Rockne's Roundtable

In which sport(s)?

As I understand it, the AAU is no longer the governing body in the U.S. of Track and Field. However they may still govern international wrestling and other sports that have remained within the fold.

Furher, college athletics is governed by the NCAA, not the AAU, so colleges typically have not been members of the AAU.

In the 1960's college track coaches got tired of the "Fat Cigars" who ran the AAU controlling college track and field athletes' access to international competition and raking in fees from those meets and profits from the National AAU championships that were used to select essentially which college athletes made international AAU teams. So they revolted. A bunch of hippie coaches, if you hate all protests in the 60's and 70's.

In the early 70's, I was a co-founder and meet director of the first National AAU Men's Junior Track and Field Championships. The National Juniors are still run and are still used to select participants in national teams that compete in Europe, but I don't think the AAU is involved.

That was one of the great thrills of my life . . . what an honor to meet the coaches and athletes I met that week.

I assume it's because ND is far more of an undergraduate institution than a typical research university