The NCAA News - Briefly in the News

May 5, 1997

Back to the drawing board?

The on-again, off-again examination of a Division I-A football championship appears to be on again, at least among some I-A athletics directors.

A story in a recent issue of USA Today said that major-school athletics directors hope to have a task force in place by June to study the viability of a playoff. Any plan probably would be submitted to the Division I Board of Directors, which is itself conducting an examination of Division I-A postseason football.

"My grand plan would be to do an eight-team playoff using the campuses of the higher-rated teams for the first round and then three bowls for the next two rounds," DeLoss Dodds, director of athletics at the University of Texas at Austin, told USA Today. "Do the sponsors and do the TV and let the bowls sell tickets and do the things associated with the bowls. Play the rest of the (lower-echelon) bowl games."

John D. Swofford, director of athletics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, noted favorable and unfavorable elements to the current arrangement, which in most cases will produce a No. 1 vs. No. 2 match for the national championship.

"The commissioners have done a tremendous job with the various alliances," he said. "At the same time, there are problems in terms of the health of the second-echelon bowls.

"There is more apathy from the fans.... We're not doing the game of college football justice in the postseason the way it is now."

Tennis mom

If life truly does begin at 40, Robin Abbott is starting anew in a big way.

At age 44, Abbott -- the mother of a college student and three other sons -- is a member of the women's tennis team at Christopher Newport University. She also is a Presidential Honors Scholar, a member of the National Dean's List and a Scholar International Tennis Association Athlete.

She recently teamed with playing partner Susan Estes to win a point at No. 3 doubles for Christopher Newport -- only one month after undergoing abdominal surgery.

"Her strong work ethic and great attitude have been an example to other student-athletes," said Christopher Newport women's tennis coach Pat Accettola. "I know she always gives 100 percent in practice, and I admire that."

Playing with pain

Some records you want, but some are best left intact.

Nevertheless, in a 15-2 Midwest Conference baseball win over Grinnell College April 19, Illinois College established a new pain threshold as nine players reached base after getting hit by a pitch. That broke the previous Division III record of seven in a game. It also tied the previous mark -- nine -- for most players from both teams hit in a game. That occurred April 21, 1996, in a game between Allegheny College and John Carroll University, although it should be noted that the teams in that game shared the pain, 7-2.

Rob Strehl, who has started every game in center field for Illinois College since his freshman year, already has been hit 13 times this season, bringing his career total to 36. The Division III all-time mark is 60, a standard that happily would seem to be out of reach.

Eight Blueboys players were hit by pitches in the April 19 game. Strehl, true to form, was hit twice.

1,000 club

Scoring 1,000 points in a basketball career is not an unusual accomplishment, but having four 1,000-point scorers conclude their career at once is.

That's what happened recently at College Misericordia, where Damian Fritz (1,032), Bart Clementoni (1,032), Joe Harvey (1,205) and John McGovern (1,260) combined to score 4,529 points in 100 games.

All four players reached the 1,000 career-point mark during the 1996-97 season, which apparently made Misericordia the first Division III team to accomplish the feat of having four 1,000-point scorers at once.

"Having four 1,000-point scorers at the same time is quite an achievement," said coach Dave Martin, who now faces the daunting task of replacing the reliable foursome. "It is a testament to their consistency.

"They came here when we were building a program and there was an opportunity for them to play as freshman. They took advantage of it and (were) steady performers throughout their careers."

-- Compiled by David Pickle