Fox Sports radio host Colin Cowherd yesterday "went off on a caller when talking about cost of attendance and how it affects Group of Five schools," according to Aldo Giovanni Amato of the Murfreesboro DAILY NEWS JOURNAL. He said, "Screw Middle Tennessee State, we don't need them. You can't afford it, get lost." MTSU AD Chris Massaro said that he "has no interest in getting into a back and forth with someone who 'doesn't have all their facts straight.'" Massaro: "We have a lot of things to be proud of here and he doesn’t have all the facts straight. There are people out there who care about our product. To be dismissed like that, I feel like I had to respond." He said of cost of attendance, "I've said this from the beginning. I viewed this as a tuition increase. We’ll be fine" (Murfreesboro DAILY NEWS JOURNAL, 1/21). In Texas, Brett Vito wrote Cowherd "is right in the sense" that Power 5 programs "do help fund teams at the mid-major level with 'opportunity/body bag' games." But those teams climbing in the "body bag also give Power 5 programs a chance to pick up an easy win." Vito: "If you think the head coaches at Power 5 programs are going to agree to forgo playing lesser opponents like MTSU and [North Texas] to pound on each other every week, you’re nuts. ... I sometimes wonder if guys like Cowherd ... believe there are fans of anyone other than Texas, Ohio State and USC." There is "more to college athletics than the top few dozen programs" (DENTONRC.com, 1/20).
