The first day of the Big 12 spring meetings is in the books and little news came out of the annual meeting in Colorado Springs. Here’s my recap of stuff I found important:

** The men’s basketball coaches unanimously voted against adding two games to their conference schedule and told athletic directors that they would add strong non-conference opponents to the 2009-10 schedule.  The women’s coaches talked about the idea, but it never came to a vote.

** The football coaches - for the umpteenth time - preached the need for five years of eligibility. The idea would take away the redshirt season and give each player five years to use five years of eligibility. Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe is one of the biggest proponents of the eligibility boost stating that it would alleviate disillusionment for redshirt players.

“There’s nothing to play for if you’re a redshirt kid and there’s a lot of disillusionment,” Beebe said. “And [coaches] don’t want to burn a year on a kid who looks promising by just playing him on the kickoff team.”

Although the push to extend eligibility in football has been around since the 1990’s, it’s been met by opposition from the NCAA Faculty Representatives that contend players should not be encouraged to spend five years in college. However, NCAA statistics show that Division I-A college football players take an average of 4.7 years to graduate.

There’s also the argument that if football gets an extra year then every sport should get an extra year. But Beebe said football brings a unique set of circumstances.

“Five years of eligibility, in my judgment, makes sense for football,” Beebe said. “You’re talking about a sport where I would guess, and I haven’t seen the data, that has more redshirts than any other sport. Then you’re talking about a sport in which youngsters are playing very physical, very tough games and the practices are long and hard and you’re getting beat up and there’s nothing to play for if you’re a redshirt kid.”

Beebe has joined the  NCAA’s Football Enhancement working group, which will give him an opportunity to pitch the fifth year eligibility again and hopefully generate momentum.

** Texas Tech football coach Mike Leach was the football coaches appointed media liaison this year. As he started to tell the small media group that the football coaches had nothing Earth-shattering to report, a large clap of thunder interrupted his sentence. He laughed and said, “OK, so that was a lie…”

He said officiating was the hot topic, but stopped there to avoid another $10,000 fine.

Leach was fined for making public comments about the league’s officiating following a 59-43 loss to Texas last season. During the tirade, Leach said Tech was the victim of “atrociously bad calls” in a 35-31 loss to Texas in Lubbock last year. He called the league’s review process “a sham” and suggested officials were biased toward Texas because the Longhorns are “higher bowl-wise.”

Leach never apologized for the comments and aired more grievances during Tuesday’s spring meetings.

Beebe, who wasn’t surprised about the officiating comments, apologized for not having perfect officials.

“Really, in our basement, we’re busy for all sports creating robots that can officiate without error,” Beebe said. “So we’ll have that probably rolling out in the next four or five years.”

** Things are so good with women’s basketball right now that part of the day was spent discussing when to have the national anthem. Yeah, that was the pressing concern coming from the nation’s best women’s basketball conference, according to RPI. It’s good to be No. 1.

** The Big 12 men’s basketball tournament has been moved from a Thursday through Sunday to Wednesday through Saturday to get better television exposure. The championship game is scheduled for 5 p.m. on ESPN.

** Toward the end of the day, Beebe mentioned that he was in the midst of gathering revenue sharing information from other conferences in an effort to adapt the Big 12’s policies. He said there’s a thought to provide additional incentives for going to a bowl game, going to the NCAA Tournament or going to the Big 12 football championship.

** And, for all you KU fans out there, Beebe said he doesn’t see any punishment coming for Kansas regarding the Darrell Arthur situation. Sad news for Missouri fans, I know.

There was talk about ways to remove AAU coaches, agents, and other influences from the game in response to the O.J. Mayo situation at USC. Iowa State coach Greg McDermott was especially vocal about the subject after losing star player Wesley Johnson this week. It’s suspected that Johnson’s former AAU coach prompted Johnson’s decision to transfer by promising Johnson greener pastures elsewhere.
It also sparked talk of of making college players stay two or three years before being eligible for the NBA Draft. Actually, Mizzou coach Mike Anderson said he wouldn’t mind if college basketball adopted the same rules as college baseball. Players could be drafted out of high school, but if they choose to go to college, they’d have to stay for at least three years before being eligible for the draft again.

** Oh, and Texas Tech basketball coach Pat Knight said he would not be surprised if his father, Bob Knight, came back to coaching down the road. But right now, Bob Knight is about to host his own fishing show. I have no other details, you’ll have to consult your local TV Guide. And both Knight’s, Texas coach Rick Barnes, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas and 15 other basketball names are heading to Ireland later this summer to partake in a little golf. Nice.

Speaking of golf, that’s all that on the docket Wednesday at the Broadmoor Hotel. I’m golfing with Anderson in a scramble with two other people. Since I’m not a good golfer and Anderson is about a 14 handicap, this might make an entertaining story someday.