College Confidential

Winkler escapes again

Nolan Clark's one-out double to the gap in right-center was wasted after Winkler struck out the Rebels' bottom two hitters in the second inning. UNLV 0, TCU 0 (bottom of 2nd).

Holaday stranded at first

Bryan Holaday singled to left but was stranded after Jason Coats popped out to center and Matt Curry hit a tapper back to the pitcher. Brance Rivera led off with a fly out to center.

Winkler escapes unscathed

UNLV put two men on with softly-hit singles but Kyle Winkler struck out Kyle Kretchmer with two curve balls in the dirt to escape the inning. The Frogs' offense is headed to the plate with Brance Rivera, Bryan Holaday and Jason Coats starting it off. 

TCU set to face UNLV in semifinal

Kyle Winkler (9-1) is about 10 minutes from taking the mound as TCU meets UNLV at Tony Gwynn Stadium at San Diego State.
If the 8th-ranked Horned Frogs (44-11) win tonight, they advance to the Mountain West Conference tournament championship at 9 p.m. Friday. The Rebels (29-27) will send Brian Gilbertson (1-1, 8.45 ERA) to the hill. Tonight's game is being televised on The Mtn, network and simulcast on CBS College Sports. Keep checking College Confidential for continuous updates during the game. Look for full coverage of the game on Star-Telegram.com.  

-- Stefan Stevenson

Texas lands No. 8 spot in Athlon pre-season college FB rankings

Texas has been selected at No. 8 by Athlon Sports in the magazine’s pre-season college football rankings, Athlon officials announced today. The publication releases one school per day in its Top 25 countdown, which concludes with the magazine’s release on news stands. TCU landed the No. 11 spot in the magazine’s Top 25 last week.
_ Jimmy Burch

There's a lot to sort out in the OU basketball investigation

Friends, participants in an investor-client relationship, or nefarious conspirators in a scheme to grease the palms of McDonald’s All-America recruit Tiny Gallon and his mother?

The exact relationship between former Oklahoma assistant basketball coach Oronde Taliaferro and former Merrill Lynch financial adviser Jeffrey Hausinger remains a definitive unknown.

But in a delayed response to open records requests by several of the state’s news outlets, OU divulged Wednesday that Taliaferro and Hausinger exchangd at least 41 phone calls and 25 text messages between May 2009 and March 2010. Those messages peaked with 17 calls and four text messages in August 2009 -- the same month the Web site TMZ.com reported two months ago that Hausinger wired $3,000 to a bank account shared by Gallon and his mother, Sylvia Wright.

Release of those calls may also lead to the uncorroborated conclusion that Taliaferro may have facilitated contact between Hausinger and Willie Warren last July while Warren was attending the LeBron James Skills Academy.

Taliaferro’s calls to Hauser initiated in Cleveland. James’ camp was in Akron, approximately 35 miles away.

Following a five-minute call Taliaferro made to Hausinger on July 8, Hausinger’s tweet on his Twitter page directed toward Warren read: “follow me so we can talk. It was great to meet you last week. I look forward to getting to Norman and seeing you again.”

No evidence has yet surfaced, however, indicating any financial relationship between Hausinger and the former North Crowley star.

Hausinger was forced to resign from his Merrill Lynch position in Tampa, Fla., on March 26.

Taliaferro “resigned” from Jeff Capel’s staff on April 8.

Conceding we as yet do not know the gist of all those conversations/texts it seems natural to jump to two conclusions: (1) If there is as it appears some shady stuff involved here that were against NCAA rules, then Taliaferro was incredibly stupid to use his OU cell to communicate with Hauser, and (2) Gallon was bought cheap.

TMZ claims it has proof of the transfer, though I’m wondering why the site didn’t reveal that smoking gun when it popped the story on March 18. Reporters have confirmed that someone shopped the story to at least three other news outlets, including the Tulsa World.

Hauser now works for another Tampa-based financial services organization. He has denied the allegations in a post on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s Web site, the Norman Transcript reported Thursday.

Hauser wrote that he was forced to resign because a fellow Lynch agent disclosed his private financial information to the media, yet contended, “The media reports that I gave money to Willie Warren [which has not been reported] or Keith Gallon are false. I also did not give any money to Sylvia Wright, who was not, nor is, a Merrill Lynch customer.”

Merrill Lynch, according to the Web site, in forcing Hausinger out, cited an internal review “concerning potential violations of firm policies regarding communications with clients and the public, employee conduct and impermissible payments as the reason for the employment separation.”

We may never know the content of the Taliaferro-Hauser exchanges unless this thing should somehow hit a courtroom, though it’s hard not to form the obvious conclusion. We don’t know what Capel knew or how the eventual NCAA dispensation is going to regard OU’s apparent lack of institutional control while on probation (until Sunday) in part over the excessive recruiting calls by former basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

Personally, I don’t believe Capel knew anything about this and I have my reasons. I do believe Capel -- before he hired Taliaferro -- should have made more phone calls to his peers in the business regarding  Taliaferro’s reputation as an aggressive and efficient recruiter.

These phone calls in themselves do not constitute NCAA violations and no evidence has yet been confirmed of any impermissible financial benefits, according to the university. OU has reported its findings to the NCAA and the investigation continues.

-- Mike Jones

Just CHILL: Barron to get $2.73 million this year

Soon to be Cowboys tackle Alex Barron will get $2.73 million this year instead of the $2.62 million restricted free agent tender that has been widely reported. The number is higher because his tender had to be 110 percent of his 2009 salary.

Clarence Hill

Texas enjoys milestone achievement in men's athletics program

Texas reached a unique milestone for its men’s athletics department during its weekend baseball series against Kansas State. Sunday’s victory boosted the Longhorns’ season record to 41-8 and marked the eighth time in the last nine school years that Texas has posted at least 10 wins in football, 20 wins in men’s basketball and 40 wins in baseball. Based on research distributed today by school officials, the only other NCAA Division I school to hit the 10-20-40 trifecta at least twice during the same stretch is Florida.
_ Jimmy Burch

Big 12 officials discussing possibility of Pac-10 TV alliance

Big 12 officials will meet Monday and Tuesday to break down their impressions about recent discussions with Pac-10 administrators in regard to forming a television alliance in the future.

Representatives from both leagues held informal talks this week in Phoenix at the Pac-10’s annual meeting, which included coaches, athletic directors, TV officials and sponsors. Bob Burda, Big 12 assistant commissioner for communications, said today that the session could be characterized as “initial exploratory discussions.”

Burda said league officials will decide soon whether to add further discussions of a Pac-10 alliance to the agenda for the league’s spring business meetings, June 1-4 in Kansas City. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe has described the sessions as “informal” and “very positive.”

A television alliance between the leagues could boost the value of future TV contracts with network officials in a climate marked by talk of conference realignments triggered by possible Big Ten expansion.

A byproduct of the discussions could be more non-conference football games between the two leagues, which already compete in two bowl games (Alamo Bowl, Holiday Bowl) and a pre-season basketball series (Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series).

During the early 1990s, the Southwest Conference and Big Eight entered into a television and scheduling alliance that led to the creation of the Big 12, which had its inaugural football season in 1996.

_ Jimmy Burch

Dave Bliss to be hired at Allen Academy in Bryan

Dave Bliss, best remembered for a huge scandal during his tenure as Baylor's men's basketball coach, will be hired today as the dean of students and men's basketball coach at Allen Academy, a college preparatory school in Bryan.

Since the scandal that resulted from aftermath of the death of Patrick Dennehy in 2003, Bliss has spent his time trying to restore his name and reputation. This appears to be another step in that process.