Tulsa

[50's PONY]

TU, other non-BCS schools band together
2003-07-27
By Larry Lewis
Tulsa Correspondent


TULSA -- Non-Bowl Championship Series football programs like Tulsa are mad, and they're not going to take it anymore.
They see a growing gap between them and the BCS teams, which prompted Tulsa and 43 other non-BCS schools to band together Tuesday to form the Presidential Coalition for Athletics Reform.

"The reality is clearly, in college football, in Division I- A, you have the haves, which are represented by the six conferences that are members of the Bowl Championship Series, and the have-nots, that is, everybody else in Division I- A," Tulsa president Bob Lawless said.

The coalition includes schools from the Western Athletic Conference, Mountain West, Conference USA, Sun Belt and the Mid-American Conference, plus independents. Eight of the 52 non-BCS schools chose not to be part of the coalition.

Lawless could figure prominently in the coalition. In November 2000, he was elected to a two-year term ias chair of the NCAA Executive Committee, the body that oversees association-wide issues, and he continues to serve as a member of the NCAA Division I-A Board of Directors.

As president of BCS school Texas Tech from 1989-1996, Lawless has seen both sides of the issue.

"I think what is really trying to be accomplished, if you have a common will among those groups, is really the question of, is there any way that those of us who are not participants in the BCS, is there a mechanism or technique in which we can gain access?" Lawless said. "And it's really access to post-season competition, and probably the bottom line, it's access to money."

The schools in the six BCS conferences (The Big 12, Big Ten, Big East, ACC, Pac 10 and SEC) plus Notre Dame, unlike in all other college sports, have a virtual monopoly in access to college football's biggest prize -- the national championship.

It would be almost impossible for a non-BCS school to get into the BCS, which comprises the eight top-ranked teams in the country, including an automatic spot for each of the six BCS conferences, and two at- large teams.

For example, Tulane was undefeated in the 1998 season and didn't get into the BCS.

That is a big reason why Tulane president Scott Cowen is heading up the President's Coaltion for Athletics Reform.

"The things listed by Scott Cowen are basically: access to post-season competition, higher academic standards for athletes, and some way of cost containment," Lawless said.

Tulsa athletic director Judy MacLeod is alarmed at how the financial gap between the BCS and non-BCS has grown over the last few years.

"It's very frightening," MacLeod said. "The reality is the financial gap is growing and growing and growing, and without access, you're not going to have opportunity for dollars. It's a scary reality."

There has been some hint a possible lawsuit against the BCS schools, but Lawless isn't looking for that venue.

"Most of the people that I know, and not 100 percent, but most would not consider that (a lawsuit)," Lawless said. "The only basis that you would have would be antitrust.

"Most of us in today's environment, athletically or otherwise in higher education, are not sitting around with a lot of money that we would like to pay to the lawyers. I know the only people who would really win would be the lawyers. I don't think a lawsuit is likely, plus I don't think that's the way to go."

MacLeod believes there is some hope.

"When you talk to people at schools in the BCS, for the most part, I don't think they want to put us out of business," MacLeod said. "We try to emphasize we need somebody to play, and they need somebody to play.

"I'd like to believe there is room in Division I-A for a school like Tulsa, I firmly believe that. If the gap continues to increase, it's going to become more and more difficult."

One of the things Cowen is pushing for is a playoff system, but Lawless and MacLeod would be very surprised if that happened in the near future. They believe there very little support among the powers in football for a playoff.

The five non-BCS conferences will each send a representative, picked by an executive committee, to join representatives from BCS conferences at a Sept. 8 meeting in Chicago.

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[Dark Horse]

I just hope MacLeod is right in his guess that the BCS schools don't really want to put the non-BCS schools out of business. Because if they do want to, I have an uneasy feeling that they could.

[Arkpony]

They don't want to put us "out of business"..they just don't want to share the business..let the chips fall where they may..they don't give a d____ about us.