Profits not the rule in college sports

NCAA

Profits not the rule in college sports

INDIANAPOLIS - Fewer than 25 percent of all major collegiate athletic departments made money in 2007-08. That finding was released yesterday by the NCAA, which surveyed all 119 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Of those, 25 reported overall profits for the fiscal year ending June 2008, up from 19 in 2006.

More than half of all football and men's basketball programs finished in the black. Only one women's basketball team had a profit.

The NCAA also found that funding from schools and states to athletic budgets comprised 30 percent of total revenue in 2008, compared with 20 percent in 2006. The reported cited a decline in ticket sales and a decrease in donations from alumni and boosters for the change.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Benson on CAA women's first unit

WILLIAMSBURG - William and Mary senior captain Tiffany Benson was selected by vote of coaches, sports information directors, and media members as one of the top five women's players in the Colonial Athletic Association. Last year's defensive player of the year, Benson was honored as a preseason first-team all-conference selection at the league's media day.

Drexel's Gabriela Marginean was named preseason player of the year and her team was favored to win the league title.

The rest of the first unit consisted of Jessica Canady of Old Dominion, Dawn Evans of James Madison and Shanae Baker-Brice of Towson.

• St. John's redshirt senior Anthony Mason Jr. will miss the next four to six weeks while he recovers after re-aggravating a hamstring injury during a weekend practice. Mason, a 6-7 swingman, missed all but three games last season after having surgery for a torn peroneal tendon in his right foot.

SOCCER

Donovan honored again

LOS ANGELES - Landon Donovan won the Honda player of the year award as the best player on the U.S. national soccer team for a record-breaking sixth time. Donovan received the award and a new car in Los Angeles.

He earned a total of 424 points in voting by U.S. sports media. Goalkeeper Tim Howard finished second with 267 and forward Jozy Altidore was third with 175.

• Major League Soccer again earned high marks for its racial and gender hiring. The league received its third consecutive A for racial hiring from the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. Its gender grade improved to a B from a C-plus last year and a D-plus in 2007.

TENNIS

Odesnik, Ginepri advance with upsets

MOSCOW - Americans Wayne Odesnik and Robby Ginepri sprung upsets at the Kremlin Cup, eliminating two highly seeded players in the opening round. Odesnik rallied past second-seeded Victor Hanescu 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, and Ginepri defeated fourth-seeded Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-7 (11-9), 7-6 (7-1).

• Martina Hingis won't make a comeback to competitive tennis. Hingis, 29, who retired after getting a two-year ban in 2007 for testing positive for cocaine, said in an interview with L'Equipe that she is happy with her new life. "I've got a nice house, my four horses," Hingis said. "On the tour, I had no life."

AROUND THE STATE

• East Coast Bowl IX will be held in Petersburg on Saturday, Nov. 28. Kickoff is scheduled for noon. The East Coast Bowl is an annual college all-star football game held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Division I-FCS, II, III and NAIA colleges and universities are represented in the game.

• SportsQuest and the Richmond Revolution announced they have signed 27 players to their roster for the 2010 season. Joining the Revolution are seven players signed from Virginia State University including LB/RB Kevin Coles, OG Brandon Grier, WR Anthony Hailstock, DB Pierre Lee, LB/DE Yuri Norrell, RB Travis Valentine and WR Damon Thompson. The team also signed former Richmond Spiders DB Stephen Howell, DE Sherman Logan and DB Ryan Mace. Virginia Tech's DE/OG Lawrence Lewis, OL/LB Travis Conway, LB/DB Mike Crawford and K/LB/DB Chris Segaar also signed.

Additional signees include WB/QB Aaron Alexander (Michigan State), DB/KR Stephen Cason (William and Mary), WR/DB/KR Larry Williams (West Virginia), OG/DE Stephen Haynes (Delaware State), OL Chris Duane (VMI), DE Chris Field (Shepherd), DB Timothy Jean-Pierre (Norfolk St.), OG Aswad McLane (Paul Quinn), OG Kynneth Moses (Virginia Union), WR/KR Marcus Richardson (Bridgewater), OL Joe Valvoda (Edinburg St.), DB Marquis Jones and NT/LB/RB Rodney Sledge.

SportsQuest is a member of the Indoor Football League.

• Virginia's baseball recruiting class has been ranked ninth nationally by Baseball America. This marks the second Top-10 ranking this class has accrued - Collegiate Baseball ranked the class 10th in September. Five of the 12 players were selected in the 2009 major-league draft: freshmen Stephen Bruno, Reed Gragnani (Mills Godwin), Branden Kline and Rob Amaro and Kenny Swab.

In Norfolk, the younger brother of reinstated NFL quarterback Michael Vick appealed his conviction and punishment for a probation violation and got a stiffer jail sentence in return. Marcus Vick was sentenced in Norfolk General District Court to 30 days in jail. He was sentenced in August to 20 days. Vick was convicted in October 2008 of DUI, eluding police and other violations. - From Staff and Wire Reports