By Jack Carey, USA TODAY ESPN has decided to drop its co-sponsorship of the American Football Coaches Association's Top 25 poll two weeks after coaches announced they will publicly disclose their votes for the last regular-season poll but not for preceding rankings. The poll, administered by USA TODAY, is expected to remain part of the Bowl Championship Series formula, which decides the teams that participate in the BCS title game. This season, that game will be the Rose Bowl.
Vince Doria, ESPN's vice president and director of news, said the network was uneasy last year when California and Texas switched places in the final BCS standings, costing Cal a spot in the Rose Bowl. Cal lost support in the coaches' poll and Associated Press media rankings despite winning its final game of the season. Texas passed the Golden Bears despite having ended its season the previous week. "It became a big story which carried our name, and the confidentiality of the coaches prevented us from covering the story the way we wanted to," said Doria. "At that point, we began talking about whether it was in our best interests to continue." Doria said ESPN had discussions with the coaches association about releasing the week-by-week voting only at the end of the regular season on USATODAY.com and ESPN.com. "We thought full disclosure through the year was necessary for us to continue our involvement," he said. Doria said for the time being, ESPN will maintain co-sponsorship of coaches polls in men's and women's basketball, although he said discussions with those coaches associations about making votes public is ongoing. He said the network is not as concerned about confidentiality in those polls because they are not components used by the NCAA in selecting teams for the postseason. "I'm surprised to hear of ESPN's decision given our conversations of late," said Monte Lorell, USA TODAY's managing editor for sports. Shortly after last season ended in a swirl of controversy, the Associated Press pulled its poll out of the BCS formula. BCS officials have been working on developing another poll to replace the AP's. Voters in the new poll probably will be former coaches and athletics administrators. ESPN became a co-sponsor of the coaches poll in 1997, six years after USA TODAY took over the administration of the poll. "Everyone has to make a decision based on their own mission," said AFCA executive director Grant Teaff. "Our Division I-A head coaches made a decision to release their final regular-season vote in support of the BCS and for what they believe is best for our game. I'm sure ESPN has made its decision on similar principles. "We have a good partner in USA TODAY, (which) has worked tirelessly with us to make the coaches' poll a sound and significant part of today's football culture. USA TODAY and the AFCA will discuss whether we will add another media outlet to the name of the poll or simply keep it the USA TODAY Top 25 Coaches' Poll." Starting after the 2006 season, Fox Sports will begin televising all the BCS games except for the Rose Bowl. Asked Tuesday if his network would be interested in replacing ESPN as co-sponsor, Fox spokesman Dan Bell said, "Our BCS interest is focused only on our television coverage, which begins in January 2007." begin 666 clear.gif J1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$`0 $!,@`[ ` end _______________________________________________ RTF mailing list RTF@rolltidefan.net http://rolltidefan.net/mailman/listinfo/rtf_rolltidefan.net
