Xavier is 56th in Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana was 56th, the second highest finish in XU history, in the final NAIA Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings of 2012-13.
    
It's the fourth time in five years that Xavier placed among the top 100. Xavier ranked 50th a year ago.
    
The Learfield Sports Directors' Cup was developed by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today newspaper. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 12 sports — six women's and six men's. This is the 18th year of the NAIA all-sports standings.
    
Xavier scored 252 points, one more than a year ago, after a tie for third place nationally in women's tennis, a tie for fifth in men's tennis, ties for 17th in men's basketball and women's basketball, 25th in women's volleyball and 31st in women's cross country and men's cross country.
    
Xavier was the only HBCU (historically black college or university) with a top-60 finish this season. Highest ranked HBCUs in the other divisions were Maryland Eastern Shore (148th) in NCAA I and Johnson C. Smith (66th) in NCAA II.
    
"It was another outstanding effort by our coaches and our student-athletes this year," XU athletics director Dennis Cousin said. "They are to be commended and thanked for the many championships and national tournament appearances they produced for Xavier. Everyone at Xavier can be proud of the continued success of our athletics program."
    
The top three NAIA schools were Oklahoma Baptist with 964 points, Lindsey Wilson with 797 and Concordia (Calif.) with 781.

Xavier in NAIA all-sports standings2012-13     56th
2011-12     50th
2010-11     102nd
2009-10     83rd
2008-09     tie-92nd
2007-08     141st
2006-07     156th
2005-06     no teams (Hurricane Katrina)
2004-05     not in top 100
2003-04     86th
2002-03     tie-163rd
2001-02     tie-238th
2000-01     tie-199th
1999-2000   not in top 234
1998-99     tie-210th
1997-98     tie-194th
1996-97     164th
1995-96     146th

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
XULAATHLETICS

Commentary: Let's Give the Rich and Powerful Their Own NCAA Division

WASHINGTON, D.C.  --  With sports playing an increasingly vital role in the finances of some major-conference universities, and with the courts questioning long-held beliefs about what amateur athletes deserve, the collegiate landscape is shifting in an unavoidable reality—change is coming.

It's time to revise the framework of college athletics to accommodate the evolving commercial environment of an exclusive group of institutions. Responding to growing criticism, the NCAA's president, Mark Emmert, last month acknowledged the inadequacies of the existing system by suggesting that the creation of another NCAA division would be welcome.

While there are 1,066 active NCAA member institutions across three levels (Divisions I, II, and III), it is abundantly evident that concerns within college athletics—conference realignment, the power of coaches, multibillion-dollar contracts for broadcast rights, and issues of student-athletes' welfare—involve only a small number of them. There is no compelling reason to change the operations of college athletics at the 726 colleges in Divisions II and III. They are successful in offering sports for transformative educational lessons in ways difficult to recreate in the classroom.

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Proposed Montgomery football bowl game: The Legends Bowl at Alabama State's stadium

Alabama State University Hornets Stadium
(Courtesy: ASU Athletics)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  --  Is the state of Alabama going to get a third bowl game? A proposed college football bowl in Montgomery would be called the Legends Bowl and get played at Alabama State's new stadium starting in December 2014.

Brian Woods, a New York sports consultant heading the Legends Bowl Group, said today the organization is in active talks with NBC and smaller conferences such as the Sun Belt, Mountain West, MAC and Conference USA. Montgomery is one of several possible destinations for a new bowl, along with Miami, Orlando, Little Rock, Ark., Los Angeles, Boca Raton, Fla., Ireland, Dubai, Toronto and Nassau, Bahamas.

"We feel we're in the top two or three of possible new bowls going forward," Woods said. "We feel we might be in direct competition right now with Little Rock. We feel we're ahead of the Orlando group to some capacity and ahead of the Los Angeles group. We'd love to have NBC at least give us a preliminary agreement and get us leverage. That's a big sticking point with Little Rock's efforts."

The efforts for a bowl in Montgomery represent the new world of college football's postseason.

Smaller conferences are seeking more tie-ins, different television networks are trying to crack ESPN's near monopoly of the postseason, and sports marketers are attempting to pair the conferences and TV network together.

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Montgomery, Little Rock look to host new bowl games

ASU HORNET STADIUM
(Courtesy: ASU Athletics)

MONTGOMERY, Alabama  -- Much of the follow-up coverage on ESPN's midweek report on new possible bowl locations focused on its most exotic, far-flung possibilities: Dubai, the Bahamas, Ireland. But the organizers who seem best prepared to argue for NCAA approval of new games are much closer to home.

al.com reported Saturday that a group is looking to host the new "Legends Bowl" in Montgomery, Ala., starting in 2014. The game would be played in the new stadium (2011 new) on the campus of FCS Alabama State University and would feature teams from the Sun Belt, Conference USA, Mountain West or MAC.

But the Legends Bowl isn't the only potential new postseason game in SEC country. Officials from the MAC and Sun Belt -- including the commissioners of both leagues -- met with the War Memorial Stadium Commission in Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The two conferences would play in the "Rice Bowl," a nod to the state's (surprisingly large-scale) rice-farming industry.

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Prairie View A&M selects new athletic director

Ashley Robinson

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas  --  Prairie View A&M will name Ashley Robinson as the new athletic director at a press conference at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, an athletic department source said.

Robinson returns to Prairie View after serving as the AD at Mississippi Valley State for the past 10 months. Prior to his stint there, he was the Assistant Vice President of Athletic Compliance  at Prairie View A&M.

Robinson replaces Fred Washington, who served as the athletic director since ...

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Uphill Battle for HBCU Athletes

HAMPTON, Virginia  --  It was striking, yet not particularly surprising, that sports teams from historically black colleges and universities made up the vast majority of those the National Collegiate Athletic Association banned from postseason play next year because of poor academic performance. The National Collegiate Athletic Association itself recognizes that the institutions face extra challenges: When the NCAA voted to raise academic standards in October 2011, it gave HBCU’s and other “low-resource institutions” an extra year to come into compliance (they have until 2016-17). The association has also dedicated about $6 million over the next several years to help those institutions meet the new standards.

EXCERPT:

William Harvey, president of Hampton University and a member of the NCAA Division I Board of Directors, wrote the proposal that led to the NCAA giving HBCUs more time and money to meet the new standard. While he’s pleased with the support and believes HBCUs will adjust accordingly, he had advocated for an extra three years to transition, not the one year that the NCAA allowed.

However, Harvey praised the NCAA’s financial support, which awards $300,000 to six different HBCUs for academics each year for three years. Through the pilot project, created in 2012 and called the Accelerating Academic Success Program, institutions can apply for funding via a detailed submission, requiring presidential involvement, that includes “concrete measurements for success.” Where the money goes depends on the individual needs of the applicant – for example, one might need to hire more academic advisers, while another might want to buy iPads to keep athletes in touch with professors when they’re on the road.

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Heritage High graduate sparks Winston-Salem State to CIAA tennis tournament championship

Creighton Jones
(Courtesy: WSSU Rams Athletics)

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia  --  Creighton Jones of Newport News played an instrumental role this spring in perhaps the finest tennis season in Winston-Salem State University history.

As a junior, Jones played No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles throughout the season, and the Rams captured the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament championship. They went 13-9 overall, gaining a berth in the NCAA Division II tournament by virtue of their CIAA crown.

In singles, Jones was 6-6 in dual matches, including 5-2 in the CIAA. Except for one loss at No. 3, all of those matches were on line 2. In doubles, Jones was 10-8, all on line 1, and 7-1 in the CIAA. In all but one doubles match, he played alongside Jonathan Aubrey. WSSU responded well to a six-match losing streak, which included a pair of 6-3 losses to conference rival Shaw. Immediately following the second 6-3 defeat, the Rams won eight consecutive matches.

The most memorable of those were the last two. In a CIAA semifinal, Winston-Salem State posted a 5-2 victory over Shaw, which had won the previous nine conference tournaments.

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