Disciplining students who break laws is always a difficult question for educators and juvenile probation officers. A program in Bartlesville, Oklahoma is trying a new approach. The group is called Run the Streets, and they’re offering teens in trouble with the law the chance to avoid detention or probation by participating in a running program.

The teenagers train for and complete a half marathon. Adult mentors also run with the teens to provide an extra dimension of support and encouragement. Not only do the teens get fit, they also build self-confidence and self-discipline. “I wanted to develop alternatives to traditional probation where kids would be internally motivated to change their behaviors rather than depending on external negative consequences, which are by and large ineffective,” explains founder Bob Williams, who is also a probation officer and runner.

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After a nice summer break from college football teams shifting conferences, the fall has brought more changes to the landscape, as Fresno State and Nevada announced they will leave the Western Athletic Conference and join the Mountain West Conference.

According to Pete Fiutak at Foxsports.com “the two schools have solid football programs, have been bowl regulars over the past few years and add more meat to the Mountain West’s midsection that should raise the overall profile of the league.”

I’m not 100% on board with Fiutak’s statement. Both teams are OK, but a combined 56-46 record over the last four years isn’t exactly anything to write home about, especially in a conference as weak as the WAC. Nevada has had a lot of losses to major conference teams over the last four years including:

52-21 to Arizona State in 2006
52-10 to Nebraska in 2007
35-19 to Texas Tech and 69-17 to Missouri in 2008
35-20 to Colorado State last year (not to mention a 35-0 whipping by Notre Dame.) Read the rest of this entry »

As a graduate of the University of Central Florida, I heard first hand about the controversial Playboy bunny photo shoot on campus.

When business administration student Shanna Marie McLaughlin, Playboy’s Miss July 2010, was shot in the UCF football team’s locker room for her aXis Magazine cover spread it was a dream come true for teenage boys dreaming of naked Playboy bunnies posing in their locker room, and it was a nightmare for the university’s public image.

UCF officials have released an apology to fans, students and parents for the incident.

“An employee without proper authorization allowed access to our football locker room. By the time the video of the shoot was brought to our attention, it had already made its rounds via the internet,” UCF Associate Athletic Director Joe Hornstein’s told the Orlando Sentinel.

Video After the Jump Read the rest of this entry »

A federal judge ruled that competitive cheerleading is not an official sport that colleges can use to meet title IX gender-equity requirements, reports the Associated Press. Volleyball players and their coach filed the lawsuit against Quinnipiac University when the school announced that it would be cutting the team for budget reasons. They wanted to replace the volleyball team with a competitive cheer squad.

“Competitive cheer may, some time in the future, qualify as a sport under Title IX,” Judge Stefan Underhill wrote. “Today, however, the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.” Eight schools, including Quinnipiac, recently formed a governing body in hopes that cheer can qualify for title IX, but it is as of yet still too disorganized.

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College football is one of America’s most celebrated sports. Millions of dollars are spent by fans on tickets, tailgating, sportswear and concessions. That doesn’t even begin to take into consideration the money spent by colleges on recruiting players, paying coaches, putting uniforms on the team and paying for players scholarships. The college football industry is driven by fans, tradition and money. Winning games means more money, more students wanting to go to the school and more fans.

One expense that highly winning football schools pay close attention to is the football coach’s salary. Schools with more winning programs pay their coaches a lot more than those with mediocre programs. If a coach wins a national championship or consistently goes to the more prominent bowl games, he’s pretty much able to write his own ticket.

No matter what, the coaches with the highest salaries have worked to get the best results from their players and for their schools. As of 2009, the highest paid college football coaches, with their yearly salaries, are: Read the rest of this entry »

College basketball may be the only sport that has an entire month devoted to its championship tournament – March Madness. Teams across the country work hard their entire season so that they’re eligible to play in this highly anticipated tournament each year. Good teams work hard and average teams work even harder to have a chance to participate. The coaches of all college basketball teams dream for the chance to compete for that championship as well.

Like with any sport, there are some schools that are known as basketball powerhouses. Each year there are schools that consistently make it to the tournament. One thing that can be agreed upon when looking at school programs is that no one makes it to the March Madness tournament without a good coaching staff. Head basketball coaches are valued, especially when their team wins. As with any sport, only the most successful coaches make the most money. When a coach is winning, schools want to keep him coaching at their school. The natural way to do that is to offer the coach large amounts of money in the way of a coaching salary. Of course, the flip side to that is that when coaches start losing, they get fired.

The best coaches know how to continue their winning streaks for many years. The top ten college basketball coaches and their reported 2009 salaries are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

USC announced today that it will give the 2005 Heisman Trophy, won by the school’s former star tailback Reggie Bush, back to the Heisman Trophy Trust. The Trust will meet July 27, and according to Rivals they have declined comment on what will come of the trophy.

In June, USC was slapped with a laundry list of NCAA sanctions after it was discovered that Bush, and former basketball star OJ Mayo, were both receiving “benefits” under the table, which is not allowed in the NCAA. The sanctions included a ban from bowl games for two years, a loss of 30 scholarships for three years, and the removal of their 2005 national championship over the Sooners from the record. Read the rest of this entry »

The day after the Major League Baseball All-Star game is one of only two days on the calender where there are no major professional sport’s games scheduled. So ESPN has seized that day as an opportunity to do an annual award show, the ESPYs.

Started in 1993, the show has grown in size and stature much like ESPN. There are awards given in a variety of categories, some so similar it’s impossible to differentiate (best moment and best play?). Others, like the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and the Arthur Ashe Courage award, take the focus off sports.

This year’s event was held Wednesday night in Los Angeles. Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl received the Jimmy V award, named after former NCAA basketball coach Jim Valvano. Karl is battling throat and neck cancer. The Courage award was given to the family of Ed Thomas, the Aplington-Parkersburg (Iowa) coach who was killed in the school’s weight room by one of his former players. Read the rest of this entry »

Early this month, Damon Evans, the athletic director of the University of Georgia, was arrested for drunk driving as he was swerving in and out of lanes along Atlanta’s roads.

“As I sit before all of you, I am very ashamed and embarrassed by my actions,” Evans said at a news conference. “I let this university down, I let my family down, I let the Bulldog nation down. I believe my actions have put a black cloud over our program. I never thought I would bring so much shame to this storied university.”

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LeBron James, Number 23 for the Cleveland Cavaliers

LeBron James announced tonight that he is joining the Miami Heat. This is a huge issue for sports fans, and some are even calling the event “The Decision.”

We at EDUinReview.com would like to provide a little background information of this basketball superstar.

James was born December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio. He attended St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Ohio. James became a starter during his freshman year and averaged 21 points and 6.3 rebounds that year. He was named “Mr. Basketball” of Ohio as a sophomore, the youngest player to receive this honor. During his junior year, James petitioned the NBA to be drafted, but he was denied.

However, this did not stop NBA stars such as Shaquille O’Neal from attending James’ high school basketball games, which were televised nationally on ESPN2. It was at this point that most people started referring to him as “King James.”

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