NC State to meet Texas in BCA Classic

North Carolina State will battle Texas in the 1999 Black Coaches Association Classic, to be held in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 28. The game, which supports the BCA post-graduate scholarship fund, will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

"This will be a great opportunity for us to showcase our team and N.C. State University," Wolfpack coach Mike O'Cain said Friday. "Texas will present a tremendous challenge for us, but our team is very excited about playing a great team in front of a national audience."

The Longhorns, who signed highly-touted quarterback Chris Simms during the offseason, finished the 1998 campaign with a 9-3 record and a win over Mississippi State in the Cotton Bowl. N.C. State finished 7-5 with a loss to Miami in the Micron PC Bowl.

OSU's Cooper to join $1 million club? - The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that John Cooper is set to sign a new deal that will guarantee the Buckeye coach at least $1 million per year. Cooper's current contract, signed in 1995, is worth nearly $750,000 a year.

Reportedly, the new deal would include $170,772 in base salary, $290,000 in radio-TV compensation and $217,000 from the athletic department's multimillion-dollar contract with Nike. Added to that will be a number of performance-related bonuses, including $35,000 bonus for taking the team to the Sugar Bowl and $10,000 for at least a nine-win season that included a victory over Michigan.

Currently, only eight coaches are believed to earn a guaranteed $1 million per season: Steve Spurrier of Florida, Bobby Bowden of Florida State, Joe Paterno of Penn State, Mack Brown of Texas, Phil Fulmer of Tennessee, Rick Neuheisel of Washington, Bill Snyder of Kansas State and Tommy Tuberville of Auburn.

Wisconsin dodges lawsuit - The Wisconsin State Supreme Court has ruled that eight students, who were injured when spectators charged the field while celebrating a Badgers' football victory in 1993, cannot sue school officials. The court deadlocked 3-3 in the decision, meaning that an earlier ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals, which argued that the employees were protected against lawsuits because they worked for state government, was upheld.

On Oct. 30, 1993, a massive crowd of students charged the field after Wisconsin defeated the Michigan Wolverines. There were 69 people injured in the incident, including some who were trampled. Several players waded into the crowd to pull victims to their feet, and many fans continued celebrating until an official announced that one person had no pulse and was not breathing. The crowd then stepped aside for ambulances. Those who sued claimed that their injuries would not have occurred if security had left stadium gates open after the game. They argued that university officials knew there might be a stampede and that closing the gates constituted negligence.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic