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Auburn University

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Good morning! Here's your daily summary of news coverage of Auburn University.

Total Clips: 3

Headline		Date	Outlet
	Tigers have highest paid staff in nation	04/25/2006	The Birmingham News
	Auburn leaders, Fisher Report slow move to NCAA Division II	04/25/2006	The Birmingham News
	HaloSource, Gentex to Jointly Develop Military, Homeland Security Chemical Biological Defense Apps	04/24/2006	Market Wire


Tigers have highest paid staff in nation 04/25/2006 The Birmingham News Ray Melick		Return to Top
This Birmingham News column cites Indianapolis Star survey indicating AU football staff is nation's highest paid --- with disclaimer that private schools Notre Dame and USC were not required to and did not respond to survey. The expectations are high for Auburn football this fall. The Tigers are considered one of the favorites to win the Southeastern Conference championship, along with LSU and Florida. Auburn could even enter the 2006 season with a top five national ranking. Some would say such expectations are only fair, when you consider Auburn's financial investment in Tommy Tuberville's staff. According to university athletic budget reports for the 2004-05 season required by the NCAA, and obtained by the Indianapolis Star, Auburn has the highest paid football coaching staff in the nation with a total budget of $4,938,831. The Tigers barely topped perennial leader University of Texas, which paid Mack Brown and his staff $4,887,932. Rounding out the top five nationally were Tennessee, Texas A&M and LSU. The University of Alabama ranked 21st on the list, with Mike Shula and his staff earning a combined $2,850,319. Of the top 25 highest paid football coaching staffs among public schools - private schools such as Southern California and Notre Dame are not required to make their reports public - the Southeastern Conference had six. After No. 1 Auburn came Tennessee (3), LSU (5), Georgia (9), Florida (11), and Alabama (21). UAB was ranked 63rd, with a total staff salary of $1,373,188, which ranked fifth out of seven C-USA teams reporting. When it comes to bringing money in, Alabama was fourth nationally in football in expense-to-revenue difference at plus $28,803,845, trailing Texas (over $39 million), Georgia and Michigan. Auburn ranked ninth nationally last year, showing a football profit of $24,184,850. The Blazers' football program even came in with a profit of $532,905, ranking 53rd out of 164 reporting schools. In overall athletic department budgets, Georgia led the nation in expense-to-revenue ratio, coming in at $23 million ahead. Alabama ranked ninth at $5.2 million, and Auburn showed up 72nd on the list, ahead of overall expenses by $121,815. UAB showed an overall loss of $88,630, ranking 123rd out of 164. The biggest loser was Arkansas-Little Rock, at minus $8,698,807. The numbers are a fascinating insight into the big business of college sports and what it takes to be competitive. Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs says Auburn fans "expect the best, so we hire the best, and we pay the best." Of course, the cost of paying the best keeps going up. To that end, Jacobs recently signed a new apparel contract with Under Armour, and last week announced a new media rights agreement which will pay the athletic department $5.7 million annually, a jump from the current $2.4 million Auburn also announced a significant increase in student tuition fees earmarked for the athletics department, from $36 a year to as much as $192, although Jacobs said for in-state students the fee would be closer to $100. That increase is expected to pump another $3 million into the Auburn athletic department. According to NCAA figures, Auburn reported receiving $982,349 in student fees in 2004-05, which ranked sixth in the SEC, well behind Mississippi State's SEC-leading $3,089,375 and Alabama's $2,550,605. James Madison led the way with $17,818,323 in student fees. The equation is really pretty simple. Auburn fans are simply hoping they get what they've paid for.
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Auburn leaders, Fisher Report slow move to NCAA Division II 04/25/2006 The Birmingham News Mike Perrin		Return to Top
Birmingham News story on potential AUM move to NCAA Division II athletics. The Auburn University Montgomery athletics program stands at a crossroads - or stuck at a stoplight permanently flashing caution. The Senators have been courted - and all but accepted - by one of the nation's top NCAA Division II sports conferences, but the Auburn Board of Trustees has put a proposed jump from the NAIA to NCAA Division II on hold. "In my mind, we were trying," said longtime baseball coach Q.V. Lowe, "but we've tried for eight or 10 years and we've never got past that first thing. "It's like we've got two strikes on us." AUM has an open invitation to join the Gulf South Conference, where natural rivals such as Montevallo, West Alabama, North Alabama, Alabama Huntsville and West Florida await. To join, AUM would need to add three sports and in a published report last year, Athletics Director Bill Elder said the school would add men's and women's golf and softball. A proposal to make the move was pulled from the trustees' agenda for their meeting April 14 by AUM officials. The discussion was also pulled from a February board meeting. After the April meeting, Auburn University interim President Ed Richardson said a decision of such magnitude should be made by AU's full-time president and by AUM's next chief executive, as Chancellor Guin Nance will retire in July. The plan was also harshly criticized in a report commissioned by the board of trustees that made recommendations about the governance and operation of the Auburn system and its trustees. "While this proposal has been suggested by the athletic department at AUM, I want to slow the process down before making a decision," Richardson said Friday. "An interim chancellor for AUM, who needs to be included in reviewing the proposal, has yet to be named. "Plus, the Fisher Report brings some concerns forward that need discussion, and the board committee assigned to that report has just begun analyzing it." Report rebutted: The Fisher Report called AUM's plan "nonsense," although its examination compared the school's Division II proposal to Division I schools such as UAB, South Florida and Portland State. "We believe interim President Richardson immediately should freeze in place AUM's intercollegiate athletic programs. The freeze should include and forestall the movement to NCAA's Division II. It is not clear to this team how, in net terms, Division II athletics is good for AUM," the report said. It continued: "The institution's student body is, from our interviews, substantially uninterested in AUM's intercollegiate athletic teams. This hardly came as a surprise, given that AUM's typical student is a mature adult who holds a job and is raising a family. ... `I couldn't care less if AUM even has athletic teams,' said a student who represented many." The AUM Faculty Senate formed a task force to respond to the Fisher Report - on all proposals regarding the branch campus - and rejected the report's recommendations about athletics. "The Fisher Report took us to task on that particular issue and said we should be reined in - even though they misspelled `rein,'" said Alan Gribben, an AUM English professor and faculty representative to the board of trustees. "It seemed to be hastily written and the faculty senate went on record as supporting (Division II). We wish the Fisher Report had not thrown this idea out." The senate response says, "The Fisher Report states that AUM's financial resources are better invested elsewhere than Division II athletics. The authors of the Fisher Report do not seem to be aware that AUM as an NAIA school already provides a number of scholarships in each of its current sports." The response also points out that adding softball would "facilitate AUM coming into closer compliance with federal Title IX (gender equity) regulations." Repeated messages left for Elder were not returned and a request to speak to Nance was declined, but AUM did issue a statement to The Birmingham News through its office of university relations. "Dr. Richardson believes that the AUM interim chancellor should be involved in the discussions related to this proposal given the commitment of financial and staff resources contemplated by the proposed AUM move from NAIA to NCAA (Division) II," the statement said. Efforts to discuss the athletics proposal with Auburn trustee Sarah B. Newton, who is chairman of the Auburn University at Montgomery Committee, were unsuccessful. Elder, who coached men's basketball 11 years at the University of Montevallo and has been AUM's AD since 2003, told the Montgomery Advertiser last year: "We're positioning ourselves where, if we choose to make a change, we can make a change." The Senators were granted "exploratory status" as a Division II program, which allows the school to move to provisional status after a year. Nate Salant, the Gulf South Conference commissioner, said that in discussions with officials at AUM he was told there is "very strong support from the faculty, staff and community" for the move. "It's a major institutional decision that needs support from top to bottom," Salant said. "We're very interested in seeing them go D2, and we'd love to see them as part of the Gulf South Conference. "Montgomery is the host city for the D2 World Series and there are other great facilities there, such as Lagoon Park and others. There are a lot of GSC alumni in the Montgomery area already. I think it would be a terrific rivalry for West Alabama, Montevallo, North Alabama, UAH. It's just a great fit." Campus change: Gribben said a move to Division II would boost campus life. "I think it would really help our campus and improve our student life. Best of all, it will inject some excitement into what has too often been a commuter school attitude here. "I'm an English professor and I'm sold on it," he said. "The chancellor is a former English professor and she's sold on it. "If we can get more students interested in the sports program, it could really benefit our enrollment. People tend to come with their brothers and sisters, cousins and friends." Elder told the Advertiser that the NAIA's declining membership, the NCAA's lower membership dues, the NCAA's television exposure and the NCAA's higher reimbursement rates for national tournament appearances are incentives for making the switch. Elder said AUM would not add the three sports necessary for admittance to the NCAA until the move was approved, although work on a softball field has begun near the baseball field.
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HaloSource, Gentex to Jointly Develop Military, Homeland Security Chemical Biological Defense Apps 04/24/2006 Market Wire		Return to Top
Market Wire news story credits AU chemistry professor Dave Worley with developing HaloShield chemistry. This story was also reported on the My Way Finance, Linux Business News, Excite News, Yahoo! Finance, ArriveNet and News Blaze Web sites. REDMOND, Wash. -- HaloSource, Inc. of Redmond, Washington, and Gentex® Corporation of Carbondale, Pennsylvania, agreed recently to joint collaboration and technology development work focused on protective chemical/biological apparel, strippable barriers, reactive coatings and air and water purification applications for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The multi-year, multi-project effort capitalizes upon the benefits of HaloSource's HaloShield® technology being incorporated into Gentex's Lifetex materials -- Chemical Biological Defense (CBD) textile systems, personal protective military overgarments, and first responder and law enforcement Rampart® apparel -- all designed and manufactured to offer self-detoxifying protection to DoD and DHS personnel facing potential or known life-threatening, life-saving missions. "We believe that several of our HaloShield technologies will prove highly effective in protecting U.S. military service personnel from chemical and biological threats, and add value to Gentex CBD applications," said John M. Kaestle, Chief Executive Officer of HaloSource, Inc. John Pullo, Vice President/General Manager of the Performance Materials business unit of Gentex, further explained, "Gentex remains committed to developing and manufacturing advanced materials for future soldier- and responder-centric CBD personal and collective apparel and equipment. Capitalizing upon new and evolving technologies, such as HaloShield, further enhances Gentex's capabilities of bringing future self-detoxifying materials to the marketplace." HaloShield is a patented technology using common halogens -- chlorine or bromine -- to neutralize chemical and biological agents. "The HaloShield technology will be developed to meet the military and homeland security requirements for delivering chemical and biological defense capabilities to the warfighter at the time of need, at the right place and at the right cost," noted Dr. Jeff Williams, HaloSource founder. Professor S. Davis Worley and Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, originally developed the HaloShield chemistry. Several years and significant investments were required to scale the technology from the laboratory and position it for commercial applications. HaloShield Business Director, Sean Manne, noted, "We are excited to further develop our commercially proven technology with Gentex to enable the design and manufacture of innovative DoD and DHS products." About Gentex Performance Materials Gentex Performance Materials, one of four business units comprising Gentex Corporation, which is headquartered in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, is a leading world-wide manufacturer of technical textiles. For more than five decades, Gentex has specialized in the weaving, finishing, coating and laminating of high temperature and high modulus textile fabrics. A privately-held company with domestic and international military and civil defense customers, employs a highly-skilled work force with four generations of manufacturing experience in processing yarns and fabrics. Lifetex fabrics by Gentex are the global choice for current and emerging personal protective products and mission needs. Research, development and manufacture of superior technical textiles for chemical and biological protection began over 25 years ago and further accelerated as evolving U.S. military personnel needs were identified during the first Persian Gulf War. Several U.S. military research and design contracts perpetuated the enhancement of the fabric's protection level and applications over the years. Of late, known and anticipated health- and life-threats are driving militaries and government, law enforcement and other disaster/emergency response agencies throughout the world to increase protection for the personnel whose missions are so critical to our safety at home, work, travel and play. Their escalated efforts are evident in the numerous contract awards for Lifetex Personal Protective Equipment -- in 2003 by the U.S. Air Force for the CWU-66/P chemical protective flight aircrew coverall. These unrelenting demands for high-quality, field-tested personnel protective equipment are at the core of what drives Gentex to offer Lifetex products, including military chemical/biological defense garments, Rampart apparel and the Casualty Care System (CCS®)/Patient Isolation Unit. More information is available at www.gentexcorp.com. About HaloSource HaloSource health science technologies focus on anti-microbial enhancing solutions that reliably and effectively kill germs. For partners that want competitive differentiation through unique proprietary technologies, HaloSource provides reliable, tested and proven solutions in the product categories of safe water, infection control and wound healing. More information is available at www.halosource.com. Useful Terms N-halamine technology: HaloSource's patented N-halamine technology harnesses chlorine or bromine to prolong and localize its germ-killing properties. HaloShield: A proprietary, rechargeable anti-microbial treatment technology, which uses N-halamine chemistry to neutralize chemical warfare agents.
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