Noise Makers...making their way into stadiums

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN.
SEC cowbell rule stays, still unenforceable
By Ron Higgins
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted June 3, 2010 at midnight

DESTIN, Fla. -- Scott Stricklin, welcome to your first Southeastern Conference business meetings as Mississippi State's athletic director.

Your first order of business is to defend the honor of one of the Bulldogs' most sacred traditions, the unalienable right to ring a cowbell at deafening levels during athletic events.

State proposed that the SEC remove its rule, established in 1974, that prohibits the use of artificial noisemakers at sporting events. But both the league athletic directors and football coaches rejected the proposal Wednesday, and Alabama athletic director Mal Moore indicated that there may be an amendment to the rule that will be discussed by the school presidents over the next two days.

The conference never really has enforced the policy, basically because they don't know how to enforce it. The last step might be to levy fines, something that isn't in the SEC rule book for such a violation.

"This has been an issue for 36 years, and I don't think anyone has any satisfaction where we currently are," said Stricklin, a 1992 Mississippi State graduate who has been in his new job less than a month. "I think our people take it very seriously and every time it comes up as a topic, they take it more seriously.

"Everyone besides us feels like the rule is not being enforced. We feel we're doing what is reasonable. I'd love to find a place where people think we're managing it well, and we can hold on to that tradition."

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen, who said he doesn't own a cowbell, said he doesn't understand the uproar.

"There's a lot of other issues in the world of college athletics I'd like to see changed, so I don't know if that's the most important issue at these meetings," Mullen said. "It was a rule that was made a while back, and part of that rule is keeping alcohol out of stadiums. I'd be more concerned about alcohol coming into stadiums than someone ringing a bell."

Like fans at other schools who devise ways to sneak liquor into football games, Mississippi State fans do the same with cowbells so they won't be confiscated heading into stadiums, especially at home games.

And once inside, when there's thousands of cowbells clanging, how can security start removing fans and cowbells?

"How can you enforce it?" SEC commissioner Mike Slive said. "Let me say, the rule was put in place before I got here (as commissioner)."

Stricklin agreed that State's Davis-Wade Stadium grew louder last season when first-year coach Dan Mullen guided the Bulldogs to a 5-7 record.

"I'm not sure the stadium got louder because of the cowbells," Stricklin said. "It got louder because we led the nation in increased attendance, averaging 10,000 more people than the year before. And a lot of it was the energy and excitement over what Dan is doing."

Stricklin and former MSU athletic director Larry Templeton said coaches voted 11-1 on Wednesday to not remove the ban on artificial noisemakers. But many of the coaches agreed that the rule seems unenforceable.

Even an NCAA rule several years ago in which a team could be penalized for its crowd disrupting play with artificial noisemakers was taken out of the rule book.

"I didn't even notice the cowbells when we played there," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "All stadiums in this league are loud. I notice bands playing more during timeouts more than anything else."

LSU coach Les Miles said there's not a clear definition of an artificial noisemaker, except when it comes to cowbells.

"It's not artificial if it's in the middle of a pasture," Miles said.

This article highlights how difficult it is to find and monitor contraband, even when there are policies and procedures against bringing in and using the contraband- in this case artificial noise makers.