Chicago Sun-Times

Tommy Rees will start for Notre Dame at QB

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:32:52 -0500

Has Notre Dame figured out its quarterback situation? Notre Dame confirmed a report that coach Brian Kelly will make Tommy Rees the starter for the upcoming season.

Northwestern eyes 8th grader Nojel Eastern

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:16:00 -0500

Northwestern basketball coach Chris Collins and his staff hosted eighth grader Nojel Eastern for an unofficial visit Monday.

Illinois, SIU set time for football opener

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:48:01 -0500

Illinois says its season opener on Aug. 31 will kick off at 11 a.m. Illinois officials said in a new release Wednesday that the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Times have been set for six of Illinois’ 12 football games. Three of those are morning starts. Still to come are kickoff times for home games against Miami, Ohio State and Northwestern as well as road games at Penn State, Indiana and Purdue. …

Illinois basketball adding transfers Ahmad Starks, Darius Paul

Thu, 30 May 2013 02:25:27 -0500

Oregon State guard Ahmad Starks, a high-school star at Young, and Western Michigan forward Darius Paul, the Mid-American Conference freshman of the year last season, are transferring to Illinois, coach John Groce said Wednesday. Starks, whose grandmother is having health problems in Chicago, could play immediately under an NCAA rule that allows players to transfer closer to home to be near an ailing family member. Based on recent decisions, Starks stands a good chance of being allowed to play this fall. The 5-9 Starks started 73 games in three seasons with the Beavers. He averaged 10.2 points and made a …

P.J. Hairston of North Carolina faces drug charge

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:38:00 -0500

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Durham police have charged North Carolina leading scorer P.J. Hairston with marijuana possession following a traffic stop. In an email Thursday, Durham Police Department spokeswoman Kammie Michael said officers stopped Hairston at a license checkpoint Wednesday night. Police also arrested two passengers — Miykael Lael Israel Faulcon and Carlos Devone Sanford, both of Durham — and charged all three men with possessing a half-ounce of marijuana or less. They were released on $1,000 unsecured bonds. Michael said Hairston, 20, was also charged with driving without a license, though that charge isn’t mentioned in his arrest report. …

Ex-Syracuse staffer sentenced for secret locker-room videos

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:54:01 -0500

The Syracuse University athletic department’s former media director has been sentenced to five years’ probation for secretly videotaping male athletes in their locker rooms.

Ohio St. president Gordon Gee retires after Notre Dame comments

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:10:00 -0500

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State University President Gordon Gee is downplaying the impact of joking remarks he made about Roman Catholics and Notre Dame on his decision to retire next month. The 69-year-old Gee cited his age, major upcoming planning changes at the university, his desire not to lose the university provost to another job along with the remarks as he explained why he is leaving. Gee acknowledges he is facing what he calls headwinds. Gee calls himself a “quirky” person who decided it was best to leave quickly. Ohio State trustee chairman Robert Schottenstein says Gee’s decision is not …

Notre Dame loses top recruit Eddie Vanderdoes to UCLA

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 16:05:27 -0500

Prized recruit Eddie Vanderdoes called an audible Tuesday, deciding to attend UCLA instead of Notre Dame. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly confirmed the news in a statement released by the university.

Trustees: Ohio State president Gordon Gee ‘embarrassed’ school

Fri, 31 May 2013 13:46:00 -0500

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State University’s top trustees say insensitive comments by the university president have embarrassed and divided the university. The trustees say in a letter to president Gordon Gee that his comments risk diminishing the collective efforts of the university and of Gee’s own good work. The March 11 letter was obtained Friday by The Associated Press. It lays out several steps Gee must take following the revelation of remarks he made last year jabbing Notre Dame, Roman Catholics and the Southeastern Conference. Those steps include issuing personal apologies and getting help from professionals to revisit Gee’s personal …

Ohio State president takes shot at Notre Dame, Catholics

Thu, 30 May 2013 14:55:23 -0500

The president of Ohio State University said Notre Dame was never invited to join the Big Ten because the university’s priests are not good partners, joking that “those damn Catholics” can’t be trusted, according to a recording of a meeting he attended late last year.

DePaul: Winning years shaped attendance projections for McCormick Place arena

Thu, 30 May 2013 02:25:17 -0500

A report critical of attendance projections for DePaul basketball games at a proposed new arena at McCormick Place studied only the last three years compared to a lengthier study done by the school, DePaul officials said Wednesday. The report by Crain’s Chicago Business said the economic impact projections of the new arena were flawed based on the last three years of DePaul attendance at Allstate Arena, which totaled 42,000 actual fans instead of the 127,000 ‘‘tickets sold’’ reported by the school. But a feasibility study prepared by the school as part of the project used a wider scope of recent …

North Central pole vaulter Josh Winder caps injury comeback with Division III title

Thu, 30 May 2013 02:25:08 -0500

When North Central’s Josh Winder claimed the pole-vault title at the NCAA Division III men’s outdoor track-and-field championships at Wisconsin- La Crosse, he knew a whole crew had gone into the achievement. There’s his brother Jake, who preceded him as a pole-vault champion for the Cardinals, winning both indoors and outdoors in 2010. There’s his dad, Tim, who coaches vaulters as an assistant on coach Frank Gramarosso’s staff. And there’s a whole medical team that helped him come back after a severe shoulder injury in the first meet of his senior high school season at Plainfield Central threatened to make him …

Missing ex-QB from Grand Valley State found dead

Wed, 29 May 2013 13:12:00 -0500

A three-day search for one of the winningest college quarterbacks, Cullen Finnerty, ended in a remote wooded area in Michigan, where authorities found his body and were left with a mystery of how he died.

Curtis Granderson Stadium comes true for UIC

Wed, 29 May 2013 13:22:00 -0500

University of Illinois trustees have agreed to a deal that will see New York Yankee Curtis Granderson pay for most of the cost a new baseball stadium at his alma mater, the University of Illinois-Chicago. Trustees voted Wednesday to name the new stadium Curtis Granderson Stadium. Granderson announced in February that he will donate $5 million to the stadium project. The total cost is projected to be $7 million The open-air, brick-and-stone stadium will seat 1,200 and is expected to open in 2015. The stadium will be built on campus along Roosevelt Road. The plan calls for using the field …

With Golson out, three will vie to be Notre Dame starting QB

Wed, 29 May 2013 02:17:16 -0500

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly doesn’t think his team will be starting from scratch at quarterback, even with the loss of starter Everett Golson for the 2013 season. “It’s certainly going to be a challenge. He’s our starting quarterback. He started in the national championship game,” Kelly said. “But we’re very fortunate that we have experienced quarterbacks in Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix. They’ve been with us going on our fourth year. We have great relationships, [they have] a great understanding of our offense. It’s going to be a challenge but one we think we can overcome.” On Saturday, Notre …

New Rutgers AD has abuse allegations in past

Tue, 28 May 2013 12:46:06 -0500

NEWARK, N.J. — Rutgers is standing by its incoming athletic director despite allegations she humiliated and verbally abused players during her coaching days, with the embattled president of the prominent university saying he is looking forward to her first day on the job. It’s the latest in a series of difficulties for the school, which lost its previous men’s basketball coach and chief athletic executive to an abuse scandal, and then had to acknowledge its new men’s coach had not graduated from Rutgers after it previously said he did. Julie Herrman officially takes over the athletic department on June 17, …