NCAA Football Big 12

It's no secret the economy has had an adverse effect on most industries.

Initially athletics seemed like they might be insulated from the strife. But more and more we've heard of professional teams struggling, big-time donors having to give less and athletic departments having to monitor copy machines.

Texas A&M, one of the premiere schools in the Big 12, announced Friday that it's having to cut 17 positions from its athletic department in order to balance the budget. Facilities director Billy Pickard, 75, apparently is one of the casualties although he is the lone remaining link in the department to legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant from the 1950s.

It's hard to argue with much when a team goes 12-1 and comes within a lucky last-second play of going undefeated during the regular season as well as having a chance to play for the national title.

That is unless you play in the backfield at the University of Texas, where high production at running back is an expectation. The Longhorns, relying heavily on a group of inexperienced running backs, didn't put up the kind of running numbers that have become commonplace in Austin, where immortals like Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams once did their work.

Junior running back Vondrell McGee knows that this season the running back corps will have to make considerable strides to quiet detractors who insist the Longhorns ground attack has fallen off.

If the complete strangeness of what was going on in the Kansas State athletic department while Bob Krause was running things was going on at any other program, you would have to think it would be bigger news. Yet it barely seems to make a ripple in college sports.

First it was learned that Krause gave former head coach Ron Prince a "secret" side deal the summer before Prince's firing. Now it turns out that Krause also rewarded his deputy athletic director, Jim Epps, with a long-term contract, complete with a buy-out clause if he were to be fired.

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer says he's moved on. He doesn't dwell on his decision that stunned Sooner nation and crippled the football program 20 years ago Thursday when he suddenly resigned.

OU was in a heap of trouble back then, with five players being arrested on various felony charges and the program had been slapped with three years of NCAA probation for recruiting violations. Who could forget a tearful Switzer admitting on June 19, 1989, that too much had transpired for him to continue on as the Sooners coach?

While some athletic departments in the Big 12 and across the country are having to scale back in the wake of the recession, the University of Texas athletic department continues to rake in the big bucks.

According to a report in the Birmingham Business Journal on Monday, the Longhorns rank No.1 in football revenue and overall revenue based on 2007-08 numbers. Texas generated $72.95 million in football revenue and $120.28 million overall.

Ohio State came in second in overall revenue with $117.95 million, followed by Florida with $106.03 million.

Apparently, athletic departments aren't immune to the whims of the stock market.

Both Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are feeling the crunch, according to a couple stories this week.

Oklahoma State had to drastically reduce plans for a state-of-the-art Athletic Village it was planning after a facilities fund being managed by the T. Boone Pickens BP Capital Investment Fund lost $282 million during the last year, leaving just $125 million in the fund, according to story in the Tulsa World.

After a few hours on the depth-chart bench, Oklahoma middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds is again apparently a starter.

Monday, Sooners coach Bob Stoops' released the team's depth chart with several surprises.

The biggest was in the middle, as the coaching staff had Mike Balogun listed as the starter with incoming freshman Tom Wort backing him up and no mention of expected front-runners Reynolds, who starred for the team until suffering an injury against Texas, and Austin Box, who started four games at the position last year.

But as of Tuesday at 10AM, the two-deep listed Reynolds as the No.1 linebacker and Balogun backing him up. It's unclear what prompted the quick change, whether it was a coaching decision or simply a typographical error. Sooners football media contact Kenny Mossman did not return several calls on Tuesday for clarification.

Colorado head coach Dan Hawkins announced a few moves on his staff this week, the biggest being that he will add the role of receivers coach to his duties this upcoming season.

Hawkins will coach the Buffaloes as he prepares 13-year NFL defensive back Ashley Ambrose to take over the wide receivers position for the 2010 season. Ambrose, who is carrying the title of defensive technical intern this season, will be able to observe Hawkins but is prohibited from coaching the players until after the season when he will be named a full-time assistant.

An unidentified University of Oklahoma football player committed an NCAA violation last spring by accepting a trip from a former teammate to a NFL draft party, the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch reported over the weekend.

According to the report, the player took a trip that racked up $1,300 to attend the celebration, which his former Sooners' teammate's agent paid the bill. The school learned of the violations in November 2008 and turned over the information to the NCAA. The player was ordered to pay $832 of the money to a charity using money from his scholarship, Federal Pell Grant and school-issued spending money from the BCS national title game trip this past winter.

First-year Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads is definitely trying to drum up support for his program anyway he can.

Rhoads has joined a recent trend of football coaches across the country, jumping aboard a tour bus and coming face-to-face with the Cyclones faithful in Iowa. In scenes reminiscent of our nation's latest presidential campaign, Rhoads is shaking hands, kissing babies and making big promises during his city-to-city Tailgate Tour.