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University of Wisconsin Notes: Facing Internet Reality

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Andy Baggot, The Wisconsin State Journal

Mar. 21--Aside from two informal discussions, University of Wisconsin Athletic Department officials have not crafted a stance on the controversial Facebook.com Web site.

The popular site caters to college students -- including the 800 or so athletes at UW -- providing personal pages where they can post pictures and personal information.

According to USA Today, Loyola (Ill.) has forbidden its student-athletes from belonging to a Web site where students are known to include photos of them with alcohol and make references to drugs and sex.

Administrators at Florida State and Kentucky have issued ultimatums to their student-athletes to be careful what they post, encouraging them to scrub their personal pages of potentially embarrassing material.

UW senior associate athletic director Vince Sweeney said there were two informal discussions on the topic earlier this month -- at Big Ten Conference meetings and at a get-together of UW athletic department senior staffers -- but the only action was to seek more input.

"We decided that this was a topic that we needed to bring forth at one of our upcoming coaches meetings, and that we would ask our Student-Athletic Advisory Committee to take a look at it as well," Sweeney said via e-mail.

"To date, we have not placed any limitations on the use of Facebook by our student-athletes nor have we issued any guidelines, recommendations or word or advice."

Two Louisiana State swimmers were kicked off the team last spring after athletic department officials learned they belonged to a Facebook group that posted disparaging comments about swimming coaches.

Two Colorado student-athletes were issued tickets for harassment after they were found to have sent a racially threatening Facebook message to another student-athlete at the school.

Loyola athletic director John Planek said he ordered student-athletes off the Facebook site to protect them from gamblers, agents or sexual predators.

"I don't think there is any question that we need to educate our student-athletes about the use of Facebook and that if they choose to participate, the need to use common sense in doing so and that they should proceed with caution," Sweeney said.

Football contracts vary

Six assistants hired by new UW football coach Bret Bielema have multi-year contracts with the school, including both coaches who were retained from Barry Alvarez's staff.

Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst ($200,000) has two years remaining on a three-year contract he signed before the 2005 season. Wide receivers coach Henry Mason ($130,000) received a two-year arrangement when retained by Bielema.

Also on two-year deals are defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz ($185,000), defensive line coach Randall McCray ($103,000), offensive line coach Bob Palcic ($175,000) and running backs coach John Settle ($104,000).

Tight ends coach Bob Bostad ($103,000), co-defensive coordinator Dave Doeren ($175,000) and defensive backs coach Kerry Cooks ($110,000) have one-year contracts.

Attendance mark

The UW men's hockey team broke its NCAA single-season attendance record, averaging 13,511 for 20 home dates at the Kohl Center.

A school-record six sellouts (15,237) helped UW surpass the previous mark of 12,153, set in the 1998-99 season, the first season for hockey at the Kohl Center.

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To see more of The Wisconsin State Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Wisconsin State Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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GCI,

Source: The Wisconsin State Journal

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