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UNDATED (AP) — Alabama coach Nick Saban doesn’t believe extending preseason camp for college football teams around the country is necessarily the best way to get them ready for the season. Saban says he'd prefer some “teaching sessions on the field” over the summer to prepare for camp, even if it is in shorts and T-shirts. The coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of spring sports, including football practices, across the nation. Saban isn’t sold on the idea of extending fall camp. He also is not speculating on the chances of having a football season.
UNDATED (AP) — Athletic directors across the U.S. are bracing for a potential financial crisis related to the coronavirus pandemic. A survey was conducted by an association of ADs from 130 major college football schools. It found 63% forecast a worst-case scenario in which revenue for their departments falls by at least 20% during the next school year. Even an abbreviated football season could cause schools to lose that much.
UNDATED (AP) — A survey of more than 100 athletic directors across the country finds deep concern for academics and athletic department finances amid the pandemic. Some 75 percent say they are concerned about a drop in donations and nearly as many are worried about ticket sales and money that comes from games and other fan events.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi State football coach Mike Leach has apologized on social media for posting a tweet that drew criticism from Bulldogs players and an assistant professor at the school before it was deleted. The outspoken coach on Wednesday night tweeted a picture depicting an elderly woman knitting, the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, reported. The caption read, “After 2 weeks of quarantine with her husband, Gertrude decided to knit him a scarf...”, but the picture showed her knitting a noose with the hangman’s knot already tied, the newspaper reported.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Chris Sutherland took an improbable path to big-time college basketball. He worked his way onto Florida's bench as a graduate student in mid-January after serving as an arena worker, a practice player for the women’s team and a manager for the men’s program. Gaining NCAA eligibility required him to pay back a $5,000 scholarship and remove his name and likeness from a website he created to sell streetwear he designed. His only chance to play in the NCAA Tournament was wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic. What can't be stripped: two games that were five years in the making.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Gonzaga and Michigan were the standouts in a study that seeded men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament brackets based on graduation rates, academic success and diversity in the head-coaching ranks. Gonzaga was a No. 1 seed in both brackets released Thursday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida. Michigan was a 1-seed for the men and a 3-seed for the women. Arizona State was the only other school to appear in the top 16 of both brackets. The report focused primarily on each team’s Graduation Success Rate and Academic Progress Rate scores for seeding purposes.
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