Price reportedly spent time with dancer at nightclub
ESPN.com news services

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama coach Mike Price met with university officials Thursday amid revelations of a free-spending night at a topless bar in Florida and that a young woman tried to charge more than $1,000 in food and drinks to his hotel bill the next morning.

The fate of the former Washington State coach could be decided at a trustees meeting on Saturday, months before he coaches his first game for the Crimson Tide.

University President Robert Witt and athletic director Mal Moore met with Price Thursday morning. Witt called a meeting of the board of trustees' athletics committee and other board members for Saturday "to present and discuss his decision regarding Price's status as head football coach," a university statement said.

Price, 57, came under university scrutiny after spending time at a nightclub called Arety's Angels in Pensacola, Fla., on April 16, while in town for a pro-am golf tournament the next day.

"He was here and he was a perfect gentleman," club owner Arety Kapetanis told The Associated Press on Thursday. "He did not leave with anyone from our club."

While at the topless club, Price bought some drinks for himself and dancers but did not hug them, Kapetanis said. He did hug a waitress who was clothed, however, and quickly backed off when told touching was not allowed, she said.

"He did not appear to be or act intoxicated. It was good, clean fun," Kapetanis told the AP.

The next morning, a young woman in Price's hotel room ordered more than $1,000 in food and drinks charged to his bill _ one of everything on the menu, Andrea Wright, assistant manager of the Crown Plaza Grand Royal, told the Montgomery Advertiser.

Dale Peterson, manager of the hotel, declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press Thursday. The name of the woman in Price's room was not disclosed.

The Mobile Register, quoting four workers at the Crowne Plaza who did not want to be identified, said the woman wanted the food placed in boxes so she could leave with it.

The hotel contacted Price of the unusual order, and he returned later in the day and paid the bill after the woman left, the Register said. She was not allowed to leave with the order.

Price, who was hired in December from Washington State, is married and has two sons on his coaching staff. He has declined to comment on his actions during the trip.

ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel has learned that rather than go to a party for pro-am players in the Bruno's Memorial Classic in Birmingham on Tuesday night, Price phoned his assistant coaches, who are on the road recruiting, and apologized for the scandal that has erupted.

"It's embarrassing," Price told one coach. "I hate it for Joyce [his wife]. I hate it for my kids [sons Aaron and Eric are on his staff]." Given that Witt instructed his employees to say nothing, the staff member who recounted the conversation to ESPN.com asked to go unnamed.

Washington State sports information director Rod Commons, who worked with Price for 26 years, told ESPN.com on Wednesday: "I've never seen any type of inappropriate behavior. I've never seen him drunk in public. I don't know what to think. It's got me baffled."

The reports came a day after Iowa State basketball coach Larry Eustachy was suspended following the publication of photographs in The Des Moines Register that showed him partying with students and kissing young women on the cheek.

Witt told The Tuscaloosa News his meeting with Price on Thursday was "very productive." He called the ordeal "a very sad and unfortunate event."

A dancer, "Destiny" Stahl, 36, told The Birmingham News that Price spent about $200 on her and bought drinks for and tipped other dancers, but nothing happened beyond dancing.

Kapetanis said Stahl, who works the day shift, was still on duty when Price left and was picked up by her husband. Price, however, returned later that night with some friends.

Witt said he was in contact with the chancellor and university trustees and hoped "to bring closure to this situation as soon as possible."

"This review involves careers and lives and it has been imperative that it be thorough," he said in a statement.

He said he was unable to assemble the trustees before Saturday because some had scheduling conflicts.

This could become yet another black mark on a Tide program which has won six national championships but is now on NCAA probation.

The probation came after Mike DuBose was forced out during a 3-8 season in 2000, having survived an admission to lying about his relationship with his secretary. The university agreed to pay the woman $350,000 to settle accusations of sexual harassment, but opted to let DuBose keep his job.

The NCAA placed the football program on five years' probation early last year, mostly for violations that occurred during DuBose's four-year tenure.

Popular coach Dennis Franchione left the Tide in the lurch last year, bolting for Texas A&M after winning 10 games in his second season. Alabama then turned to Price.

Price had led Washington State to back-to-back 10-win seasons and a Rose Bowl berth last season.


 

Seattle Bowl's demise tough luck for ACC

By ROB DANIELS, Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- ACC football lost a guaranteed postseason spot Thursday when the financially struggling Seattle Bowl failed to receive the official stamp of approval from an NCAA committee.

The denial of certification means the game is out of business, at least for the 2003 season, but could reapply in another year, said Monica Lunderman, an NCAA spokeswoman.

The Seattle Bowl's demise leaves the ACC with five bowl tie-ins, the same number it had in 2000 and 2001. The conference had six postseason participants in the 2001 season because Clemson secured an at-large spot in the Humanitarian Bowl.

The affiliated games are a Bowl Championship Series event for the champion and the Gator, Peach, Tangerine and Continental Tire for other qualified selections.

The 2003-04 bowl lineup has not been completed nationwide, and ACC Commissioner John Swofford said Thursday that he will pursue any opportunities that may become available to replace the Seattle tie-in. The Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, Calif., and the Humanitarian in Boise, Idaho, are two possible options.

The NCAA bowl panel, headed by Penn State athletics director Tim Curley, cited "financial issues and failure to adhere to administrative requirements" in decertifying the Seattle game after two years. The ACC went 2-0 in the game, as Georgia Tech defeated Stanford in December 2001 and Wake Forest knocked off Oregon this past December.

The Seattle game never was on firm financial footing. Last year, it missed two deadlines to prove fiscal solvency, but received extensions and finally got the OK. The game reportedly still owes the ACC $170,000 from Wake Forest's participation in 2002.

The NCAA committee replaced the Seattle Bowl with the inaugural Fort Worth Bowl, which is expected to pair teams from Conference USA and the Big 12 on Dec. 23 in Texas.

Winds of change?
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
May 2, 2003 : 12:04 am ET

Remember that old line, "A picture is worth a thousand words?"

Well, picture this: Miami, with its notorious football reputation, chock full of blinding speed at every skill position imaginable, suddenly decides to bolt the Big East and join the ACC, as is being reportedly discussed by the hierarchy in south Florida. Never mind who will follow.

Now picture the looks on the faces of people like Chuck Amato and Al Groh and Ralph Friedgen. And, please, don’t leave out the Bowden boys, Bobby and Tommy.

One newspaper, The Miami Herald, cited a source close to Miami’s program as saying the ACC is leaning toward expansion but, as usual, nobody knows when. Big East schools, understandably, are nervous about what the Canes might decide to do.

Syracuse’s athletics director, Jake Crouthamel, is convinced what Miami does will determine what others might do, such as the Orangemen and Boston College possibly following and Pittsburgh pondering a flirtation to renew its longtime rivalry with Penn State in the Big 10.

Somewhere in the eastern United States, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese is fuming and wondering about the future of his league. Tranghese’s conference took Miami when nobody else would, but in a generation where bigger is supposed to be better, the idea of a 12-school ACC might just be appealing to the Canes.

Miami, which has been in the national championship game the last two seasons, has dominated Big East football — 21-0 in the last three years, 27-1 since 1999 — and the Hurricanes might do the same in the ACC. Believe it. The word talent often precedes each position on the Hurricanes’ roster. Four of their players from the 2002 team were first-round picks in last weekend’s NFL draft, and of the 18 Big East players selected in the first round over the last three years, 13 played for the Hurricanes. Drew Rosenhaus hangs out in Miami for a reason.

The last time a new face from Florida appeared in the ACC was in 1992, when FSU swaggered into this conference and ruled it. The Seminoles have won every ACC title except the one that Friedgen’s Maryland Terps managed to capture a couple years ago.

New faces tend to make familiar faces rather look sad and tired and beaten, too. All of this reminds me of the interview I did with Dick Sheridan in the spring of 1993.

Sheridan was scheduled to enter his eighth season as N.C. State’s coach. His Wolfpack teams won 52 times but never captured an ACC championship, and the largest bowl they played in was the Gator, which they lost to Florida, 27-10. It was Sheridan’s last game as Wolfpack coach.

"We’d have won the ACC title had Florida State not come into the league in 1992," Sheridan correctly emphasized.

It was a valid point and Sheridan knew as much. From the moment the Seminoles entered the ACC in 1992, they made sure the football race was for second place. Dial up Mack Brown, at Texas, and ask him about it.

On June 29, 1993, Sheridan shocked the ACC by resigning, citing health reasons.

Nobody knows what to make of this expansion talk except that you know there’s something to it. Read all the lines and you come to the conclusion that if the Hurricanes want to leave the Big East, the ACC would put up a vote — and quicker than you might think — about accepting their green and orange and white uniforms.

 

ACC boundaries
By LUCIANA CHAVEZ, Staff Writer

The University of Miami is considering a move to the ACC that could prompt other Big East schools to follow suit, even as officials at ACC schools disagree on the merits of expansion.
"I don't know all the facts, but apparently discussions are going on with Miami," Marc Boehm, Pittsburgh's interim athletics director, said Wednesday. "They hold the keys, and everyone else is rock-solid in the conference."

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has said that the ACC has made overtures to Miami, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech.

ACC commissioner John Swofford has responded that some schools -- he wouldn't identify them -- have approached the ACC about joining but that the conference has made no formal offers.

When Miami trustees met Friday in Florida, they asked athletics director Paul Dee to make a presentation, including the views of football coach Larry Coker, on the benefits and drawbacks of leaving the Big East for the ACC.

Dee and university president Donna Shalala declined comment, and since trading public barbs 10 days ago, Swofford and Tranghese have refused to discuss the issue.

But like Boehm, Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel indicated that Big East schools are waiting to see what Miami does.

"If I'm asked right now by John Swofford, do I want to be a member of the ACC, the answer is no," Crouthamel said. "If I'm a second or third call [after another school has left], I certainly have to reconsider that."

Said Boehm: "If Miami left, we would have to think things through very seriously and look at a lot of different options."

Although Crouthamel said "we've been dealing with this for six years," the timing couldn't be better for the issue to move up to periscope depth. ACC athletics directors will hold their spring meeting May 11-14 on Amelia Island, Fla. Their Big East counterparts will do the same May 17-21 in Ponte Vedra, Fla. League membership is sure to be on the agenda at both meetings.

The addition of three Big East schools could enhance the profile and financial strength of the ACC, particularly by allowing the ACC to stage a conference football championship game. The NCAA requires that a league have 12 schools to hold a title game in football.

Miami would bring arguably the nation's top college football program into the ACC fold, while Boston College, Pitt and Syracuse would open new television markets to the league. Virginia Tech would fit geographically, with Virginia already in the league.

All that wouldn't make expansion right for the conference, said North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour, who questioned whether additional members would affect, for example, the annual home-and-home series between old basketball rivals.

"My position on expansion has been consistent, and that is I think we're at a good number," Baddour said. "I think we have a really strong culture, and I enjoy the round-robin in basketball and enjoy playing everyone in football. I would be on the side that we should be very careful about doing anything that would alter the culture of the league."

Duke AD Joe Alleva, another skeptic, said expanding the ACC would make sense only if each member's piece of the revenue pie would grow as a result. The cozy league handed out close to $9.7 million to each of its nine schools in 2002-03 -- more than any other Division I conference was able to distribute, according to the ACC.

The ACC probably would have to bring in an additional $20 million to $30 million a year to maintain that share for 12 schools instead of nine.

ACC revenue comes mostly from its television contracts, the Bowl Championship Series games in football, and the ACC and NCAA tournaments in basketball. The total fluctuates each year, depending on the league's bowl and NCAA appearances.

The ACC's pot would increase automatically with an additional three schools because the NCAA gives money to the conferences based on the number of teams each one has.

Also, a conference title game in football could be worth $5.5 million to $12 million, based on similar events. The SEC championship game, for example, brought in $12 million last year. The Big 12 title game is worth $5.5 million to $7 million annually.

Obviously, a larger league would provide better marketing opportunities, and more teams could translate into more NCAA and bowl appearances, which would mean more cash.

It's also a good bet that the ACC's television contracts would be restructured if the league expands. The football contract with Raycom-Jefferson Pilot runs through 2005, The ACC's basketball contracts with Raycom-Jefferson Pilot and Fox Sports Net run through 2010.

"There are benefits related to revenue production and adding a football championship," Virginia AD Craig Littlepage said. "But there are other issues relative to scheduling and time spent away from classes [because of travel].

"If you look at past expansion, the league has gone to Atlanta and Florida State, and those additions have brought tremendous credibility and improvement. I guess the focus of the league, in terms of the roots in North Carolina, should not be the sole determinant as far as reviewing the benefits of potential expansion."

While Littlepage added that he has not made up his mind about expansion, Florida State President T.K. Wetherell said he supports it, particularly if it involves bigger TV markets.

"We've always believed the ACC should expand, and I haven't seen anything to the contrary that would make us think otherwise," said Wetherell, adding that the prospect of having to face Miami more than once in a season didn't faze him.

"We already play Miami, so that's no big deal to us, and obviously we've played a number of SEC teams," Wetherell said. "We play Notre Dame. Those teams are already on our schedule."

It would take the approval of seven of the ACC's nine school presidents for the conference to proceed with expansion. No others returned phone calls from The News & Observer.

Maryland athletics director Deborah Yow and Wake Forest AD Rob Wellman declined to comment. N.C. State's Lee Fowler, Clemson's Terry Don Phillips and Georgia Tech's Dave Braine didn't return calls.

The fear of being left behind can be a major motivating factor for any league considering expansion, said Lehigh AD Joseph Sterrett, who teaches a course on the economics of the sports industry.

"You start to look at the long run, like if Miami might be an ACC member, people start thinking, 'If we don't take them, somebody else might. What would we have lost. How would we regret that?' " Sterrett said. "And you think, 'What would Miami do for ACC football?' That's a Florida marketplace; it's an economic consideration. But that keeping-up-with-the-Joneses is very real. And this is the time of year that people get together and ponder these things."

Tranghese has accused the ACC of pondering these things, indeed of trying "to disrupt our conference," for a long time.

It's all about survival -- and money, said David Carter, founder of The Sports Business Group, a consulting firm based in the Los Angeles area. The nine-team ACC is competing with the bigger SEC and Big 12, with 12 teams apiece, and the inaccurately labeled Big Ten is reportedly interested in adding a 12th member, too.

"Obviously, going from nine to 12 allows you to follow what has become the trend of establishing the super-conference," Carter said. "Even back in ACC territory, it's all about money. Nine to 12 allows a lot of different revenue opportunities."

And that may prove too juicy for the ACC to resist, Carter said.

"I think there's a lot to be said for a pre-emptive move. It's sort of like musical chairs. If the music stops and you are a conference on the outside looking in, that's going to put a strain on the ADs who chose not to expand."