Reports: Maryland in talks to join Big 10

The University of Maryland is in talks to join the Big Ten Conference, according to several news reports.

One said the announcement of Maryland’s move to the Big Ten could be made within days.

Another said the University System of Maryland’s Board of Regents was to be presented with a written proposal on Sunday, but has yet to vote on the issue. The board will meet Monday to discuss the issue after receiving a written summary from Wallace D. Loh, the school’s president, and Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system.

Reached by telephone on Saturday night, Kirwan declined comment. Multiple messages requesting comment were left for Loh.

Maryland is a charter member of the ACC, which was formed in 1953. But a move to the Big Ten would be an economic boon for the school’s athletic department, which this year cut seven varsity sports because of declining financial fortunes.

Thanks in part to the financially lucrative Big Ten Network, the conference distributed $284 million to its 12 schools this fiscal year, with 11 receiving $24.6 million each and Nebraska, which joined the league in 2011, receiving about $14 million.

In May, the ACC and ESPN announced a 15-year extension of their coverage agreement, which would pay the conference approximately $3.6 billion over the course of the contract. That equates to about $17 million a year per school, an increase of more than $4 million from the league’s previous contract.

According to one individual privy to internal discussions within the Maryland athletic department, the school is also considering the move because of academics.

Big Ten members, along with the University of Chicago, a former member of the conference, comprise the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium in which members collaborate on academic endeavors.

In mid-September, the ACC voted to add Notre Dame as the conference’s 13th member.

The Fighting Irish will be a full member in all sports but football, though Notre Dame has agreed to play five nonconference football games per year against ACC teams, beginning in 2014-15.

Adding Notre Dame was a unanimous decision, but Loh was among the two ACC university presidents who voted against an increased exit fee, citing a “legal and philosophical” disagreement and calling the fee an “exit penalty.”

A year of leadership transition for the University of Memphis athletic department has coincided with a series of closer inspections of the department’s business practices, both by auditors at the school and the Tennessee Board of Regents, according to documents obtained by The Commercial Appeal.

University officials say the ongoing audits are normal. No wrongdoing has been alleged.

“It is common and routine for Internal Audit to perform audits when there has been a significant administrative change,” U of M spokeswoman Linda Bonnin wrote last week in an e-mail. “It is part of our business improvements process.”

The scrutiny comes in the same 12-month period that saw R. C. Johnson depart as the school’s athletic director and Tom Bowen come on board. Johnson announced his departure on Nov. 29. Johnson termed it a “retirement;” the school later said it was a “mutual decision.”

Bowen was hired from San Jose State in April and assumed the job in June as Johnson transitioned out of it.

Four athletics-specific audits are currently being conducted by the U of M’s internal audit staff, according to an audit plan included in TBR documents. The four audits are described as “coaches & AD contracts,” “financial aid student athletes — books,” “Tiger Fund donations (courtesy cars, etc.)” and “travel expenses (team & employees).”

Estimated completion dates range from April of this year to March 2013, but it’s likely that the April 2012 completion date for the financial aid audit is a misprint and the actual completion target is April 2013.

But that’s not the only scrutiny the U of M athletic department has recently encountered.

In late 2011, an internal exploration into athletics expenses and business processes had a threepronged objective: 1) to review a newly minted team travel documentation process, 2) to assess department procedures in light of NCAA compliance and 3) “review selected expenses and reimbursements submitted by management.”

The audit concluded that the new policy was working but also raised questions about some financial transactions. Among the findings: “Various department expenditures and reimbursements were not carefully reviewed by financial managers, which resulted in double payments and inaccurate or incomplete expense reports.”

In a follow-up report, which is to be presented to the TBR audit committee on Tuesday, an auditor concluded that the findings had been resolved. But he also discovered that there were “several instances of missing receipts or no documented review” of some procurement cards.

In the wake of those initial findings last year, the department also underwent what is termed a “consulting review” by the TBR’s auditors at the direction of chancellor John Morgan. “The President (Shirley Raines) also had concerns about these operations because of the anticipated change in the Athletic Director since the current Athletic Director had announced he planned to retire before the end of the fiscal year,” the report read.

The review’s findings were largely recommendations about the reporting structure of the department as it pertains to financial management and NCAA compliance. It recommended streamlining duties in the athletic business department and modifying the reporting structure of some senior personnel there.

The review also suggested that the U of M needs a larger compliance department, indicating it has three full-time employees and a graduate assistant, and that the assistant athletic director for compliance should directly report to the athletic director.

Better communication in the department was also suggested, including more performance reviews. Interviews with employees