DES MOINES, Iowa – Big Ten officials will likely discuss expanding to 12 schools to accommodate the new Big Ten Network, commissioner Jim Delany said.
The network, which is scheduled to launch Aug. 30, would benefit from an additional big-name university in a large television market, Delany said.
“I think we need to look at it in the next year,” he told the Des Moines Register on Wednesday. He offered no specific candidates.
CLEVELAND — Offensive tackle Joe Thomas agreed to terms on a six-year contract with the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night, ensuring the No. 3 overall pick will be at the opening of training camp.
University of Wisconsin secondary coach Kerry Cooks can still recall the anxiety and culture shock that he experienced when he left home for the first time as a college freshman. Cooks, an Iowa football recruit, was a long way from his roots and comfort zone, too. Home was Irving, Texas for Cooks, the product of a middle-class upbringing. While making the adjustment to a different environment and lifestyle in a different region of the country, Cooks, an African-American, didn’t see many people who looked like him in Iowa City.
Not guilty pleas were entered for UW sophomore running back Lance Smith to charges of misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct (Thursday) stemming from a July 14 incident between him and his girlfriend at his Randall Avenue apartment.
The attorney for University of Wisconsin running back Lance Smith-Williams entered not guilty pleas on the player’s behalf to misdemeanor charges of battery and disorderly conduct Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court. The charges stem from an incident with his girlfriend on July 14.
A proposed long-range master plan to upgrade University of Wisconsin Athletic Department facilities features new construction near its two marquee venues.
In addition to a competition and practice rink for the men’s and women’s hockey teams adjacent to the Kohl Center, a multi-story complex near Camp Randall Stadium would house sports medicine, strength and conditioning and academics.
Charter Communications will be adding ESPNU, ESPN2 HD, and several religious channels as part of a series of lineup changes that take effect Aug. 21.
“We’re just tremendously delighted to make the announcement,” said John Miller, Charter Central Division spokesman. “It’s a significant addition to add additional sports value to our lineup.”
The Big Ten Network is drawing fire on a new front. EchoStar Communications, parent of satellite TV provider DISH Network, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to declare the Big Ten Network a regional sports network, which would allow it to seek arbitration so that it can secure carriage of the service “on reasonable terms,” Multichannel.com reported.
EchoStar filed a 19-page petition with the FCC last Friday seeking expedited treatment regarding Big Ten Network, a joint venture that is 51 percent-owned by the Big Ten Conference and 49 percent-owned by Fox Cable, a unit of News Corp.
While (Alando) Tucker was still at Wisconsin, it was often suggested figuratively that he walked in the same shoes — which would be the adidas brand in the UW context — as Outland Trophy winner Joe Thomas, the All-American left offensive tackle. Tucker and Thomas were not only marquee players in their respective sports but they were priceless goodwill ambassador’s for the athletic department, the school and the state of Wisconsin.
Upon embarking on pro careers, Tucker and Thomas anticipated being in a state of flux. But whereas Tucker is now working for his employer, Thomas is still unsigned and his NFL career is on hold. A recent headline in the Cleveland Plain Dealer — “Trouble looms in signing Thomas” — spelled it out.
A pre-training camp rookie orientation got under way Monday and the Browns were minus their top three picks: Thomas, the No. 3 selection overall in the draft; Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn (No. 22 in the first round) and UNLV defensive back Eric Wright, a second-round pick.
A week from today (July 30), University of Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema will honor the Harry Caray tradition by singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs will be opening a seven-game homestand against the Philadelphia Philles (6:05 p.m., ESPN), while Bielema will be in Chicago for the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon and media days, which get under way Tuesday, July 31.
Bielema has no known musical skills beyond having an ear for reggae and playing the tuba in his high school band.
….At about the same time that Bielema is warming up his vocal chords at Wrigley Field, the conference will be pitching its Big Ten Network at a media reception designed to show off its fall line-up and new studios and win over critics.
MANY OF you probably already suspected that you lived in the greatest college sports town in the universe, or at least the Big Ten, and you didn’t need a national radio host to confirm it. But last week, one did.
I finally got a chance to listen to Scott Van Pelt’s recent ode to Madison on ESPN Radio, and it was an amazing thing to hear. Van Pelt sounded like a local tourism official who occasionally takes a second drink.
Brent Moss never saw Johnny Clay carry a football for the Park High School football team, either in person or on television.
Considering Clay turned 6 years old three days after Moss led the University of Wisconsin to the January 1994 Rose Bowl championship, itâ??s a safe bet Clay never Moss play either.
And, yet, there is such a bond behind these two local legends, a bond Moss would like to fortify, if possible.
Both Moss and Clay led Park to WIAA Division 1 state championships as juniors â?? Moss in 1988 and Clay in 2005. Both were born in January. Both were multiple first-team Associated Press All-State selections â?? Moss twice and Clay three times.
MADISON, Wis. — The University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers have filled their fourth and final recruiting spot on the basketball team with a 7-foot center from San Antonio. Ian Markolf has committed to the Badgers, choosing Wisconsin over Kentucky, Iowa State and Baylor.
Those familiar with his play say the 260-pound Markolf is both brawn and brain — he knows the game and has an NBA body already.
Sophomore running back Lance Smith was suspended from the University of Wisconsin football team Wednesday in the wake of his arrest Saturday after a dispute with his girlfriend.
It’s been a bittersweet summer for Jolene Anderson, who won her third gold medal earlier this month with Team USA basketball.
The decision to play in the FIBA U21 World Championships in Moscow was a tough one for the senior-to-be with the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team, who normally doesn’t turn down a chance to compete.
Anderson learned in late May that her grandmother, Nancy Rantala, was diagnosed with stomach cancer, and the Port Wing native was torn about whether she should make the trips to France and Russia to compete in team trials and the championships.
University of Wisconsin reserve tailback Lance Smith has been suspended from the football team for violating the athletic department’s student-athlete discipline policy, athletic director Barry Alvarez announced Wednesday.
Among the broadcast teams formed to handle football broadcasts this season for the Big Ten Network is one that includes Wayne Larrivee, the radio voice of the Green Bay Packers.
MADISON â?? Sophomore tailback Lance Smith has been suspended from the University of Wisconsin football team for violating the school’s student-athlete discipline policy, athletics director Barry Alvarez announced Wednesday.
Lance Smith, the Badgers second leading rusher from last season, has been suspended from the team after violating the UW Department of Athletics’ Student Athlete Discipline Policy, Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced Wednesday afternoon.
Smith is suspended from competition and practice pending the availability of further information relating to his case.
The district attorney’s office and the University of Wisconsin both plan to do more fact-finding before casting judgment on Lance Smith.
The sophomore running back was released from jail Tuesday after a court commissioner allowed him to sign a recognizance bond while police continue to investigate an incident this weekend in which Smith allegedly battered his girlfriend and took money from her.
Former University of Wisconsin football star Joe Thomas — now a Cleveland Browns rookie — is helping Wisconsin fight a deadly viral fish disease.
Thomas, an avid angler, is featured in television and radio announcements for the state Department of Natural Resources describing how boaters, anglers and other water users can help prevent the spread of viral hemorrhagic septicemia.
The Big Ten Network is expected to announce today that Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis will be the lead football broadcast team for the network, according to industry sources.
The University of Wisconsin football program very likely will be without one of its more experienced and valuable assistant coaches for the 2007 season.
Henry Mason, UW’s wide receivers coach since the 1995 season and in his first year as associate head coach, is expected to miss most and perhaps all of the season while recovering from a spinal cord injury, UW officials announced Tuesday.
Persistence is one of the great keys to success in college basketball. Persistent probing on offense will create holes against the best defenses. Persistent defensive tenacity will wear down the best offenses.
Persistence is key in recruiting, too. Ian Markolf, a physical 7-foot, 260-pound senior-to-be center from San Antonio who told Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan Tuesday that he will play for the Badgers, is a testament to that.
Former Wisconsin Badger offensive lineman Joe Thomas is taking up the fight against a deadly fish virus that threatens game fish around the Great Lakes.
Thomas is starring in new Department of Natural Resources TV and radio ads that tell anglers and boaters how to contain VHS, a virus that causes fish to bleed to death.
The UW-Madison’s focus on serious research is a major reason given by university officials who want more financial support from the state Legislature. But research on fantasy baseball and competitive fandom?
That particular study, by Assistant Professors Erica and Rich Halverson, did not escape the notice of perennial University of Wisconsin System critic Rep. Steve Nass….
“We are trying to figure out a whole new genre of online learning environments, how people learn in those environments and what they learn,” Rich Halverson said today in an interview.
University of Wisconsin running back Lance Smith was arrested after a weekend dispute with his girlfriend over cab fare, Madison police said.
The 19-year-old Warren, Ohio, native was being held today in the Dane County Jail on tentative charges of false imprisonment, robbery and battery as he awaits formal charges.
Smith is subject to the UW’s student-athlete disciplinary policy, and faces possible suspension from the team. Athletic department spokesman Justin Doherty said Monday afternoon that the school is aware of the incident and is “in the process of gathering facts about what happened” before making any decision on Smith’s status.
University Of Wisconsin running back Lance Smith-Williams was arrested last weekend following an incident with his girlfriend and is tentatively charged with kidnapping / abduction, robbery and battery.
When Barry Alvarez began his first full year as University of Wisconsin athletic director in 2004, he and his staff penned a memorable document.
It was a mission statement outlining 12 priorities – from academic achievement and customer service to financial responsibility and commitment to diversity – that would serve as a guide to future decision-making.
Last week’s ambitious schedule included a tailgate benefit in Dodgeville, the first session of his youth football camp in Lancaster, a golf outing at Erin Hills, a benefit at the Oak Creek Community Center, a Brewers game, and the second session of his youth camp in Milwaukee. In mixing business with pleasure, Detroit Lions running back Brian Calhoun was also making a commitment.
“There’s so much negative with a lot of (NFL) players,” said the former University of Wisconsin tailback and Oak Creek High School product. “I wanted to get the kids involved and try to give back to the community.”
Dear Editor: Jason McMahon’s recent column on the Big Ten Network was right on point: Commissioner Jim Delany needs to get real about charging Wisconsin fans millions of dollars to watch his new Big Ten Network — the second most expensive national cable channel in the country — which will air what sports columnists are now calling “fifth tier” sporting events such as nonconference tune-up football games and university swim meets.
In order to salvage the BTN into a profit-making venture, Delany says that he will try to migrate to his network many games from the ABC and ESPN networks, thus asking consumers to pay premium fees for many of the games they used to be able to see for free.
Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews of Marquette University and Brian Butch of the University of Wisconsin were among 16 players cut from USA Basketball’s Pan Am Games team on Sunday.
It’s silly and pointless, even counterproductive, for the Big Ten Network to take out advertisements for the fledgling operation in which they encourage viewers to call or e-mail their local cable provider to put the new channel in the lineup.
The new network took out an advertisement in this newspaper last week to help spread the news that it will debut Aug. 30. Fine.
A single letter has led to a logo dispute between a local high school and a Big 10 college, and the little guy lost this football fight. Who knew the letter “w” could cause so much trouble?
The Woodlands High School is having to change its letter logo because it’s just too close for comfort for the University of Wisconsin. It might seem funny, but it’s serious business for the University of Wisconsin. We spoke to the Conroe ISD superintendent, and he said he first found out about the problem a year ago. He contacted Barry Alvarez, football coach and athlete director for the University of Wisconsin, and was told not to worry about it.
When Barry Alvarez began his first full year as University of Wisconsin athletic director in 2004, he and his staff penned a memorable document.
It was a mission statement outlining 12 priorities – from academic achievement and customer service to financial responsibility and commitment to diversity – that would serve as a guide to future decision-making.
The next major capital project for the University of Wisconsin Athletic Department will be a multi-purpose hockey facility, and all signs point to it being built as part of the Kohl Center complex.
When consultants hired by the school unveil a comprehensive campus master plan for UW Athletics next month, the plan is expected to feature a practice and competition rink situated parallel to the Nicholas-Johnson Facility on the west side of the Kohl Center.
With the sophistication of a political campaign, the Big Ten Network has launched an Internet and telephone effort designed to put pressure on cable providers to carry the fledgling channel.
The University of Wisconsin’s nine assistant football coaches received pay raises totaling more than $208,000 and averaging more than $23,000 per coach after the team’s successful 2006 season, according to UW records released Thursday.
E. Gordon Gee’s decision to leave the top job at Vanderbilt University for the presidency of Ohio State University has caught the attention of many college-sports officials, who wondered what impact the move might have on the Buckeyes’ $98-million athletics operation.
Four years ago, as Vanderbilt’s chancellor, Mr. Gee declared war on college sports. He fired the athletics director and folded the intercollegiate sports programs into the office of student affairs. His idea, which was lampooned by fans of other Southeastern Conference programs, was to shave costs and more closely integrate the sports program into the rest of the university (The Chronicle, October 17, 2003).
Responding to a published report on freshman John Clay’s eligibility, University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema issued a statement Tuesday denying that anything has been resolved yet.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday that Clay, a running back from Racine Park, was ineligible.
Alando Tucker can barely hide his excitement about playing with the Phoenix Suns.
The former University of Wisconsin star is getting his first taste of the pro game in the National Basketball Association Summer League this week, playing alongside Marcus Banks, fellow rookie D.J. Strawberry and Pape Sow.
One day after the Journal Sentinel reported that tailback John Clay would not be academically eligible to play for the University of Wisconsin as a freshman in 2007, UW coach Bret Bielema insisted that the status of his recruit was not finalized.
University of Wisconsin football coach Bret Bielema tried to temper speculation all-state tailback John Clay will be ruled academically ineligible.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday reported the former Racine Park High School star failed to meet NCAA eligibility standards.
“When John’s eligibility is finalized, I will comment accordingly. Right now, I’m trying to deal in fact, not speculation and anonymous sources,” Bielema said in a release issued by the school.
Josh Oglesby and John Clay were the bluest of blue chips in a state more widely known nationally for producing cow chips than football players. As such, they were two of the most decorated and heavily recruited high school players in Wisconsin history.
….Yet, in a twist of fate and circumstance, it’s possible that neither Oglesby, by design, nor Clay, by default, may step on the field this season for the Badgers.
University of Wisconsin football fans eager to see heralded tailback John Clay line up in the UW backfield will have to wait until the 2008 season.
Clay, a former all-state performer for Racine Park High School and a key member of the UW’s 2007 freshman class, has failed to meet the NCAA’s minimum academic eligibility standards and won’t be allowed to play this season.
For at least this season, it appears that Johnny Clayâ??s No. 32 jersey for the University of Wisconsin football team will remain in mothballs.
Clay, the three-time Associated Press All-State running back for Park High School who was a prized recruit for the Badgers, reportedly has failed to meet the NCAAâ??s minimum academic eligibility requirements and will not be eligible to play this season. JSOnline, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinelâ??s Web site, reported the story Monday using anonymous sources.
The University of Wisconsin was in elite company for the second time in its history at the conclusion of the professional draft season with the NBA Draft at the end of June.
It marked the sixth time in history that a university has had a first-round draft pick in football, basketball and hockey in the same year, the school announced in a press release.
Its teams have become fixtures in the national rankings, and some have even won NCAA championships, but the University of Wisconsin hasn’t been considered an athletic power nationally since the start of World War II.
Even during the athletic renaissance that has raised UW’s national profile considerably since 1990, it was always thought to be a notch below the big boys, a university with an athletic department that lacked the tradition and resources of schools where winning has been a religion for decades.
Dear Editor: I enjoyed Dave Zweifel’s recent comments regarding University of Wisconsin baseball. I too think a mistake was made back in 1991 and now is the time to right this wrong.
The elimination of baseball and other sports was justified because the budget needed to be balanced. Well, the budget has now been balanced. (Even though coaches and administrators are being paid salaries well above those being paid back in the early 1990s.)
So the time is right for bring these sports back to UW.
The United States turned back Australia, 96-73, to win the gold medal at the FIBA U-21 Women’s World Championship in Moscow. Crystal Langhorne finished with 23 points and 14 rebounds to lead the U.S.
University of Wisconsin star Jolene Anderson scored 14 points in 26 minutes for the Americans (8-0).
The Phoenix Suns signed first-round draft pick Alando Tucker to a two-year contract Saturday.
Dear Editor: In this day and age, you can pretty much watch anything on cable TV. We have a seemingly endless menu of generic national programming from outdoor and food channels to old movies, home repair, and ESPN for national sports.
But where does the average dyed-in-the-wool, Bucky-red Badger fan go for all his or her games? Sure we’ve had limited public TV coverage, but what about a dedicated Big Ten channel on cable? Seriously, is that so much to ask?
Taking a foreign trip less than two months before official practice begins will be a luxury for the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team.
The Badgers embark Aug. 16 on an 11-day trip to Australia and New Zealand, and besides sightseeing junkets, they’ll also get a chance to play four games in the land Down Under.
IT WASN’T a long walk, just a block south on Park Street from College Court, where they lived, then right, up Regent Street a few more blocks, an easy stroll in the cool evening air. Vito Parisi and his young friend George Fabian didn’t talk much. Fabian was just a high school kid on that night in April 1948, and Parisi was preoccupied with what lay ahead. He must have feared the worst. In the end, he made history.
Parisi, a Madison native who was responsible for the loudest sustained roar in the storied history of the University of Wisconsin Field House, died quietly in Colorado last week. He was 80 and had been suffering from pneumonia and other illnesses.
College athletic programs are ranked by revenue. Based on 2005-’06 financial reports sent to the U.S. Department of Education. Wisconsin brings in nearly $79 million.
Wisconsin’s all-time scoring leader is going to Phoenix. The Suns have chosen Alando Tucker with the 29th pick in the N-B-A draft.
What does University of Wisconsin basketball player Janese Banks have in common with homemaking icon Martha Stewart and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph? All three are winners of Glamour magazine’s Top 10 College Women Awards. Stewart received the honor in 1961; Ralph was a 1975 honoree. Banks, the Badgers’ second-leading scorer last season, joined the elite club earlier this month during a ceremony in New York.
University of Wisconsin senior-to-be Jolene Anderson scored eight points as the USA Basketball’s under-21 women’s team beat Hungary, 93-70, for its third victory in as many days at the FIBA World Championship in Moscow.
After dealing with some uncomfortably high anxiety levels brought on by uncertainty and an untimely injury, Alando Tucker finally was able to reflect on the “crazy process” that was determining “where my life was going” and his new team colors.
In the final reckoning, it turned out to be the 602 area code and purple and orange after the Phoenix Suns revisited some history with the University of Wisconsin basketball program by taking Tucker with the 29th selection in the first round of Thursday night’s NBA draft.
Now Alando Tucker can just play.
The former University of Wisconsin star spent the past month traveling the country working out or visiting with teams that were trying to get a feel for whether he was a shooting guard or small forward and whether he could handle the ball or shoot it well it enough to carve a niche for himself in the league.
Apparently, he made believers of the people in Phoenix.
