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College Coaches and Academics
Outside the Lines (Sunday, 9 a.m. ET, ESPN)

Andy Katz moderates discussion with (l to r: Tom Izzo, Rodney Terry, Herb Sendek, Seth Greenberg

In the aftermath of allegations of academic improprieties at North Carolina by former Tar Heels’ star Rashad McCants, Andy Katz hosts a roundtable discussion focusing on the responsibility college basketball coaches have in their players’ academic performance. McCants told OTL that tutors gave himself and teammates improper academic assistance, and that he believes coach Roy Williams and the athletic department were aware of bogus classes many players were encouraged to take. Sunday’s roundtable panelists include head men’s basketball coaches: Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh; Tom Izzo, Michigan State; Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Rodney Terry, Fresno State and ESPN’s Seth Greenberg.

Andy Katz: “Why is there such a lack of trust with a head coach talking to a member of the faculty?”

Jamie Dixon: “I don’t think it’s a lack of trust, I think it’s just  the proper way of doing things. I think you have experts – in our situation our provost hires our academic support system, our academic advisor works for the provost’s office, and their job and their expertise is in that area. I don’t think it’s a lack of trust. I think there’s a lot of trust within our athletic department, and all athletic departments.”

Tom Izzo: ‘’I don’t mean to disagree. But I totally disagree with that. I think there is no relationship. How can you trust somebody you don’t have a relationship with? You can hardly get a relationship with a professor. And if you can’t get a relationship, I wouldn’t trust anybody. If I was a player, and couldn’t go into the head coach’s office and talk to him, why would they trust each other? I am an educator. My degree’s in education. And it bothers me that we do not get the opportunity because I’m a professor in my own right, too. I’m a teacher in my own right, too. And I just think because we don’t have relationships, there is a lack of trust and a lack of accountability. And as much as I respect Jamie, I do not agree that everybody trusts everybody. In fact, I think the coaches are not trusted, and that kind of bothers me personally.”

 

 

SC Featured: Sons of Naismith
SportsCenter (Sunday, 10 a.m., ESPN)

Credit: ESPN/Zach Budman
Kenny Mayne in Vancouver’s Stanley Park

In 2013, Anthony Bennett became the first Canadian-born player selected No. 1 in the NBA Draft. This year, there are seven players from Canada who have entered the NBA draft, three projected to be first-round picks. Kenny Mayne journeyed to Canada to discover why there is a sudden boom of Canadians entering the NBA.

“Everyone thinks of hockey as the main sport in Canada, but if you go downtown Toronto right now you’ll probably see just as many kids playing basketball as you see in hockey.” – Nik Stauskas, Michigan Guard

“Over the years, the world has gotten a lot better, and the U.S. has opened up and looked outside their borders for basketball players. Also, scouts are looking for the best basketball players, and I think Canadians, over the last number of years, have had the opportunity to start earlier and be more inspired, especially through Steve Nash, so they would be able to develop at an early age and compete.” – Eli Pasquale, member of the 1984 Canadian National Basketball Team

 

 

Why You Should Know Claudia Wilken
espnW.com

Judge Claudia Wilken’s courtroom is home to the Ed O’Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit, a case that calls into question the very notion of college athletics. Luke Cyphers reports.

 

 

NABJ Nominations

Credit: ESPN/Greg Amante
Chamique Holdsclaw interviewed by Josina Anderson

ESPN received six nominations in four categories of The National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) Salute to Excellence National Media Awards, it was announced this week. The competition is open to all professional journalists in print, broadcast, new media or photojournalism. Entries are judged on content, creativity, innovation, use of the medium and relevance to the black community in 69 categories. The Salute to Excellence Awards Gala will be held in Boston on August 2 during the NABJ’s annual convention.

Television – Sports
SC Featured – “Richie Parker: Drive”
Designing chassis and body components for drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports is no easy task for 30-year-old vehicle engineer Richie Parker. That is because he does all his design work the way he does nearly everything in life: with his feet after being born with no arms. Tom Rinaldi reports.

SC Featured – “D.J. Hayden: Dream & Miracle”
DJ Hayden ran an impressive 4.3-second 40 at his pro day at the University of Houston, but the throat-to-belly button scar on his chest — from a life-threatening injury suffered in practice — drew stares of wonder. Tom Rinaldi reports on Hayden’s recovery and pursuit of an NFL career.

Sunday NFL Countdown – “Doug Williams: Moment in the Sun”
Doug Williams was the Washington Redskins starting quarterback in Super Bowl XXII. His remarkable performance against the Denver Broncos dramatically changed the way African American quarterbacks were perceived in the NFL. Robert Griffin III, who plays the same position, in the same city, is one of those beneficiaries, helps tell the Doug Williams story. Written by ESPN.com reporter Greg Garber.

Radio – Feature
ESPN Radio (The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap); Outside the Lines — “Chamique Holdsclaw”
Chamique Holdsclaw, once one of the country’s greatest female basketball players, hit perhaps the lowest point in her life when she was jailed after vandalizing and firing a gun into her ex-girlfriend’s vehicle. She discussed this turning point with Josina Anderson, and revealed something she learned about herself that put her past in a different perspective.

Radio – Sports
ESPN Radio (The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap); Outside the Lines — “Leroy Hoard: Three to Remember”
Former NFL running back Leroy Hoard says he thinks of three men nearly every day: Andre Waters, Dave Duerson and Junior Seau. These former NFL players each suffered from brain trauma caused by repeated blows to the head, and each turned a gun on himself and took his own life. After a 10-year NFL career, Hoard, now 44, says he battles daily with throbbing headaches, numbness in his arms and legs and recurring depression. He wonders if he owned a gun, would he have shared the same fate as those three men. Hoard talked candidly with Kelly Naqi about the physical and mental struggles of life after football.

Magazines – Sports
SC Featured; Outside the Lines; ESPN Radio (The Sporting Life with Jeremy Schaap — “Sapelo Island”
It’s an unlikely place to have spawned an NFL player, but Sapelo Island, Ga. – population 47 –is where Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Allen Bailey called home. Bailey’s aunt, an author well-versed in the island’s history and its people, can trace the family’s roots back to a slave brought to the island in the early 1800s. Still reachable only by ferry, the island maintains many of its African traditions, even as it faces an uncertain future amidst a dwindling population and encroachment of the modern world. In recognition of Black History Month, Jeremy Schaap traveled home with Bailey to learn about the island’s distinct history and threats to its future.