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MAC board votes unanimously to admit Knights

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 26, 2001

The vote, as Central Florida athletic director Steve Sloan knew it would be, was unanimous.

UCF will play football as a member of the Mid-American Conference starting with the 2002 season, the school's board of trustees affirmed on Thursday afternoon.

"It feels really good," he said. "That's something that we were hoping would happen at some point or time. You never know if it will happen sooner or later, but certainly sooner is better for us."

Who knows how much longer the Golden Knights could have survived as a Division I-A independent. Sloan certainly didn't want to find out. Now in its sixth season at that level, UCF was desperate to find a conference affiliation, and enjoy the benefits and protections that entails.

"There are a myriad of advantages," Sloan said. "The first thing being it gives us a set I-A schedule. We play eight games a year, and that's a big advantage, because you know as an independent it's so difficult to schedule a game, particularly a I-A game.

"The other advantage is to be able to play for a conference championship, and that's important to our players. To be able to have the opportunity to play in bowls, to have our players make an all-conference team, to have a player of the year, to have a coach of the year."

The entrance fee is $200,000, which the Golden Knights Club booster organization will pay. Financially, it will be a wash, as the MAC's bowl contracts and television contract with ABC and ESPN are not too lucrative.

But for the first time in the program's six-year I-A history, UCF will have a chance to earn a bowl bid, either to the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., or the Motor City Bowl in Pontiac, Mich. Both foes will be out of Conference USA.

UCF will be in the East, joining Marshall, Miami of Ohio, Ohio, Kent State, Akron and Buffalo. To make room, Bowling Green will move to the West, joining Toledo, Ball State, Northern Illinois and Central, Eastern and Western Michigan.

The MAC title game also rotates, which means the Citrus Bowl could play host. In all other sports, UCF will stay in the Atlantic Sun.

PEACH BOWL TICKETS: Tickets to the Dec. 31 game in Atlanta are on sale to the public. Tickets are $65 and $55, and good lower-level seating is available. Call (404) 586-TIXX for information.

COACH CHANGES PLEA: A former high school coach faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for his role in a recruitment scandal involving an Alabama player.

Milton Kirk, a former assistant at Trezevant High, changed his plea on one count of conspiracy from innocent to guilty during a hearing at U.S. District Court in Memphis, Tenn.

Kirk will be sentenced Feb. 4, but a prosecutor said the government might show leniency if the former coach continues to cooperate with authorities.

Kirk went public in January with allegations that Trezevant High coach Lynn Lang shopped around defensive lineman Albert Means to SEC schools.

Kirk has testified that Lang received $200,000 from Alabama booster Logan Young in exchange for getting Means to sign with Alabama.

Means left Alabama after Kirk went public, and enrolled at the University of Memphis.

Lang, who resigned from the Memphis school system, is charged with conspiracy, attempted bribery and extortion.

He was fired as coach at South Delta High in Rolling Fork, Miss., after his indictment in August.

A trial date has not been set for him.

The NCAA has accused Young, a Memphis businessman, of making "at least" three $10,000 payments to Lang before Means signed with Alabama in February 2000.

GEORGIA: Running back Musa Smith has improved and could play in Saturday's game against No. 6 Florida.

Smith, who sat out last week's game against Kentucky because of a lingering groin pull, was upgraded from doubtful to questionable by coach Mark Richt after a two-hour practice.

Smith is the Bulldogs' leading rusher with 447 yards, 4.8 per carry.

Richt also addressed the status of offensive tackle Jon Stinchcomb (groin) and defensive tackle Johnathan Sullivan (knee). Both are expected to play.

"We'll see how (Stinchcomb) does at full speed," Richt said. "Sullivan is better off than the other two."

LSU: LaBrandon Toefield, the team's leading rusher, might sit out Saturday against Mississippi with an ankle injury.

Coach Nick Saban said Toefield practiced very little this week because of the injury. Saban said backup running back Domanick Davis might play a more significant role.

-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.

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