Five-Step Drop: Did Iowa Do Thorough Job Explaining Illnesses?

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1. The University of Iowa was worried that the national media would "go 'nuclear'" in reacting to last month's hospitalization of 13 Hawkeyes football players for exertional rhabdomyolysis. E-mails and other documents obtained by the Des Moines Register through the state's open records law show that Iowa officials reacted with a great deal of urgency, but even they thought their initial statements didn't go far enough in explaining the situation. One university vice president said, "I can't help but wonder if this raises more questions than it seeks to address by issuing it. For instance, it doesn't at all address what happened? What was the cause?" The documents also reveal that coach Kirk Ferentz (right) did not personally write the Jan. 28 statement on the matter attributed to him, though Ferentz was given what the paper called "wide latitude on how he wanted the statement to read." It is not unusual at all for others to draft statements made by coaches or other high-level officials.

2. Iowa radio color commentator Ed Podolak is recovering in an Arizona hospital from injuries he suffered when he was struck by a car in suburban Phoenix early Sunday morning. Podolak, a former Hawkeye and Kansas City Chief, was in Arizona attending a wedding and was struck while crossing the street near his hotel. His injuries are "serious but not life-threatening" according to his daughter Laura.

3. Texas Tech is giving Tommy Tuberville a $500,000 raise. This ordinarily wouldn't be news but the rest of Texas Tech's faculty is under a pay freeze and the university suspects massive funding cuts are coming. Some Tech faculty are upset over the situation. Texas Tech president Guy Bailey has gently reminded all concerned parties that Tuberville was hired "below market value." At any rate, Tuberville's salary doesn't come out of the university's academic budget. Like most FBS-level coaches, Tuberville is paid through the athletic department and its fundraising efforts.

4. Following a brief stint as general manager of the UFL's Virginia Destroyers, former Grambling State coach Doug Williams is returning to the school. Williams, who succeeded the legendary Eddie Robinson, will now have a chance to coach his son D.J. Williams. The elder Williams had a lengthy NFL career before entering coaching, including quarterbacking Washington to a victory over Denver in Super Bowl XXII. Williams' departure from the UFL comes only a couple weeks after Destroyers coach Jay Gruden resigned to become the offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Destroyers are in their inaugural season and probably hoped to get off to a better start than this.

5. Harvey Updyke, the man accused of poisoning the trees at Auburn's Toomer's Corner, is now on his fourth attorney after his third attorney bailed out, citing "irreconcilable conflict" between himself and Updyke. Updyke's new attorney, Glennon Threatt Jr., said his client did tell Alabama radio host Paul Finebaum that he poisoned the trees but also said, "He told the police something different. I don't know him well enough to know if his belief system is consistent with the truth."