Notes

BIG 12

Bowlsby warns about change

DALLAS — Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby had a dire warning Monday for anyone who likes intercollegiate athletics the way they are now.

“You’re going to hate it going forward,” Bowlsby said. “There’s a lot of change coming.”

During his opening address at Big 12 football media days, Bowlsby talked about growing financial constraints athletic programs face going forward and the “strange environment” that exists with class-action lawsuits against the NCAA and its member schools.

Bowlsby said he’s doesn’t think there is a real understanding of how much lawsuits — which he numbered as seven and “growing all the time” — could radically alter things.

“I think all of that in the end will cause programs to be eliminated. I think you’ll see men’s Olympic sports go away as a result of the new funding challenges that are coming down the pike,” he said. “I think there may be tension among and between sports on campus and institutions that have different resources.”

While acknowledging the outcomes are unknown, the former Stanford athletic director expressed concern about fewer opportunities for some athletes to go college in the future.

“I fear that we will get past the change and then we’ll realize that all the gymnastics programs went away, or that we have agents on campus all the time negotiating playing time for student athletes,” he said. “There’s all kind of Armageddon scenarios you could come up with. … You wouldn’t have to be a very good fiction writer to come up with some scenarios that would be pretty scary.”

A year ago, Bowlsby’s opening address was part of a coordinated effort by the leaders of the power conferences — the Big 12, SEC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC — in calling for transformative changes in the governance system of the NCAA.

The NCAA board of directors is set to vote Aug. 7 on a proposal to give schools in the highest-profile conferences more influence over college rules. The proposal also would give athletic directors and athletes bigger roles in the legislative process, and give the power conferences autonomy to make their own bylaws.

When addressing potential unionization of football and basketball players, Bowlsby said “student-athletes are not employees. They should never be employees. It’s not an employee/employer relationship.”

Bowlsby also said the NCAA is “headed down a path of significant financial difficulty” with revenues from television packages going up about 2 1/2 percent a year while expenses are increasing more than 4 percent annually.

That includes schools paying $1 million or more per year under new rules to start providing unlimited food and nutrition to student-athletes. Plus, future scholarships could provide more money to cover the full cost of attendance.

ACC

FSU, Miami favored

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Florida State was an obvious choice as a favorite in one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s divisions.

In the other one, the pecking order was nowhere near that clear.

Miami was the pick to win the ACC’s cluttered Coastal Division despite receiving fewer first-place votes than two other teams.

The league announced its predicted order of finish following a vote of 112 media members at its preseason media days.

The Seminoles were picked as the overall league champions by 104 media members and received 109 first-place votes in their division to put them far ahead of Clemson, which had three.

Four Coastal teams were separated by 44 points: Miami had 614 points to 597 for Duke, 571 for Virginia Tech and 570 for North Carolina.

Both the Blue Devils (33) and Tar Heels (27) received more first-place votes than the Hurricanes (26) — the Coastal favorites for the second consecutive year.

Newcomer Louisville was picked third in the Atlantic, followed by Syracuse, North Carolina State, Boston College and Wake Forest.

Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston of Florida State was the overwhelming pick for preseason player of the year with 99 votes. Clemson defensive end Vic Beasley, who had six votes, was the only player besides Winston to receive multiple votes for the individual award.

TEXAS A&M

Stansbury leaves team

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M defensive lineman Gavin Stansbury has left the team to focus on what Coach Kevin Sumlin calls “personal issues.”

Stansbury had been a starter on last season’s Aggies’ defensive front, playing in 10 games and recording 47 total tackles and three sacks. Sumlin did not elaborate the personal matters Stansbury was addressing.

In April, Stansbury was arrested and charged in Harris County with misdemeanor assault after a Rice University student accused him of pouring beer on the student’s head and punching him in the face. Stansbury’s attorney has said the charge is a case of mistaken identity.

Sumlin also confirmed in a statement that freshman defensive back Victor Davis has been suspended from the team after his recent arrest in his hometown of Rosenberg on a shoplifting charge.

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