MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- College spring break typically consists of a trip to a tropical beachfront location for plenty of fun and relaxation. Milwaukee women's soccer player Emma Worthington and Panther swimmer Sophia Schmidt found that typical tropical location last March, but their trip was far from ordinary.

Celebrating 40 years of Title IX!!!  I remember when the bill was passed as I was a high school teacher in a school system where athletic competition for the girls was held twice a year – fall & spring – and it was called a play day after which we served cookies, orange slices & a drink. As the commercial says, “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby”. I was excited to see that now there would or should be opportunities for girls/women that we did not have, but was also cautious as I wasn’t sure how serious the bill would be taken and enforced.

The recent announcement by one of our founding members to affiliate with another athletic conference is proof positive that we are indeed living in the new athletics world.

Last Thursday and Friday, I was lucky enough to be among the 22 media members selected to participate in the NCAA’s annual Men’s Basketball Mock Selection, a tool the NCAA uses to educate and inform about the process.

On January 11-14, Indianapolis hosted more than 2400 delegates attending the annual NCAA Convention, and although a majority of convention delegates and attendees were from Divisions II and III, much of the news and many decisions of the week centered on Division I and specifically on Division I reform.

 



I never watched Dick Vitale coach a game of basketball; instead I grew up in the Dick Vitale Era of college basketball, when “Dickie V” brought the game to life on a regular basis throughout the winter. Even meeting Vitale at his beloved Broken Egg in Siesta Key 10 years ago, his enthusiasm was palpable, despite basketball season being four months away.



That enthusiasm comes from one source:

Here at the Horizon League, we like to think most weekends of competition are good weekends of competition.

At the Horizon League, we spend a great deal of time talking about -- and promoting -- our values.

On September 22, college commissioners gathered in Chicago.  On the same date in Providence, Rhode Island, Dave Gavitt, former Big East commissioner and one of the iconic leaders in college sports, was buried.  Amidst the irony of two charter Big East members, Pitt and Syracuse, leaving for the ACC, Dave Gavitt’s presence was felt among the commissioners in Chicago.

Note: this piece from Mark Lazerus ran in the Post-Tribune on Sept. 22. The posting of this comes courtesy of Lazerus and the Post-Tribune. You can read Mark's work (including this article), by clicking here.