[ FOOTBALL ]
Fresno trying
academic reform
BOISE, Idaho || Fresno State announced two moves yesterday designed to improve the athletic department's image regarding academics.
The school will no longer sign academically non-qualifying high school students to athletic scholarships. Also, the athletics academic services unit will report jointly to athletic director Scott Johnson and FSU's provost, who is the school's chief academic official.
Football coach Pat Hill applauded the moves. He said the Bulldogs will still be able to recruit athletes who are not qualified right away, but now there is a system in place to help them eventually get into school and qualify to play sports.
"We will be able to monitor them a lot better now," Hill said. "We're not giving up on the non-qualifier. We're just giving them different alternatives through the provost's office. Getting the provost involved will help improve the academic center, tutorial center and labs. We can send them to (junior colleges) and keep an eye on them and send them to summer school. There are lots of alternatives."
Hill said a negative perception of Fresno State's academics generated by signing non-qualifiers is unfair.
"Everybody talks about us signing non-qualifiers, and they think we have 20 or 30 of them. That's just not true," he said. "Only nine of our 85 scholarship athletes were non-qualifiers in February."
Non-qualifiers are allowed to go to school, but cannot practice or play in games until they qualify.
Hill said the moves are not designed to make Fresno State more attractive to other conferences, especially since the Bulldogs' basketball program has been under NCAA investigation due to an alleged cheating scandal.
"That's not the reason we're doing it at all," he said. "It's a giant step to show we're committed to kids and giving young men an education and eliminate the negative perception."
Going to Omaha: Rice quarterback Kyle Herm's got school spirit. Or he just really likes baseball.
Herm and three teammates -- linebackers Adam Herrin and Brandon Boyd and offensive lineman Chris DeMunbrun -- were watching the Owls play in the College World Series on TV in Houston when Herm got an idea.
"Before I knew it, we were in my car making a 14-hour drive," Herm said. "We made it for the championship game (in which Rice beat Stanford). It turned out to be worth it."
Forgotten man: Louisiana Tech's Luke McCown was the WAC's Preseason Offensive Player of the Year in 2002. Twelve months, 19 interceptions and eight losses later, and McCown is a good candidate for Comeback Player of the Year.
Going into his fourth and final season as the Bulldogs' starting quarterback, McCown hopes 2003 is more like 2001, when he led his team to the WAC championship with 29 touchdown passes.
He hopes hours in front of the VCR this summer returns him to form.
"I had as many interceptions as touchdowns last year," McCown said. "So I got a break down of every interception and I've spent lots of time watching every one of them, trying to learn from what I did wrong."
Wouldn't it be more fun to watch the TDs instead?
"This is what I want to do for a living, so I'd better learn to critique myself," McCown said. "I come from a family of quarterbacks (brothers Randy and Josh started for Texas A&M and Sam Houston State), and we look at it as a craft to perfect. That means a lot of study."
McCown has amassed 9,748 passing yards in his career. He said he looks forward to the Oct. 18 game with Hawaii, especially since it means a rematch with UH quarterback Tim Chang on McCown's home turf. The teams haven't played since Hawaii beat LaTech 27-10 in 2000 at Aloha Stadium when Chang and McCown were freshman starters.
Licking his chops: By the time Hawaii visits Nevada on Nov. 15, the Warriors' freshman offensive tackle tandem of Samson Satele and Dane Uperesa should have had enough time to adjust to the rigors of Division I college football. Still, Wolf Pack defensive end Jorge Cordova got excited when told yesterday that UH has newbies guarding both edges.
"I guess that could be pretty fun," said Cordova, who led the WAC with 8 1/2 sacks last year and is the conference's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. "Two years ago when (Uriah) Moenoa was a freshman at right tackle I got through and put Timmy Chang out for a couple of series."
Nevada beat Hawaii 28-20 in that game.
Short yardage: Nevada junior running back Chance Kretschmer, who led Division I in rushing two years ago, said he is "all healed up" from the torn ACL that kept him out of all but two games last year. ... Chang's Heisman Trophy campaign will cost UH's athletic department around $10,000, sports media relations director Lois Manin said.
