NCAA-banned substances

Frank Uryasz, president
National Center for Drug Free Sport, Inc.
The New York Times

Discussing why young athletes should avoid caffeine and other stimulants:

"I am concerned that they are gateway substances. I think it develops a mind-set, especially among young athletes, that they have to take something -- a powder, a pill, a liquid -- to improve their performance, when actually study after study shows that almost all of these products add no value to a young person's athletics performance."

Athletics resources

Dee Todd, athletics director
North Carolina A&T State University
Indianapolis Star

Discussing how differences in resources don't always determine what programs can accomplish:

"No, I don't have all the things that I'm used to (as a former ACC staff member and coach at two high-profile Division I institutions), but I'm still having a wonderful time. Throughout my tenure here, I know I'm going to make a difference. You know where (the program) needs to go. And I've been where we need to go.

"We may not be a North Carolina or a North Carolina State, but we're going to be the best A&T we can be."

Diversity in football

Craig Littlepage, athletics director
University of Virginia
Newport News Daily Press

"If there's an obvious reason (for the lack of diversity in football coaching), it might have to do with the history and pipeline. Many of the first African-American head football coaches were appointed to jobs that were not the cream of the Division I-A crop. Some of the early results were mixed, and that fueled the perception that others might not be successful.

"Head coaches are usually hired when they've been head coaches or coordinators at other schools. We'll see a change in the head-coaching numbers when we see more coordinators being hired. Too many times coordinators come from the head coach's inner circle. So things might not change quickly."

Joe Taylor, head football coach
Hampton University
Newport News Daily Press

"Football is the engine that drives the train. That's the biggest revenue-generating and the most visible sport. And because of that, people tend to be not as flexible in terms of who's going to run those programs. Basketball is certainly very valuable on the college campus, but it's probably a little less stringent.

"The people making the decisions, they probably feel a little more at ease because it's not as big in terms of (scholarship) numbers and probably doesn't generate as much revenue as football. They probably feel a little more comfortable there."

Tyrone Willingham, head football coach
University of Washington
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"We've been talking about this for 300 years. If you go back to the origin of our country and talk about slavery and coming forward, that's something that has been out there. That is no different than some of the religious battles that some of the groups have had to fight. There are always going to be, with man, different battles, and this is one of those. Does that make it right? No, it doesn't. But it's something that is out there, and you have to fight through it."