The network said that Phelps has undergone surgery to treat the cancer and will begin follow-up treatment next week near his home in South Bend, Ind.
Phelps said in a statement that ”he and his family appreciate your thoughts and prayers as he prepares for the 2013-2014 college basketball season,” according to ESPN.
Phelps, 71, has been a major face of college basketball for more than four decades. He coached the Notre Dame men’s basketball team from 1971-91, where he memorably led the Irish to an upset over No. 1 UCLA record 88-game winning streak. He has been an ESPN analyst since 1993.
NBC has renewed its football partnership with Notre Dame through 2025, bringing the total to 35 years. (John Gress/Getty Images)
The NBC Sports Group and University of Notre Dame have renewed their football partnership for 10 years, through the 2025 season. The partnership began in 1991, making it a 35-year relationship.
“Coming off one of Notre Dame’s best and most dramatic seasons in decades, we could not be more proud to extend this historic partnership, which continues to be one of the most innovative in sports-media history,” said Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group. “We are particularly excited that this extension offers enhanced rights that allow us to bring Notre Dame Football to fans on more platforms than ever before.”
Notre Dame went undefeated during the 2012 regular season and went to the BCS Championship Game for the first time. The school averaged 4.4 million viewers for its seven games on NBC, a 69 percent increase from 2011.
Manti Te’o has seen his NFL draft stock fall after a disappointing BCS Championship Game and the scandal surrounding his fake girlfriend. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
Manti Te’o is on the Dolphins’ draft radar, at least to the point of bringing in the former Notre Dame linebacker as one of their 30 official visits.
Te’o was considered a high first-round prospect before suffering through a poor performance against Alabama in the BCS Championship Game and the scandal surrounding his fake girlfriend. A less than impressive showing at the NFL Combine didn’t help his stock, but he reportedly has added the Dolphins to his list of visits that includes the Bears, Chargers and Lions.
SI.com’s Don Banks’ latest mock draft has Te’o going off the board at No. 25.
The Dolphins roster already features linebackers Dannell Ellerbe and Philip Wheeler, but Volin reports the team could draft Te’o to compete with Koa Misi for the third linebacker spot.
While the dust has mostly settled on Manti Te’o's fake online girlfriend saga, the former Notre Dame linebacker and Heisman Trophy finalist is not anxious to have his media presence extend beyond taking a real phone call from the NFL team that drafts him.
Te’o is opting out of television cameras monitoring his every movement on draft day, turning down two invitations to wait for his selection in the NFL Draft Green Room in Radio City Music Hall, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Rapoport adds that Te’o's camp may have considered having him come to New York if he was certain to be a top-10 pick, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.
Te’o's stock has dropped since he ran a disappointing 4.82 40 time at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February. His slightly improved time Tuesday at Notre Dame’s Pro Day isn’t likely to improve his stock or make teams on the fence take the 6-foot-1, 241-pounder early in the first round.
Te’o's representatives know full well how easily the NFL Draft Green Room can become a den of disappointment in front of a leering national television audience, with notable examples being Aaron Rodgers in 2005 and Brady Quinn in 2007.
#NotreDame LB Manti Te'o has turned down 2 invitations to be in New York City's Radio City Music Hall for the 2013 NFL Draft, per sources— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 26, 2013
Unclear where Manti Te'o will watch the draft. It won't be from NYC, I'm told. Belief was unless he's a Top 10 pick, he wouldn't be in NY— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 26, 2013
The ACC would let Notre Dame join the league this summer. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images Sport)
If Notre Dame can leave the Big East by this summer, the ACC would allow the Fighting Irish to start play in the league next season, reports ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.
Last September, Notre Dame agreed to join the ACC in all sports but football. But the earliest Notre Dame could leave the Big East without penalty was 2015.
McMurphy reports Notre Dame planned to play in the Big East next season unless the seven Catholic schools leaving to form their own league left sooner. Those schools — Georgetown, Marquette, St. John’s, Villanova, DePaul, Seton Hall and Providence — look set to break from the league and start play next year. (The Associated Press reported Tuesday about the terms to a potential separation agreement that hasn’t yet been finalized.)
As a result, Notre Dame is expected to try to leave earlier than originally planned. The Irish would need to agree to terms with the remaining Big East members to exit this summer.
“Nobody’s going to let Notre Dame just leave,” a Big East source told McMurphy. “It needs to be negotiated.”
But the ACC’s indication that it would allow Notre Dame to join on short notice is an important step in the process if the Irish are to switch conferences in the next few months.
Lance Armstrong mustered just 15% appeal in a Forbes survey. (Garbriel Bouys/Getty Images)
Manti Te’o and Lance Armstrong, the subjects of recent major sports controversies, have now landed at the top of a dubious list: America’s Most Disliked Athletes.
Released by Forbes, Te’0 and Armstrong each appeal to just 15% of the public to tie as the top disliked athlete, based on public surveys conducted by Nielsen Sports and E-Poll, a market research firm.
Te’o, the victim of an online “catfish” girlfriend hoax, later admitted perpetuating her fake story to national media, including the fact that she had not died on the same day as his grandmother during the 2012 Notre Dame season. According to Forbes, Te’0 enjoyed an 88% appeal before the BCS title game, only to see it drop to 15% “nearly overnight.”
“The story was just so creepy,” Stephen Master, senior vice president of sports at Nielsen says. “And even when he knew he’d been duped he stuck with the story for awhile, and he’d told people he had met the woman in person.”
Armstrong, after years of denying and even suing those who accused him of using illegal doping and using performance-enhancing drugs, eventually admitted that he cheated while winning seven Tour de France titles. His admissions to Oprah Winfrey did not improve his profile among sports fans, many of whom found him to lack remorse.
“The Oprah interview hurt him, he came off as pompous, arrogant and unapologetic,” Master says.
The Post has learned Tuiasosopo’s cousin, Tino Tuiasosopo, convincingly played the role of “Lennay Kekua,” during hundreds of phone calls with the Notre Dame linebacker.
“Tino is the girl that Manti has been talking to all these months,” said a Tuiasosopo cousin after hearing the voicemail messages played during Te’o's interview with Katie Couric.
According to the Post, one of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo’s relatives believes Grimes’ statement is part of the admitted hoaxer’s determination “to take the rap.”
After hearing the voicemails, one of Tino’s cousins told The Post, “There is no doubt whatsoever that it’s Tino.”
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is the man behind the voice of Lennay Kekua and had hundreds of phone calls with Manti Te’o. (J. Meric/Getty Images)
Just when it seemed like the Manti Te’o saga had taken every twist and turn possible, there’s a new development to make it all the more dizzying.
The New York Daily News reported on Thursday that the lawyer for Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the mastermind behind the hoax, said that his client was the voice impersonating Lennay Kekua. According to phone records, Te’o had spent hundreds of phone calls, many that lasted more than an hour, with the woman he believed to be Kekua:
The Heisman Trophy finalist “thought it was a female he was talking with,” lawyer Milton Grimes acknowledged to the Daily News. “It was Ronaiah as Lennay. [C]ome on, Hollywood does it all the time. People can do that.”
The résumé of Tuiasosopo, 22, includes vocal and dramatic training. He was also president of the drama club at his high school, a member of a Christian rock band and had auditioned for the TV talent show, “The Voice” in 2012. Footage of him performing can be seen in a YouTube video he posted in June 2011. The photos of Kekua were instead pictures that had been taken off the Facebook page of Diane O’Meara, a high school classmate of Tuiasosopo, who reportedly had no knowledge of the hoax.
Grimes said his client wasn’t trying to prank Te’o, rather he was reaching out with the hope of establishing a connection with someone to form a relationship:
“This wasn’t a prank to make fun. It was establishing a communication with someone. [I]t was a person with a troubled existence trying to reach out and communicate and have a relationship.”
Tuiasosopo is currently seeing a mental health professional and plans on coming forward with his own side of the story, though Grimes would not give a timetable for this interview. He also said that Te’o finding out about Kekua’s death hours after his grandmother had passed away was merely a coincidence.
In an interview with Katie Couric set to air today, Te’o said he found out almost three months after Kekua’s death that she’s still alive and that he was going to be put on national television two days later.
“This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12. Now I get a phone call on Dec. 5, saying that she’s alive and then I’m going to be put on national TV two days later.”
Manti Te’o said he talked to a person he believed to be Lennay Kekua on the phone for long periods of time. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Phone records provided by a source close to Manti Te’o support his claims of talking to someone he thought was Lennay Kekua for hundreds of hours, according to ESPN.com.
The source reportedly gave ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap documents of AT&T phone records from May 11 to Sept. 12. The phone records could not be independently confirmed, though the source insisted they are genuine.
The records show that in that four-month span — when Te’o has said he believed Lennay Kekua to be in a Los Angeles hospital, recovering from an accident and being treated for cancer — Te’o made and received more than 1,000 calls totaling more than 500 hours in length from the same number in the 661 area code. The 661 area code covers Lancaster, which is part of Los Angeles County. The source told Schaap that Te’o believed the 661 phone number in question was Kekua’s.
Schaap reports 110 calls were more than 60 minutes in length including several that were several hundred minutes in length.
Te’o said talked to a person he believed to be Kekua on the phone “every single night” for long periods of time in an interview with Sports Illustrated in September 2012 and in an ESPN interview last Friday.
Former CBS news anchor Katie Couric will conduct the interview as part of her syndicated talk show “Katie,” but portions of the interview will also be broadcast on “Good Morning America” and other ABC news programs. The interview will air on Thursday.
On Friday night Te’o gave ESPN his first interview since news that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua – who was assumed to have died halfway through this pat season – wasn’t a real person but rather part of an elaborate hoax. However, Te’o's representatives refused to let the linebacker go on-camera with ESPN’s Jeremy Schapp.
Te’o will be interviewed by Couric sitting alongside his parents, Brian and Otilla.
Couric beat out a host of other potential interviewers for the job, a group which is said to include Oprah Winfrey. However, Couric was likely aided by the fact that the Te’o family recently hired her longtime spokesman to deal with the media attention garnered by the story.
Former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o gave an off-camera interview to ESPN Friday night, his first comments outside of a statement he released earlier this week.
ESPN’s public relations department released a photo of Te’o being interviewed by ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap. Te’o's lawyer was also present at the interview.
ESPN said audio clips of the interview would be available on the network later on a SportsCenter broadcast after the Oklahoma City Thunder-Dallas Mavericks basketball game.
Te’o has been in Bradenton, Fla. training for the NFL Draft since the story broke about a hoax being played on him in regards to a fake girlfriend that he and many media outlets said had died in September.
“To realize that I was the victim of what was apparently someone’s sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating,” Te’o said in part of statement he released this week.
Former Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o told the school he tried to communicate with his fake girlfriend. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o told the university that he tried to use the voice-chat service Skype to speak with his girlfriend, a person that later was revealed did not exist, reports CBSSports.com.
The report says that she refused to speak with Te’o using the service and that Notre Dame brought up the subject to Te’o during their investigation because the relationship happened online.
Earlier this week, Deadspin.com reported that Te’o was part of a hoax after they discovered the girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, not only did not die of leukemia as had been reported, but did not exist.
The school also identified Ronaiah Tuiasosopo and the role he played as the alleged mastermind but did not speak with him during the investigation, CBSSports.com learned. The school shared its findings with the Te’o family to act upon as it saw fit. Investigators found that Tuiasosopo attended the USC-Notre Dame game on Nov. 24. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Kekua called Te’o on Dec. 6 to say she faked her death to evade drug dealers. The school did not contact the NCAA during the investigative process.
Deadspin reported that Tuiasosopo planned the Kekua scam, according to his family and friends.
An investigation by Notre Dame determined Manti Te’o was the victim of a hoax. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man who has been publicly identified as being behind the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax, admitted to deceiving the Heisman Trophy finalist in December, according to a friend in an Outside the Lines report, via ESPN.com.
The friend, a woman in her mid-20s who knew Tuiasosopo from church, agreed to be interviewed by Outside the Lines under the condition that she not be identified, saying she was fearful for her family’s safety because of the overwhelming publicity the story has generated. She did allow for her voice to be recorded by Outside the Lines.
(Click here for a full transcript of Pete Thamel’s interview with Manti Te’o.)
She said Tuiasosopo told her Te’o was not involved in the hoax, and that he had concocted similar hoaxes on “other people.”
“He (Ronaiah) told me that Manti was not involved at all, he was a victim. … The girlfriend was a lie, the accident was a lie, the leukemia was a lie,” said the woman. “He was crying, he was literally crying, he’s like ‘I know, I know what I have to do.’
“It’s not only Manti, but he was telling me that it’s a lot of other people they had done this to.”
Notre Dame issued a news release and held a press conference Wednesday after Deadspin reported it could find no record of Lennay Kekua — Te’o's supposed girlfriend mentioned in several stories on the linebacker — ever existed. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said a university investigation found that someone using a fictitious name “apparently ingratiated herself” with Te’o, then conspired with others to lead him to believe Kekua had died of leukemia.
The woman who spoke to Outside the Lines said she urged Tuiasosopo to take responsibility when he called her as news of the hoax was breaking Wednesday. She is also concerned that Tuiasosopo might harm himself.
“I (still) am worried for him (Ronaiah), not just him and his family but I know that you can’t judge people like that and that’s why I continue to just encourage (him) to come out and tell the truth,” she said.
Questions about Te’o perpetuating the hoax remain after he was quoted discussing details of his relationship with Kekau in a Dec. 8 Web interview and a Dec. 10 newspaper interview after he told Notre Dame officials he learned that she never existed on Dec. 6.
In the video below, SI.com’s Pete Thamel discusses the information about Manti Te’o that has surfaced since he reported his Sports Illustrated story in October.
The Philadelphia Eagles are seriously interested in Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly for their head coach vacancy, according to sources in a Philly.com report. The Eagles have reached out to Kelly, two NFL sources told Philly.com.
ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen reported via Twitter that the Eagles talked to Kelly after the BCS Championship game Monday night.
Kelly led Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season and No. 1 ranking before losing to Alabama, 42-14, in the BCS title game.
“For me to say I’ll never coach in the NFL — I have no idea,” Kelly said on Friday. “I’m not trying to be evasive. It’s the truth of the matter. It’s all about timing.”
The Eagles’ list of head coach candidates has been heavy with college coaches, including Oregon’s Chip Kelly and Penn State’s Bill O’Brien, who both elected to remain at their schools. The Eagles reportedly scheduled an interview with Syracuse coach Doug Marrone before he left to become the Buffalo Bills’ head coach. The Eagles have also interviewed recently fired Bears head Lovie Smith and linked to unnamed NFL coordinators.
From @mortreport and me: Eagles met with Notre Dame HC Brian Kelly, who is now out of country. Sides expect to revisit talks.— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 10, 2013
A Chicago Tribune panel cast the newspaper’s Heisman Trophy vote for Manti Te’o. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
The questions and pressure surrounding a Heisman Trophy vote in a contest that included linebacker Manti Te’o led the Chicago Tribune‘s Notre Dame beat writer to let a panel decide his ballot, the Tribune reported Sunday.
Five members of the sports department who cover or follow college sports assiduously, including Notre Dame beat writer Brian Hamilton, ranked their Heisman candidates for one composite vote.
We’re in the business of creating as little question as possible — preferably none — about how we conduct our business as journalists. And the Notre Dame beat writer at the Chicago Tribune casting a vote in a Heisman race involving the Irish’s most prominent player in years creates enough questions to make us uneasy.
Did you vote for Manti Te’o because you’re biased toward Notre Dame? Did you not vote for Manti Te’o because you’re biased against Notre Dame? Did you vote a certain way solely because you didn’t want it to look like you were biased a certain way? Withdrawing from the process entirely wouldn’t necessarily solve the issue either. What if the points Te’o would receive on that ballot — if he were ranked first or second or third – would have made a difference in the outcome of the race? No, it was best to participate in the process in the least problematic way possible.
The Tribune’s straw poll was scored like the Heisman process — three points for a first-place vote, two for a second, one for a third — to select the top-three finishers on Hamilton’s ballot.
Te’o was the newspaper’s choice, but not Hamilton’s. He selected Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, with Te’o second and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel third.
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel could be the first freshman ever to win the Heisman Trophy. (Scott Halleran/Getty Images)
History could be made Saturday night as a freshman could win The Heisman Trophy for the first time when the award is given out.
Johnny Manziel, a redshirt freshman quarterback from Texas A&M, Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o and Collin Klein, a senior quarterback from Kansas State are the finalists for the trophy that was announced on ESPN Monday night.
Te’o has led the undefeated and top-ranked Fighting Irish into the BCS Championship game against No. 2 Alabama. Te’o had 103 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and seven interceptions this season.
Manziel completed 68 percent of his passes for 3,419 yards with 24 touchdowns. Manziel also ran for 1,181 yards and 19 touchdowns. He led his team to a victory over then-No. 1 Alabama, accounting for the Crimson Tide’s only loss this season. The Aggies (10-2) will play Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl.
Klein completed 66.2 percent of his passes for 2,485 yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions for Kansas State, who went 11-1 this year. The Wildcats will play Oregon in the Fiesta Bowl.
All three players are also finalists for the Maxwell Award, awarded to the nation’s best all-around player.
USC backup quarterback Max Wittek guaranteed a victory over No. 1 Notre Dame. (Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
USC has a chance to ruin top-ranked Notre Dame’s national championship hopes with a victory over the Irish at home on Saturday.
With USC’s starter Matt Barkley out with a shoulder injury, his backup Max Wittek took it upon himself to make a bold prediction of Saturday’s game. According to CollegeFootballTalk, Wittek went on ESPN Radio on Tuesday and said that the Trojans would beat the Irish.
“We haven’t got the full game plan yet, but from what I can tell, we’re going to play our offense, whatever coach (Lane) Kiffin feels comfortable giving me. If he wants to air it out, let’s air it out,” Wittek said. “If he wants to pound it on the ground, let’s do that. Like I said, I’m going to go out there, I’m going to play within myself, within the system, and we’re going to win this ballgame.”
Wittek, a redshirt freshman, has seen limited action this season for the 7-4 Trojans. Wittek has completed eight of nine passes this season for 95 yards, including all three of his attempts for 40 yards during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s loss to UCLA.
USC QB Max Wittek tells ESPN Radio in LA of Notre Dame game: "We're going to win this ballgame."— Erik Elken (@Erik_Elken) November 20, 2012
Matt Barkley was injured on a sack by Anthony Barr late in UCLA’s win. (Harry How/Getty Images)
Lane Kiffin told the media Sunday that USC senior quarterback won’t play against Notre Dame on Saturday. Kiffin has selected backup quarterback Max Wittek as his starter.
Kiffin classified Barkley’s injury as an AC sprain to his shoulder. Barkley was injured while being sacked from behind by Anthony Barr late in the game.
“Going back on my word is something I never imagined doing and it hurts me to do it but in the end I feel is necessary to do in order to decide what college I want to go to and in the end what path I want to take in life. For many different reasons I am choosing to decommit from USC and re-open recruiting. I am sorry to the people I might let down or hurt in this decision but it is a decision that is crucial for my future athletically, academically, and spiritually.”
Redfield attended USC’s loss to Oregon Saturday, and is scheduled to take an official visit to Washington on Nov. 9 and is expected to visit Oregon before the season ends.
Mike Brey’s Notre Dame team may join ACC earlier than expected. (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Notre Dame has discussed an early move of its non-football sports from the Big East to the ACC, according to a report by the Chicago Tribune. It’s been speculated that Notre Dame plans to join the ACC for the 2013-14 seasons.
Big East commissioner Mike Aresco told the Tribune on Thursday that talks with Notre Dame are “very preliminary” and not to be confused with negotiations that will spur the school’s jump to the ACC. There isn’t total clarity anyway, after a month, about when the school wants to make that jump.
“Notre Dame has expressed interest in at least discussing leaving early,” Aresco told the Tribune. “We’ll have a discussion about it. (Athletic director) Jack (Swarbrick) wasn’t sure what they were going to do at this point.
Notre Dame’s Sept. 12 announcement of its ACC agreement caused Big East officials to fall back on the 27-month wait period mandated by its conference bylaws, though they appeared open to negotiating the Fighting Irish’s exit.
Swarbrick appeared ready to reduce that wait period during the ACC news conference saying, “it’s in everybody’s interests to try to move it along.”
Notre Dame and UConn may play football at Fenway Park in 2014. (Elsa/Getty Images)
A Notre Dame-UConn football game could be played at Fenway Park in 2014 if the Boston Red Sox have their way.
The Boston Globe‘s Peter Abraham reports the Red Sox have begun talks with Notre Dame and UConn officials — and both schools are intrigued.
UConn’s regional appeal and Notre Dame’s national draw could make the first football game played at Fenway Park since 1968 a sellout success. The Fighting Irish have an opening in their 2014 schedule.
Notre Dame LB Manti Te’o will play while mourning two deaths. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Notre Dame senior linebacker Manti Te’o will play against Michigan State on Saturday while mourning the deaths of two people close to him this week.
Te’o's father, Brian, told the Chicago Tribunethat Manti Te’o's grandmother died on Tuesday night. His girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, succumbed to leukemia early Wednesday morning.
“He lost some people very close to him, and it’s obviously taken a toll on him,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly told reporters after practice Thursday. “Our players have been there for him and have been a great support. We’ll support him. He’ll be with us. He practiced. He’ll be playing Saturday against Michigan State.
“Unfortunately, he’s gone through a very rough 24, 48 hours. But his support and his family at home have been great, and all of the coaches and players have been there for him. He wants to be with his teammates, he wants to be with the people that care about him. He’s a strong man and he’s going through a tough time, but he’ll rise to the occasion.”
Kelly said Te’o, whose Mormon faith was chronicled in a 2010 Tribune feature, may return to his native Hawaii to mourn with family and friends after the Michigan State game.
Notre Dame will reportedly join the ACC as a full member in every sport, except football. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Notre Dame will join the Atlantic Coast Conference as a full member with the exception of football, SI.com reports.
Notre Dame will play five football games annually vs. ACC, though. Notre Dame is currently an independent in football and a member of the Big East in basketball.
The ACC announced that the exit fee will be $50 million.
The earliest Notre Dame could leave the Big East without penalty is 2015.
“In any short-term way there’s no financial benefit,” the official said. “If we wanted to do something for money we would have joined the Big 10. What its really about is postseason play.”
“The ACC is an exceptionally good fit for us academically, as well as athletically,” Notre Dame president John Jenkins said.
Notre Dame will face four future ACC opponents this season in football. The Fighting Irish plays Miami Oct. 6 and Pittsburgh, Boston College and Wake Forest in three consecutive weeks in November.
Allen Pinkett, the Notre Dame radio commentator who made comments about the football program being better off with criminals, was taken off assignment for the game against Navy, reports ESPN.com.
“I’ve always felt like to have a successful team you’ve got to have a few bad citizens on the team,” Pinkett said on WSCR-AM yesterday. “That’s how Ohio State used to win all the time.”
When given a chance to explain, Pinkett did not saying, “You look at the teams that have won in the past they have always had a couple of criminals.”
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said that Pinkett’s statement was “nonsense.”
“Don Criqui and Jeff Jeffers will handle the broadcast duties. Notre Dame taking on Navy at the Emerald Isle Classic in Dublin is an historic game showcasing the very best of American college sports,” a statement from The IMG Notre Dame Radio Network said. “The event deserves to be free of distraction. Further decisions on this matter will be made in the coming days.”
A source reported Notre Dame CB Lo Wood is lost for 2012 season. (Icon SMI)
A source told Irish Illustrated’s Pete Sampson that Notre Dame cornerback Lo Wood suffered a season-ending Achilles injury on Monday. The cornerback is expected to have surgery later this week.
Wood, a 5-10, 195-pound junior from Apopka, Fla. earned playing time as a freshman. As a sophomore in 2011, he was beaten by USC’s Robert Woods on a touchdown pass from Matt Barkley that led to a Trojans victory on national television. He appeared to be in on his way to earning a starting job for the Fighting Irish in 2012 before the injury.
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees plead guilty to two misdemeanors Monday. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees, the team’s starter last season, plead guilty to two misdemeanors Monday, ending the proceedings around his May arrest before the Fighting Irish start their preseason camp, reports the Chicago Tribune‘s Brian Hamilton.
Rees was originally charged with a felony after an off-campus incident with police. But Rees, 20, plead guilty to resisting law enforcement and illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor. Another resisting law enforcement charge and a misdemeanor battery charge were dropped, Hamilton reported.
“The plea agreement includes a 30-day suspended sentence, 11 months of probation, 50 hours of community service and letters of apology to the officers involved from Rees,” Hamilton reported.
The quarterback was accused of kneeing a police officer in the chest while trying to leave an off-campus party after police arrived.
Hamilton reports Rees still faces discipline from Notre Dame’s Office of Residence Life.
Rees started 12 games last season as a sophomore but is now in a four-person race for the position. Andrew Hendrix, who took some snaps last season, Everett Golson, a dual threat, and Gunnar Kiel, the top quarterback recruit in the nation, are also battling to start.
The Big 12 expansion committee thinks Notre Dame is the only team that would add value to the conference. (Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
The Big 12 Conference currently has 10 teams. When looking to expand for more visibility and no doubt more money, a memo to the Big 12 expansion committee obtained by The Oklahoman said Notre Dame would be the only school that would add any television value to the conference.
The Big 12 expansion committee is made up of Oklahoma State president Burns Hargis, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and Kansas State president Kirk Shulz. The memo was sent out in January and obtained through an open records request.
“Both representatives of ESPN/ABC and Fox Sports indicated that Notre Dame’s involvement with the Big 12 Conference would increase the value of the conference relative to future television and also improve the image of the conference nationwide,” interim commissioner Chuck Neinas said in the memo. “Our television partners agreed that the only new member that would enhance the Big 12 value for television was Notre Dame.”
Notre Dame is currently a member of the Big East Conference in all sports except football, men’s hockey and fencing.
The two sides have called a press conference for Tuesday to announce the extension.
Brey has spent the past 12 seasons coaching the Fighting Irish and has led the program to six straight 20-win seasons. Hamilton reports Brey has been named Big East Coach of the Year three times in his tenure.
The extension has been expected since March, Hamilton reports, because Brey declined to speak with Maryland at the time.
“When I got hired, I said, I hope I’m good enough to retire here,” Brey said last March. “And I really firmly believe that’s really never changed for me.
“After the third NIT (in 2006), I actually thought to myself, maybe you just go reinvent…Matter of fact, N.C. State offered me the job. I remember talking to (wife) Tish: What do you think? We love Raleigh-Durham, maybe we go back there. What the heck, it’s been a great run here.
That was probably the only time…George Blaha, the voice of the Pistons, was here for the (Adrian) Dantley (Ring of Honor induction). He said to me: ‘You are Notre Dame basketball.’ It’s my program now. You have an identity. I really feel we have it at that point. And I feel with what we have coming, can we break barriers? Breaking some barriers that way is kind of the challenge now.”
The Irish will be one of the Big East favorites this season as the team returns all five starters.
University of Texas Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds admits speaking to Notre Dame about the Big 12. (Erich Schlegel/Getty Images)
University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds is content with the current 10-team Big 12. But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about expanding.
Dodds tells CBSSports.com that discussions with Notre Dame have been ongoing since 2010 and the newly-formed Champions Bowl between the Big 12 and SEC regular season champions further solidifies the power conferences in college football.
“We could expand to some number,” Dodds tells CBSSports.com “You name the number — 12, 14, 16. We could expand but the question is ‘do we need to expand?’ In my mind 10 is perfect because you play everybody in football and there is a double-round-robin in basketball.” Fighting Irish head basketball coach Mike Brey told CBSSports.com yesterday that Notre Dame has ”contingency plans” if they decide to leave the Big East Conference.
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees pleaded not guilty this morning on charges of battery, resisting law enforcement, and consumption of alcohol by the minor, according to ESPN.
Rees is accused of kneeing a police officer in the chest after fleeing from officers after a party May 3. Linebacker Carlo Calabrese was also arrested in the incident, and was charged with a misdemeanor.
Last year, as a freshman, Rees started 12 of 13 games for the Irish, throwing for 2,871 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Notre Dame linebacker Carlo Calabrese has been charged with a misdemeanor count of intimidation stemming from the arrest of quarterback Tommy Rees, according to the Associated Press.
Calabrese allegedly made threatening remarks to officers when the police took Rees away. According to the police affidavit, Calabrese said to an arresting officer, “my people will get you”.
Both players are expected to be in court Thursday, according to the AP.
University of Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees has been charged with a felony after a confrontation with police officers early this morning, according to the Associated Press.
The 19-year-old was arrested on charges of resisting law enforcement, battery to law enforcement, and minor consumption, police told the AP. Linebacker Carlo Calabrese was also arrested in the incident, and was charged with a misdemeanor.
Rees is currently being held without bond until formal charges can be levied.
Last year, as a freshman, Rees started 12 of 13 games for the Irish, throwing for 2,871 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Notre Dame forward Tim Abromaitis’ request for a sixth year of eligibility was denied by the NCAA, the school announced Tuesday.
Abromaitis tore his ACL early last season, and missed most of the year. He played in just two games during the 2011-12 season. His career will end with a scoring average of 13.7 points per game.
Just last week, it was reported that head coach Brian Kelly expected Lynch to return to the team. As a freshman last season, Lynch led the Fighting Irish with five sacks and would have been one of the most experienced defensive linemen on the roster going into next season.
According to SB Nation, Lynch, a Florida native, has dealt with homesickness at Notre Dame; his mother moved to Ohio to be closer to him. Coming out of high school, Lynch was ranked the third-best defensive end and 28th overall player in the 2011 recruiting class.
