FWAA Preseason Poll Picks Florida No. 1 Sooners No. 3
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):$$SUHVHDVRQSROOSLFNV )ORULGD1R6RRQHUV1R $XJXVW 9RO 1R The Florida Gators lead a pack Other SEC teams in the Top 25 of six Southeastern schools in the are Tennessee, LSU, Mississippi FWAA’s annual preseason Top State, South Carolina and Ala- ,QVLGH WKLV LVVXH 25 football poll. bama. The Big 12 had five teams Returning 17 starters from a among the nation’s elite – Okla- 3UHVLGHQW·V FROXPQ 2000 team that posted a 10-3 re- homa, Nebraska, Texas, Kansas cord and claimed another SEC ti- State and Colorado. The Pac-10 %XGG 7KDOPDQ UHWLUHV tle, the Gators were first-place had four – Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and UCLA. The Big &RPSOHWH SROO 3DJH Ten (Michigan, Northwestern, 3ROO YRWHUV Wisconsin), Big East (Miami, Vir- choices on six of 17 ballots and ginia Tech and Pittsburgh) and the $OO$PHULFD FKHFNOLVW easily outdistanced second-place ACC (Florida State, Georgia Tech Miami (Fla.) by 19 points. and Clemson) had three each. ):$$ $OO$PHULFD Notre Dame was the only inde- The Gators, who last won the FRPPLWWHH PHPEHUV FWAA’s prestigious Grantland pendent ranked in the FWAA’s Rice Trophy as national champi- Top 25. &RWWRQ %RZO KRQRUV ons in 1996, were one of eight In 2000, FWAA preseason vot- WKUHH IRUPHU 2XWODQG teams to receive more than 300 ers accurately predicted 15 of the ZLQQHUV points in the balloting. 25 teams in the in the final Associ- Following the top two teams ated Press Poll. FWAA writers /RGJH QRWHV « was 2000 Grantland Rice Trophy picked eventual national cham- th winner Oklahoma with 358 votes, pion Oklahoma 19 in the pre- ([HFXWLYH GLUHFWRU·V then Oregon, Nebraska, Texas, season poll. The FWAA pollsters FROXPQ Florida State, Tennessee, Virginia had five of the final AP Top 10 in the FWAA preseason poll. The Tech and Oregon State. 9ROQH\ 0HHFH VFKRODU Miami (Fla.) received four first FWAA writers picked Nebraska to VKLS LQIRUPDWLRQ place votes and Nebraska two. win the national championship, but the Cornhuskers finished Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Florida 0HPEHUVKLS DSSOLFD State and Oregon State each had eighth in the Final AP poll. WLRQ one first-place vote. 3DJH 7+( ),)7+ '2:1 President Dave Sittler 3UHVLGHQW·VFROXPQ Tulsa World First Vice President As the FWAA playing its fight song. The interview ar- Kelly Whiteside celebrates its 60th eas are on either side of the ramp. USA Today anniversary with the So the Longhorns' band proudly and start of the 2001 loudly unleashed The Eyes of Texas, Second Vice President season, I'm happy to drowning out Switzer. As the band com- Jack Bogaczyk Roanoke Times report some good pleted its last note, reporters were horri- news. fied to hear the OU coach scream “and, Executive Director In an era when by God, you quote me on every word.” Steve Richardson some officials seem Switzer then returned to the locker Dallas Morning News hell bent on finding room. His interview was over. 2001 Directors ways to make our “Quote him on what?” frustrated writ- Two-Year Terms game-day assign- ers grumbled. “How can we quote him Herb Gould ments even more when we couldn't hear him?” Chicago Sun-Times difficult to perform, The band had played so loud that Tim Peeler '$9( we have found some even writers standing next to Switzer did- Greensboro News & Record Dan O'Kane 6,77/(5 people with a differ- n't hear what he said. Tulsa World ent attitude. Similar incidents prompted school of- Greg Pogue Our band of white ficials to locate an interview room. But Daily News Journal (Tenn.) knights includes Errol McKoy, president their options were limited because of Ken Davis of the State Fair of Texas, along with space needed for the State Fair. Hartford Courant Cotton Bowl Athletic Association officials The tiny room they used was so Chris Fowler and athletic department personnel at the cramped that it wasn't unusual to see ESPN universities of Texas and Oklahoma. fights break out between media mem- Andy Bagnato First, some background. bers as they jostled for position. Chicago Tribune Brian Higgins Any FWAA member who has covered Given the huge media contingent ex- Oakland Tribune one of the college game's greatest rival- pected to cover this season's OU-Texas Natalie Meisler ries, the annual OU-Texas game in Dal- game, many of us have dreaded what Denver Post las, knows where I'm going with this. For the working conditions will be like that Tim Stephens those who have never experienced a first Saturday in October. Herald-Dispatch (W.Va). Red River Shootout, here's a story to But a series of meetings produced a give you an idea of the madness the me- plan that should ensure the best inter- One-Year Terms dia often must endure. view setting in the game's history. Mike Griffith Knoxville News-Sentinel It happened during interviews follow- McKoy has agreed to construct a Ashley McGeachy ing a game in the 1970s. Those were the large, air-conditioned tent a few yards Philadelphia Daily News days when accusations of spying were from the stadium. It will include up to 200 Adam Thompson flying between the two camps and Barry seats and a quality sound system. Denver Post Switzer and Darrell Royal weren't on The State Fair will also provide heavy Mike Vega speaking terms. security for writers, players and coaches Boston Globe With cramped locker rooms at the as they make their way through the Gregg Doyel Cotton Bowl stadium, interviews are con- crowd to the interview area. Charlotte Observer ducted outside as thousands of fans and In addition to McKoy and his staff, Neal Farmer Houston Chronicle State Fair visitors crowd against the several others worked hard to make Bob Condotta fence to listen in. these changes. They include Rick Baker Tacoma News-Tribune When reporters approached Switzer and Charlie Fiss from the Cotton Bowl, Steve Kornacki to get his take on the Sooners' loss, it ADs DeLoss Dodds of Texas and Joe Oakland Press took only one question to set off the OU Castiglione of OU, and SIDs John Bi- Doug Zaleski coach. Switzer frantically waved his arms anco of Texas and Mike Houck of OU. Muncie Star Press as he barked a response that was cer- Many of you have encountered simi- Ex-Officio tain to be loaded with juicy quotes. lar problems. I hope you can use the ex- Jim Daves There was one problem, however. ample of the changes in Dallas to help University of Washington The winning team's band traditionally improve your situation. Please let me or Maxey Parish marches out via the South end zone and any FWAA board members know if there CoSIDA up the stadium's famous ramp while is anything we can do to help. 7+( ),)7+ '2:1 3DJH %XGG7KDOPDQUHWLUHV FWAA TOP25 First-place votes in parentheses Rank Team Points STATE COLLEGE, Pa., -- Longtime FWAA member L. Budd Thal- 1. Florida (6) 398 man, Penn State’s associate athletic director for communications, re- tired July 31 after a distinguished career spanning almost 40 years in 2. Miami (Fla.) (4) 379 athletic communications. 3. Oklahoma (1) 358 A member of the Nittany Lions' athletic staff since August 1986, T-4. Oregon (1) 348 Thalman supervised and administered the operations and budgets for the sports information, publications, Internet, marketing and promotion T-4. Nebraska (2) 348 and radio-television areas. 6. Texas (1) 346 “Budd Thalman is one of the best, if not the best, in his field,” coach 7. Florida St. (1) 341 Joe Paterno said. “He has been an important part of our growth and helping Penn State gain national exposure. He and Pattie have become 8. Tennessee 321 good friends, and Sue and I wish them a great retirement.” 9. Virginia Tech 257 A native of Wheeling, W. Va., Thalman is a 1957 journalism graduate 10. Oregon St. (1) 244 of West Virginia University. He worked for one year in the Associated Press bureau at Huntington, W. Va., before entering the Army, in which 11. Georgia Tech 241 he served from 1958-60 as public information officer for Fort Jay, Gov- 12. Michigan 213 ernor's Island, N.Y. 13. Kansas St. 197 Thalman returned to the AP in 1960, transferring to the Annapolis, Md., bureau. He joined the U.S. Naval Academy as sports information 14. Notre Dame 168 director in 1962, the same year he joined the FWAA. His Navy 15. LSU 164 football handbook was twice honored by CoSIDA as “Best In The Na- 16. Northwestern 155 tion,” and in 1963 he provided assistance to the national media during Roger Staubach's Heisman Trophy-winning season. 17. Washington 154 Ironically, the first of Thalman's nearly 500 football games as a publi- 18. Clemson 140 cist was a 41-7 Penn State win over Navy in Beaver Stadium on Sep- 19. UCLA 134 tember 22, 1962. Former Penn State athletic director Jim Tarman, with whom Thalman 20. Mississippi St. 131 first became acquainted during the Navy-Penn State football game in 21. South Carolina 116 1962, hired him at Penn State. In 1967, Thalman and Tarman, the Nit- 22. Wisconsin 58 tany Lions’ SID at the time, were hurriedly asked to be the commenta- tors for ABC's telecast of the Penn State-Navy game when the an- 23. Colorado 57 nouncers refused to cross the TV technicians’ picket line. 24. Alabama 34 In 1973, Thalman was named vice president for public relations with 25. Pittsburgh 33 the NFL's Buffalo Bills. During his 13 years with the Bills, he worked on the NFL public relations staff at seven Super Dave Sittler Bowls and twice served as the American Conference public relations FWAA Member Voters: (Tulsa World);Kelly Whiteside (USA To- director at the Pro Bowl.