Happy birthdays to National Football Foundation College Hall of Famers Dr. Tom Osborne, Fred Biletnikoff and Jim Youngblood (Feb. 23), Fred Dean (Feb. 24), and Jim Ray Smith (Feb. 27 with the Big 8-0 birthdate)…

NFF College Hall of Fame Facts
Some key birthdates in NFF College Football Hall of Fame annals in the Feb. 21-27 time period are Feb. 21 (1921) Bob Dove, Youngstown, Ohio; Feb. 22 (1899) Matty Bell, Fort Worth, Texas; (1864) George Woodruff, Dimmock, Pa.; (1886) Bill Hollenbeck, Blueball, Pa.; (1915) Mickey Kobrosky, Springfield, Mass.; Feb. 23 (1877) Bill Edwards, Lisle, N.Y.; (1934) Dick Strahm, Toledo, Ohio; (1937) Tom Osborne, Hastings, Neb.; (1943) Fred Biletnikoff, Erie, Pa.; (1950) Jim Youngblood, Union, S.C.; Feb. 24 (1903) Warren Woodson, Fort Worth, Texas; (1906) Bennie Oosterbaan, Muskegon, Mich.; (1910) Fred Sington, Birmingham, Ala.; (1923) Bob Chappius, Toledo, Ohio; (1952) Fred Dean, Arcadia, La.; Feb. 25 (1942) Carl Eller, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Feb. 26 (1914) Gomer Jones, Cleveland, Ohio; (1930) Vic Janowicz, Elyria, Ohio; Feb. 27 (1887) Tad Jones, Excello, Ohio; (1932) Jim Ray Smith, West Columbia, Texas.
Anniversary death dates of Hall of Famers are Feb. 22 (1998) Warren Woodson, Dallas, Texas; Feb. 23 (1957) George Little, Middlesex, N.J.; Feb. 24 (1963) Jack Harding, Miami, Fla.; Feb. 26 (1970) Bennie Owen, Houston, Texas; Feb. 27 (1996) Vic Janowicz, Columbus, Ohio.

College Football Notes
NC State and Tennessee will play in the Aug. 31 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. It is Tennessee’s first Friday regular-season encounter since the 1939 season…The Big 12 Conference released its complete schedule for the coming campaign, and it can be found at big12sports.com/football…There were eight different models proposed for the final Big 12 slate in ’12…Oklahoma and UTEP have resumed discussions about a possible 2012 meeting…Brigham Young’s 2012 independent slate features Notre Dame, Boise State and Georgia Tech. BYU and Utah also are holding talks for a possible upcoming gridiron date…USF is hustling to replace West Virginia on its ’12 Big East worksheet…Season tickets for Big Ten range from $33 per game at Illinois to the $85 range for individual seats at some schools in 2012. Wisconsin is hoping to avoid season ticket increases due to inflation and operating costs…Boise State has requested $17.5 million in football stadium improvements…Vanderbilt is installing artificial turf at Vanderbilt Stadium and hopes to bid on the Tennessee State High School Athletics Association championships starting 2013. Tennessee Tech will host the 2012 state title contests…Several FBS members are researching the merits of the multi-year scholarship proposals from NCAA committees as well as re-visiting five-year eligibility. The NCAA did not receive a 62.5 percent majority to override the proposal in legislative activity last week…Football schools are making certain that records are up to date and accurate on dispensation of prescription drugs, painkillers and medical injury reports in light of some recent jurisprudence regarding drug use and distribution on campus…ESPN.com has projected Texas as 2012 reconfigured Big 12 Conference champ. Oklahoma has captured seven Big 12 football crowns since 2000.
Wisconsin athletics is holding the 31st annual Crazylegs Classic fundraiser on April 28 in honor of Badgers’ great, NFF College Hall of Famer and late UW director of athletics Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch…The 25th annual National Student-Athlete Day is April 6, and the official website – nsad.cc – is accepting stories about outstanding student-athletes who have achieved excellence in academics and athletics and have made major contributions to their communities. Award certificates also are available to schools with submission of nominations and SAAC stories by Feb. 24…Over the last 15 years, there have been 3.1 million-plus exemplary student-athletes recognized…South Dakota School of Mines football student-athletes staffed booths and tables at a recent South Dakota Child Identification Program registration event…Eastern (Pa.) athletics honored the Wounded Warriors Project with its Season of Impact and Remembrance on campus.
North Texas head coach Dan McCarney has been hospitalized but is in good spirits and recovering well after suffering an apparent stroke last week. He was released earlier this week and is back at work on a limited basis…Tim Davis is the new offensive line coach at Florida…Brian Ferentz has been tabbed as offensive line coach at Iowa. LeVar Woods is the Hawkeyes’ new linebackers coach…Kevin Rogers has been named Temple’s quarterbacks coach…Former Utah head coach Ron McBride has been named to the Ute Athletics Hall of Fame and has been tabbed as offensive line coach of the Utah Blaze…Southern California has selected Scottie Hazelton and Marvin Sanders as assistant coaches…Houston completed its assistant coaching staff with the hirings of Brandon Middleton and Travis Bush…Ty Gregorak has been named defensive coordinator at Montana…Nick Sheridan is the new quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Western Kentucky…Washington named Danny Razone as an assistant…Oklahoma State has hired Tulsa’s Van Malone as an assistant coach with duties to be determined for 2012…New Arkansas State defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is leaving to take a position at another FBS program to be determined.
Warde Manuel has been named director of athletics at Connecticut…Former Southern Miss AD Richard Giannani has become a bowl consultant.
Former Western Athletic Conference commissioner Karl Benson has become commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference…The Big East Conference is working on scheduling logistics for its new 18-member lineup in coming years…Temple is looking at options for future conferences with both the Big East and the Conference USA/Mountain West conundrum as possibilities…Presidents and chancellors from 16 universities met in Dallas recently to discuss future conference membership plans and agreed to work on forming a new intercollegiate athletics association that would begin competition in the 2013-14 academic year. Universities attending were Air Force, UAB, Colorado State, East Carolina, Fresno State, Hawai’i, Marshall, Nevada, New Mexico, UNLV, Rice, Southern Miss, UTEP, Tulane, Tulsa, and Wyoming. With the possible exception of Hawai’i as a football only member, the participation would involve all sports. The new circuit (yet unnamed) expects to include membership of 18-24 universities, national scope over six time zones, a championship football game with semifinal matchups to advance, championship basketball tournament, regular-season scheduling in divisions, NCAA FBS affiliation, and mechanisms to emphasize and improve academic standards and fiscal responsibility.
The ACC will provide more of its winter and spring championships and spring football updates this year via streaming on the official ACC website.
Virginia Tech WR Danny Coale, the Jim Tatum Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award recipient, leads a 52-man contingent of the 2011 All-ACC Academic team…Clemson football standout Dawson Zimmerman and Wake Forest’s Michael Hoag have been chosen as Weaver-James-Corrigan ACC Postgraduate Scholarship recipients. Duke’s Matt Daniels was cited as an honorary nominee…Standout RB Kelvin Taylor made a verbal signing commitment to Florida last Saturday.
Sports writing legends Dave Sittler (winner of the of 2012 FWAA Bert McGrane Award for national writing) of the Tulsa World and Mike DeArmond of the Kansas City Star have retired after a combined 84 years in their trades…Longtime Old Dominion assistant AD for media relations Carol R. Hudson had the media room at the Ted Constant Convocation Center named in his honor after a $50,000 behest by Ken Samet.
Boston U. athletics has received a $3 million gift for its New Field Sports Complex…SPIRE Institute will be a corporate sponsor for Big Ten Conference championships beginning with 2012 indoor track…Ole Miss and Nike have signed a long-term equipment and marketing agreement…West Shore Technologies and Front Rush are aiding in the recruiting process and specifications for several college football programs… PlayOn! is launching a new, 24-hour network for high school athletics…BYU is installing new scoreboards at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah.
CoSIDA has been conducting teleconference and internet chats about security, privacy and social media in college athletics…NACWAA is accepting nominations on its website for the 2012 Judith M. Sweet Commitment and Administrator of Tomorrow Awards…University of Tampa athletics celebrated the start of its men’s lacrosse program with a recent victory.