Football Gazette's Small College Football Blog

Don Hansen's Football Gazette Blog of information, comments, notes, and tidebits on Small College Football. NCAA 1-AA & Mid Major, Division II & Mid Major, Division III, NAIA, and NCCAA

Monday, June 19, 2006

News and notes from around college football for June 19, 2006

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Monday's Chalktalk

www.footballfoundation.com/news.php?id=895

Maxwell, Bednarik Watch Lists Include 64 Seniors

Two of college football's top individual awards, the Maxwell and the Bednarik Awards, included the names of 60 Division I-A standouts on their 2006 watch lists, as released by the Maxwell Football Club last week. Among those on the Bednarik watch list is last year's winner, linebacker Paul Posluszny of Penn State. Presented for the first time following the 1937 season to Yale's Clint Frank, the Maxwell Award honors the collegiate player of the year as voted on by the Maxwell Football Club. Forty-five past Maxwell winners grace the walls of the College Football Hall of Fame as enshrinees, while another two, Charlie Ward and Mike Rozier, will receive induction into the Hall at the NFF's 49th Annual Awards Dinner this December 5 in New York. The Bednarik Award, first handed out in 1995, annually recognizes the top college defensive player of the year. Both awards are among a full slate of honors presented during the Maxwell Football Club's Annual Awards Dinner following the season.

State of Delaware Joins NFF Family with 120th Chapter

More than 60 members of the newest chapter of the National Football Foundation, the Delaware Chapter, joined administrators from Delaware State University and the NFF in Dover on Tuesday to charter the first NFF chapter in the state of Delaware. Spearheaded by the leadership of Delaware State president Dr. Allen Sessoms, athletics director Chuck Bell and head coach Al Lavan, the chapter's formation now brings an NFF presence in the amateur football community to 47 states. Tuesday's event officially welcomed 64 of the 88 charter members into the NFF's ranks. "Bringing Delaware into the fold as our newest chapter represents a landmark moment in the growth of our organization," said NFF President Steve Hatchell.

Postseason a Familiar Refrain for Clemson & Miami (Fla.) in 05-06

Clemson and Miami (Fla.), two of the eight participants in this year's College World Series, were the only two schools of the octet who also appeared in postseason play in both football and men's basketball this season. Both the Tigers, who appeared in the Champs Sports Bowl against Colorado last December, and Miami, who faced LSU in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve, qualified for spots in the 2006 NIT basketball tournament. Overall, 15 schools secured a spot in the postseason in football, men's basketball and baseball this year. In addition to Clemson and Miami (Fla.), BCS bowl teams Florida State, Notre Dame and BCS national champions Texas also were among the 105 men's basketball teams and 64 baseball teams in NCAA postseason tournaments this year. Other bowl qualifiers reaching the postseason in all three this year include Alabama, Houston, Kansas, Michigan, NC State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, UCLA and Virginia.

Two-Minute Drill

The National Football Foundation will host a Celebrity Golf Classic on July 17 at Hawthorn Woods Country Club in Chicago to benefit the NFF's Play It Smart program. More information can be found at www.footballfoundation.com... Tulsa's Garrett Mills, a 2005 Draddy Trophy Finalist, received Conference USA's football scholar-athlete of the year award last year... Jerry Rice, a 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, will be the new host of "The Afternoon Blitz" radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio... Denise Konan, the chancellor at the University of Hawaii, was named the chairperson of the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors, the first women named in this post in the conference's 45-year history...

Former Iowa State quarterback Cris Love, who lettered for the Cyclones in both 2003 and 2004, died last week after battling cancer... Nebraska's football team will administer pills to a dozen players on their roster this summer that help track the body temperatures of each patient and transmit data to a hand-held recorder to help detect heat-related problems... An exhibit designer and a fundraiser were hired last week to help move along plans to build a new museum honoring former Grambling coach Eddie Robinson in Louisiana... A new documentary detailing the history of UCLA athletics, titled "Generations in Blue and Gold", is being co-produced by Bruins athletics director Dan Guerrero... Utah State teamed with Nike this offseason to redesign the uniforms for the Aggie football squad this season. The new uniforms will be on display in Utah State's season opener at Wyoming on September 2...

The Big 12 Conference distributed over $100 million to its member schools this year for the second consecutive year... Kansas expects their athletic budget for this year to top $41 million, a jump of more than 50% in just three years thanks to an aggressive fund-raising campaign... The Big Ten Conference will hold their annual Football Kickoff Luncheon on August 2nd in Chicago... The athletics department at the University of Alabama recently donated $1 million to the university's general scholarship fund... The Gator Bowl donated almost $40,000 last week, raised through a 5K Run and Parade, to Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville... The Emerald Bowl retained ISP Sports to serve as their exclusive sales representative...

Hall of Famer Dan Dierdorf will entertain the crowd this Thursday at the College Football Hall of Fame as part of the KeyBank Gridiron Legends Luncheon Series... Florida Citrus Sports will kick-off their 2006-07 Speaker Series this Friday in Orlando with Michigan coach Lloyd Carr... University of Houston football coach Art Briles and athletics director Dave Maggard began their annual summer Skeeter's Coaches Road Tour around the city last week to meet with Cougars fans... Washington State coach Bill Doba participated in the Wenatchee Valley Golf Classic last week as part of an annual golf tour to raise money for Cougar athletics...

Ole Miss and Memphis officially moved their season opener this year from Saturday, September 2 to 3:30 CT on Sunday, September 3... UCLA and Kansas State, who have never met on the gridiron, will shortly announce a home-and-home series for the 2009 and 2010 seasons... Ohio State and Toledo agreed to a two-game series, a game at Cleveland Browns Stadium in 2009 and one in Columbus in 2011... The annual Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn, along with all other primary rivalry games in the SEC, will now be played on Thanksgiving weekend thanks to a new rule passed by the conference last week... TCU's and Baylor's season-opener, originally scheduled for September 2 in Waco, will now be played on Sunday, September 3...

Arizona State will introduce approximately 150 "Sun Devil Laws" this year applying to both players and fans as part of their Pride in the Desert ad campaign... Cincinnati held the first of three open forums last week for fans to give their input on a series of upcoming athletic department initiatives, including tinkering with their Bearcat logo... UCLA's True Blue Celebration auction last Saturday to benefit the athletics department included a tailgate party for 50 at the Rose Bowl and deluxe ticket packages for the Bruins' game at Notre Dame this year... Fresno State auctioned off the opportunity to join football coaches and players for pregame introductions during their home opener against Nevada last week as part of their summer-long 100 Days to Bulldog Football Countdown... Penn State began their inaugural football fantasy camp last week, which gives fans the opportunity to live like a Penn State football player for four days... Oklahoma's Football Kicking Camp, taught this year by former Sooners Uwe Von Schamann and Scott Blanton, drew nearly 40 junior high and high school players to Norman...

Renovations at Stanford Stadium, begun immediately after their final home game last fall, are on pace to be completed just in time for their home opener against Navy on September 16... FieldTurf will be installed at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock this summer in time for Arkansas's games this year against Louisiana-Monroe and LSU... $18 million renovations taking place at Ohio State on the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for OSU football are scheduled to be completed in time for the start of preseason football camp... Colorado has opened discussions about returning the playing surface at Folsom Field to artificial turf...

Texas A&M AD Bill Byrne received recognition during the National Sportsmanship Awards banquet last weekend in St. Louis for his leadership in welcoming Tulane student-athletes to Aggies' athletics facilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Other honorees at the event, hosted by Bob Costas, included former Northern Illinois standout Hollis Thomas and former Memphis wide receiver Isaac Bruce... COSIDA named Louisiana-Monroe director of media relations Judy Wilson as their 2006 recipient of the Bob Kenworthy Award... Former New Mexico tight end Logan Hall and five other MBA students from New Mexico won the 2006 Cadillac Case Study Competition in Detroit last month...

Former Virginia Tech quarterback and 1991 Draddy Trophy Finalist Will Furrer was inducted into the Fork Union Military Academy Sports Hall of Fame last Thursday... Former Central Florida assistant coach Alan Gooch and linebacker Rick Hamilton will be among five former Golden Knights inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame this October... Former Notre Dame walk-on Michael Geddes received an honorary monogram from the school for his exceptional service to the university...

Longtime NCAA statistician Rick Campbell, who helped compile and edit the NCAA Football Records Book, retired after 20 years on the job... Former Linfield College head coach Jay Locey was named the new tight ends and running backs coach at Oregon State... Linfield College named Joe Smith as its new head coach... South Carolina State athletics director Charlene Johnson and football coach Buddy Pough both received multiyear contract extensions last week... North Carolina AD Dick Baddour received a two-year contract extension through 2009... Joe Glenn, the head coach at Wyoming, received a contract extension that will keep him in Laramie through the 2010 season... Maryland hired former Temple coach Phil Zacharias as their new running backs coach... Ball State head coach Brady Hoke added Sidney Powell and John Powers as assistant coaches... Mark Moroz joined his alma mater's staff at Wake Forest as the program's recruiting assistant... Gregory Christopher was named the new director of athletics at Bowling Green State... Tennessee extended the contract of athletics director Mike Hamilton through 2011... Ohio State hired Douglas Archie as its new assistant athletic director for compliance.

Schedule Spotlight: Pacific-10 Conference

Team - Date - First Opponent (Home/Away)

Arizona - September 2 - Brigham Young (H)

Arizona State - August 31 - Northern Arizona (H)

California - September 2 - Tennessee (A)

Oregon - September 2 - Stanford (H)

Oregon State - August 31 - Eastern Washington (H)

Stanford - September 2 - Oregon (A)

USC - September 2 - Arkansas (A)

UCLA - September 2 - Utah (H)
Washington - September 2 - San Jose State (H)

Washington State - September 2 - Auburn (A)

With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. The NFF presents the MacArthur Trophy, the Draddy Trophy and releases the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) Standings. NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, the NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and scholarships of over $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.

NFF Contacts

Phil Marwill.......................Director of Communications

Chris Caputo.....................Communications Assistant

22 Maple Avenue

Morristown, NJ 07960

973.829.1933 (phone)

www.footballfoundation.org