BOBCAT NEWS: Big Sky Notebook
7/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Below is a look at some of the goings-on at last weekend's Big Sky Football Kickoff in Park City, Utah, which annually marks the demarcation between the lazy days of summer and the autumnal frenzy that is college football...
HIGHLY OFFICIAL: One of the working functions of the Big Sky Conference’s annual Football Kickoff is a four-day training session for the league’s football officials, 102 of which gathered last weekend. “We had to get permission from Homeland Security just to have these guys in the same room,” joked Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton.
OFFICIAL IMPROVEMENT: Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton and Doug Toole, the league’s supervisor of football officials, each lauded the work of Big Sky arbiters. “When I became Commissioner I wanted to change the culture of the officials in this conference,” Fullerton said. “I wanted to change this into a professional organization that works as hard as the athletic administrators, coaches, and players in this league. We have changed that culture” in large part because of the league’s extensive evaluation and education system built on examining video tape of every play. Fullerton calls the Big Sky’s system for evaluating and informing officials the most thorough and effective in Division I-AA.
TV TALK: The Big Sky is expected to maintain its status as the I-AA leader in nationally and regionally televised games this fall. Big Sky games will appear regularly on CSTV, Altitude Sports, and SportsWest. KPAX-TV will televise all UM conference games, and Omega is expected to televise some MSU games, as well. By the time the league’s television package is finalized in early August, all Bobcat games should be televised.
NEW MONIKER: Doug Fullerton is a driving force in the push to rename the Division I-AA Playoffs the NCAA Division I Football Championships. “It’s a branding concept,” Fullerton said. “We are the NCAA’s premiere championship football classification, and it would help our basketball programs avoid the I-AA label.”
POWERFUL POWER NUMBERS: The big Sky finished 16-4 against other I-AA schools last year in the regular season, and finished the year ranked three spots ahead of the I-A Sun Belt Conference in the Sagarin Ratings.
IT’S ACADEMICS: How solid are Big Sky Conference schools in terms of academic performance? Just over 70% of the league’s squad lists (composed of all active student-athletes) compiled GPAs of 3.0 or better.
EXPANSION ISSUES: Expansion will again be a hot topic among Big Sky fans. League Commissioner Doug Fullerton indicated that conference presidents will take up the topic at their August 9 meeting. Fullerton indicated that among Big Sky presidents expanding to either nine, or possibly 10, schools is “gaining the majority.” Fullerton indicated that a nine-team organization makes sense for football, but is more inconvenient for basketball. League presidents also have a desire to keep the league safely above the seven-team NCAA-mandated minimum. “We’ve done internal investigations on several schools,” which include all the interested I-AA schools west of Minneapolis, a group thought to include Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Southern Utah.
SENIOR STATESMAN: Neither Dick Vermiel nor Jack McKeon were at this week’s Big Sky Football Kickoff, but the league is still active in the move toward experience over youth now gripping sports. Former University of Montana football coach Don Read and former Utah State basketball coach Dutch Belnap each attended the meetings. Read is now Athletic Director at UM, while Belnap is interim AD at Weber State, where he served as full-time AD in the ‘90s.
AGING NICELY: Bobcat football coach Mike Kramer received a gift at the Football Kickoff’s barbecue in honor of his upcoming 50th birthday: a tube of Preparation H, given him by his fellow coaches. The crowd of over 100 gathered serenaded Kramer with a chorus of Happy Birthday.
HIGHLY OFFICIAL: One of the working functions of the Big Sky Conference’s annual Football Kickoff is a four-day training session for the league’s football officials, 102 of which gathered last weekend. “We had to get permission from Homeland Security just to have these guys in the same room,” joked Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton.
OFFICIAL IMPROVEMENT: Big Sky Commissioner Doug Fullerton and Doug Toole, the league’s supervisor of football officials, each lauded the work of Big Sky arbiters. “When I became Commissioner I wanted to change the culture of the officials in this conference,” Fullerton said. “I wanted to change this into a professional organization that works as hard as the athletic administrators, coaches, and players in this league. We have changed that culture” in large part because of the league’s extensive evaluation and education system built on examining video tape of every play. Fullerton calls the Big Sky’s system for evaluating and informing officials the most thorough and effective in Division I-AA.
TV TALK: The Big Sky is expected to maintain its status as the I-AA leader in nationally and regionally televised games this fall. Big Sky games will appear regularly on CSTV, Altitude Sports, and SportsWest. KPAX-TV will televise all UM conference games, and Omega is expected to televise some MSU games, as well. By the time the league’s television package is finalized in early August, all Bobcat games should be televised.
NEW MONIKER: Doug Fullerton is a driving force in the push to rename the Division I-AA Playoffs the NCAA Division I Football Championships. “It’s a branding concept,” Fullerton said. “We are the NCAA’s premiere championship football classification, and it would help our basketball programs avoid the I-AA label.”
POWERFUL POWER NUMBERS: The big Sky finished 16-4 against other I-AA schools last year in the regular season, and finished the year ranked three spots ahead of the I-A Sun Belt Conference in the Sagarin Ratings.
IT’S ACADEMICS: How solid are Big Sky Conference schools in terms of academic performance? Just over 70% of the league’s squad lists (composed of all active student-athletes) compiled GPAs of 3.0 or better.
EXPANSION ISSUES: Expansion will again be a hot topic among Big Sky fans. League Commissioner Doug Fullerton indicated that conference presidents will take up the topic at their August 9 meeting. Fullerton indicated that among Big Sky presidents expanding to either nine, or possibly 10, schools is “gaining the majority.” Fullerton indicated that a nine-team organization makes sense for football, but is more inconvenient for basketball. League presidents also have a desire to keep the league safely above the seven-team NCAA-mandated minimum. “We’ve done internal investigations on several schools,” which include all the interested I-AA schools west of Minneapolis, a group thought to include Northern Colorado, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Southern Utah.
SENIOR STATESMAN: Neither Dick Vermiel nor Jack McKeon were at this week’s Big Sky Football Kickoff, but the league is still active in the move toward experience over youth now gripping sports. Former University of Montana football coach Don Read and former Utah State basketball coach Dutch Belnap each attended the meetings. Read is now Athletic Director at UM, while Belnap is interim AD at Weber State, where he served as full-time AD in the ‘90s.
AGING NICELY: Bobcat football coach Mike Kramer received a gift at the Football Kickoff’s barbecue in honor of his upcoming 50th birthday: a tube of Preparation H, given him by his fellow coaches. The crowd of over 100 gathered serenaded Kramer with a chorus of Happy Birthday.
Wednesday, June 10
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