Traveling In The New Year… And A Contest?

by Jeff Konya, Associate A.D./Compliance & Student Services

Happy Holidays! This is a busy time for most and, for me personally, 2008 will start off with a bang. I am traveling a lot and will share the details with all of you so you don’t have to track these flights on-line.


First, I am accompanying the men’s basketball team to Colorado in early January. It will be first away trip with the team as their sport supervisor so I am looking forward to spending more time with the coaches, staff, and athletes - and witnessing the road win firsthand.

Second, I am off to the Gaylord property in Nashville, Tenn., for the NCAA Convention, Jan. 9-13. There I will attend an educational symposium on college athletics in general, but will also be on hand to cast SMU’s official vote on two rules being looked at again by the membership (one is the current text message ban in the recruiting process).

Third, I am going on a “family” retreat to Playa del Carmen at the end of the month for a weekend. O.K. - this one was a personal choice, but, who can pass up an all-inclusive?

Now turning to another matter - I am actually flattered that a company wanted to use compliance rules as a basketball “in-game” promotion. Even though some of my job responsibilities are in this fantastic field, I do realize the rules are sometimes stale. I hear you, the message board masses, and your theme to change the trivia game (as I write this, in my head I have the picture of the ‘posse’ in a Verizon TV commercial). Our sponsor of the trivia game has authorized me to change SOME of the questions, so the Ice Cold Compliance Quiz will become the Ice Cold Quiz where some questions will center on the history of SMU athletics and some important compliance themes. Look for the new and improved contest at an upcoming basketball timeout.

Finally, I have just put the finishing touches on the 2007 Annual Compliance Report which I will share with President Turner very soon.

And now the contest - Please guess the number of questions this office received last calendar year that resulted in an “Official Interpretation?” An official interpretation is one that required a written response from the SMU compliance staff and cited an NCAA rule. These were questions asked by administrators, coaches, athletes, university folks, and, yes, Mustang fans everywhere. Email the guesses to jkonya@smu.edu and the winner will receive an “Ice Cold Sports Prize Pack” with some needed gear for the Holidays.

Latest iPod Download- NONE (iPod has water damage)