The Morning Dish – Tuesday, September 16th
March Madness™: A Texas federal court upheld the NCAA’s claim that they own the rights to use the term “March Madness™”. In a cybersquatting case brought three years ago against two defendants, Netfire, Inc. and Sports Marketing International, Inc., the District Court in Dallas ruled that they did not have the rights to use “March Madness™”, and must give up their domain names, and pay undisclosed fines to the NCAA. The NCAA has also allowed the Illinois High School Association to use the term “March Madness™” for their high school basketball tournaments. (March Madness™ is a registered trademark of the NCAA and the IHSA).
Texas Tech-nical: Texas Tech admitted that it has committed an NCAA violation when it announced that two recruits had orally committed to the Red Raider program. Since schools cannot comment on a recruit since they actually sign a letter of intent, the announcement of the oral commitments, which are non-binding, violated NCAA rules. Texas Tech’s SID Randy Farley had sent out a press release Sunday afternoon, and later realized the infraction. He immediately notified the school’s compliance officer Pat Britz of the violations. The two recruits in question were Corvallis, Oregon forward Philip Harbaugh, and Sulphur, Louisiana guard Martin Zeno.
Southern Miss-take: In a follow-up from yesterday, Southern Mississippi has reported three rules violations to the NCAA regarding the recruiting of two transfer players that were declared academically ineligible last week. Assistant coach Luster Goodwin has resigned due to the violations, which include unethical conduct, a non-permitted transportation benefit, and a practice violation. Apparently, Goodwin had driven two Lee College players, Brannon Hayes and Rudolph Mauricette, back to their Baytown, Texas, campus, and allowed the players to practice with the team in workouts without being enrolled. The violations are considered secondary because the program did not benefit from them.
Taylor Sitting?: The Sporting News’ Mike Decourcy is reporting that recent Baylor transfer Kenny Taylor is going to redshirt this season, even though he was given immediate eligibility by the NCAA and the Big 12 conference to compete for Texas. It seems Texas, who have plenty of depth with Brandon Mouton, Royal Ivey, and Sydmill Harris, might not have much playing time left for Taylor. Taylor has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Randall Suicide: Former Dartmouth basketball player Bryan Christopher Randall, the Ivy League’s rookie of the year in 1985, is suspected of killing himself and attempting to murder his four children, killing one. Randall, who was suspected of drowning his youngest daughter, and attempting to drown his four-year old son, swerved into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer with his two oldest children yesterday. Randall was killed, and his two children in the accident were injured. A suicide note in the wreckage stated that Randall wanted to kill himself and his children because he didn’t approve of how his ex-wife was caring for them. 8-year old Bryan was in critical condition, and his 6-year old brother Julian was in stable condition after the crash. Four-year old Regal was in critical condition, and two-year old Yanna was pronounced dead after a fisherman found the two in a small lake near Randall’s home in Maitland, Florida, near Orlando.
Belcher Back: Former Baylor assistant coach Rodney Belcher, accused of possible NCAA infractions while on Dave Bliss’ staff at Baylor, is a coach again. Belcher was hired yesterday by Rio Grande High School in Albuquerque to be the girls’ varsity basketball coach for the upcoming season. The contract coaching position, which does not come with a teaching position, pays between $3,000 and $4,000 for the season.
