Category Archives: NCAA

All-American Diver Celebrates Being Gay

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By Ellen Chlumecky

In a world where professional and collegiate athletes’ lives are put on display for the rest of the world to see, it becomes harder and harder for these people to keep a secret about themselves private. Secrets especially are hard to keep when one is in the spotlight often. Conor Murphy is one of the few athletes that found it easier to reveal the secret to the rest of his team and the rest of the university, that he was gay.

Conor Murphy is an All-American diver at Indiana University. Conor owns two Big Ten titles and two top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships in platform diving. He finished his sophomore year fifth at NCAAs in platform diving. In 2012, he competed at the Olympic Trials that summer. As a junior, he captured the Big Ten title in platform diving and took third at NCAAs in platform diving. He is also the first Indiana University athlete to say publicly he is gay.

Conor Murphy speaks only positive things about how his teammates and university have been behind him in his coming out. While he has always been comfortable with his identity, his classmates, teammates, and university made him feel even more at ease. Conor expresses how Bloomington is an accepting place, where many different people come from many different places. While he knows not everyone holds these liberal views, he states that everyone is very tolerant and welcoming.

Conor is just one of many gay collegiate athletes in our sports world today. The difference between him and quite a few of them though, is that not all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student athletes don’t always feel welcome or comfortable with telling others their secret. Playing on any collegiate team requires trust between teammates. When a teammate does not feel comfortable expressing their secret to other teammates in fear of being judged, it affects the individual and the team.

While Conor Murphy’s story is a positive one, not every collegiate or even professional athlete has received open arms when they decided to come out. Conor Murphy and several of his fellow athletes recently stated that they want to be able to teach more confidence to fellow athletes or anyone in general having difficulty coming out. While the world has slowly become more accepting, there are still people out there who are road blocks to people’s happiness. Everyone in the sports world, especially athletes, need to do their best to be welcoming and accepting to their fellow teammates, coaches, or anyone else working in sports when one decides to come out. No one should ever be discouraged to play or work in sports because of their sexual orientation.

All information in this story came from the story “All-American diver and Big Ten champion Conor Murphy celebrates being gay at Indiana.”

http://www.outsports.com/2014/12/9/7354125/conor-murphy-gay-diver-indiana

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Feeling the Pressure

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By Kaleb Page

It’s approaching that time of the year. Now when you hear that phrase most may think of Christmas or the holiday season. In the college football world that means the college football coaching carousel is approaching. This week two teams that joined the coaching market jumped out of the carousel ride early.

Nebraska after many tension filled season with Bo Pelini fired the coach even after posting another 9-3 season. Over his tenure Pelini went 67-27 and for what some would say brought some consistency to the Nebraska program. Another thing that could be said with the firing of Pelini is that the fan base at Nebraska could be making unrealistic expectations, but at powerhouse programs expectations can exceed reality.

With that said ESPN reports showed that early Thursday Nebraska hired Mike Riley from Oregon State to take over the team. A coach of 14 years at Oregon State he was known for his loyalty and being calm, this might have been the reason to hire Riley to just have an opposite view-point from that of Pelini. Only time will tell how consistent Riley is in comparison to how Pelini was at Nebraska.

For the time it had Will Muschamp as a coach, Florida just could never seem to hit its stride. Offensively every year it seemed to be lacking something. It might have been due to the fact that switches at coordinator on offense over the years didn’t lend to the offense at Florida being cohesive and full of continuity. The defense was not the problem though during his tenure with there being plenty of NFL talent on the defensive side, including this final season. A specialty of Muschamp’s that might land him a job as a defensive coordinator at Texas A&M or Auburn.

The same Thursday as the Nebraska hire, Florida hired from Colorado State Jim McElwain a former offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2008-11 the lead to two championship runs. This season at Colorado State saw McElwain take his team to a 10-2 record and recognition from the Mountain West conference as the best coach. From the buzz around the college football scene it sure looks like Florida made the right hire in McElwain.

Now there is pressure from these schools and schools that probably will join in the coaching carousel soon to make the home run hire. To get that “it” guy who can transcend not only the conference but also the national scene to bring all the glory to that perspective school is more important than ever now. Maybe it was the pressure that caused Florida and Nebraska to make the leap for their guy right now. Possibly it was just because they did their homework and said this is the right fit in all ways. For one school in particular this better be the best hire they have had in a long time.

The University of Michigan was one of the more premiere jobs in the country back in the early to mid-2000s. However after multiple years of complete failure in the eyes of any Michigan fans’ standards under Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke; the job saw its luster fade away. With the vacancy created after the firing of Hoke this past weekend, the task at hand to find a new coach might be the most important one in Michigan history.  As I heard SVP and Russillo today talk about the coaching hires, they brought up a very interesting point that is very important to realize.

In the college football coaching arena there are only a handful of guys you can look at and say those guys are “it.” Coaches that are consistent and no matter the scenario or team they can bring you a level of excellency not matched by any coach out there. That is why Michigan better get this right and better hit the walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth for the win to make not only a statement, but to show they mean business again.

Whether it is Jim Harbaugh, Les Miles, Dan Mullen or even Greg Schiano the man picked for the job better be the big splash needed to bring the Michigan of old back to the scene. The fans need it, the Big Ten conference needs it and even college football needs a stronger showing from Michigan. For the new athletic director at Michigan the choice better be a great one and better be that “it” guy.

No pressure.

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The Power of the Unit: How this statement will be tested for Ohio State

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By Kaleb Page

For the Ohio State football team the past few days have seen more adversity thrown their way than most teams might experience in an entire season. If you look at any photos, press releases, etc. the mantra for this team is “Power of the Unit.” A mantra that holds that everyone on the team makes the unit not just one single player, also that in order to be a success it is how strong of a bond the team has. This mantra is surely at its toughest test as we make it to the end of the college football season.

Saturday was something that everyone in the state of Ohio and Michigan would say is “The Game.” The rivalry was like most years of the game full of intense moments and a hard-fought match up despite the records. Despite the end result, with Ohio State pulling away late to win 42-28; the win felt empty.

In the fourth quarter J.T. Barrett was running a play he had run hundreds of times during the season. A read option play where he could hand it off or take off and in this case Barrett took off up the field. As he was tackled his leg fell under a Michigan player and then more fell on top. As the pile got up; Barrett did not. After being carted off the field it was discovered that Barrett wouldn’t be back for the rest of the season with a broken ankle, thus ultimately throwing another plot twist in already what was a season full of twists for the buckeyes.

Even though this could affect what Ohio State does for the college playoff and will be a test on how well the coaches can get the team to play despite a loss on the field, there was event prior to “The Game” that makes the one above pale in comparison.

Early Wednesday morning a walk on defensive lineman and wrestler at Ohio State went missing. Kosta Karageorge was known by teammates to be a funny, kind and a gentle giant. As a senior he was supposed to be honored at the final home game of the season against Michigan. Unfortunately for all the hopes and wishes to be found safely in time to be back with the team, Karageorge would not be there Saturday. This story ended with the ultimate sadness that Karageorge was found early Sunday morning dead of what was concluded to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

This heart-break and sadness will test this team in not just the way of losing someone to play. It will test how true this team is in its togetherness and ability to be there for one another. Urban Meyer said this week, “I can just say, this is an extremely close team that does a lot of things together and cares about each other.” If this statement is as true as Meyer says, then this team should be able to rally around each other in this tough time losing not only a teammate but a close friend forever. Something they will have to do relatively quickly for a big test yet ahead of them.

This Saturday night is the Big Ten Championship game between this Ohio State team and the Wisconsin Badgers. If Ohio State plans on making it out of Indianapolis with a win and the shot at being in the first edition of the college football playoff, then they better be as strong a team as they say.

One thing is for sure when it comes to this team in particular, they have all the reason to not show up Saturday. Whether it is because they have lost their second quarterback of the season, the pressure of doubters saying how can they even be in the playoff discussion or for the fact they lost more than a teammate but a friend forever over the holidays; this team has all the reason to fold in.

Hopefully they do play to their mantra of the “Power of the Unit” and show what it truly means to be a close-knit team willing and able to persevere through anything as long as they are together.

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College Football Playoff Committee Faces Massive Media Scruntity

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By Nick Muhl

This year’s NCAA college football season marks the first year of the new college football playoff. The four teams are to be selected by the college football playoff committee, which is made up of 11 individuals (originally was 12, Archie Manning stood down due to medical reasons) all coming from different backgrounds. Some of the committee includes members from the college athletic community like Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich and former NCAA executive Tom Jernstedt. Others were questionably chosen because of their noted fandom of the sport, like former Secretary of State Condelezza Rice.

The criteria the committee will analyze during their decision in picking the final four teams is as follows: Wins, Head-to-Head results, conference championships, strength of schedule, common opponents, and injuries to key players. The final criteria listed, injuries to key players, may present the committee with one of the toughest decisions it has ever faced.

While the criteria for the each committee member to consider is listed, the amount each criteria applies to the to voter’s decision is entirely up to them. The process for the committee will be completely subjective, meaning some members may hold a season-ending injury such as Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback J.T Barrett as more damaging to the Buckeyes than another committee members.

Jason Kirk, writer for SB Nation, published an article on October 28th, titled 9 Potential Problems with the college football playoff committee. Long before Ohio State Quarterback J.T Barrett went down to a broken ankle, Kirk predicted that the criteria for “key injuries” could be troublesome for the college football playoff committee to analyze and explain its level of importance.

“The committee will consider “other relevant factors such as key injuries that may have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance.” That “postseason performance” part hasn’t been explained much, but it sounds troublesome.”

Kirk also cites the hypocrisy of the criteria itself. For instance, there is no criteria for factoring in Ohio State’s win over a Cincinnati team with a then healthy starting quarterback. Cincinnati now looks like a week non conference win for the Buckeyes, considering the Bearcats season deteriorated after losing starting quarterback Gunner Keil.

By no means am I a Buckeye supporter, in fact as a Michigan Wolverine fan I would somewhat enjoy to watch Buckeye fans cringe as they miss out on the first college football playoff. However, one has to wonder if the committee would factor in a season-ending injury to Jameis Winston, quarterback for the Florida Seminoles. The Seminoles have gone undefeated in a power five conference, but only have one team left on their schedule that they defeated – Louisville, who remains ranked. Compared to the Buckeyes, who do have one loss, strength of schedule should play a significant factor in the eyes of Buckeye fans. The same goes for TCU, and even Baylor, who despite defeating TCU trails them in the college football playoff standings. What if Horned Frogs quarterback Trevone Boykin, currently in the top 5 of the Heisman watch list, was to go down this week in practice? How about Baylor Bears quarterback Bryce Petty who left their game early due to concussion symptoms while Baylor barely hung on to a victory over Texas Tech?

A college football playoff that was created to lower the criticism of who is named the national champion of college football, now has the NCAA facing possibly the most postseason scrutiny ever. With conference championships remaining, the committee has very little football left before they make their final decision. One has to question why the NCAA gave the voters the subjective choice on how to order their criteria by importance. Now the Ohio State Buckeyes and Baylor Bears, who were already possibly facing the outside looking in to begin with, may be punished and kept out of the playoffs due to their quarterbacks injuries.

No matter what the final decision is, the NCAA can look forward to the many questions it will receive from the media and fans regarding how they came about choosing the final four teams.

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No Championship No Job for Bo Pelini

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By Kate Roth

Throughout this college football season we have seen many teams fall short of their expectations in turn putting their coaches on the chopping block. We expected to see coaches like Will Muschamp of Florida and Brady Hoke of Michigan get the boot at the end of the season, but this past Sunday’s headlines held the name of coach that many of did not expect to see, that name being Bo Pelini of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Pelini and his team were still in celebration mode after wrapping up the regular season on Friday with a 37-34 overtime win over rival Iowa to give the team 9 wins on the season and a chance to make it to a great bowl game. So I think it is safe to say that the announcement on Sunday that he would no longer be the Head Coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers came as a shock to all of Husker Nation.

Pelini started as head coach of the Huskers in 2007 and has recorded at least 9 wins in every season with the team and an overall record of 66-27. He also took to the team to 3 league championship games, but never came away champion. This seemed to be the main argument the University came out with when being questioned on their decision to fire such a successful coach.

The University of Nebraska Football Team has a great tradition of winning big games, not just regular games throughout the season, but championship games. The Athletic Department at the University seems to feel as though they have given Pelini enough time to deliver a championship with the team he has built and see his 9 or more win seasons as unsuccessful when they come without a championship.

As I stated before this news seemed to come as a shock to Husker Nation, including present and past players who took to twitter to voice their opinions on the matter and support Coach Bo and the rest of the coaching staff.

Will Compton, a former Husker now Washington Redskin in the NFL tweeted, “Can’t thank the coaching staff enough for the personal growth in my life. Their character, values, and leadership made a difference in us all. Can’t wait to continue to support them and watch them have success elsewhere.”

Another tweet came from Husker starting cornerback and team captain Josh Mitchell who said, “Have nothing but love for this man, thank you for everything Coach Bo.” Mitchell then attached photo of himself and Coach Pelini in an embrace and later changed it to his profile picture on the social media site.

These are just a couple of the countless tweets that were sent out from the Husker football community after the announcement. The players wanted to make it clear that they believe in Coach Bo and show that he has become more than just a coach to them over their years at the University.

It has been proven time and time again that the Nebraska crowd is not easy to please. They want success and they want it now. Unfortunately for Coach Pelini, 9 wins of more a season just didn’t satisfy the Athletic Department as long as they came with no Championship Trophy.

Although this is a tough time for Bo and the rest of his coaching staff it is clear to see through the success he has had through the years and the support his players have shown for him that he is not only a great coach, but a great leader. I think it’s safe to say it won’t be long before he is hired by a new Athletic Department and we will be hearing his name in the headlines again.

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Massive Blowout

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By Kia Tyus

Many people believe the whole point of playing a team sport is to not only win but win by as much as possible. Many competitive athletes love to completely dominate a team. In the case of Savannah State vs. Louisville this was exactly the case.

The players and the fans were probably amped up about the blowout win. But, not Louisville head coach Rick Pitino. Instead, Pitino early on in the game decided to come up with ways to not beat Savannah State by so much.

The question you should ask yourself is, when competing in a game should you hold back from destroying a team? Personally, I have mixed feelings about what Pitino did in the game. I understand that when your team is blowing out another team, it is important to reserve those players energy. It also lessens the chance of an injury.

But, is it fair to tell the players who rarely see playing time to hold back? No, I agree with the Jeff Eisenberg, the author of an article on the subject. When you put your backup players in the game, I feel as though they should get the same chance to pad their stats. It is their turn to have a feeling of accomplishing something.

Eisenberg also touched on Pitino’s post game press conference that was in fact a risky one. Pitino pitied Savannah State, stating, “I don’t like to see any team struggle like that. I really don’t.” Pitino furthered his comments by saying, “We tried everything” Referring how he was trying to not beat up on Savannah State so much.

Pitino ended his press conference making a statement, “You get nothing out of this, you just feel bad for the other team.” As a former athlete, I feel no matter how bad you get beat, I would never want a team to feel sorry for me. Clearly, Louisville was a better team being ranked in the nation. Savannah State is a struggling Division 1 school playing in a poor conference. No one should have been that surprised by this score.

Eisenberg began to compare Louisville blowout to their in-state rivals Kentucky; who blew out Montana State 86-28. Of course, Pitino refused to comment.

Eisenberg wrote a great article that made you think about what if you were in Pitino’s situation and how you would handle it. I feel as though Eisenberg gave great statics on each team such and the score, record, and even went as far as making a point of how this isn’t even Savannah State’s worst point differential in the shot clock era. In fact, in 2008, Savannah State scored a measly four points in the first half.

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Melvin Gordon’s Record Falls Without Much Notice

By Matt Rogers

Well, that was fast. Melvin Gordon’s FBS single-game rushing yardage record has fallen, after only one week. This time the record was broken by Oklahoma’s true freshman running back, Samaje Perine. Perine’s record-breaking performance is not receiving quite the fanfare and media coverage that Gordon’s did last week, but nonetheless 427 yards in a single game is more than impressive.

As previously mentioned, Samaje Perine is only a true freshman at OU, making his record-breaking performance that much more impressive than Melvin Gordon’s. Gordon already was touted as a top running back in the upcoming NFL draft and a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. Perine’s pedigree is not too shabby in itself. He was regarded as top running back prospect in the 2014 recruiting class by Rivals and Scout.com recruiting services, receiving a 4-star rating out of a possible 5-stars. Perine has also had a great first college season totaling 1,428 yards on 214 carries, while finding the endzone 19 times as well.

Another interesting aspect about Perine’s performance is that he is listed at 243 pounds. You do not usually see a running back that large running away from defenders the way that Perine did against Kansas. The fact that this is not receiving more coverage is confusing. We all know that Melvin Gordon is a household name among college football fans as a result of his outstanding play throughout his college career at Wisconsin. Shouldn’t the media and fans expect a guy with the reputation that Melvin Gordon has to break records?

What Samaje Perine did was done against a porous Kansas Jayhawk defense. Gordon’s damage was done against a Nebraska defense that was regarded as one of the best in the Big Ten coming into the game against Wisconsin, but that does not change the fact that Perine broke a record that was only broken a week prior.  I believe that alone should be worthy of more media coverage. A record that stood for 13 years that was broken, then broken again the very next week by an 18-year-old freshman. That is incredible.

One other thing that is not receiving anywhere near the attention that it should be from the media is that the Oklahoma Sooners offense only totaled 39 yards passing against the Kansas Jayhawks, 19 of which Perine was responsible for. Perine was responsible for all but 20 yards of the entire Oklahoma offense this past weekend because their starting quarterback, Trevor Knight, was out with injury. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime performance that should have been worthy of more than just a quick mention from the media.

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Fenwick Friar to Northwestern Wildcat

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By Ellen Chlumecky

One of the many things I love about writing for the Maxwell Media Watch is that I get to write about the many athletes that have been my idols for so many years. I also get to write about new and upcoming players who I personally root for and hope for their success. Today, I am writing about both. My article is about a talented athlete that I had the pleasure of going to high school with: Scott Lindsey.

A 6’5’’ shooting guard with an almost 7 foot wing span is currently a freshman at Northwestern University on the men’s basketball team. In high school, Lindsey joined the Fenwick sophomore team as a freshman. Then joined the varsity team as a sophomore. He also was ranked number 42 shooting guard and a three-star recruit by ESPN.com as a junior. His senior year he made captain and helped his team make it to the regional championships. He also received a student athlete award for being one of the top 15 players in the state.

However prior to attending Northwestern, Lindsey missed a large portion of his senior season due to a broken tibia and fibula. These serious injuries took a great deal of time and conditioning to return to what he had. While this may have set him back a great deal as a freshman on a collegiate team, Lindsey has worked immensely hard to be back at 100%.

This year, Northwestern has a very young team with only two seniors and one graduate student. The team is looking for leadership and with a good majority of the team being freshmen; Lindsey is trying his best to put his best foot forward on and off the court.

While head coach Chris Collins has stated that Lindsey has a chance to be a tremendous player but has him currently labeled as a sleeper because of his injury. However, Collins is very excited to have Lindsey on the team because he is a versatile player. Not only is he a great shooter but he’s a very tall player with great defensive skills as well. Collins is also excited because Lindsey helps accomplish Collins’ goal of forcing more turnovers.

In his first game of the season, Lindsey tallied 10 points and knocked down 3 out of 4 field goal attempts. For his first collegiate game, coming off an injury, I believe that Lindsey is trying to show his team and his coaches what type of potential he has.

While this may seem like an average player to someone looking at his stats, he is an immensely talented player with a large amount of potential. The team has only played three games so far but I look forward to watching his career progress not only because he is a former classmate but because he is a tremendous athlete with a bright future ahead of him.

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More Than A Game

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By Kia Tyus

In many sports, the sole purpose is to win by all means necessary. Many athletes have gained a terrible reputation of being very conceded with others and have the mind-set that they are better.

In a sport like hockey, which I consider one of the most physically demanding sports, players are constantly getting slammed into the wall, taunting one another, and receiving multiple penalties throughout the game.

With many student athletes there seems to be a constant struggle to abide by disciplinary rules off the field. Well the media seems to portray this that way.

Greg Wyshynski wrote an emotional article about how Keving Shier, a freshman hockey player at Union College, helped save Timothy Neild.

Usually, when people see others having car trouble on the road, you rarely have people stop to see if it is okay. This isn’t just people being road but some people are in rushes and simply don’t think twice about a broken down car. Now if most people were to see a burning car on the side of the road, they would probably call the police and stay as far away from the car as possible; to refrain themselves from injury.

Well, Shier and his father were driving to Union College for a recruiting visit and noticed a burning car. Instead of panicking and calling the cops and waiting, they alertly went over to the car to see if anybody was in there. Shier and his father ended up pulling Neild out of the car. Shier stated, “We thought he was dead”. Because of this act of kindness, Shier and his father ended up saving Neild’s life.

It turns out that Neild is in fact a Captain in the armed forces. To pay his respect, Neild presented Shier the Medal of Valor one of the top medal to receive at the Union vs Princeton game. And in return, the Union team autographed a signed jersey for Neild and his family.

The way Wyshynski wrote this article allowed people to see that many college athletes both future and present have great hearts and do a lot of wonderful things off the courts that just never get said in the media because the media focuses more on negativity.

The editor edited this story in a way that allowed readers to connect and read about how the incident impacted everyone involved.

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UConn Falling Brings Early Attention to Women’s Basketball

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By Kate Roth

When I turned on SportsCenter this week and saw one of the headlines talking about women’s college basketball I had to check my calendar to make sure it was still November and not March. The only time Women’s basketball seems to get any media attention is during March Madness and particularly the Final Four. That changed this week when the media had no choice but to cover the story of the mighty UConn Huskies falling to the Stanford Cardinal.

The top ranked Huskies were coming off a perfect season from last year and riding a 48 game winning streak and seemed to be in total control to run the table again this season, that is until they stepped on the court and met the tough Stanford team who played as if they were there to prove a point that this year will be different.

The news of this loss came as very shocking to me as I’m sure it did for many others too. I was fully expecting UConn to go into the tournament undefeated, maybe not win the whole thing again, but definitely be one of the final four teams left. In all honesty I think that is what most sports fans, myself included, have come to expect from women’s college basketball. That is why I think the news of this loss came so shocking to us and deserved the media attention it got.

It is great to see the sport of Women’s Basketball finally get some early attention, but I am afraid of the consequences that may come from this early UConn loss.

As I said before, the only time we see women’s basketball in the media is during March Madness. Last year even more so on the just the UConn team as they went about the quest to finish off a perfect season. Women’s college basketball does not seem to be the number one choice for fans to watch unless they have the opportunity to see history be made like they did last season with Huskies.

The Huskies early loss could play a critical role in the media coverage the sport will receive throughout the rest of the season. I would like to see it spark the interest of more reporters and fans so now they can stop putting all their focus on just one team and see the talented players that many of the other teams in the NCAA have. Who knows, this could also be a great opportunity for another team like Stanford or Notre Dame to run the table and make history of their own.

All in all it is great to see this sport finally getting some early attention it deserves and I hope to see the media build off this early attention and continue coverage through the rest of the season and on into the tournament. This is the perfect time for the other teams in the NCAA to step up and show the fans that there is more to women’s college basketball than just the UConn Huskies.

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