Reporter Volume 25, No.14 January 14, 1994

By ANN WHITCHER
Reporter Editor

In a Dec. 9 report to the UB Council, Director of Athletics Nelson
Townsend gave a year-end report outlining a mostly strong season and
described challenges ahead in fund-raising, NCAA recertification and
marketing.
	"We're rapidly moving up as one of the better swim teams in
the U.S.," said Townsend, who cited "dynamic leadership" in the swim
program. Last summer, the team was rated number one academically in
the country. During a recent Pittsburgh tournament, team members
established 39 individual best records, Townsend said.
	While the record of UB's Football Bulls, in their first year
in Division I, was only 1-10, Townsend reminded that Bobby Bowden was
0-11 in his first year at FSU. 
	Noteworthy he said, is the Bulls' single win over FordhamQ"a
team unbeatable years ago, yet our program from its position was able
to beat them." The Bulls were "very competitive in many of the games,"
Townsend said.
	Men's tennis tallied an impressive 10-2 in its fall season,
including "a very impressive win" over Pittsburgh. Women's soccer was
10-7-1 at season's end, with the win column including Columbia,
Colgate and Stony Brook. Men's soccer finished at 8-8-3, defeating
Colgate and Cornell and tying Pittsburgh. Men's cross-country compiled
an 11-2 record and won the conference championship. Women's
cross-country was 11-1. 
	"Because football is so big, we tend to forget that 16 of our
17 sports are on track toward being very competitive," he said.
	Townsend announced that the 1994 football schedule has 10
games scheduled, with new competitors to include James Madison,
Cheyney, Illinois State, Colgate and Lehigh. 
	A recent survey of season ticket-holders reveals strong
support and "provides vital information for us in the marketing of the
program next year," Townsend said. "We sold a little over 1300 season
tickets this past year," said Townsend. "This is not an exciting
number but it is a very exciting number when you consider that we're
up from 60 (season tickets sold) in 1992." The goal for 1994 is 5,000
season tickets, said Townsend. 
	According to the survey, 81 percent of the season ticket
holders are 35-64 years old; 92 percent are male; 91 percent are
married; 88 percent plan to purchase the package next season; 98
percent found reasonable the cost of a ticket package; and 84 percent
rated the UB stadium atmosphere as "very good" or "excellent." 
	Development is a "challenging" area for the division, Townsend
said. "Direct fund-raising continues to be a challenging problemIit is
a very important part of what we do."
	Townsend also discussed recent sanctions imposed on the UB
athletics program for violations of NCAA regulations in the men's
basketball program. (A former student-athlete was found to have
received airline tickets, sneakers, tickets to a professional
basketball game and some cash from a UB assistant coach, who has not
been employed at UB since 1990.) The committee imposed a one-year
probation, and reprimanded the athletic program in the form of public
announcements made in November. It also told the university to
instruct coaches and athletics department staff about NCAA
regulations, in effect calling for an update of what was already in
place, Townsend said.
	The NCAA Committee on Infractions, Townsend noted, imposed
"the least penalty available to the association in this matter,"
apparently taking into account the involvement of only one former
coach and one student-athlete, and what the committee termed UB's
"prompt and thorough investigation of the allegations and the actions
takenIto endorse its compliance program."
	Asked how alumni enthusiasts and other boosters could avoid
unwittingly violating NCAA rules, Townsend said comprehensive
education is the "only answer." Each year, student-athletes are
trained in these matters as part of their eligibility recertification.
Coaches, too, must pass a yearly exam to ensure their mastery of NCAA
rules. 
	President William Greiner explained that money for, say,
athletes' transportation, must be built into the financial aid
package. What cannot be supported is any individual aid. For instance,
a coach en route to a game who sees an athlete trekking through the
snow, cannot stop and pick him up. Nor can an alumnus take a player
out and buy him a suit, among the examples given as the Council sought
to clarify the matter.
	Townsend described the NCAA's upcoming five-year
recertification program for all 301 schools; UB is one of 69 to be
examined this year. According to Townsend, the NCAA will look at each
school's adherence to 16 principles associated with academic and
fiscal integrity, equity and student welfare. "(The NCAA) will send
members to our campus to visit with us on the plan that we have
adopted in terms of operating our program in Division I," Townsend
said.