Platform created by Dr. Colby Jubenville in conjunction with Learning Through Sports 

By Michelle Brutlag Hosick
The NCAA News

Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters has been concerned for years about what he calls the "deterioration of civility" in college athletics, both between competitors and coaches and in the stands.

This year, he decided that his conference would do something about it, beyond the traditional public service announcements and posters in the locker rooms. The result is an interesting new program called "RealSportsmanship."

"I don't know how to legislate (what's happening in) the stands, but I do know how to legislate the coaches and players," he said. "If PA announcements and posters were the answer, we wouldn't have the problem, because we've been doing those for years."

Sun Belt Conference Pioneers Sportsmanship Platform

Entering its 34th year of athletic competition the Sun Belt Conference and its member institutions continue to show a dedication not just to sports, but also to academics and the characteristics that make people an outstanding member of society.

As evidence, the Sun Belt Conference revealed today that it has launched a comprehensive initiative titled “RealSportsmanship.” The initiative, developed in conjunction with Birmingham, Ala.-based Learning Through Sports, Inc., seeks to help the league’s student-athletes and coaches navigate the complex, high-pressure world of college athletics by educating and preparing them to appropriately handle negative situations that arise both inside and outside their arenas of competition.

No Pregame Handshake Between Georgia-Oklahoma State 

ESPN News Services

Oklahoma State and Goergia will not be shaking hands at midfield prior to their game Saturday, in part because Cowboys coach Mike Gundy fears provoking an incident that can't be controlled.

"Our first concern was [we'll] have 115 guys out there and they'll have 70, it just takes one guy to pop off," Gundy said Monday at his weekly media luncheon. "Then I don't know how you're going to break it up. How do you control something like that?"

On Thursday, the school sent an e-mail saying it had decided against the handshake -- which is part of a sportsmanship initiative coming from the American Football Coaches Association -- "after much deliberation among our coaching staff."

The decision not to shake hands was thrust back into the spotlight in the aftermath of Thursday's Oregon-Boise State   game, when Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount punched Boise State defensive end Bryan Hout in the face after Hout said something to Blount when the teams met at midfield after the Broncos' 19-8 win.

Blount Punches Boise State Player After Game

ESPN News Services

EUGENE, Ore. -- A day after Oregon's college football season opened, it ended for running back LeGarrette Blount.

Blount was suspended for all remaining games on Friday for punching Boise State defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw following the 16th-ranked Ducks' 19-8 loss to the 14th-ranked Broncos the night before.

Because he is a senior, Blount's playing days in Eugene are over.

Oregon's first-year coach, Chip Kelly, told a sobbing Blount about his decision after reviewing tape of the altercation.

Celebrating the victory on the Broncos' trademark blue turf, Hout yelled in Blount's face and tapped him on the shoulder pad. Before Boise State coach Chris Petersen could pull Hout away, Blount landed a right to Hout's jaw, knocking him to his knees.

Fall 2008 students help in organizing area youth triathlon

A year ago today Cyndi Massaro, wife of Middle Tennessee State University's (MTSU) Athletic Director Chris Massaro, recruited Dr. Stephanie Diaz, Sport Management faculty member and Assistant Director of The Center for Sport Policy & Research at MTSU to participate in organizing the first Murfreesboro Area Youth Triathlon. Diaz was honored to participate on the committee to organize the event, but also thought her graduate sport management class could utilize the opportunity to design, develop, refine, and propose a kids triathlon as part of their Fall 2008 semester long project.