New limit of 208 pages for 2005 season. Anybody know how many pages tOSU's was last year? I'm not sure where they got that number, maybe they decided that half of scUM's 416-pager from last year was worthless. That means that the NCAA was half-right, as usual. :tongue2:
NCAA forces schools to slim down media guides
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Fans interested in how Michigan State teams got their Spartans nickname in 1926 can find the tale in the school's 300-page football media guide.
The University of Michigan's 416-page guide tells how "The Victors" got its start as the Wolverines' fight son in 1898.
But such interesting historical notes could be forced out by an NCAA edict that colleges trim their media guides to 208 pages for next school year.
The new rule has sports information directors across the country scrambling to decide what will make the cut when a hundred or more pages in some current guides must be scrapped. And many of them aren't happy.
"This has been a knee-jerk reaction, all under the guise of cost containment," said Michigan State associate athletic director John Lewandowski.
Bruce Madej, a Michigan assistant athletic director, said the university will follow the new NCAA rule.
"But does it make sense to me? No," Madej said.
Schools such as Texas, Nebraska and Georgia are faced with the prospect of cutting their football guides in half before the start of next season. Publications go to print this summer.
Men's basketball guides are the only other publication likely to be widely affected at most schools by the new rules, which were adopted last month.
Supporters of the NCAA rule say restricting the size of the guides would save universities money. It reduces the pressure for lower-income programs to keep up with college athletics' big spenders by producing glitzy guides.
"It's about leveling the playing field," NCAA spokeswoman Jennifer Kearns said.
The proposal also affects recruiting because the guides often are sent to prospective student athletes.
"From a recruiting standpoint, it's more impressive to drop a 20-pound book on the coffee table than a 6-ounce book," said Mike Nemeth, a Mississippi State associate athletic director. "This will put everybody in the same ballpark."
The Bulldogs produced a 296-page football media guide last year, at least in part to prevent being dwarfed by larger volumes published by Florida, Tennessee and other rivals. Many schools devote space in their media guides to alumni in the pros and draft pick histories, although it's not clear how much weight -- if any _ the books have with recruits.
"It's probably way down the list," Nemeth said.
Mississippi State expects to save a few thousand dollars on printing costs with the smaller guides, money the department will gladly spend on other projects, Nemeth said.
But the overall cost savings aren't much for a major program. Michigan State, for example, spent about $60,225 last year designing and printing its football media guide. A 208-page guide could cost about $18,000 less. The Spartans' overall athletics budget is about $55 million.
Smaller guides could result in shorter player profiles, abridged records sections or more selective lists of letter winners -- a slap to team members, Lewandowski said.
"It's their keepsake, the record of their careers," he said.
The NCAA will allow schools to distribute some extra information to media through the Internet or printed in black-and-white format. But including records and milestones in such a way could eliminate some of the cost savings realized through smaller media guides.
The Michigan State guide, like many others, lists letter winners from football teams throughout school history. Each season is listed with game-by-game results dating back to 1896.
The guide details every series the Spartans have ever played, from the 1904-08 matchups with the Michigan School for the Deaf to the century-old rivalry with the Wolverines.
And the book provides history, including the tale of how a Lansing sportswriter, upset with the schools' new nickname, "The Michigan Staters," started using Spartans instead. The moniker, another finalist from a recent contest to nickname the school, caught on.
Michigan's guide documents its string of home games attended by more than 100,000 fans -- a streak that began in 1975. In all, five pages are devoted exclusively to facts and highlights about Michigan Stadium.
There's also folklore, such as how the school fight song came to be. A Michigan fan was inspired to write the song after the school's first conference championship was clinched with a road win over Chicago in 1898.
Dissatisfied with how Michigan fans celebrated in the streets of Chicago, the young man decided the school needed a better celebratory anthem. He wrote "The Victors" over the next few days.
"Every school has it own traditions and the things that make it special," Lewandowski said. "Why try to limit that? Let's not make college sports a cookie cutter like pro sports."
NCAA forces schools to slim down media guides
LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Fans interested in how Michigan State teams got their Spartans nickname in 1926 can find the tale in the school's 300-page football media guide.
The University of Michigan's 416-page guide tells how "The Victors" got its start as the Wolverines' fight son in 1898.
But such interesting historical notes could be forced out by an NCAA edict that colleges trim their media guides to 208 pages for next school year.
The new rule has sports information directors across the country scrambling to decide what will make the cut when a hundred or more pages in some current guides must be scrapped. And many of them aren't happy.
"This has been a knee-jerk reaction, all under the guise of cost containment," said Michigan State associate athletic director John Lewandowski.
Bruce Madej, a Michigan assistant athletic director, said the university will follow the new NCAA rule.
"But does it make sense to me? No," Madej said.
Schools such as Texas, Nebraska and Georgia are faced with the prospect of cutting their football guides in half before the start of next season. Publications go to print this summer.
Men's basketball guides are the only other publication likely to be widely affected at most schools by the new rules, which were adopted last month.
Supporters of the NCAA rule say restricting the size of the guides would save universities money. It reduces the pressure for lower-income programs to keep up with college athletics' big spenders by producing glitzy guides.
"It's about leveling the playing field," NCAA spokeswoman Jennifer Kearns said.
The proposal also affects recruiting because the guides often are sent to prospective student athletes.
"From a recruiting standpoint, it's more impressive to drop a 20-pound book on the coffee table than a 6-ounce book," said Mike Nemeth, a Mississippi State associate athletic director. "This will put everybody in the same ballpark."
The Bulldogs produced a 296-page football media guide last year, at least in part to prevent being dwarfed by larger volumes published by Florida, Tennessee and other rivals. Many schools devote space in their media guides to alumni in the pros and draft pick histories, although it's not clear how much weight -- if any _ the books have with recruits.
"It's probably way down the list," Nemeth said.
Mississippi State expects to save a few thousand dollars on printing costs with the smaller guides, money the department will gladly spend on other projects, Nemeth said.
But the overall cost savings aren't much for a major program. Michigan State, for example, spent about $60,225 last year designing and printing its football media guide. A 208-page guide could cost about $18,000 less. The Spartans' overall athletics budget is about $55 million.
Smaller guides could result in shorter player profiles, abridged records sections or more selective lists of letter winners -- a slap to team members, Lewandowski said.
"It's their keepsake, the record of their careers," he said.
The NCAA will allow schools to distribute some extra information to media through the Internet or printed in black-and-white format. But including records and milestones in such a way could eliminate some of the cost savings realized through smaller media guides.
The Michigan State guide, like many others, lists letter winners from football teams throughout school history. Each season is listed with game-by-game results dating back to 1896.
The guide details every series the Spartans have ever played, from the 1904-08 matchups with the Michigan School for the Deaf to the century-old rivalry with the Wolverines.
And the book provides history, including the tale of how a Lansing sportswriter, upset with the schools' new nickname, "The Michigan Staters," started using Spartans instead. The moniker, another finalist from a recent contest to nickname the school, caught on.
Michigan's guide documents its string of home games attended by more than 100,000 fans -- a streak that began in 1975. In all, five pages are devoted exclusively to facts and highlights about Michigan Stadium.
There's also folklore, such as how the school fight song came to be. A Michigan fan was inspired to write the song after the school's first conference championship was clinched with a road win over Chicago in 1898.
Dissatisfied with how Michigan fans celebrated in the streets of Chicago, the young man decided the school needed a better celebratory anthem. He wrote "The Victors" over the next few days.
"Every school has it own traditions and the things that make it special," Lewandowski said. "Why try to limit that? Let's not make college sports a cookie cutter like pro sports."
. 
