Tuesday, July 16, 2019   
 
Cotton crops struggling in wet weather
All of Mississippi's 2019 cotton crop has emerged, but it's off to a slow start. Of approximately 700,000 acres of cotton planted statewide this year, 57% is rated fair or worse by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as of July 8. The crop's delayed progress is a familiar refrain among Mississippi farmers this year: Wet weather significantly delayed planting. In addition, more cotton was replanted than usual due to excessive moisture and resultant poor stands. Darrin Dodds, Mississippi State University Extension Service cotton agronomist and head of the MSU Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, estimated that flooding reduced cotton acreage by up to 10%. "The most prominent aspect of 2019 is how challenging it has been for all crops," said Dodds. Despite the grim outlook, there still exists a possibility that overall cotton production can end up higher than last year since the planted acreage exceeds last year's 620,000 acres. Cotton growers will likely be dealing with tight margins in addition to the weather-related issues they have already faced.
 
Proposed subdivision on Lynn Lane heads to Board of Aldermen
A new subdivision is one step closer to approval this week after the Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission approved a preliminary report to rezone roughly 20 acres on the south side of town. The subdivision, which is being developed by Valentine Property Development, will be located near the intersection of Lynn Lane and South Montgomery Street, directly south of the Maison de Ville subdivision. This project has previously been considered by the city, but worries over stormwater drainage and negative traffic impacts have prevented it from moving forward. Rain this year has already raised concerns about potential flooding around the city, with some residents even appearing before the Board of Aldermen as recently as June. In the past, the subdivision's entrance onto South Montgomery Street was also criticized. Developers changed the entrance to a "right in, right out" style intersection, making it impossible for residents of the proposed neighborhood to make a left northbound turn onto South Montgomery Street.
 
Gov. Phil Bryant pushes for pumps' completion
Gov. Phil Bryant believes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has sufficient information to convince the Environmental Protection Agency to lift its 2008 veto prohibiting the installation of pumps on the Steele Bayou Control Structure. "I think we're very close," Bryant said Sunday after touring the Eagle Lake area and talking to reporters from The Weather Channel. The pump station is the final piece of the Yazoo Backwater Project that was authorized by Congress in 1941. The major piece of the project was the Yazoo Backwater Levee, completed in 1978. The pumps were expected to move 14,000 cubic feet of water per second from the land or Delta side of the structure to the riverside if and when gates were closed due to high river stages. "Part of the frustration is no one seems to know the challenges that we have here," Bryant said. "We've got a disaster that is now going on three months here in Warren County and throughout the Yazoo Backwater."
 
Gov. Phil Bryant blasts Mississippi's largest teacher organization
In an effort to defend Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, whose school choice record has drawn criticism from educators, Gov. Phil Bryant dismissed Mississippi's largest statewide teacher group as not representative "of the majority of the hardworking teachers in Mississippi." Bryant can't seek re-election and Reeves is running for governor with Bryant's endorsement. Bryant on social media on Thursday inaccurately referred to the group, which has no union ties, as a union. "I never had their support running for Governor nor did I want it," Bryant wrote. The governor was commenting on a post from the 13,500-member Mississippi Professional Educators. The post was describing a large number of educators exiting the room as Reeves gave remarks at the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents conference in Biloxi. A spokesperson for Bryant did not immediately respond to the Clarion Ledger's request for comment.
 
Bill Waller is latest governor candidate to say he won't meet alone with women
Another Mississippi gubernatorial candidate says he follows the Billy Graham rule. A campaign spokesman for Republican Bill Waller Jr. confirmed Waller follows the rule because he "believes this is respectful to his wife." The practice -- named after the late evangelical preacher -- refers to men who avoid being alone with women other than their wife. The issue gained national notoriety last week after another Republican gubernatorial candidate, state Rep. Robert Foster, refused to allow a female reporter join him on the campaign trail unless she brought a male colleague. He was criticized as sexist, but argued his position was about loyalty to his wife and avoiding "any situation that may evoke suspicion of compromise of our marriage." The reporter, Mississippi Today's Larrison Campbell, on Monday posted a video of Waller -- a former chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court -- saying he also follows the rule. The practice has also been called the Pence rule, after Vice President Mike Pence.
 
Bill Waller Jr. cites 'common sense' in also not meeting with women alone
Just days after state Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, said he wouldn't be alone with a woman not his wife, even in a professional context, a second Republican candidate for governor has said he, too, follows what's known as the "the Billy Graham rule." On Monday, after the Republican Women's Candidate Forum in Jackson, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. told Mississippi Today that he would not be alone with a woman who isn't his wife, even in a personal or professional context. Mississippi Today asked the campaign of Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who is also running for governor and considered the front-runner, whether he follows the Billy Graham rule. His campaign replied: "Provided they are fair to our campaign, we treat all journalists the same." The campaign did not immediately respond to a follow-up request explicitly asking whether Reeves practiced the Billy Graham rule.
 
The Role Social Media Plays In Politics
From controversial remarks made by a state senator, to a controversial video of an inmate putting signs together with the sheriff's name on them. Whenever political controversy happens, social media is usually the go-to platform where it's aired. "This is the time for people to look through their archives, whatever might be on their cell phone or anything that might be left over from an old media appearance that might be recovered and could be used, and in some cases taken totally out of context to try to make some sort of political point or get somebody political advantage," said Dr. Brian Anderson, Political Science Professor at Mississippi University for Women. Anderson said sometimes candidates will do these things as part of a political strategy.
 
House orders Pentagon to say if it weaponized ticks and released them
The House quietly voted last week to require the Pentagon inspector general to tell Congress whether the department experimented with weaponizing disease-carrying insects and whether they were released into the public realm -- either accidentally or on purpose. The amendment, by New Jersey Republican Christopher H. Smith, says the inspector general "shall conduct a review of whether the Department of Defense experimented with ticks and other insects regarding use as a biological weapon between the years of 1950 and 1975." The amendment is an attempt to confirm or deny reports that Pentagon researchers -- at places such as Fort Detrick in Maryland and Plum Island in New York -- implanted diseases into insects to learn about the effects of biological weapons and also looked into using such insects to disseminate biological agents. A book called "Bitten," published this year, makes the case that the Defense Department research occurred and hints at a possible connection between the experiments and the spread of maladies such as Lyme disease, which is borne by ticks.
 
East Mississippi Community College's Communiversity to host open house
The next generation of work-force training development in the Golden Triangle will be on display this week. East Mississippi Community College's Communiversity will host an open house Tuesday through Thursday from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. Construction was recently completed on the $42 million facility. EMCC said the Communiversity represents a partnership between local school districts, EMCC, and area industry to create trained workers. There are 16 classrooms and 21 high bay learning areas. The Communiversity is expected to start training its first students this fall.
 
U. of South Carolina presidential search could result in sanctions; it did for Iowa
Of four university presidential finalists, students and faculty identified one they didn't want to work with. He was the board's presidential front-runner, and he had the least amount of teaching experience. He wasn't primarily an academic. The faculty senate threatened a vote of "no confidence" in the front-runner, should he be named president. A survey of 442 faculty showed only 3 percent found the front-runner to be qualified, while all other candidates received 91 percent approval or higher. The board contradicted its own hiring criteria by allowing the front-runner to become a finalist without possessing a doctorate or the highest degree in his field. Although this may sound like the University of South Carolina's presidential search, it is not. Rather, the controversy surrounded the University of Iowa in 2015, a story that ended with a black mark on the school's academic reputation.
 
Days before Max Gruver died, ex-LSU frat member says Matthew Naquin warned but 'blew me off'
The former pledge educator for Phi Delta Theta's now-banned LSU chapter testified Monday he had asked Matthew Naquin just two days before 18-year-old Max Gruver died of alcohol poisoning to tone down his interaction with the pledges, but Naquin brushed him off. LSU graduate Philip Clark said his conversation with Naquin came after a Sept. 11, 2017, fraternity meeting that had nothing to do with alcohol or Gruver, Clark said. Naquin "just kind of blew me off. He said he would do whatever he wanted," Clark, of Nashville, Tennessee, testified at Naquin's negligent homicide trial. Gruver, of Roswell, Georgia, died the morning of Sept. 14, 2017, after a hazing ritual the night before called "Bible study," in which Phi Delta Theta pledges were required to chug 190-proof liquor if they gave wrong answers to questions about the fraternity.
 
Alton Standifer joins staff of UGA Office of the President
Alton M. Standifer will join the staff of the University of Georgia Office of the President on Monday as assistant to the president. Standifer was director of new student orientation and associate director of undergraduate admissions. Standifer first joined UGA in 2014 as assistant director of new student orientation, advancing to director in 2015. In his new role, Standifer's primary responsibilities will be focused on student affairs, diversity relations and community engagement. "Alton will be a tremendous addition to our staff," said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. "He has been a part of the campus community for the past five years and has worked diligently to enhance our orientation process and ease the transition to UGA for students and their families. He has built strong relationships across the campus and I look forward to the positive impact he will make in this important role."
 
Texas A&M sees small dip in summer enrollment
Texas A&M University's summer courses have brought in 24,314 students, which is 175 students shy of the all-time summer record of 24,489 students in 2017. This year's number is an 80-student dip from last summer's total of 24,394 students. This summer's sessions include 3,749 master's degree students, a rise of 52 students from summer 2018. There are 15,975 enrolled undergraduates. In 2018, 16,102 undergraduates took courses. The College Station flagship campus brought in 21,518 of the summer 2019 students. The Health Science Center has 1,860 students, compared to 1,796 last year. The Qatar campus increased from 259 to 270. At A&M Galveston, 666 students have enrolled this summer, a 69-person drop from last summer's total of 735. In 2014, total enrollment reached 19,720 students; in 2009, it was 17,898.
 
Meet the conservative college trying to take millions from Mizzou
The tiny Michigan college that's suing to take a multimillion-dollar bequest from MU is a politically well-connected institution with big-name allies. On paper, it looks like a mismatch: Hillsdale College, a 1,500-student liberal arts school in rural southern Michigan, taking on the Show-Me State's nearly 30,000-student flagship university. But Hillsdale is a conservative powerhouse. Its board of trustees includes J. Christopher Chocola, a former member of Congress and former president of the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, and Jeffrey H. Coors of the Colorado beer-brewing family, a major donor to Republican candidates and causes. "Wheel of Fortune" host Pat Sajak became chairman of the college's board in April. The college prides itself on refusing any form of state or federal funding, including student grants or loans. That allows it to avoid government mandates, such as the requirements related to Title IX and affirmative action. At issue in the legal fight, which the Chronicle of Higher Education calls "bizarre," is whether MU is living up to the terms of a $5 million gift donated by alumnus Sherlock Hibbs.
 
U. of Alaska Regents Delay Vote on Financial Exigency
The University of Alaska's Board of Regents on Monday put off a vote on financial exigency until July 30, when they hope to have a clearer picture of whether state lawmakers might restore at least a portion of the cuts made by Gov. Michael J. Dunleavy's budget veto. The decision followed emotional testimony about the potential impact of cuts, which university officials say could end up exceeding $200 million. Because lawmakers were unable to override Dunleavy's veto, the reductions will have to be completed by the end of the 2020 fiscal year, which began on July 1. Michael Hostina, the system's general counsel, said financial exigency is "not only justified but necessary" to respond to a 41-percent reduction in state funding in one fiscal year. Financial exigency is not the same as bankruptcy, he pointed out. It doesn't discharge the university's debts. What it does is allow for "rapid downsizing of programs, services, and personnel," including tenured faculty members.


SPORTS
 
Mississippi State's Kylin Hill named candidate for National Player of the Year
Mississippi State junior running back Kylin Hill was named to the watch list for the 83rd annual Maxwell Award, given to America's College Player of the Year, the Maxwell Football Club announced Monday. Eighty players total were named to the list, and Hill is one of seven Southeastern Conference running backs. A product of Columbus, Hill is coming off a sophomore season where he rushed for 734 yards and four touchdowns on 117 attempts. He averaged 6.3 yards per carry, which ranked sixth in the SEC. The elusive, bruising running back started all 11 games he played in, and his top performance came in a road win at Kansas State, where he ran for 211 yards and accounted for three scores to earn the SEC's Offensive Player of the Week honor. Hill also produced 100-yard rushing games in wins against No. 8 Auburn (126) and Ole Miss (108).
 
Mississippi State's Cameron Dantzler, Erroll Thompson picked for Defensive Player of the Year list
College football's summer watch list season opened Monday and Mississippi State was well represented with a pair of defensive standouts on the 25th annual Chuck Bednarik Award list. Cornerback Cameron Dantzler and linebacker Erroll Thompson were included on the preseason list for the award, which has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995. The Bednarik Award put 80 players on its watch list, including 15 from the SEC. Mississippi State, Alabama, Florida and LSU were the SEC programs with multiple selections on the list. Former MSU standouts Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat were semifinalists for the award last year. Simmons also was a semifinalist in 2017.
 
Miss. State or Ole Miss fan?: Potential jurors quizzed on day 1 of Jackie Sherrill trial
"Are you a fan of Mississippi State or Ole Miss? Will that affect your judgment?" It's an important question to ask in a die-hard college football state like Mississippi, especially when it involves a former head coach, the NCAA and a Madison County courtroom. It was asked by attorney Jim Waide Monday during jury selection in Canton on the first day of the long-awaited Jackie Sherrill trial. Sherrill, the longest-serving football coach in Mississippi State University history, is taking on the NCAA. Sherrill's attorneys say that when the NCAA publicly named Sherrill in violation of three recruitment violations, it effectively blacklisted him from future work as a football coach. "The allegations were unfounded, not true," attorney Rachel Waide told jurors in opening statements.
 
Former MSU coach Sherrill vs. NCAA: Potential jurors asked about their allegiances to State or to Ole Miss
During the next week, a Madison County Circuit Court jury will hear evidence on whether an NCAA investigation of former Mississippi State University head football coach Jackie Sherrill ended his coaching career. The NCAA investigation did not result in any infractions against Sherrill, though, he never coached again. Sherrill, who is still the winningest coach in school history, resigned from Mississippi State in 2003 in the midst of the NCAA investigation. Later, Sherrill filed a lawsuit saying the NCAA investigation defamed him in an attempt to drive him out of coaching. The lawsuit finally came to trial Monday before Judge Dewey Arthur. It began Monday with jury selection and opening statements. The trail is expected to last about a week. Tupelo attorney Rachel Pierce Waide, who is representing Sherrill along with her husband Jim, told members of the jury that after hearing all the evidence, "I think you will believe he was done wrong and want to make it right for him."
 
Greg Sankey: 'Healthy conversation' with Egg Bowl rivals
Ain't no sunshine since they've gone. There was a meeting between SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the athletics directors for Ole Miss and Mississippi State as Sankey sought to forge a more respectful Egg Bowl. Sunshine laws do not apply when the commissioner summons athletics directors from rival schools for a meeting, and involved parties aren't speaking in specifics, but the message is clear to the Rebels and Bulldogs: Stop fighting. The meeting was actually in Jacksonville in early May and came at the end of a wider meeting of all the conference ADs. "We had a frank, open, honest discussion led by the commissioner. I thought he did a really good job. There are some concerns on both sides. I think we addressed those concerns, and we have a pretty good plan moving forward," MSU athletics director John Cohen said.
 
'Welcome to hell': SEC officiating joins Twitter
The most important news of the college-football offseason dropped on Monday, the first day of SEC Media Days 2019. And by "important" we mean "hysterical." In coordination with the start of its annual promotional event, the conference everyone loves (and also loves to hate) took a rare, masochistic turn, and launched an official Twitter account for its officiating. The Twitter handle @SECOfficiating went live at 12:42 p.m., or during SEC commissioner Greg Sankey's opening news conference inside a ballroom at Hoover's Wynfrey Hotel. The account gained nearly 8,000 followers in its first hour, and, in the parlance of our times, oh, the ratio. It's like every insane caller in the history of The Paul Finebaum Show suddenly converged in one place on the Internet and threw a parade. The first comment: "Go ahead and block me." Almost immediately there were hundreds more.
 
'Let's talk': SEC announces efforts to improve officiating, communication
Whoever pressed the "send" button knew just what was coming. As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey spoke Monday morning at the start of the conference's Media Days event, the league launched its new Twitter account designed to represent SEC officiating and explain decisions -- and from the start, the league knew what the reaction from fans would be. "Go easy on us!" the first post from @SECOfficiating says. Hundreds of fans responded almost immediately with jokes, barbs and complaints about the refereeing in the conference. Yes, there are some in every fanbase that think the league is out to get their school. And, yes, Auburn fans were in there in the replies, in on the fun. The joking aside, the SEC's new initiative hopes to better explain officiating decisions to fans through social media this fall, and it comes as a small part of the tweaks and efforts that are being made to improve the officiating process in the SEC, and those could affect games in Jordan-Hare Stadium this fall.
 
Greg Sankey talks link between sports gambling, mental health
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey considers the mental health of athletes an important issue to be considered when it comes to legalized betting on college sports. Sankey opened the league's media days Monday with plenty to say about sports gambling and continuing efforts to improve football officiating before yielding the podium to coaches talking about their hopes and concerns for the season. He focused on weighty off-the-field matters instead of whether Alabama, Georgia or some other SEC team might contend for the national title. Those concerns include possibly placing another element of pressure on athletes. "We're seeing trends in the mental health area that should cause us all to pause before these ideas around specific event betting within college sports are allowed to take place," he said. "And I'm talking about, for example, whether a field goal is made or missed, whether a 3-point try is successful. Is a pitched ball a strike or a ball? That pause should happen before any of these types of activities take place." He said mental health is an issue athletes now bring up in every meeting, replacing such near-universal student issues as limited campus parking.
 
Greg Sankey wants SEC, NCAA to crack down on gambling
Concern about the increase of gambling within college football and how it affects the mental health of student-athletes was one of many topics SEC commissioner Greg Sankey touched on Monday at the opening of SEC Media Days. Within college football specifically, the rise in ease of gambling has caused pressures to intensify within the sport, Sankey said, which is a growing concern among student-athletes, the SEC and administrations of the 14 school members of the league. Sankey and SEC presidents and chancellors have even called for stronger efforts from the NCAA to regulate gambling throughout the country to control the pressures athletes feel during games. He said in particular that in-game betting and proposition bets on college sports should be completely eliminated, citing that the make or miss of a field goal shouldn't have more consequences on an athlete than simply the score.
 
Officiating the big topic for Greg Sankey at SEC Media Days
Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey spoke on a wide variety of topics to kick off the league's annual Media Days on Monday. The majority of his comments dealt with officiating, an issue that was brought to the forefront during the 2018 season after the SEC received negative publicity, primarily through social media, following disputed calls. One particular call indirectly involved Alabama. A week before LSU face the Crimson Tide, LSU's Devin White was called for targeting against Mississippi State, which made him ineligible for the first half against UA. That prompted political analyst James Carville, an LSU alum, to comment the SEC's bias toward Alabama. "I hadn't heard about that controversy," Sankey joked. "The reality of targeting is it's a well-intended rule that is difficult to officiate and controversial even when applied correctly, which we communicated on that play that it was in fact applied correctly."
 
'SEC Media Days with a Music City style' coming to Nashville in 2021
SEC Media Days will come to Nashville in 2021, Commissioner Greg Sankey announced here Monday. It will be held at the Grand Hyatt, set to open in fall 2020 at 1000 Broadway, at the new sprawling Nashville Yards site. SEC Media Days will be held in Atlanta in 2020. Nashville Sports Council CEO Scott Ramsey said the SEC opened up bids for a three-year window, from 2021 to 2023. Nashville got the first year available, and the host for the other two years has not been determined. SEC Media Days hosts football coaches, selected players and about 1,100 media members for the annual four-day event. AL.com estimated this year's event will bring about $1 million in spending on hotels, restaurants, retail and more to the Birmingham area. "The SEC gave us the nod, so we're going to do SEC Media Days with a Music City style," Ramsey said, grinning widely and standing outside the main media room.
 
College football: Budget cuts, scheduling loom over SEC Media Days
USA Today's Dan Wolken writes: As the Southeastern Conference convenes this week for its annual genuflection convention otherwise known as Media Days, two under-the-radar story lines from this offseason should start getting more attention. The first is a clear ramping-up of non-conference scheduling by some of the top programs, albeit with games several years into the future. The second is a recent announcement of athletic department budget cuts at Ole Miss and Auburn, whose spending had ballooned over the last half-decade as SEC Network money started rolling in. It's hard to ignore how these two trends are both related and significant in looking at the whole of college football. ... Ole Miss is typical of the challenge athletics directors across the country face. As of July 9, the school said it had sold 31,195 season tickets and had started selling mini-plans to incentivize people to come to the stadium. Just a couple years ago, the school had more than 50,000 season ticket holders.
 
Why there aren't concerts in Bryant-Denny Stadium, the brief history of shows there
Surrounded by more than 75,000 fans, Garth Brooks stepped to the middle of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida in April. He did the same at Oregon's Autzen Stadium on June 29 about a month after Kenny Chesney's tour hit Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. These historic and massive college football cathedrals have become a popular novelty in the summer music scene not exclusive to country acts. More locally, Chesney in 2016 brought more than 50,000 to Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn a year before Blake Shelton and company held a similar event in 2017. So, what about Bryant-Denny Stadium? The 101,821-seat home of Alabama football has thin history of hosting concerts and a list of hurdles explain why there aren't plans for one anytime soon. Alabama athletics director Greg Byrne, a noted fan of live music, told AL.com he's noticed the growing trend of concerts in college football venues. "But obviously, events of that magnitude take a lot of planning and effort," he said. "And so nothing exciting to report at this point."
 
LSU AD Scott Woodward hires three staff members from former employers
LSU athletic director Scott Woodward has brought over three staff members that he previously worked with to be a part of his athletic administration in Baton Rouge. Stephanie Rempe, who was Woodward's deputy athletic director at Texas A&M from 2016 to 2019, will join LSU in a similar role, where she will assist Woodward and deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry in daily operations. Dan Gaston will be an associate athletic director for facility management at LSU, a similar job to what he did for Woodward at the University of Washington. Woodward also brought over Brandy Douglass from Texas A&M to be his Chief of Staff and assist with day-to-day operations. Douglass spent nearly two decades at Texas A&M before moving to LSU. Shelly Mullenix, who has been on the LSU athletic training staff since 1997, has been promoted to Senior Associate Athletic Director of Health and Wellness, which will oversee physical and mental health needs of LSU's athletes.
 
Gators unveil renovated locker rooms
Prior to departing for the 2019 iteration of SEC Media Days, the Gators football team congregated in the tunnels of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for a moment that had been in the works for months. Florida unveiled the renovated Bryan E. Kornblau locker room to the team Monday morning, and impressions and images quickly spread like wildfire through the social media accounts of UF's student-athletes. In addition to renovating the physical lockers themselves, the project, which began in April after the conclusion of spring camp and cost $1.5 million to complete, brought a graphical overhaul, updated carpeting and lighting, and more to what will serve as UF's game-day locker room. Furthermore, Florida renovated the players' lounge, adding reclining chairs, four televisions and video game systems to "help the players relax", according to a UF release. The locker room will continue to be the home of the Gators until the projected $85 million Florida Football Training Center is complete.
 
NCAA notifies NC State it may have broken rules in connection with men's basketball corruption case
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has begun cracking down on institutions connected to the massive pay-for-play scandal that rocked men's basketball nearly two years ago -- and North Carolina State University is its first target. Corruption charges were first made public in September 2017, when 10 people, including Adidas executives and four assistant coaches in prominent programs, were arrested for allegedly orchestrating tens of thousands of dollars' worth of payments to basketball recruits. The NCAA has waited until the conclusion of the federal trials in New York, which began in October, to start its own investigation. College sports pundits told Inside Higher Ed they believe the association is attempting a scare tactic -- a way to deter other coaches from unethical conduct. And the NCAA's pick of NC State is intentional, they said -- an institution large and visible enough to be considered part of big-time athletics, but not in the same tier as Big 10 programs such as Ohio State University or the University of Michigan, which bring in major revenue for the association and thus would likely escape the NCAA's wrath.
 
NCAA spending on outside lawyers rises 50 percent in two years
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is paying more than twice as much in outside legal fees as it did four years ago in order to fight a slew of lawsuits, according to figures shared by its chief financial officer Monday during an appearance at the National Association of College and University Business Officers annual meeting. High-profile concussion and antitrust lawsuits have forced the NCAA to hire high-powered lawyers at a time when it is also spending millions of dollars to try to shore up the college basketball ecosystem in the wake of a damaging recruiting scandal. Those expenses put financial pressure on the athletic association at a time when it is also facing uncertainty and risk from major changes to the landscape such as a 2018 court case giving states the ability to legalize sports gambling. The NCAA is spending about $54 million in third-party legal fees for its fiscal year ending in August 2019, said Kathleen T. McNeely, NCAA senior vice president of administration and CFO.



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