30
NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KANSAN.COM
REALIGNMENT
Conference changes affect academics
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
As much as conference realignment was driven by financial aspects, one thing was always mentioned about the appeal of the Big Ten beyond the television revenue: the academic reputation of the conference. The academic side was never a real motivating factor in realignment talks, but it will be affected nonetheless.
The Big Ten is recognized as the strongest academically of the six BCS conferences, largely because of the presence of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which
serves as a sister organization to the conference, linking the schools academically as the conference does athletically.
"The Big 12 doesn't have quite the developed academic side that the Big Ten does," said Jack Martin, deputy director of University relations at Kansas. "There have been increased connections between schools in the conference, but there's no formal organization like the CIC."
"It was something that we were hoping could be devised within the Big 12," she said, "but the rest of the conference never seemed interested or it never came together to the degree at which the Big Ten operates."
The University of Nebraska is the only school making the leap from the Big 12 to the Big Ten, but several others were reportedly interested before the Big 12 managed to hold together at the eleventh hour.
Kelly Bartling, manager of news at Nebraska, did not go as far as saying academics were a driving factor, but she did express disappointment that no organization like the CIC ever grew from the Big 12.
Bartling said the Big 12 did have academic collaborations with faculty, students and research being exchanged among schools, but that the CIC was a much more formal
arrangement.
Ann Brill, Dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, said she was disappointed McCoy was no longer coming to Kansas, but did not know if it was related to conference realignment.
Nebraska associate professor of journalism Bernard McCoy, a Kansas alumnus, was going to come teach at Kansas next year, but has recently decided not to.
"The note that I got from Professor McCoy just said that the funding wasn't there," Brill said. "Mike Williams told me it was related to the Big 12 realignment. All I know is
that the professor that we were interested in isn't coming anymore."
Williams, head of the news and information track in the journalism school, did not immediately respond to messages left at his office.
Martin said that the University doesn't have formal arrangements with schools in or out of the conference, but that it would not and has not limited itself to collaborating academically with schools within the conference.
"We have guys working with the Pac-10, the Ivy League," he said. "Collaborating with institutions outside the Big 12 will continue."
PGA
Matt Bettencourt wins Reno-Tahoe Open by 1 stroke
Associated Press
RENO, Nev. Rocco Mediate can expect something special in the mail this week from longtime friend Matt Bettencourt.
Bettencourt said much of the credit for his one-stroke victory at the Reno-Tahoe Open on Sunday — his first PGA Tour win — goes to Mediate's regular caddie Matthew Achatz, who carried Bettencourt's bags this week while Mediate was working as a TV analyst at the British Open.
"Thank you, Rocco, for letting me use him," Bettencourt said. "He kept me so relaxed all week and
really made me believe in myself and my ability."
Bettencourt hit only two greens on the back nine Sunday, but eagled the 11th hole and scrambled his way down the stretch to shoot a 68 and finish at 11-under 277, one stroke ahead of Bob Heintz.
"He's seen it all. He went toe-to-toe with Tiger at Torrey Pines a few years ago," he said about Woods' victory over Mediate in a playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open. "So it was great to have him step in this week, and thanks to Rocco for being over at the British Open and commentating."
Playing together, Heintz (69) missed a three-foot birdie putt on
No.18 that would have forced a playoff at Montreux Golf & Country Club on the edge of the Sierra.
The drama unfolded because Bettencourt hit his drive into a fairway bunker and his approach into a greenside trap after Heintz had stiffed his second shot.
"He calmed me down and that's what I was ready to do, ready to go back and give it my best," said Bettencourt, who ended up with a bogey on the last hole but won
Bettencourt said Aschatz told him, "Look, he's got an easy putt, there's no chance he's going to miss it. Let's regroup. Go out and we'll hit a much smarter tee shot on 18 and we'll go make birdie in the playoff."
when Heintz missed his putt.
"My heart goes out to Bob. He's fought so hard. He hit a good putt, it just didn't go in and fortunately it was my time," he said.
In addition to the $540,000 winner's check, Bettencourt earned a spot for the first time in next month's PGA Championship and is guaranteed his place on tour through 2012.
"This win is so incredible to me. It gives me so many opportunities," said Bettencourt, who won the money title on the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and tied for 10th at the U.S. Open last year. He finished 111th on the PGA money list with $740,037 that year.
Heintz started the week trying to qualify for a Nationwide Tour event in Ohio before he was notified held qualified for this event, hopping a plane to Nevada on Tuesday. A 40-year-old graduate of Yale with a degree in economics, he was pleased to come away with $324,000 for second.
"I think it's my biggest check ever," Heintz said. "I kind of played like the Bob of old where my survival instincts kicked in and my short game was just shy of brilliant all day. I holed out three times from off the green."
John Merrick and Mathias Gronberg each shot 69 and tied for third at 9 under.
Robert Gamez (68), Kent Jones (68), Alex Cejka (69), Kevin Stadler (70) and Craig Barlow (72) all finished another stroke back at 8 under.
Scott McCarron, a former Reno resident and Montreux member who served as the tournament host, started the day at 10 under with a one-stroke lead over John Mallinger and Robert Garrigus. But he fell to a tie for 35th at 1 under with five bogeys and two double-bogeys on the way to an 81.
Mallinger had a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 616-yard 9th — dropping twice from unplayable lies after driving wide left into the trees and sage brush. He shot 77 and tied for 21st.