It was much better when there was no real news to report. This is not.

Pitt sophomore wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin was charged with a misdemeanor indecent assault as well as summary harassment and a summary disorderly conduct after an alleged incident on a campus shuttle bus involving a female student on April 19th.

Baldwin, who is an Aliquippa graduate, will have a preliminary hearing on May 27th.

This took a while before any charges were made. So naturally, the reaction from Pitt is just as predictably measured.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was not available for comment on the matter, and Pitt associate athletic director for media relations E.J. Borghetti released the following statement: “The matter is currently under investigation and until that investigation reaches a conclusion we will decline comment.”

Not exactly an unexpected response. The charges may be misdemeanor, but the words “indecent assault” and “female” are involved. So, I’m not sure how open my mind is at the moment.

It would be much better if the extent of the Pitt offseason updates were boy scout events and recruiting.

Great. Just great.

Pitt announced today the suspensions of senior cornerback Aaron Berry, senior defensive tackle Tommie Duhart and sophomore offensive lineman Wayne Jones for violation of team policy.

There is no one thing.

Wannstedt declined comment but issued a release which said the three were suspended for unrelated incidents which were “violation of team policy”

All three are out for the rest of spring practice including the Blue-Gold Scrimmage on Saturday.

No official word as to what. Academic issues are presumed for the majority.

Tommie Duhart has been in and out of Coach Wannstedt’s doghouse for at least the past year or so.

Aaron Berry is a starting corner. Trying to get some consistency. He’s been getting a lot of work against Jonathan Baldwin.

Wayne Jones was in the mix at center.

Not happy about this. The good thing is that Coach Wannstedt remains very dilligent and not afraid to suspend players who don’t meet the standards. You prefer to not have to have it as any issue, but that is just never going to happen anywhere.

It is very dangerous out there in the world of recruiting. UConn in a bit of trouble it would appear on its face.

The University of Connecticut violated NCAA rules in the recruitment of former guard Nate Miles, a six-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports has found.

Miles was provided with lodging, transportation, restaurant meals and representation by Josh Nochimson – a professional sports agent and former UConn student manager – between 2006 and 2008, according to multiple sources. As a representative of UConn’s athletic interests, NCAA rules barred Nochimson from having contact with Miles or from providing him with anything of value.

A UConn assistant coach said he made Nochimson aware of the Huskies’ recruitment of Miles. Later, the assistant coach said he knew that Nochimson and Miles had talked.

Nate Miles never played a game for UConn. He was kicked out of the school this past fall when he violated a restraining order against a female student. He’s now at the College of Southern Idaho, a junior college.

How much trouble UConn could actually be in and when anything could happen, is still a big question mark. Hell, USC is still cruising along a year after the revelations regarding O.J. Mayo and his time in LA.

Still, I am betting that somewhere in Maryland, Gary Williams will hear about this and just smile.

Way to go T.J. Porter. Usually it is just Wannstache jokes that gets Pitt the mentions on EDSBS.

Now this.

Pitt wide receiver T.J. Porter has been suspended from the team at
least through spring football as a result of an arrest on Feb. 22 for
driving while intoxicated and driving with a suspended license. He had
been scheduled for a March 3 preliminary hearing, but that has been
postponed until April 1.

It is the second offense for Porter, who was arrested on May 5, 2008
for DUI, purchasing alcohol as a minor, careless driving and failing to
obey traffic control devices. His license was suspended and he was put
into the court-supervised rehabilitaton program Oct. 24.

It will take a bigger effort than this to win the Fulmer Cup. Get to work, guys.

Looks like Pitt can expect to see Bowling Green do a lot more passing and utilize their “slash” player in the backfield. The starting tailback Willie Geter was suspended for the game.

Three players have been suspended one game for a violation of team rules, a university official confirmed yesterday. Freshman receiver Adrian Hodges of Jacksonville, Fla., and sophomore running back Willie Geter of Miami will not travel with the team to Pittsburgh for Saturday’s season opener. Junior cornerback Robert Lorenzi, who is out for the season with a broken leg, will undergo his suspension when healthy.

According to a police report, Hodges was arrested Tuesday for misuse of a credit card, and Lorenzi, of Concord, Calif., was cited for the same offense yesterday. Both are scheduled to be in court Wednesday.

According to the report, Hodges and Lorenzi found a credit card in the parking lot of a convenience store and used it to make $550.68 in purchases at various stores in the early morning of Aug. 1. Geter, who was expected to start Saturday, is also mentioned in the report but has not been charged.

Poor actions by the players. Strong and swift response by the school and team.

That news completely overshadowed the main story in the article which was all about the BGSU defensive line gearing up to try and stop LeSean McCoy.

Only 10 teams in the country were worse than BG at stopping the run in 2007. Add that to the fact McCoy is drawing comparisons to Tony Dorsett, and the Falcons are sure to face a considerable challenge Saturday at Heinz Field against the 25th ranked Panthers.
…
“He’s one of the top running backs in the country,” BG defensive tackle Michael Ream said. “But our defensive line is pretty good too. If there are no holes for him to run through he’s not going to get his yards.”

For now, Ream’s notion that BG is solid up front is still in question. Of the Falcons’ 13 games in 2007, nine times an opposing rusher eclipsed the century mark. Ironically, BG was able to hold star backs Javon Ringer (Michigan State) and Jalen Parmele (University of Toledo) to below 100 yards, but that fact cannot overshadow BG allowing almost 208 yards per game on the ground. Stopping the run has been a weakness during the Gregg Brandon era, but last year was especially troubling.

Now if Geter is out, the Falcon defense has more pressure on it.

As for Pitt’s defense. This becomes an interesting test. It’s all been about stopping the run. The Falcons really look like a team where they have to fear the pass. I expect BGSU to use the run — mainly on roll-outs and some option tosses to Turner — to try and keep the defense honest.

Not really my preference, but it seems to have gotten the attention of the NCAA in Ben Mauk’s case.

The NCAA agreed on Wednesday to re-hear Mauk’s appeal for a sixth year to complete his four years of eligibility.

If the appeal reaches the Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, which ruled against Mauk on Aug. 8, Mauk has been assured that he will be given a chance to speak, something that he was not allowed to do the last time.

But Kevin Murphy, Mauk’s attorney, said he hopes the matter never reaches the committee.

“The (NCAA) staff is going to hear it first,” Murphy said. “If the staff agrees with us, he’s back on the field.”

File a lawsuit that would force the NCAA to make its explanation in a court of record and suddenly they want to re-hear the matter. Funny how that works.

Count on Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News to know about all of this.

The Panthers played 27 regular-season games–nine non-conference, 18 in the Big East season. They competed in the Big East tournament, which counted as one game because any team could be eliminated the first day. They played four early games in the Hispanic College Fund Basketball Challenge, which counted as two under NCAA rules for multi-team events. The Panthers’ NCAA Tournament appearances does not factor in; postseason doesn’t count because there’s no expectation a team will make it. So as permitted by the organization’s rules, Pitt’s schedule officially consisted of 30 games last season.

If you count Cook as having played 11 games, he is not eligible for the waiver. Indeed, he took the court 11 times. There’s no disputing that. He played a full complement of minutes in every one of those games.

However, it seems curious for the rules to be different for a team and a player in terms of how the games are calculated. If those four games in the Hispanic College Fund tournament counted only as two on Cook’s record–as they did for Pitt to meet NCAA scheduling rules–he officially would have played nine games last season. He’d be at exactly 30 percent and eligible for the waiver.

That case was made to the reinstatement committee nearly two months ago. Its members apparently thought hard about this, because they did not issue an answer for quite a while. But they still said no.

“They say, ‘There may be merit to your case, but we can’t do anything about it,’ ” Dixon said.

The university was told it could attempt to change the rule through the NCAA’s legislative process.

Of course, by the time a new rule could be adopted, Mike Cook’s grandkids would be D-I prospects.

If the committee had wanted to be just, it could have essentially rewritten the rule by issuing a precedent-setting decision. Instead, the committee chose expedience.

Got that?

Two different calculations, one screw over.

Cook had never taken a redshirt — medical or otherwise. He sat out one year under NCAA rules for transfers — he was not eligible to play. While getting a 6th year is rare, it would only have been a 5th year of actual eligibility. That’s one of the key differentials between the Ben Mauk case at Cinci and Mike Cook’s.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

University of Pittsburgh head men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon announced Wednesday that senior forward Mike Cook has been denied an additional year of competition from the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In order to be considered for a sixth year extension, Cook would have needed to obtain a medical hardship waiver for his participation during the 2007-08 year. NCAA rules state that to be eligible for a medical hardship, a student-athlete must participate in no more than 30 percent of the team’s regular season games in order to guarantee an extra year of athletic eligibility. Even though Pitt played 37 total games including six postseason games, NCAA rules only allow postseason contests to be counted as one game when determining total number of games played. Since Cook played in 34 percent of Pitt’s games, Pitt filed an appeal with the NCAA to grant him an additional season of competition, as well as a sixth year after the hardship waiver was denied by the conference. The appeal was denied by the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee, comprised of faculty members and conference and athletic administrators.

One game. If it had been the 10th game when he got hurt — he’s getting another year. If it had been in game 12, not at all in dispute and there isn’t even an appeal. But right in the middle. Realistically Pitt played 37 games. For counting purposes a conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament get lumped as one single game. The numbers were uncomfortable.

In the end they fell back on, “a rule, is a rule, is a rule.” Why? Damned if I know. I do know whatever the letter of the rule, the spirit just got dumped on like John Edwards in a cancer survivors chatroom.

“Situations like this are hard to take when you know how dedicated Mike’s life has been to playing basketball,” Pitt Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon said. “Over the last three years, Mike has contributed significantly to our success both on and off the floor and has been an important member of our basketball family. When I asked Mike why he wanted to come to Pitt, he simply said he ‘wanted to win’. And he has won, going 40-8 as a starter. He has grown into a leader and has become an outstanding example for the younger players in our program. Mike has earned his degree and will have the opportunity to continue his career professionally when he returns to the floor.”

He did indeed. He left East Carolina where he was the man, but the rest of the team sucked. He had to do everything. He could have padded his stats and likely looked a lot better to NBA scouts. He came to Pitt and became part of a team. A family. He gave up a lot more chances to score. Embraced defense and — I hate this, it’s like a frickin’ eulogy.

I’m just really pissed about this.

Look, by all accounts Cook’s rehab is going a bit slower than expected. This was a brutal injury for a wing player. In all probability it will take him another 6 months — at least — before he can approximate where he was before the injury. He would have been a great presence and leader for the team, but his contributions would not have been as big. This wasn’t about how much better Pitt could have been with him. I think that was overstated.

It’s about the NCAA, once more, talking about how it is about the student-athlete. That it’s about the kids, and then falling back to hidebound rules when convenient and screw the kids.

One thing in the Pitt press release, though, did make me feel good.

Cook graduated from Pitt this spring with a communications degree and has spent the summer rehabbing his injury and preparing to action. The university will provide Cook an opportunity to remain in Pittsburgh as he takes additional classes and continues his rehabilitation.

That’s how you treat the student athletes.

Cook will at least have the time to really rehab. To really get better. All the while getting more education and prepared for the future. Even if in the short term, it’s just about basketball.

In an interview last month, Cook sounded ready to move on.

“As long as I can play basketball, that’s the most important thing to me,” he said. “If it’s not here, then I have to work for it to be somewhere else.”

It’s the in-story in the offseason. ESPN’s Outside the Lines story on Penn State‘s off-the-field issues. I was only able to get around to watching it this evening (I really love having a DVR). There have been enough people e-mailing me about it that I will write something.

There was nothing too earth-shattering in it. That Penn State has had a lot of criminal charges filed against the players in the past several years is not a revelation. This sort of report has been building as it has carried on each year. Suggesting something in the team culture, rather than just the “bad apple” argument.

Joe Paterno’s insistence on denying everything shouldn’t have been a surprise. Even his overall cantankerousness. It’s Joe Paterno. Big shock that he’s old and cranky when the media isn’t asking the questions he wants. I had a sense that if Steve Delsohn — the reporter — held up a blue paint sample and asked him what he thought of this shade of blue, Paterno would have denied that it was actually blue by the end

Remember what I wrote last week about Iowa’s problems? Well, here’s the key bit.

More than that, though, it also becomes an issue of how the fans face such things. Do they look at it solely in what it means in wins and losses? Do they circle the wagons and descend into lunatic-fringe paranoia – seeing conspiracies and attempts to bring down their beloved program at every turn? Do they demand accountability from the program and their school?

That’s what Penn State fans have to address. Is it all just an ESPN hit piece? Numbers without context? Really? The PSU Football team has been a top-510 resident of the Fulmer Cup the past two years. What does that say?

Programs like Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan love to talk about a special way of doing things and all that tripe in the past. Their fans eat it up and parrot it. Really, what they want is to win. Period. When convenient they will rationalize it with “everybody does it” themes to minimize things. They will accuse all others of being jealous and just trying to bring them down.

It doesn’t go both ways no matter how hard they try. Either accept that the old ways are long gone and the program is just like every other program out there. With periods of bad behavior and problems. Or mean it when you claim the program is different. Demand and act accordingly when the bad crap happens.

Pardon me, I’m climbing up on a high horse for a minute. Hmm. Uncomfortable.

I try not to kid myself. Pitt, like any school involved in 1-A athletics will have players commit crimes, make mistakes, get in academic trouble and just generally screw-up. It has happened. It will happen. Every school and program has to address this at some point or another. Whether it comes once or in waves.

The issue isn’t having it happen. It’s how the school, the program and the coaches address it. That’s where the character of the school and program really come to the forefront.

More than that, though, it also becomes an issue of how the fans face such things. Do they look at it solely in what it means in wins and losses? Do they circle the wagons and descend into lunatic-fringe paranoia –  seeing conspiracies and attempts to bring down their beloved program at every turn? Do they demand accountability from the program and their school?

My college football FanHouse colleague Adam Jacobi goes down the final path in a post that is absolutely devastating in the issues and questions raised about the University of Iowa. He’s an Iowa alum, and he loves his school. There is no hyperbole. No calls for cleaning house. That’s what makes it such a brutal post for Iowa.

It lays out the issue. It asks questions that have been avoided. The facts simply put Iowa in a bad light and there is no pretending otherwise. This is a “read it all” post.

I hope Pitt never faces this level of crisis. I also hope that if it does happen Pitt fans and I can be that honest about it.

Dismounting.

Seriously? Again? What more info could they possibly need (Insider subs).

Pitt was supposed to hear this week from the NCAA about whether Mike Cook would receive a sixth season of eligibility. But the NCAA asked for more information, and Pitt has still not gotten a decision. Cook tore his ACL against Duke on Dec. 20.

I did check the date on Andy Katz’s blog post on this. It is for today, so it isn’t a rerun from info of last month. This is getting beyond stupid. The other problem with the continued delays is that it screws up the system if they do turn Cook down.

The NCAA system allows for appeals and requests for reconsideration. If the NCAA takes this long to make the first decision, there will be no practical chance to make an appeal and have a decision made before the school year starts. More than just making it very difficult for Pitt to set a roster, they are keeping Mike Cook’s life on hold with this. He’s in limbo with moving on to the rest of his life.

Given that Maurice Williams has the potential for the NFL, I have to believe he wouldn’t make it permanent at Edinboro.

When Williams was ruled ineligible for the 2008 season, Pitt confirmed Williams was going to attend summer school there.

“It’s nothing that was a surprise,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt told the Erie Times-News earlier this month. “We’ve had ongoing discussions with Mo this whole semester that he knew what he had to get done academically. I would preface everything by saying he’s the first guy on the football field.

“Never misses a weight workout. Works as hard as we like. The disappointing thing is that he didn’t put the same type of effort and interest in the academic end of it like he addressed the football and weight workouts.”

The school was planning to red-shirt him.

“We will red-shirt him this year and I expect him to be a major player here in the next couple of years,” Wannstedt said earlier this month.

He would still have to sit out the year if he transferred to Edinboro. This appears to be about Williams — an Erie native — taking courses over the summer while being home.

If he was really leaving, I doubt he would be worried so much about taking the summer courses.

The article notes that former Panther Tommie Campbell transferred to Edinboro, but dropped out after a year. He had been suspended for several games because of not going to class.

You have to be kidding.

The decision on Pitt guard Mike Cook’s medical redshirt may not come this week, as has been reported.

According to a source close to the situation, the decision by the NCAA may take another month, not nearly as soon as coach Jamie Dixon told reporters earlier this week.

Exactly what other information do they need? What other factors are under consideration?

This is a decision where you balance the letter of the rule — player can’t play more than 1/3 of the season — which he hit in the Duke game where he got injured to get a medical redshirt. The spirit/mercy of the rule — not taking away the chance to play and compete in collegiate athletics because of injuries.

Complicating things is that Cook would essentially be a 6th year senior since he used a redshirt when he transferred from ECU.

Still, all of this is known. This really should be about the NCAA just making the decision already.

Unless it is absolutely explosive, this will hopefully be the only mention of this on the blog.

Mark Wogenrich, one of our Penn State football beat writers, tells us that ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” investigative TV show is pursuing a story about the legal issues involving the Lions’ football team since April 2007.

It’s such an easy target, it almost seems surprising that they hadn’t done the piece yet.

That said, they hardly seem worse than so many other teams. But like other schools/fans that play the self-righteous, higher standard card any chance they get, they really can’t turn around and claim they are no worse than any other school.

You can’t have it both ways. Either you are no better/different from other schools and their fans, or you are on a higher standard and have to deal with extra scrutiny when those standards aren’t met and even ignored.

In the matter of proving Sampson was “knowingly” violating NCAA recruiting rules.

Senderoff, who facilitated the three-way calls, said he didn’t remember reading an e-mail from an IU administrator June 13, 2006, stating the NCAA’s clarification that three-way calls were not allowed. Sampson acknowledged seeing the clarification but said he thought the subsequent three-way calls at issue were two-way calls.

In the case summary, the NCAA enforcement staff flatly challenges Sampson’s claim, citing several interviews with recruits.

Recruit DeJuan Blair, now a player at Pittsburgh, told an NCAA investigator he was “100 percent” sure he was on the phone with Sampson and Senderoff at the same time.

“If coach Sampson said something funny, coach Senderoff would laugh; or he would ask a question and coach Senderoff would answer; or coach Senderoff would ask a question and he would answer about Indiana,” Blair said.