment for those participating in interscholastic athletics. These individuals or groups are team players who, as we say here at North Hills, “row in the same direction.”

Concussion Calculations

By Dawn Comstock

Dawn Comstock, PhD, is a principle investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Columbus Children’s Research Institute, Columbus Children’s Hospital. She is also an assistant professor at The Ohio State University in the College of Medicine and the College of Public Health. Her research interests include the epidemiology of sports, recreation, and leisure activity-related injuries among children and adolescents as well as the life-long health benefits associated with an active childhood. She can be reached at ComstocD@ccri.net.

Concussions, although often downplayed through the use of terms such as "having your bell rung,” “seeing stars,” or being “dinged,” are serious and relatively common injuries. Sustaining repeated concussions throughout an athletic career can result in lasting physical and mental impairment. In extreme situations, receiving multiple concussions in a short period of time can even lead to second impact syndrome, a serious and potentially fatal condition. In recent years, concussions have been brought to the national spotlight by former NFL stars such as Mike Webster and Larry Morris suffering from post concussion syndrome and dementia.

Officially An Issue

By Abigail Funk

As fall high school sports seasons get underway, the familiar team previews are all over local newspapers, along with home contest dates and reminders that student-athletes must have up-to-date physicals on file. But another type of headline has become just as familiar nationwide: those describing an officiating shortage.

Before the Upset

By R.J. Anderson

After defeating the University of Michigan in one of the greatest upsets in the history of college athletics, Appalachian State University Head Football Coach Jerry Moore and his school have become household names. At the end of last season—before Moore's face was plastered on every newspaper and television highlight show—he sat down and talked with our sister publication, Coaching Management, about his coaching philosophy, building a championship program, and his approach to scheduling NCAA Division I-A opponents.

Learning from Student-Athletes

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone is the Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a frequent contributor to Athletic Management.

Difference makers are people who follow through on their desires to take an athletic program in a forward direction. So who are these difference makers? They can be players, coaches, parents, secretaries, or administrators. They can also be maintenance and custodial staff, booster organizations—any group or person who helps the athletic department accomplish goals that make a positive environment for those participating in interscholastic athletics. These individuals or groups are team players who, as we say here at North Hills, “row in the same direction.”

As an athletic director, I feel that it is my job to recognize, empower, and learn from these difference makers. In my last blog, I wrote about coaches as difference makers and how at North Hills High School we produced a video documenting our coaches’ approach to the profession. In this installment, I’ll be covering how student-athletes can become difference makers on a team and in an athletic program.

A Call For Role Models

By David Hoch

David Hoch, EdD, CMAA, is the Athletic Director at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore County, Md. He is past President of the Maryland State Athletic Directors’ Association and a frequent contributor to Athletic Management. He can be reached at: dhoch@bcps.org.

In recent weeks, we have been inundated with newspaper articles and newscasts scrutinizing the behavior of professional athletes. The headlines have documented the legal problems of Michael Vick, Adam “Pacman” Jones, Terry “Tank” Johnson, and other athletes behaving poorly on and off the field. Many columnists attribute the bad behavior of today's athletes to the hip-hop culture, poor choices of friends, and a general lack of moral fiber. While I’m not a trained sociologist, and qualifying these theories is beyond my ability, I am still very concerned about the examples on and off the court and field these professionals are setting for student-athletes and how we as athletic administrators can counteract that culture of negativity.

Web Talking

By Laura Ulrich

When it comes to communicating about your athletic department, one thing is indisputable—technology has changed the landscape. That technology comes with some big upsides, like being able to quickly and inexpensively connect with fans and alums through Web sites and e-mails. But many athletic directors are also finding there is a downside to the world of new media: While you can use technology to spread your department’s message, others can use it to spin rumors and broadcast reputation-damaging falsehoods.

Building Credit

By Keith Manos

Keith Manos is a teacher, writer, and a coach. He is the author of:Wrestling Coach's Survival Guide: Practical Techniques and Materials for Building an Effective Program and a Winning Team, 101 Ways to Motivate Athletes, and Coach's and Athletic Director's Complete Book of Forms and Letters. He can be reached at: coachkm@sbcglobal.net.

With the start of a new school year and the fall sports seasons, part of an athletic director’s job is to reach out to those coaches who are new to the program. For some of these fresh faces, this season may be their first coaching opportunity. So with that in mind, Keith Manos provides a preseason primer for coaches on establishing credibility and gaining the confidence of players and parents during those important first weeks of the season.

Getting a Handle on Hazing

By Dr. David Hoch

David Hoch, EdD, is the Athletic Director at Loch Raven High School in Baltimore County, Md. He is past President of the Maryland State Athletic Directors’ Association and a frequent contributor to Athletic Management. He can be reached at: dhoch@bcps.org.

Last spring, a high school coach in the Baltimore metropolitan area was released from his position due to a hazing incident. Both the incident and subsequent coaching change made local headlines, and months later there was even a follow-up article on the situation. Unfortunately, in follow-up interviews, the coach still didn’t understand the significance of his actions, made excuses, and placed blame on the lack of administrative support.

In addition, the article featured quotes from a few misguided parents who rose to the coach’s defense. Both the coach and parents insisted that what took place was merely a bonding activity and that the coach was loved and respected by the athletes. The comments left me wondering how these people could be so blind and uninformed?

There Goes the Neighborhood?

By Kelly Povero

At Appleton (Wis.) West High School, the Terrors football team travels across town to play its home games at Lawrence University. Students attend some physical education classes off-site, and the city council calls the current facilities “unsafe and inadequate.” Despite these shortcomings, boosters’ dreams of building a new athletic complex have divided the district, school, and community.

Learning from Leaders

By Dan Cardone

Dan Cardone is the Athletic Director at North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a frequent contributor to Athletic Management.

Difference makers are people who follow through on their desires to take an athletic program in a forward direction. So who are an athletic program’s difference makers? They can be players, coaches, parents, secretaries, or administrators. They can also be maintenance and custodial staff, booster organizations—any person or group who helps the athletic department accomplish goals that make a positive environment for those participating in interscholastic athletics. These individuals or groups are team players who, as we say here at North Hills, “row in the same direction.”

As an athletic director, I feel that it is my job to recognize, empower, and learn from these difference makers. One group of difference makers that immediately comes to mind is our coaches.

Coaches are not only great teachers, they also have a high level of care and concern for the young people under their tutelage. Student athletes learn valuable life lessons while in our coach’s classroom—the fields and courts of the district. I have also found that coaches can learn many valuable lessons from each other. Recently, I decided to try a new approach to help facilitate the lesson-sharing process.

NFHS Wraps Up Summer Meeting

By Bruce Howard

Bruce Howard is Director of Publications and Communications for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

Key leaders in high school sports and activity programs gathered in Palm Desert, Calif., June 30-July 4 for the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) 88th annual Summer Meeting. About 600 delegates from NFHS-member state high school athletics/activities associations were in attendance at the five-day meeting held at the Desert Springs Marriott in Palm Desert.

NCAA’s Word on the Street

By Laura Ulrich

Colleges and universities are doing a fine job of monitoring their athletes for recreational drug use, and the NCAA doesn’t need to get involved in the effort. That was the decision made by an NCAA committee in June, when it shot down a proposal that would have had the association begin testing athletes for street drugs, including marijuana and cocaine.

Conferences Vie for Coverage

By Greg Scholand

The Big Ten Conference is no stranger to heated rivalries: Michigan vs. Ohio State ... Indiana vs. Purdue ... Minnesota vs. Wisconsin. Recently, a new one has cropped up, though don't expect fans to be painting their faces or donning giant foam fingers over this one: The Big Ten Network (BTN) vs. Comcast Cable.

CoSIDA Looking Golden at 50

By Nick Vista

Nick Vista was the CoSIDA President in 1981-82, and retired as Michigan State University Sports Information Director in 1988.

Members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) are observing the association's 50th anniversary with a celebration set to take place during its annual National Workshop in San Diego, June 30 through July 3. At the half-century mark, Sports Information Directors (SIDs) and their associates continue to serve as best friends to the nation's collegiate sports writers and television and radio sportscasters. They provide media members a direct and vital link to athletic directors, coaches, student-athletes, and top institutional officials.

Who Should Get In?

By Dennis Read

The issue of special admissions for college athletes is not new, and as long as schools with differing academic standards and missions meet on playing fields it will remain a hot-button topic. Nothing is more integral to a college than who makes up its student body, so any discussion of who should get in and why can easily become quite emotional.

On the Right Track

By Nate Dougherty

At the Alabama state high school track meet last month, Mallerie Badgett pulled off a feat any athlete would be proud of: She took home gold in four events—the 100 meters, 200 meters, 800 meters, and 1,600 meters. Though she raced alone in all four events, Badgett’s performance may help open doors for hundreds of other athletes in her home state.

The 18-year-old Oxford High School student, who was born with cerebral palsy and races in a wheelchair, became the first athlete to compete in the state’s wheelchair division. In March, Badgett and her father filed a federal lawsuit against the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) over the right to race alongside other athletes on the track. Though a judge ruled against them the day before the meet, the AHSAA had already opened four events to athletes in wheelchairs before the suit and expanded the number of events wheelchair athletes can compete in after the case. The association has also worked with the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs (AAASP) to provide more programs geared toward disabled athletes.

Buyout Breakdown

By Abigail Funk

Men’s basketball coaches’ salaries have been steadily increasing over the years and as schools are choosing to offer multi-year contracts with huge bonuses, they’re also including buyout clauses to deter new coaches from leaving before completing their contract (while making it tougher for other schools to lure coaches away). For example, last month, when restructuring Head Coach Reggie Theus’s contract and making him the highest paid coach in the Western Athletic Conference, New Mexico State University also included a buyout clause worth twice his salary if Theus leaves the program in the next two years.

Questioning the Code

By Kenny Berkowitz

At the start of the 2006-07 season, athletes and parents in Westbrook, Maine, began to question the fairness of their school’s code of conduct. According to rumors, much of the football team had been caught drinking alcohol at a preseason party, and though administrators had little information to share with the media, the principal confirmed that athletes had been barred from playing after violating the code.

Probing Pregnancy Participation Policies

By Laura Ulrich

Throughout the 2006-07 season, Fantasia Goodwin started every game for the Syracuse University women’s basketball team. However, during the team’s final game on Feb. 25, the six-foot guard watched from the bench. The reason: The night before, Goodwin had told Head Coach Quentin Hillsman that she was pregnant—and that she had been playing that way for many months. Goodwin sat out the last game, gave birth to a daughter eight weeks later, and then announced she intends to return to classes and to the team this fall.

The Great Divide

By Greg Scholand

As another school year winds down, discussions about the future of state high school athletic associations are heating up in several states. At issue is whether public and private schools should be governed by the same set of rules and compete for the same state championships.

Plowing a Path for Progress

By Abigail Funk

No one ever said climbing the athletic administration career ladder is easy. But what about trying to climb that ladder as a young woman during the introduction of Title IX? I recently had the chance to visit my alma mater and hear Dr. Donna Lopiano, Chief Executive Officer, and Tuti Scott, Chief External Relations Officer, of the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) talk about the experiences that helped shape their career paths in the early throes of Title IX.

Text Messaging Deleted

By Dennis Read

Come Aug. 1, NCAA Division I coaches may feel like they've entered a time machine. That's when a new ban on text messaging with recruits takes effect. Despite protests from coaching groups and a last-minute lobbying effort by the American Football Coaches Association, the Division I Board of Directors voted 13-3 in favor of the ban. This will return coaches to a time before text messaging when phone calls were the primary mode of communication and thumbs were safe from repetitive-use typing injuries.

Mourning and Moving Forward

By Dennis Read

The shootings of 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech certainly touched athletic administrators across the country. Beyond shock and sadness, each athletic director recognized that it easily could have been them facing the enormous tasks awaiting Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver. Although none of those killed were athletes or athletic department employees, the entire campus community was a victim as well as many people across the country with connections to Virginia Tech.

Title IX Tweaks Michigan's Seasons

By Abigail Funk

Big changes are ahead for high school sports in Michigan after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal from the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) to keep the state's girls' sports in their current season alignment. By this fall, the MHSAA must hold all its girls' sports during the same traditional seasons occupied by boys' sports. The change will affect athletic directors, coaches, officials, and more than 70,000 student-athletes, including participants in girls' basketball, girls' golf, girls' tennis, and girls' volleyball, as well as boys who play golf and tennis.

Tough Times at Toledo

By R.J. Anderson

Coaches, administrators, players, and many others at the University of Toledo are holding their collective breath as the details regarding an alleged point-shaving scandal continue to filter in. In the immediate fallout, Harvey “Scooter” McDougle, a running back on the football team, was charged with conspiracy to bribe sporting events. In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court, McDougle, who pleaded innocent to the charge, is also accused of recruiting other Toledo athletes to influence the final scores of football and basketball games.

Counting Calorie Costs

By Dave Ellis

The NCAA Division I rulebook seems to expand annually, and each year some of those changes involve training table or nutrition supplementation issues for student-athletes. In 2004, I asked a compliance officer at a major university to summarize all the food and nutritional supplement topics covered in the NCAA rule book. That synopsis turned into a 39 page report!

Everything from how much, when, what, and how often student-athletes can be fed or supplemented is tightly regulated. And yet something as fundamental as what constitutes a “meal” is very poorly defined.

Bat Battle Going Deep

By R.J. Anderson

On Wednesday, March 14, the New York City Council voted 40-6 to ban the use of metal baseball bats by the city's public high school teams. With the bill set to go before Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who could veto it, and a strong possibility that metal bat manufacturers would sue before the ban would take effect next fall, the issue remains very much up in the air.

In light of the New York City Council decision, Athletic Management has gathered stories and research examining debates on whether to ban metal bats at various league and state levels across the U.S.

'Roids Roundup

By R.J. Anderson

Performance enhancing substances continue to gather more and more negative publicity at every level of athletics. With news of new steroid investigations and indictments virtually every week, states and academic institutions across the country are stepping forward to find solutions to what some view as an epidemic. As a result, in the coming months, many high school student-athletes, as well as student-athletes at NCAA Division III schools, may find themselves having to prove that they're competing drug-free.

Costly Win for Vandy

By R.J. Anderson

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) recently fined Vanderbilt University $25,000 after the school's fans stormed the court following the men's basketball team's upset of then-top ranked University of Florida on Saturday, Feb. 16. The situation was exacerbated when CBS cameras showed footage of Florida freshman guard Brandon Powell striking a spectator who was rushing the court to celebrate.

Division III Examining Alternatives

By R.J. Anderson

With 420 members, and the potential to expand to 600 in 10 years time, growth within NCAA Division III is creating a competitive inequity that has many athletic directors and coaches searching for solutions. But what is the best solution? Some have suggested the NCAA create a subdivision within Division III, while others have proposed asking some schools to split off to form a fourth division. Critics argue that these types of moves could segregate schools based on their athletic prowess and leave smaller institutions (with great academic reputations) feeling as though they're being relegated to a lesser tier.

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