USA Today is out with a report on college athletics financials, and once again, Chianti Dan's performance does not justify his outsized salary, with the school reporting sharply rising expenditures, even as the total revenues are down from 2008 and 2009 along with contributions, while-on-the-field performance in revenue sports is also down.

Out the window of Mack Brown's office sits the sixth-largest stadium in college football, empty and quiet on a warm spring morning but the center of the Texas universe, packing in 100,000-plus, on game days in the fall.

Big is good in this state. Bigger is better still. A short walk away is a 20,000-square-foot weight room and an equally recruiting-friendly, state-of-the-art locker room complete with gaming stations and a nutrition bar. Brown, himself, is one of the highest-paid coaches in his sport — at better than $5 million a year, pulling down more than four NCAA Division I schools spend on their entire athletics program.

"The thing you know at the University of Texas," he says, "is that you're going to be able to have the best of the best and you're going to have it on a yearly basis. … I wouldn't swap with anybody."

Continue reading this post »

Back in the fall, I covered the topic of UCLA's graduation rates for student athletes. At the time, the overall graduation rate was quite good, but the Football program lagged the rest of the sports rather dramatically with a 59% graduation rate.

Well nothing has changed in that respect. The latest set of data released by the NCAA (HT The Bootleg) shows that UCLA is still 9th in the PAC-12 in graduation rates for football, at 59%, besting only Cal and Arizona. The top dogs in the conference are Stanford and Washington, at 87% and 76% respectively. This is based on the Graduation Success Rates, which are "four class" graduation rates, i.e. the combined graduation rates for the four most recent classes for which information has been reported. This analysis covers graduation rates for the classes that reached the end of their six-year graduation windows in the years 2007 through 2010.

You have to admit, given Stanford's recent success on the gridiron, it is still impressive to have that kind of graduation rate.

It seems a bit odd that the other two academic powerhouses in the PAC-12 have such terrible graduation rates in football (Cal's is 54%, one of the worst 10 in the country). What gives?

Follow me after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Welcome to our newest feature here on BN, where I justify following hundreds of people on Twitter to give you the most interesting, relevant, and fun Bruin related tweets. They're not just about the athletics programs, but about UCLA in general, Westwood, and other fun tidbits from the lives of our favorite current, past and future Bruins.

First, congratulations are in order to Brandon and Jalynne Crawford, he of UCLA Baseball (and current SF Giant) and she of UCLA Gymnastics, as they announced they are expecting their first child together.

First of many pictures this baby is going to be taking with @JalynneC35 as its mommy... yfrog.com/kk7hitjj

— Brandon Crawford (@bcraw35) May 9, 2012

That is going to be a VERY beautiful baby.

Checking in on the men's basketball team, LMR is working out with the team.

Another great workout with the ucla kids. They look great. Norman Powell, Josh Smith looks great and Lamb is improving. #BRUINS

— Lorenzo Mata(@RealMataLo) May 10, 2012

Gavin Smith is still missing. For updates, please visit the website linked up by his son.

SOMEBODY has to know something. Seen him. Anything. I need my Dad. Help me bring him home. #USC #Trojans findgavinsmith.com

— Evan Christian Smith (@EvanSmith22) May 8, 2012

Continue reading this post »

Last week I wrote about the positive side of UCLA Basketball, the incoming freshman class and recruiting generally (More good news, UCLA is officially leading on Zach Lavine.) Let me add, I also feel good about Norman Powell. I think he is poised to make a sophomore leap, the year when many players improve the most. But now let me turn to my concerns, the upperclassman.

Let me emphasize I am not against the players (although I have qualms about two of them), but rather how Howland will handle them. For when I think of Howland’s problems the last few years, only one is of right now looking to be fixed (recruiting). The other three are: looking only to "win the next game", playing favorites, and dealing with problem attitudes. All three can be seen by playing upperclassman instead of more talented youth.

Let me say I have no doubt that Shabazz Muhammad will start and play. Howland is not stupid. But how will he use a 6’8" Point Guard (on offense at least) Kyle Anderson ? How will he handle the talented but raw underclassman is where the concerns abound. As some might say, how stubborn is Howland?

Continue reading this post »

Every time UCLA went in front, Cal St. Fullerton had an answer. The Bruins go up two, the Titans had two in response. The Bruins went up one, the Titans had one in response. The battle of Southern California's two best programs in recent years looked like just that as they played each other tight for eight innings, but when UCLA put three across in the ninth, Fullerton finally didn't have an answer. The dramatic nine innings finally tilted in the Bruins' favor as they quieted the Goodwin Field crowd with a 6-3 win over the Titans to sweep the series and lay temporary claim as the area's best.

Cody Keefer's three hits led the way for the Bruins and Trevor Brown had the game-winning RBI in the ninth inning as a pair of UCLA's usual suspects came through, but it was two freshmen who really stood out. Kevin Kramer had a hit, two RBI and a run scored in the game and Shane Zeile came off the bench to pick up two RBI as the youngsters made their presence felt.

The Titans did their part to help the Bruins out too, running into four outs on the base paths. Grant Watson managed just 4.2 innings, surrendering two runs, one earned, while waling three in the no decision. Eric Jaffe allowed three hits in 1.1 innings, but no runs and David Berg worked his usual scoreless inning. An unearned run came across against Ryan Deeter, who retired just one and Scott Griggs earned his first win of the season with three strikeouts in 1.2 smooth innings.

Continue reading this post »

All college baseball games are not the same. Midweek games will never carry as much weight as weekend games. Resumes are built on weekend series wins, but that doesn't mean midweek games carry no weight. If say, a team beats Cal St. Fullerton twice in two games and claim victory over a RPI top 15 team, conference winner and likely Regional host, that is impressive. Well, that's what UCLA can do tonight.

Grant Watson will be on the mound for the Bruins and Koby Gauna will take the ball for the Titans in a battle of freshmen. The two squared off in UCLA's win over Fullerton earlier this year with Watson allowed two runs on four hits in six innings and Gauna surrendering four runs, two earned, in just 3.1 innings.

John Ramey is back on the road so he will have the call online and GameTracker will be going. Of course, make sure to check my UCLA baseball twitter for game updates, notes, observations and everything else on the program. This is your open thread as the Bruins try to top the Titans so keep it going with updates and anything else you have.