The Big 12 Conference is holding its annual meeting in Colorado Springs, Colo., this week, as executives from each of the conference schools will converge to meet with commissioner Dan Beebe to go over a host of items.
It's the first such meeting for new Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne as the school's head man, and he's hoping to get the conference to take a look at a variety of issues that he feels are in need of addressing.
Among the issues, according to the Omaha World-Herald, are providing more money for scholarship athletes to meet the true cost of attendance and limiting the influence of AAU coaches and shoe companies in basketball recruiting.
With the rising cost of education, student-athletes have a sometimes difficult time making ends meet on their college education. With the billions of dollars college athletics brings in each year, Osborne feels something could be done to help out these athletes. He is looking for support from others in the Big 12 to provide additional funding for handling costs beyond tuition, books, room and board.
Osborne is also looking to improve the quality of officiating in football, especially with the recent departure of former Nebraska quarterback Clete Blakeman, who was one of the top officials in the Big 12 Conference before recently accepting an offer to officiate in the NFL.
Osborne would like to see a merit system in place to pay some of the conference's best officials based on their skill and experience.
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