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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2003)
Begin with the basics. Duck Quality wood puzzles for Ducks by PuzzleState. To order: 1-888-297-9294 ducks@puzzjiestate.com www.puzzlestate.com EUGENE HARDWARE • Hardware • Electrical • Plumbing • Paint • Housewares • Lawn & Garden • Tools I_ 342-5191 2825 Willamette Eugene, Oregon Fighting Irish sought by two conferences The Big East and ACC want to land Notre Dame as a conference member By Craig Barnes South Florida Sun-Sentinel (KRT) FORI’ LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Big East Conference presidents will meet Nov. 4 and vote on a Final reorganiza tion plan for the conference, and it is the deadline for Notre Dame to make its intentions clear. With that in mind, the Atlantic Coast Conference has re-opened ex ploratory conversations with the Irish to see if there is a scenario that is ac ceptable to both sides that would al low the school to become the confer ence's 12th team. The ACC's Council of Presidents held a conference call Friday and dis cussed the Notre Dame situation. Ihe members participating in the call en dorsed conversations with the Irish. "The Olympic sports are important to Notre Dame, and the ACC provides a stable home for them," one source said, "but resolution of the football question is the biggest issue. Notre Dame wants to remain independent, and the ACC wants full participation membership. There may or may not be a resolution. That's what the con versations are about." The first contact between the ACC and Notre Dame occurred over a year ago. Notre Dame closely moni tored the recent ACC expansion. Notre Dame has an exclusive con tract with NBC that pays the Irish more than $8 million annually to televise its home games. The money and Notre Dame's com mitment to a national schedule are ob stacles to a compromise. Notre Dame needs schedule space for Southern Cal ifornia, Michigan, Purdue, the military academies and perhaps Michigan State and Boston College. Several scenarios are under consid eration. One would have the Irish join the ACC in all sports but football, with the conference having the right of first refusal if Notre Dame decided to abandon its independent football status in the future. The Irish also could agree to play four or five ACC games, not qualify for the league championship and re tain all of its football money while agreeing to get no share of the ACC's basketball money. If Notre Dame would agree to play six ACC games, the league could re duce the number of conference games needed to qualify for the champi onship game from eight to six, mak ing Notre Dame a full-participating member and leaving the distribution of money to be resolved. The ACC's petition to the NCAA for a championship game in 2004 with only 11 teams was informally rejected by the championship committee, in creasing the urgency for the confer ence to get a 12th team. A final deci sion is not expected on the proposal until April. Notre Dame is adding 64 scholar ships to its non-revenue sports pro grams over the next four years, but in an effort to find them a home, Athlet ic Director Kevin White would like to leave football out of the equation. In the Big East reorganization, Notre Dame, Villanova, St. John's, Georgetown, Seton I fall, Providence, DePaul and Marquette would be bas ketball-only schools. Louisville, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Boston College and perhaps UCF or USE would play foot ball. Central Florida or South Florida would play only football. When the new Bowl Champi onship Series contract is instituted in 2007, Notre Dame's situation won't change much. The Irish automatical ly qualify with nine victories. It could lose the "automatic" status, but as one bowl source said, "Who wouldn't take Notre Dame with nine wins?" (c) 2003 South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. COACH continued from page 5 first time since 1998. "He's a real player's coach," Kegel told The Daily Evergreen earlier this season. "We're really excited about playing for him, busting ass for him. The future holds good things for the team with him in control." Through the speculation and tur moil that surrounded Price in his short stint at Alabama, he is now very aware that this is Doha's team al though he did attend the Washington State game against New Mexico and spent time in the locker room. "Before 1 did anything, 1 wanted to make sure this was Bill's team," Price told Ihe Spokesman-Review on Tues day. "1 don't want to be a distraction. 1 wanted to make sure the players were 100 percent behind Bill." The players remain behind their new coach as nothing appears to have changed from Washington State's winning ways of last season. And now I in the head coaching position, Doha is more aware of the increased impart he has on his players' lives, as op posed to when he was an assistant. "You're the dean of boys, you've got to be careful," Doba said. Doba has experienced challenges through the start of the season, in cluding maintaining confidence in his decisions. But Washington State's 30th head football coach has been able to enjoy some peace and quiet. As Doba said, "it's a lot quieter on the offensive side." Now, 25 years after being in the as sistant spot, Doba is clearly remem bering what it takes to lead a team and has his players and the former coach behind him. After nearly four decades since be coming a head coach for the first time, Doba isn't teaching math anymore. 1 le's teaching what it takes to return to the Rose Bowl, and that's winning. Contact the sports reporter at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com. 1 Advertise in the Emerald. Call 346-3712 to speak with a rep. We have great University rates.