Chico Caldwell, the athletics director at Winston-Salem State since 2000, was fired yesterday by Chancellor Donald Reaves.

Caldwell, who was hired by former chancellor Harold Martin, had been instrumental in steering the Rams athletics program to NCAA Division I status. The program is in its third year of transition after having left Division II and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.

When reached yesterday by phone and asked why he was fired, Caldwell said: "I don't know -- that's what I'm trying to find out."

Reaves, who was hired in February 2007, did not return a phone call to discuss his decision but said in a prepared statement that it was time for "new leadership."

"A stated goal in my short tenure as chancellor is to implement a talent strategy that has the right people in the right position at the right time," Reaves said in the statement. "The university, including its athletics program, is at a critical transition point where fresh ideas and approaches are needed, and in keeping with my commitment to the talent strategy, I believe that the athletics program and our student-athletes will benefit from new leadership."

Reaves named Tonia Walker, the associate director of athletics and senior women's administrator, as the interim AD. She has been at the school since August 2000, when she was hired as the volleyball coach and assistant AD after spending eight years as the director of public relations for the CIAA.

Walker, a two-sport athlete in college, received a bachelor's degree from Hampton in 1993 and a master's degree from Old Dominion in 1998. At WSSU, she has twice been named the CIAA senior women's administrator of the year.

Caldwell, 61, was just the fourth athletics director in school history. He was hired in the summer of 2000 after Anne Little was fired.

Little was the AD for three years. She followed Al Roseboro, who retired in the spring of 1997. Roseboro took over in 1990 to replace Big House Gaines, who until then had been the school's only AD. Gaines died in April 2005.

One of the biggest issues the athletics department faces is the transition to Division I.

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WSSU fires athletics director of 9 years

The NCAA is preparing to deliver on an unprecedented threat to hand down postseason bans because of academic deficiencies, a prospect it says is facing as many as nine teams at eight Division I schools.

All are saddled with low Academic Progress Rates (APRs), which measure player retention and progress toward graduation. And all are seeking waivers to forestall the penalties.

Five of the teams have seen requests initially rejected, their hopes hanging on face-to-face hearings beginning in Indianapolis in 10 days or subsequent appeals to the NCAA Division I Board of Directors.

It's a notable step for the NCAA. It has long imposed bans on bowl and other postseason appearances for serious violations of its rules, but not until now has it used the penalty as a hammer in academic matters.

The men's basketball and baseball programs at Centenary are in the crosshairs, its athletics director says. Also needing waivers, according to officials at their respective schools, are Weber State's playoff-quarterfinal football team and a Texas-Arlington baseball program that claimed a Southland Conference championship and an NCAA tournament berth three years ago.

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Are You Fan Enough?

How do you know if you're a hoops school? When you're 10 games below .500 and still outdraw ranked BCS teams. Plus: A look at who's hot and not as we head down the stretch.

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Miami is expected to hire North Carolina special teams coach and defensive assistant John Lovett as its defensive coordinator, sources close to the situation confirmed on Monday.

According to the Miami Herald, which first reported the story, Miami could announce the hire as early as Wednesday. The move would complete Miami's offseason staff changes, as coach Randy Shannon also hired Mark Whipple as offensive coordinator to replace Patrick Nix, who was fired after the season.

Lovett will be the third defensive coordinator the program has had in three seasons under Shannon. The Canes had to replace former defensive coordinator Bill Young after one season because Young decided last month to coach at his alma mater, Oklahoma State.

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"Utah's state legislature is calling for a playoff system to determine college football's national champion after an undefeated University of Utah was shut out of the national title game for the second time in four years.

With University of Utah football players on hand, the state senate adopted a resolution Monday it wants sent to President Barack Obama urging the NCAA to abandon the Bowl Championship Series in favor of a playoff system.

Utah went 13-0 and was the only unbeaten team in the country, but finished No. 2 behind Florida in The Associated Press Top 25. In the final USA Today Coaches' poll, the Utes were fourth.

Under the BCS, champions from the six major conferences — the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-10 and SEC — are guaranteed a spot in a BCS game. Notre Dame and schools from the other five conferences can only earn a spot in a BCS game if they finish the regular season rated high enough under a formula that relies on two human polls and six computer rankings."

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Forget Florida and Tennessee. The North Miami Beach and Western Michigan camps have taken some pretty harsh shots at UCF today.

North Miami Beach High School Coach Jeff Bertani told the Kalamazoo Gazettehe was stunned when players Nico Flores and Kemal Ishmael opted to sign with UCF instead of following the school's pipeline of standout players to Western Michigan.

Bertani lamented negative recruiting tactics employed by the UCF coaching staff trying to lure Flores and Ishmael to Orlando after he said they already had committed to Western Michigan. Kalamazoo Gazette beat writer Graham Couch throws in his own opinion, calling the tactics he heard were used by assistant coach David Kelly and head coach George O'Leary 'ridiculous and shameful for grown men who claim to be educators.'

UCF coaches have declined to comment on the record about any battles leading up to signing day, but there are allegations from the Knights' camp that Bertani engaged in heavy negative recruiting against UCF and strongly pushed his athletes to pick Western Michigan over the Knights. It also is unclear whether Flores and Ishmael ever actually committed to Western Michigan, with no one ever directly quoting the athletes saying they had committed before signing day."

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A resolution has been introduced at the Utah State Legislature in support of doing away with college football's Bowl Championship Series.

SJR11, a 'Joint Resolution Urging Football Playoff,' was introduced into the Senate on Thursday by Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City. The resolution calls on the National Collegiate Athletic Association to abandon the BCS in favor of a national playoff system.

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Former Miami coach Larry Coker has applied to lead the new Texas-San Antonio football program in what would be his first head coaching job since the Hurricanes fired him in 2006.

Coker, who led Miami to the BCS championship in 2001 and is currently an ESPN college football analyst, told the San Antonio Express-News he spoke to UTSA over the phone about the job last month.

'That's as far as it's gotten,' Coker told the newspaper.

Coker said athletic director Lynn Hickey did not indicate if or when he might be interviewed. School officials have said they hope to have a head coach in place by March 1, and UTSA hopes to make its college football debut in 2011."

Maryland will name offensive coordinator James Franklin as coach Ralph Friedgen's successor at a 3 p.m. ET news conference today.

Friedgen, who turns 62 in April, still has three years remaining in his contract -- it expires Jan. 2, 2012 -- and he isn't expected to retire before then. But Franklin was hired with the understanding that he would have a chance to be head coach."

Le Moyne weighs move to all D-I - syracuse.com: "After giving the idea a thumbs-up in concept, Le Moyne College is seriously pondering whether to match its athletic ambition with cold, hard cash.

Specifically, about $3 million worth, give or take.

That's the approximate tab the school would be looking at to move all 16 of its teams up to the NCAA classification of Division I, a major overhaul that a school committee unanimously recommended on Tuesday."

Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin accused Florida coach Urban Meyer of violating recruiting rules in pursuing wide receiver prospect Nu'Keese Richardson.

WVLT-TV reported that Kiffin told a group of fans at a signing day breakfast celebration Thursday morning that Meyer phoned Richardson while the recruit was making his official visit to Tennessee recently.

"I'm gonna turn Florida in right here in front of you," Kiffin said, according to WVLT-TV. "While Nu'Keese was on campus, his phone kept ringing. One of the coaches says, 'who's that?' And he said, Urban Meyer."

Richardson, a Pahokee, Fla, native, signed with the Volunteers on Tuesday, despite having indicated he would sign with the Gators.

Kiffin told the crowd, "I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get him."

Tennessee spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter told The Associated Press the school would not file an official complaint to the NCAA.

A Florida team spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Here's ESPN's take on this years college football recruiting:

1. LSU

2. Alabama

3. Texas

4. USC

5. Florida

6. Georgia

7. Miami (FL)

8. Florida State

9. Ohio State

10. Michigan

11. Oklahoma

12. South Carolina

13. North Carolina

14. Notre Dame

15. Tennessee

16. Penn State

17. UCLA

18. Virginia Tech

19. Clemson

20. Arkansas

21. Rutgers

22. Mississippi

23. Mississippi State

24. South Florida

25. Auburn

A quick followup to the previous article about the Big Sky.

On the CollegeSportsInfo.com forums, we've been looking at some developments with one of the schools:

Looks like NAU must submit a proposed list of budget cuts of about $22 million for FY09(this school year)to the Arizona BOR by next Monday.Unclear whether any athletic programs will be cut in this current proposal since budget cuts for athletics in the NAU draft proposal appear to be less than $700,000.However there will also be additional budget cuts for FY10 which begins on 7-1-09.Link to draft of NAU FY09 budget cuts at http://www4.nau.edu/president/FY2009%20BudgetOptions.pdf

I normally cover this during the off-season, but Georgia started us off early:

Considered "A" list candidates:
Jeff Capel - Oklahoma coach
Sean Miller - Xavier coach
Anthony Grant - VCU coach
Tubby Smith - Minnesota coach
Bob Knight - former Texas Tech coach

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that if Knight were offered the Bulldogs job, he would take it, a source close to the coach told the newspaper.

On Monday, Knight said he has not had contact with Georgia and revisited his past stance about whether he'd return to the college ranks.

"I have never said that I wouldn't coach again. I've simply said in the past, if the right situation came along, I would be interested," he said.

Georgia fired Dennis Felton last Thursday after the Bulldogs (9-12 overall, 0-6 SEC) got off to an 0-5 start in the conference. Associate coach Pete Herrmann was named interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Knight, 68, left Texas Tech in the middle of the 2008 season. The winningest men's college basketball coach in history with 902 victories coached the Red Raiders from 2001-08 after a 29-year run at Indiana that ended in controversy.

"He doesn't want it to look as if he's pursuing the job," the source close to Knight told the Journal-Constitution. "He'd like to be offered it, and if offered, he'd take it.