THE INSIDE TRACK : Newswire : Schultz to Leave as USOC Considers Reorganization

Because of recommendations made in a report on reorganization of the U.S. Olympic Committee hierarchy, Dick Schultz, executive director since 1995, will step down next year.

Last weekend, the USOC’s executive committee adopted a preliminary report from a public-sector task force and from an independent consulting firm. The idea is to strengthen the USOC’s structure and put it more in line with how major corporations function.

One principal recommendation of the report, made public Monday, calls for a professional president and chief executive officer to lead the USOC. He or she would replace the current executive director and would change the role and definition of the USOC’s volunteer president, who would become chairman of the board.

Schultz lauded the recommendations, but said he would not seek the new position of president-CEO and that the changes would require a longer commitment than he is prepared to make.

Asked if he had been invited to apply for the new position, Schultz said, “I certainly had the option of applying. But as it was laid out . . . this is going to be a three- to five-year commitment. I’m not ready to commit that kind of time.

While a search begins for a president-CEO, Schultz will devote more time to fund-raising, particularly for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Hockey

Former Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux, who spent last week closing on his $95-million purchase of the bankrupt franchise, is expected to be voted in as an owner during an NHL Board of Governors meeting Wednesday at New York.

Center Eric Belanger, who played for the Kings’ AHL affiliate at Springfield last season, underwent surgery to remove a rib that was causing a blood clot in his right arm. Belanger will miss training camp, which begins Sunday, and is expected to be out for at least one month.

The Vancouver Canucks re-signed right wing Bill Muckalt, who was sixth in scoring among NHL rookies last season with 36 points.

Miscellany

Less than half of the scholarship athletes who entered UCLA in 1992 graduated within six years while nearly three-fifths of the athletes at USC graduated in the same time frame, according to an NCAA study.

At UCLA, 78% of all students entering school in 1992 graduated, compared to 49% of athletes, including 47% of male athletes and 52% of female athletes. At USC, 70% of all students entering school in 1992 graduated, compared to 59% of athletes, including 57% of male athletes and 67% of female athletes.

Nationally, 56% of all students graduated, compared to 58% of athletes, including 52% of male athletes and 68% of female athletes. The NCAA counted only those athletes entering as freshmen; transfers are counted among those not graduating from their original four-year school.

Cal State Fullerton, which had the third-lowest athlete graduation rate (18%) among the 307 Division I schools in last year’s survey for those entering school in 1991, graduated athletes at a rate similar to the student body for those entering school in 1992--40% to 42%. Among students entering Fullerton in 1991, 40% graduated, compared to 7% of male athletes and 32% of female athletes. The rates improved to 25% for male athletes and 54% for female athletes in the latest survey.

At Long Beach State, 33% of all students entering in 1992 graduated, compared to 32% of scholarship athletes, including 12% of male athletes and 64% of female athletes.

At UC Irvine, 74% of all students graduated, compared to 62% of athletes, including 50% of male athletes and 64% of female athletes.

According to a study released by Alfred University in New York that surveyed 14,000 students, coaches and other athletic officials from NCAA colleges and universities, 80% of college student-athletes are subjected to some form of hazing.

The study found: widespread hazing at all levels, from Division I to Division III; men were more likely to be subjected to hazing than women; and the sports with the most hazing were swimming and diving, lacrosse, soccer, football and ice hockey.

Eight of the 12 U.S. Ryder Cup team members played a practice round at the Country Club at Brookline, Mass., site of the Ryder Cup match against Europe on Sept. 24-26. Hal Sutton, Steve Pate, Jim Furyk, David Duval, Jeff Maggert, Payne Stewart, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard practiced, while Davis Love III, who has a nerve problem in his neck, was seeing Dr. Frank Jobe. Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman and Mark O’Meara had prior commitments.

Egypt won three more events to finish on top with 105 gold medals at the Arab Games at Amman, Jordan, followed by Tunisia’s 40 golds, according to unofficial tallies. . . . B.J. Armstrong, a 31-year-old guard who helped the Chicago Bulls win three consecutive NBA titles earlier in the decade, re-signed with the team, reportedly for one year at $1 million.

A spokesman for the U.S. Soccer Federation said the federation has invited Iran to play a match in the United States, hopefully to be played sometime later this year. . . . Kenyan steeplechaser Bernard Barmasai was disqualified by the IAAF from the Golden League, a series of seven track meets that awards a $1-million pot to be shared by those who were unbeaten through the seven meets. The federation said Barmasai asked a countryman not to challenge his lead late in a race at Switzerland this month.