The official minutes of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees are maintained by the Secretary of the Board. Certified copies of minutes may be requested by contacting the Board of Trustees’ Office. Electronic or other copies of original minutes are not official Board of Trustees' documents.

The Intercollegiate Activities Committee of the University of South

Carolina Board of Trustees met on Thursday, September 14, 2000, at 11:10 a.m. in Room 107-C of the Osborne Administration Building.

Members present were: Mr. Toney J. Lister, Chairman; Mr. Arthur S. Bahnmuller; Mr. Miles Loadholt; Mr. J. DuPre Miller; Mr. Michael J. Mungo; Mr. M. Wayne Staton; Mr. Othniel H. Wienges, Jr.; and Mr. William C. Hubbard, Board Chairman. Other Trustees present were: Mr. Alexander English (via telephone); Mr. A. C. (Bubba) Fennell, III; Mr. Samuel R. Foster, III; and Mr. Robert N. McLellan.

Others present were: President John M. Palms; Secretary Thomas L. Stepp; Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Jerome D. Odom; Vice President and Chief Operating Officer J. Lyles Glenn; Vice President for Student and Alumni Services Dennis A. Pruitt; Vice President for Human Resources Jane M. Jameson; Vice President for Development Charles D. Phlegar; Vice Provost and Executive Dean for Regional Campuses and Continuing Education Chris P. Plyler; General Counsel Walter (Terry) H. Parham; Director of Athletics Michael B. McGee; Chair of the University Athletic Advisory Committee Peter J. Graham; Executive Director of the University Foundations and NCAA/SEC Representative Susie VanHuss; Assistant Athletics Director and Interim NCAA Compliance Coordinator Craig Curry; Associate Athletics Director for Academic Support and Student Services Tom Perry; Director of Public Affairs Russell McKinney; representative from Media Relations Jason Snyder; and a member of the media.

Chairman Lister welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited those present to introduce themselves. Mr. Snyder introduced the representative from the press. Chairman Lister then stated that notice of the meeting had been posted and the press notified of the meeting as required by the Freedom of Information Act; the agenda and supporting materials had been circulated to the Committee; and a quorum was present. Chairman Lister called on Dr. McGee to introduce new members of the staff of the Athletics Department.

Dr. McGee introduced the Assistant Athletics Director and Interim NCAA Compliance Coordinator Craig Curry. Mr. Curry was from Coral Gables High School in Coral Gables, Florida, which produced the team that was designated as the "mythical VII-1team champion." Mr. Curry, an outstanding quarterback, was recruited by the University of Minnesota on a football scholarship, was a distinguished leader and an honorable student who received the prestigious William's Scholar Athlete Award. After receiving his Masters Degree from Wayne State University, Mr. Curry worked at IBM for sixteen years. From 1991 until 1997, he worked at the University of Michigan as an Academic Advisor until he was named the Athletics Director at Albany State University in Georgia.

Dr. McGee then introduced Tom Perry who served in athletics support service areas at both the University of Arizona, where he was the Associate Athletics Director for Support and Student Services, and at Syracuse University, where during his tenure, Syracuse University was distinguished as one of the leaders in academic support services. This culminated one year before when the American Football Coaches Association recognized Syracuse for its 100 percent graduation rate. Mr. Perry served on the 1977 NCAA Foundation Task Force on Academic for Life Skills Program and on the NCAA Legislative Review. Previously, he was a football coach at the University of Colorado, Howard University, and Brown University, and he was also an outstanding linebacker with the NFL Buffalo Bills. Mr. Perry received his Master's Degree from the University of Arizona.

The Committee welcomed both Mr. Curry and Mr. Perry to the University.

Chairman Lister stated there was a contractual matter with respect to facilities management which was appropriate for Executive Session. Mr. Staton moved to enter Executive Session. Mr. Miller seconded. The vote was taken, and the motion carried.

Chairman Lister invited the following persons to remain: Dr. Palms, Mr. Stepp, Dr. Odom, Mr. Glenn, Mr. Finan, Ms. Jameson, Mr. Phlegar, Dr. Pruitt, Dr. McGee, Mr. Parham, Dr. Plyler, Dr. Graham, Dr. VanHuss, Mr. McKinney, Ms. Hyatt, and Ms. Mayfield.

Executive Session

Contractual Matter

Return to Open Session

1. Arena Update: Dr. McGee asked Mr. Glenn to provide an update on status of the arena project. Mr. Glenn said the demolition contract would be approved by the Columbia City Council in time for the work to commence the first week in October. The demolition work would take forty-five days.

   Dr. McGee stated that an additional contract for earth work, sewage, and service to the block would be let in November. The final contract would be bid just prior to the Christmas holidays. There would be some extra time because it was a complicated contract of between $45 and $50 million for construction alone; that did not include soft costs. The contract would be awarded approximately the first of February, revising the completion date to October 15, 2002. There were two other contracts not yet completed: the management contract and the concession contract which were under review by the Office of the General Counsel.

   Dr. McGee reported that the Head Basketball Coach would bring a very impressive team to the opening of the arena. Dr. McGee thanked Mr. Glenn for his help in negotiating with the city and the counties and said that the arena project was moving along at a good pace.

2. Update on Academic Standing: Dr. McGee reported that 72 athletes exhausted their athletic eligibility at the end of the 1999-2000 academic year. Forty-six of these athletes graduated, giving the Athletics Department a 64 percent graduation rate. Twenty-four of the athletes of the exhausted eligibility group were currently enrolled in the fall semester, which represented another 33 percent. If those twenty-four athletes graduated, this class would have a 97% graduation rate.

3. Update on ETV Broadcasts: Dr. McGee said that several companies expressed an interest in the University's sports events rebroadcast rights, specifically football and Olympic sports. Comcast and the College Sports Southeast (CSSE) were specifically interested. Both commercial operations would provide inventory that the University would be required to sell in order to generate rights fees for the rebroadcast rights. In the case of the broadcasting of the Olympic Sports, neither company was willing to provide inventory for the Athletics Department to sell.

   The University had talked with South Carolina Educational Television (ETV) to develop a sports channel for a number of years, and ETV had shown a great interest in broadcasting USC baseball games. The University wanted the rebroadcast of games and Olympic sports to be shown throughout the state of South Carolina on a regular basis. The University wanted to broadcast 12-15 of the spring baseball games; the track meets, including the SEC track meet that Carolina would host in the coming year; and, in addition to what the conference might do, the Olympic Sports at the University. Statewide broadcasts would help the University recruit students.

   The University would have a two-year agreement with ETV. Initially, 20 events would be broadcast in the current year, and it was anticipated that an additional ten events would be broadcast during that year. All costs for production, broad-cast, and talent would be borne by ETV.

   The proposal would afford both ETV and the University advertising opportunities. The initial terms provided the University a 40 percent commission on everything it sold, and everything that ETV sold would be commissioned likewise. Sixty percent would be applied to the out-of-pocket costs associated with the productions. Afterward all additional revenue would be divided equally between the University and ETV.

   Dr. McGee believed it was a good agreement that would provide the University with more exposure in South Carolina, would provide significantly more revenue than the other companies, and would have features related to institutional messages. Mr. McLellan asked if rebroadcasting would violate any SEC restrictions. Dr. McGee said that no restrictions would be violated if the rebroadcast occurred after 11:30 p.m. on the day of the game.

4. Athletics Director's Report: Dr. McGee distributed a booklet called The University of South Carolina Gamecocks take on the 2000 Sydney Olympics which acknowledged the University's athletes participating in the Olympics. The brochure included a brief biography on each of the sixteen athletes and two coaches as well as the dates and times of each individual's competition(s) in the Olympic games in Australia. The University's eighteen coaches and students favorably compared with the only five participants from USC in the 1996 Olympics. The University was proud of having outstanding athletes contending in the various fields of competition, and looked forward to having the athletes win gold medals. USC's Olympians had been featured on the front page of the New York Times, USA Today, and were covered in Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Women, Women's Sports Fitness, NBC Nightly News, ESPN, Fox, NPR, and others. Staff member Michelle Schmitt, an assistant in the Sports Information Office, would attend the Olympics to coordinate the University's efforts. The athletes' costs would be borne by the United States Olympic Committee. The cost to the Athletics Department was minimal.

   Chairman Lister congratulated all of these University athletes and coaches.

5. Other Matters: Dr. Palms reported that NCR Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., would donate a $6.3 million computer hardware and software system to USC to enable engineering and retailing students to train in the very popular technological field of data warehousing. Wal-Mart had been very successful at keeping track of their products with this data warehousing technology. Carolina was one of six universities chosen to receive such a donation of computer equipment which would be valuable for faculty, staff and students to conduct research.

   NCR had concluded its contribution to establish a $l million chair in information technology. The chair would enable the College of Engineering and Information Technology to attract a world-class leader in information technology. James E. Clark, vice president and chief technical officer at NCR, lived in Columbia and was in charge of all of NCR's technical programs. The University had enjoyed working closely with NCR and Mr. Clark, and Dr. Palms said the donations from NCR and Wal-Mart were very much appreciated.

Mr. Bahnmuller moved that the meeting be adjourned, and Chairman Lister declared the meeting adjourned at 12:11 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas L. Stepp

Secretary