LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas and Illinois will play a televised basketball exhibition Oct. 29 with the proceeds benefitting the Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund. Wildfires have recently scorched the island. At least 111 are dead. Hundreds more are unaccounted for. Kansas coach Bill Self said in a statement Friday that he and Illinois coach Brad Underwood devised the plan while discussing how they could help those affected by the fires. The exhibition will take place at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The game will be televised by Big Ten Network.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Approximately 1,000 former Northwestern University athletes have sent a letter condemning hazing while defending the school’s culture. The Associated Press obtained the letter Thursday. The athletes say allegations of abuse within the football program and other men’s and women’s teams do not reflect their experiences. They say they “strongly condemn hazing” and that the allegations are “troubling” but “do not represent or define the overall athletics culture at Northwestern.” Northwestern is facing more than a dozen lawsuits across multiple sports with allegations including sexual abuse of players by teammates as well as racist comments by coaches and race-based assaults.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana coach Mike Woodson’s first two successful seasons have prompted the Hoosiers to increase his pay by $1 million per year. The school athletic department says Woodson’s average annual salary of $4.2 million ranks third among Big Ten coaches. The 65-year-old Woodson has four years remaining on his contract after leading his alma mater to a 44-26 record and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in a decade.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The excitement of Deion Sanders taking over at Colorado is making the Buffaloes an unlikely favorite of bettors for this college football season. Colorado has a win total of 3 1/2 at FanDuel Sportsbook and other books for its final Pac-12 Conference season. The Buffaloes are a big hit with casual bettors. The professional gamblers are the reason why that number isn’t higher. They’re the ones who carry the most influence when determining lines. USC also is attracting notable attention. Georgia is the overwhelming favorite to win its third consecutive national championship.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Beth Goetz wasn’t around for most of the lawsuits, settlement payouts and football controversy that shed a negative light on the Iowa athletic department in recent years. As interim athletic director her job is to get her department moving in a positive direction and make sure bad things that happened in the past don’t happen again. Goetz took over for Gary Barta on Aug. 1 and acknowledged Iowa has faced some trying times. She was hired last September as deputy athletic director and chief operating officer after four years as Ball State’s athletic director.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Northwestern has hired former Michigan assistant Ben Greenspan to coach its baseball team after it moved on from Jim Foster amid allegations of misconduct. Greenspan was the associate coach and recruiting coordinator at Michigan last season, after spending 2022 as the assistant coach at Cal Poly. In addition, he spent seven seasons as an assistant at Arizona State and six seasons on the baseball staff at Indiana. Foster was let go in mid-July, just days after Northwestern football coach Pat Fitzgerald was dismissed because of a hazing scandal. Foster coached the Wildcats for one season, going 10-40.
UNDATED (AP) — Stanford has not given up on getting an invitation to join the Atlantic Coast Conference as its fellow Pac-4 members wait and hope to rebuild their plundered league. Leaders from Stanford, California, Oregon State and Washington State spoke Thursday and Stanford told its colleagues it had informed the ACC that it would be open to joining the conference at greatly reduced or even no media rights payout for several years, a person familiar with the discussions told AP. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the schools’ were not making their internal discussions public.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The reunions of quarterbacks with coordinators at new schools could provide an offensive spark at places like No. 4 Alabama and North Carolina State. The Wolfpack brought in Brennan Armstrong as Virginia’s all-time passing leader. He had thrived in his final season under new Wolfpack offensive coordinator Robert Anae. At Alabama, coordinator Tommy Rees and quarterback Tyler Buchner are together after spending last season at Notre Dame. Other schools with new playcaller-coordinator reunions this season include Pittsburgh and Louisville. At N.C. State, Armstrong says he’s trying to be a “bridge” for his Wolfpack teammates in learning the new scheme.
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