Student-athlete experience

Andy Majors, football student-athlete
Pittsburg State University
Sports Illustrated

Discussing the value of intercollegiate athletics at the Division II level:

"There are players on this team who could have played Division I, but it probably would have meant minimal playing time on a bad team. You come to Pitt State to win games, to be somebody, to have an experience you will always treasure. This place is like family. It never leaves you."

Youth sports

Doug Abrams, professor
University of Missouri, Columbia
San Jose Mercury News

"Nearly all the problems in youth sports are caused by people over the age of 18. I coach hockey and I know some parents can learn from the behavior of their 7-year-olds. The kids are the role models. ...

"Youth sports has become an arms race. If some team has nicer uniforms than ours, then we've got to get better ones next year. If they play 20 games, then we've got to play 25. Next thing you know, you have year-round specialization with 75 games a season and all the problems that come with it."

NCAA acquiring the NIT

Rick Majerus, former head men's basketball coach
University of Utah
Los Angeles Times

"Wal-Mart bought the mom-and-pop store. It's going to become corporate, NCAA corporate. It's going to become part of a conglomerate, and I think as a separate entity it had a unique charm. It had a flavor that was all its own."

Basketball rules

Charlie Coles, head men's basketball coach
University of Miami (Florida)
Dayton Daily News

Discussing an experimental rule in men's basketball this year that widens the free-throw lane:

"America has always loved the big man. Shaq, Wilt Chamberlain, (Bill) Russell, Bill Walton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I don't see anything bad about the big man, and I think (a wider lane) takes the big man out of the game."

Jim Foster, head women's basketball coach
Ohio State University
Dayton Daily News

Discussing the possible implementation of a 10-second rule in the women's game:

"I don't think it would have any effect. You have pressing teams now. Some people press to limit shots, that's really already in our game. What a 10-second line would do is not allow people to, as a game is winding down, spend 20 seconds with a lead dribbling in your backcourt."

John Clougherty, supervisor of officials
Atlantic Coast Conference
Lexington Herald Leader

Discussing "palming" as a point of emphasis this year:

"If we keep the faith and keep calling it, I'm convinced the (players) won't do the Allen Iverson stuff that the NBA lets them get away with."