NCAA Endzone

The Hartford Courant is reporting that former Notre Dame QB Zach Frazier has narrowed his choice of schools to UConn and Cincinnati.

Frazier made a second visit to UConn this week, and his father says he’ll be making his decision on where to go within the next few days, based on his chance at playing time and his gut.

Who can really blame the kid for picking the school where he’ll be able to actually play? No football player worth his shoulder pads wants to sit on the bench. And after learning he would have virtually no chance to play at Notre Dame, Frazier barely hesitated in his decision to transfer to another school. I believe he’s serious about wanting to play and I wish him good luck wherever he goes.

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The NCAA Championship and Competition Cabinet decided yesterday to turn down a proposal related to drug testing.

The proposal would have expanded the NCAA’s testing for street drugs. Currently, the NCAA only tests for street drugs at championship events and that will not change. Factors affecting the rejection of the additional testing were extra costs (about $825,000) and the fact that most Division I schools and conferences are already testing for street drugs.

Stiff penalties for drug violations were also part of the proposal. First-time offenders would miss half the season; second offenders would have been banned for a year, and the third offense would have resulted in permanent ineligibility.

I think it’s good that this proposal did not pass. Schools should have the discretion to deal with some issues themselves, and certainly the NCAA regulates the daylights out of athletic programs already. It has to stop somewhere.

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Is it just that I’m new to the college football off-season, or does this blog feel like the neighborhood crime watch lately?

Samford defensive end Michael Hall, all of 20 years old, was arrested for bank robbery on Friday. Police found just over $18,000 when his vehicle was searched at the time of the arrest.

Even if he’s been dealing drugs for pocket change, that’s a crazy amount of money to have just lying around. Was he on his way to Samford to pay someone’s tuition when he got stopped?

Needless to say, he’s suspended from the football team. As he should be - bank robbery is a serious federal crime, and even the accusation must not be taken lightly. If he’s not guilty, then the justice system should bear that out; if he is. Whether he is or not, his life as he knew it is wrecked.

With college players recently being accused of serious crimes like murder and bank robbery, it makes one wonder if the NCAA will be forced to follow in the NFL’s footsteps and tighten up on personal conduct policies. Or will it be left to the individual colleges to determine punishment? It seems as if the time to act is now; otherwise, any reponse will be reactive, not proactive.

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The most exciting news in the college football world Monday was the discipline of 10 Penn State players for their involvement in an off-campus fight that left two people injured.

Yes, it was a slow news day.

Four of the players were expelled for the summer semester; they should be eligible to play in Penn State’s Sept. 1 opener. Two of those players, Anthony Scirrotto and Chris Baker, will go to trial in August for their roles in the fight.

Two of the other six players must undergo counseling and will be on permanent probation; the other four will be placed on probation for a year.

Three national championships in two years have helped secure the future for Florida’s athletic director.

The news broke on Friday that Jeremy Foley has agreed to an 11-year contract that will pay him up to $1.2 million each year, making him the highest-paid college athletic director. It also guarantees that the 54-year-old athletic director, who hired championship-winning coaches Billy Donovan and Urban Meyer, will be able to stay in Gainesville until retirement age.

Not too shabby for a guy who started out as an intern in the ticket office.

It seems weird to me that the athletic director would make less money than coaches do, since he is technically the boss of them. Isn’t the boss supposed to make more money than his employees? Guess I’ve been working in the civil service world too long.

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A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against New Mexico State on behalf of four Muslim football players was settled out of court on Thursday.

The four players alleged that there was religious discrimination within the football program and that their right to freely practice their religion was violated. They claimed coach Hal Mumme had them recite the Lord’s Prayer after practices and before games, and also that Muslim players were singled out.

The university did not admit wrongdoing in the case.

It has long been my opinion that people who are not Christians are inadvertently and openly discriminated against. The most obvious way is through Christian holidays; some people who celebrate them seem to not recognize that other religions have other holidays and seem unable to grasp that not everyone celebrates Christmas.

This country was founded by people seeking religious tolerance. Sometimes it takes a lawsuit to remind people that religious tolerance still needs to be practiced in daily life.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno says a revival of the Penn State-Pitt rivalry is not “realistic” due to financial concerns and the fact that Pitt is interested in an every-other-year playing arrangement.

Speaking of Penn State, two football players will stand trial in August for their roles in an off-campus fight. Anthony Scirrotto and Chris Baker will be expelled for the second summer semester beginning July 3.

Georgia Tech’s Rambling Wreck was actually wrecked this week. The 1930 Model A was being towed on a flatbed truck when the truck went into a ditch, causing the Wreck to fall on its side. School officials promise to have the car repaired in time for the Sept. 8 home opener.

Wide receiver Rodney Gray was dismissed from the Southern Miss football team for “rules violations and poor conduct.” Gray started three games last season and had 15 catches totaling 147 yards.

Indiana offensive coordinator Bill Lynch will serve as the university’s head coach for the 2007 season. He replaces Terry Hoeppner, who died earlier this week of a brain tumor.

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What a sad day it must be for the Hoosiers. Terry Hoeppner, hired as Indiana’s head football coach in 2004, has died of a brain tumor at age 59.

He only won 9 games during his time at Indiana, but those who knew him are saying he was nothing short of amazing.

“He has been a second father, a teacher and a friend,” said Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was coached by Hoeppner at Miami of Ohio. “He believed in me and I owe everything to him for where I am in life.”

Hoeppner’s first brain tumor was removed in December 2005. Then in September 2006, he found out there was another one.

Players didn’t know the severity of his illness until Tuesday. That to me says a lot about the man. Obviously he wanted the young men on his watch to do what they had to do, without the distraction his illness would certainly bring.

Along with the rest of the college football world, NCAA Endzone offers condolences to Hoeppner’s spouse, Jean, three children and four grandchildren.

Rivals.com had an interesting story about Colorado coach Dan Hawkins and his quarterback son Cody, who went 41-0 in his high school football career.

Cody, who was redshirted during Colorado’s 2-10 season in 2006, will be in a three-way competition for the starting quarterback position.

If he wins it, there will undoubtedly be some who think he got it because he’s the head coach’s son and a few of them will probably be tactless enough to say something to that effect. Others will be more fair than that.

There is pressure in college football, especially at the quarterback position, and one would think that playing on your dad’s team would add to that. To Cody’s credit, he seems to be looking forward to that overcoming that pressure.

The coach is under significant pressure as well. Having one’s son on the team certainly changes the dynamics, making the spotlight a little hotter. If your son gets seriously hurt, you’re right there when it happens and a decision will have to be made. Do you go to be with your son, or do you continue coaching? That’s not a decision I’d want to have to make, but it’s something you’d have to be prepared for. You’d also have to be prepared for the calls of favoritism that may or may not be true.

Hopefully both father and son have prepared themselves for the pressure and the pitfalls that come with being family in the college football environment. If they can handle it, more power to them.

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This news makes the Gators’ Brandons look like angels for buying pot.

Montana cornerback Jimmy Wilson is being held in Los Angeles County on a murder charge. His bail is $1 million. He is accused of shooting Kevin Smoot, 29, on June 2 during an incident at Smoot’s home. Smoot later died.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty in the good old U.S. of A. That being said, just the accusation makes me sick to my stomach. Whether he did it or not, that young man’s life is wrecked permanently. There is no going back.

It’s hard for the average Joe or Jane to comprehend the state of mind one would have to be in to actually shoot someone, let alone kill them. We just can’t wrap our minds around murder. Human life is sacred to just about everyone, and we all have people in our lives that we just can’t imagine living without. Just the thought that someone might take those people from us causes us great distress.

My heart goes out to the families involved in this mess. I’m sure they did nothing to deserve the pain that has entered their lives.

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The offseason drives me nuts.

I hate that there is a dearth of good blogging material. Things that wouldn’t even make a blip on my radar during football season suddenly become really interesting because there’s not much else going on.

Oklahoma giving its players two nutritional supplements with banned substances in them definitely wouldn’t be a blip on my radar normally. The school self-reported the violations of NCAA bylaws, basically admitting that they should have been more careful.

Well, duh.

Everyone makes mistakes. It’s not as if anyone can prove that the banned substances made the players bigger, faster, stronger. Slap the school on the hand for having silly staff members who don’t know how to check labels, and let’s move on to more important things such as football season.

The Associated Press reports that Florida Gators running back Brandon James and basketball player Brandon Powell bought some marijuana from a “confidential police source.”

Both of them were released on their own recognizance, which I get. That’s not unusual for first-time offenders on misdemeanor charges.

What I don’t get is why you would go out and buy drugs when you’re a well-known athlete, and you know you’re going to be in serious trouble with your coach and your school if you get caught. Maybe I’m just a goody two-shoes, but I can’t see any good reason to go there.

If they’re smart enough to be in college, they’re smart enough to know better. I hope they’re smart enough to hire a good lawyer.

I ran across this interesting article in the Orlando Sentinel about Florida Gators football coach Urban Meyer and his chances of moving on to a job in the National Football League. The writer didn’t talk to Meyer himself, but talked to many people who are close to him to establish that Meyer’s not going anywhere.

Articles like these are usually meant to quell rumors, but frequently wind up fueling the very fire they’re supposed to put out.

Every time I hear about a coach saying he won’t be moving on to another job, it seems like he does anyway. Alabama’s Nick Saban is a classic example of a coach saying one thing, then doing another. While still with the Miami Dolphins, he insisted he was staying there. Next thing you know, he’s in Alabama and picking out his new staff. How are you supposed to know which side of his mouth is speaking the truth?

I don’t think Urban Meyer will be moving on to the NFL anytime soon. I’m sure he wants to defend his national championship. However, I didn’t think Nick Saban was going to Alabama either. So this could be the first clue that Meyer’s on his way to higher ground. Time will tell.

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Quarterback Zach Frazier of Notre Dame has gotten permission to begin speaking to other schools.

Frazier began to investigate transfer opportunities when coach Charlie Weis recently named three quarterbacks as being in the running for the starting job vacated by Brady Quinn. Frazier was not on the list.

Frazier could switch to a Division I-AA program and begin playing right away. If he switches to a Division I-A school, he would have to sit out a year and would have three years of eligibility left.

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Loren Wade, 23, a former Arizona State running back, was convicted Thursday of murdering another former Arizona State player.

Wade was accused of shooting 25-year-old Brandon Falkner outside a Scottsdale, Arizona club. The shooting occurred after Wade saw Falkner speaking with his girlfriend.

Wade could face up to 22 years in prison. His sentencing date has not yet been announced.