NCAA Foundation names winners of journalism awards

Eight undergraduates interested in pursuing sports journalism careers have been awarded $3,000 scholarships as recipients of this year's Freedom Forum-NCAA Foundation Sports Journalism Scholarship awards.

The program is designed to foster freedoms of speech and press while also promoting quality sports journalism education at the collegiate level. The eight one-year, nonrenewable scholarships are awarded to juniors who will be full-time seniors in the 2002-03 academic year.

The recipients and their institutions are: Anne Elizabeth Aydinian, University of Chicago; Emily Megan Badger, Northwestern University; Ryan Dean Brinks, University of Wisconsin, River Falls; Eric Dean Duffee, Drake University; Jeffrey Allen Rice, Pennsylvania State University; Jonathan Paul Saperstein, University of Washington; Christopher Michael Snow, Syracuse University; and Grant Hayden Swallows, Tennessee Technological University.

The two alternates are Jon Daniel Ackerman from Colorado State University and Julie Dunn of Syracuse.

Since 1992, The Freedom Forum has awarded 79 scholarships, totaling more than $237,000, to students at NCAA institutions through a partnership with the NCAA Foundation.

"These scholarships are in recognition of high academic achievement, and they also enable these students to receive well-deserved financial assistance toward their educational and career goals," said Marion Peavey, executive director of the NCAA Foundation.

The Freedom Forum is a nonpartisan, international foundation dedicated to free press, free speech and free spirit for all people.

Applications for the scholarships are judged by a selection committee chosen by The Freedom Forum and the NCAA Foundation. In addition to completing the application form, students must supply a college transcript, three examples of sports journalism work and a letter of recommendation. The deadline for applications is December of each year.

For more information about The Freedom Forum-NCAA Foundation Sports Journalism Scholarship, contact the NCAA Foundation at 317/917-6477.

Web-based compliance software on the way

The NCAA has begun the design of a Web-based version of the NCAA Compliance Assistant software, which will be offered free of charge to the NCAA membership. The new software is expected to debut as a test version during the 2002-03 academic year, with the final version available for 2003-04.

"We're excited about the many features the new Web-based software will provide the NCAA membership," said Kevin C. Lennon, NCAA vice-president for membership services. "Based on membership feedback, we've planned several useful enhancements."

Among those many enhancements are the integration of legislation into an expanded recruiting module and also into a new playing and practice seasons module, electronic submission of reports and the ability to restrict user access by sport.

Because it can be accessed through the Internet, authorized users will have access from their off-campus computers, and the software need not be installed at each institution. Instead, the program and the institutions' data will be stored on a secured server in the national office.

Legislative updates will be immediately available, and technical problems are expected to be reduced.

Software support also will be free of charge to NCAA members.

Deadline approaching for grant application

Division III independent institutions are being encouraged to apply for Division III initiative grant funds to attend NCAA Regional Rules-Compliance Seminars. The next seminar is scheduled for May 1-3 in Indianapolis. A meeting of Division III independent institutions also will take place in conjunction with that seminar.

The other seminars are May 15-17 in Phoenix and May 29-31 in Atlanta.

Application forms were forwarded February 8 to athletics administrators at Division III independent institutions, and those applications must be returned to the national office by March 22.

For more information, contact Sharon Tufano, NCAA executive assistant for Division III, at 317/917-6941.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number crunching

Looking back

Clash of the UTitans

Two longtime powerhouses in women's basketball -- both of which feature prominent coaches, the letters UT and a shade of orange -- met for the 23rd time February 12. The University of Texas at Austin emerged with a 69-66 win over the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and gave head coach Jody Conradt her career-record 782nd victory.

That total, compiled over 33 seasons, is just three more than Conradt's counterpart at Tennessee, Pat Summitt, who has 779 wins in 28 years as a head coach. The two are figureheads in women's basketball, and most peers would say they are primary factors in the game's success today.

The UT-UT series dates back to 1978. The teams have played every year since 1982 despite being from different conferences. Ironically, the teams have never met in the postseason, either in NCAA or AIAW play.

Another irony perhaps is that the three-point margin February 12 was a relative rarity. Most of the games have been decided by more than six points, and the two teams have taken turns embarrassing the other's storied program. The Lady Vols put 34-point whippings on the Longhorns in both the 1994 and 1997 meetings, and in turn, Texas has dealt its orange counterpart three of the worst defeats in school history (1984, 1985 and 1987).

The only overtime game in the series was the Lady Vols' 68-65 win in 1996.

Despite the rivalry, Conradt was greeted with a healthy dose of applause from fans of the other UT before the most recent game in Knoxville. Conradt, who has won more games than any men's or women's coach other than Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and Jim Phelan of Mount St. Mary's College, told The Associated Press afterward that she appreciated the show of support and respect.

"There is an appreciation that goes across the board for young women who take risks and play the game, and especially for the coaches who have struggled for a long time to make this game visible," Conradt said