Maryland enacts policy to deter postgame altercations

The Board of Regents for Maryland's public universities has approved a new policy ordering expulsion as the primary punishment for students who participate in postgame riots.

The new sanctions are meant to deter the kind of violence seen at the University of Maryland, College Park, both this year and last in conjunction with its team's success in the NCAA Men's Final Four.

In March 2001, the campus experienced severe riots, including bonfires that destroyed cable lines and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, after Maryland's loss to Duke University in the Men's Final Four. This year's melee, which accompanied Maryland's winning of the national title, resulted in one bystander losing partial vision when someone hit him in the face with a blunt object.

The new policy mandates expulsion as the presumptive sanction for any student found guilty of violence related to a sporting event or other university activity, though it would allow officials to substitute lesser punishments. Expelled students would be prohibited from attendance at any one of the 13 schools in the University of Maryland System, though they may apply for readmission after a year.

"I feel like we've made incredible progress," said Linda Clement, Maryland's vice-president of student affairs. "I think the Board of Regents has sent a message that this kind of destructive behavior will not be tolerated."

College Football Hall of Fame inks TV deal

The College Football Hall of Fame, based in South Bend, Indiana, has agreed to a five-year television package with The Football Network (TFN).

Under the agreement, the College Football Hall of Fame will provide content from its museum and archives for programming on TFN, which is scheduled to launch its own cable network sometime in 2003.

TFN also acquired the rights to feature National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame events as part of its programming. It also will offer production services for selected video projects for both the National Football Foundation and the hall of fame.

TFN currently produces a weekly radio feature, "TFN's Football Focus," that is heard each Sunday and Tuesday on Sports Byline USA's 135-station network. It also operates www.footballnetwork.com, a Web site devoted to football news.

Bates athletics director receives Keaney Award

Suzanne Coffey, athletics director at Bates College and a member of the NCAA Division III Management Council, has been named as a recipient of the 2002 Keaney Award by the Institute for International Sport. The award, given in honor of longtime University of Rhode Island men's basketball coach Frank W. Keaney, is given every other year to educators who are judged to personify the scholar-athlete ideal.

Coffey, an associate professor of physical education, has been director of athletics at Bates and chair of the department of physical education there since May 1991. Coffey also is a former coach at Bowdoin College and the University of New Hampshire.

Coffey has been active in Division III governance, serving on numerous committees. She recently was elected as next year's vice-chair of the Division III Management Council.

At Bates, Coffey chairs the college's Commission on the Status of Women and the Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid.

The institute for International Sport, which is based in Kingston, Rhode Island, was founded in 1986. It administers several international programs that use sport and the cultural arts to promote goodwill among future leaders. For more information, see www.internationalsport.com.

-- Compiled by Kay Hawes

Number crunching

Looking back

The Divisions I, II and III Management Councils conducted their first official meetings five years ago in Denver.

In Division I, the issue of the day was initial approval of a proposal to permit Division I-A institutions to count one football game against a Division I-AA opponent toward the six wins that are required to be bowl eligible. The Division I Management Council also started the ball rolling on the student-work proposal (Proposal No. 62), supporting the concept of student-athletes being employed and earning up to the cost of attendance, but the Council urged a one-year delay in implementing the measure.

In Division II, the first Student-Athlete Summit was held, during which the Management Council agreed to form a project team to explore matters raised by student-athletes. Some of those initial issues were ensuring student-athlete involvement in the Division II governance structure and establishing appropriate eligibility criteria for serving on the Division II SAAC.

Meanwhile, the Division III Management Council approved a survey of the Division III membership to gauge interest in expanding postseason opportunities in football. The survey asked athletics directors if they supported growing the football bracket from 16 to 24 teams.

The Division III Management Council also reviewed a draft of automatic-qualification principles developed by the Division III Championships Committee.