= THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL30, 2003
Okla. State discovers mysterious transfer
By Mary Henderson Daily O'Collegian via U-wire Oklahoma State University
STILLWATER, Okla. — A transfer of $2.5 million into an athletic account was unknown by the Oklahoma State Faculty Council budget committee until it was discovered in early April after the transfer was made.
Edward Lawry, Faculty Council chairman, was at the meeting. He said the situation was resolved.
Scott Gelfand, assistant professor of philosophy and budget committee chairman for Faculty Council, discovered the transfer and, along with other faculty members, met with David Bosserman, interim vice president for business and finance, and Joe Weaver, assistant vice president for planning, budget and institutional research.
"The administration told us that the money would be transferred out of the account," Lawry said.
Bosserman said because of the faculty concerns, the money had been reversed out of the account. The money was originally transferred out of an Institutional Plant Fund account, which is a reserve account for the university.
Bosserman said he also planned to meet with the budget committee of the Faculty Council and go over the charges to explain more of why the fund transfer occurred.
Chuck Edgley, head of the
sociology department, was also at the meeting. He said the transfer showed the Faculty Council that athletics had not been running in the black as they previously had understood.
"The cost of running athletic programs are always going to be more expensive than athletics brings into the systems," Edgley said.
There is an annual allocation of $968,000 from the university to athletic funds. This payment is for general university use of athletic facilities that are not athlete-related.
These events include commencement or Spring Sing in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Carol Moder, Faculty Council vice chairwoman and head of the English department, said the allocation also paid for community use of the facilities.
"The amount of $968,000 is from a formula of usage of the facilities." Moder said. "It has been a yearly allocation."
Edgley said whenever criticisms of expenses in athletics arose, the response that usually came was that athletics raised the money itself and it was private money, making it none of anyone's business what it did with the money.
"Then when we find out that the university is actually supporting athletics expenses in all sorts of ways, including ways that delete their deficits, it is especially troubling," Edgley said.
Tech stadium to be ready for opener
By Matthew Muench University Daily via U-wire Texas Tech University
LUBBOCK, Texas — On schedule are two words not usually uttered by Texas Tech officials when speaking about the renovation of Jones SBC Stadium. That is not the case anymore, said Cindy Rugeley, vice chancellor for News and Publications.
"Everything is on schedule, and it should be done by the first home game," she said. "The only thing that will be left is some brickwork and cleanup. But unless something terrible goes wrong, everything should be done by the first home game."
Tech opens the season Aug. 30 at home against Southern Methodist.
Robert Cameron, project manager, said the stadium should be operational by the opening kickoff.
"It will be operational," he said. "It is gorgeous. The view is fantastic. Everyone that goes up there is incredibly impressed."
The iron and steel work of the 175,000-square-foot building was finished last summer; remodeling is the only remaining task.
Viewers will notice windows and bricks are being put in place, and the 175,000 square feet at the top of the stadium that includes a working press box,47 luxury
seats and 1.1 12 club-level seats. It reaches a height of about 150 feet.
He said there was a lot of brickwork, but he did not know a number.
"I couldn't tell you," he said. "Thousands and thousands of square feet."
Cameron also said the field lights were almost all in place.
The construction of the new football training facility on the practice fields east of the stadium is part of the final phase. That construction is under way and close to completion, he said.
The 57,500-square-foot facility will include a hall of fame, lounges, locker rooms, weight rooms and offices for the coaching staff.
"It is coming along very nicely," he said. "It will be operational for the first game unless something falls apart or blows up on us," he said. "They will move into the building by late July, early August."
Cameron said the stadium would be unique from all others across the globe because no other stadium had the renaissance-Spanish style that Jones SBC Stadium adorns.
"There will not be a stadium like it in the world," he said. "In that retrospect, it would one of a kind."
Tech athletics director Gerald Myers returned phone calls but was unable to be reached again for comment.
Demise of Big East could aid Big Ten
By Wade Malcolm
By Wade Malcolm
Daily Collegian via U-wire
Pennsylvania State University
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Integrating a 12 into the Big Ten logo ought to be more difficult than the current 11 spliced into the conference symbol.
But if rumors of the Big East's demise hold any weight, it should cause some reshuffling in college football's hierarchy and aid the Big Ten in adding a 12th school to the conference. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese thinks the Atlantic Coast Conference has approached four Big East teams — Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech — about joining their conference, and he's not happy about it.
April 19 New York Daily News article. "They're a bunch of hypocrites. They operate in the dark. They'll never acknowledge this, but I'm aware the ACC for the last couple of years, without ever picking up the phone or calling me, has basically gone out and tried to convince our teams to enter their league."
"I have no use for the ACC right now," Tranhese said in an
The ACC, much like the Big Ten, covets expansion because having 12 football teams would allow the league to have two divisions and a lucrative post-season conference championship game.
These games are also helpful to teams looking to improve in Bowl Championship Series standings by providing them with an added opportunity to move up in the polls, face a quality opponent, and improve their strength of schedule, all
of which are factored into the current BCS formula.
The Big Ten has looked for new members that would enhance the conference's reputation, rather than getting any 12th school only for the sake a championship game.
"I want the impact on the Big Ten to be at least as much as when Penn State came into the league," Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said at conference media day last fall.
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno mentioned that he would like to see a school added to the Big Ten.
"I would like to see us have another team in the Big Ten, period," he said last season. "I would like to see us have 12 teams. If they would want to come East and get Syracuse, Rutgers or Pitt, I wouldn't have any problem with that."
The schools, which the Big East has accused the ACC of courting, say they are content to be members of the Big East at the moment, but if Miami were to leave the conference, that stance could change.
The Miami Herald has reported Miami has essentially reciprocated and would have interest in the ACC if Boston College were to leave the Big East—a departure that would significantly weaken the conference.
ACC commissioner John Swofford said that his league had always talked about expansion, and in response to the comments made by Tranghese, Swofford said they were "unfortunate." Tranghese said he had no plans to change the conference, only to promote unity within.