The Greater Cleveland Sports
Commission has announced its newly created, owned and operated event,
the Patriot Bowl, an annual college football game featuring a
Mid-American Conference (MAC) team from Ohio and one of the service
academies — Army, Navy or Air Force.
The inaugural game will pit Army
against Akron at 6 p.m. on Sept. 1.
Each year, the game will take
place over Labor Day weekend at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Surrounding
the football game will be patriotic and civic events, including a
tailgate, a Cleveland Firefighters vs. Cleveland Police flag football
pre-game match and spectacular halftime show.
Hurricanes center granted another season
Miami center Anthony King has
been granted a medical redshirt which would allow him to return for a
fifth year of eligibility in 2007-08.
A native of Durham, King
appeared in just eight games before suffering a wrist injury Dec. 6
versus Georgia Tech which sidelined him for the remaining 24 games of
the 2006-07 season. Through eight games he averaged 9.3 rebounds, which
lead the ACC at the time, 7.9 points and 1.8 blocks per game.
King's medical hardship waiver,
granted by the Atlantic Coast Conference, was made possible by a recent
change in NCAA legislature which allows injured student-athletes who
have participated in no more than 30 percent — up from the previous 20
percent — of a team's competitions the possibility of redshirting.
New
Mexico State gives Theus new deal
New Mexico State has reached an
agreement on a restructured contract with basketball coach Reggie Theus.
The Aggies were the most
improved team in NCAA Division I men’s basketball over the last two
seasons (6-24 in 2004-05 to 25-9 in 2006-07; 19-win improvement).
Theus becomes one of the highest
paid basketball coaches in the Western Athletic Conference. The
new contract, which includes $100,000 from the private sector, provides
a continuation of the five-year rollover term and a buyout clause of two
times Theus’ base salary if he leaves for another position in the next
two years.
The financial package of the new
contract is worth $466,000 per season and includes bonus opportunities
that exist in his current contract.
May 12, 2007
Hokies looking for
offensive improvement
For the past two seasons,
Virginia Tech has had the No. 1 defense in college football. It's Tech's
offense which must improve for the Hokies to live up to their preseason
hype, according to a report at hokies.com.
"And it will improve," states
Tech's offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring. "What took place last
season was a learning experience for a lot of us. Believe me, we went
back and looked at every snap, every play, every call, over and over.
"At some positions, we weren't
strong enough. Some guys weren't experienced enough. Basically, some
guys just weren't ready.
"Take (quarterback) Sean (Glennon)
for example. He's been motivated since the end of the Georgia game (bowl
loss) and you could see it in his film study, in his strength and
conditioning work, and his performance this spring. He's not the same
quarterback you saw in his last game, and the reason is the work he's
done since that game."
East Carolina opens the 2007
season at Virginia Tech on Sept. 1.
Penalty shortened for former Buckeyes coach
The Columbus (OH) Dispatch
reported that former Ohio State basketball coach Jim O'Brien is closer
to coaching again after the NCAA reduced but did not eliminate its
show-cause penalty against him.
The NCAA Committee on
Infractions shortened the penalty from five years to two years, meaning
O'Brien could effectively find employment at an NCAA school beginning
May 9, 2009.
Davis, Flutie among gridders getting Hall call
Two former All-America standouts
of current Atlantic Coast Conference schools, linebacker Jeff Davis of
Clemson and quarterback Doug Flutie of Boston College, have been
selected for induction into the National Football Foundation and College
Hall of Fame.
May 11, 2007
Port City FM
joins East Carolina football network
Rock 104.5 WRQR-FM in Wilmington
will be carrying East Carolina football games this fall.
WRQR's signal, which according
to radio-locator.com is rated at 3,100 Watts, stretches along the coast
from North Myrtle Beach, SC, to Sneads Ferry, NC, and to the north along
the I-40 corridor past Wallace, NC.
[View
radio-locator.com's coverage map for WRQR.]
In addition, ESPN Radio 630 WMFD-AM
will serve as the area's home for the weekly Skip Holtz Radio Call-In
Show, which airs each Sunday night during the football season. Radio-locator.com
rates WMFD's transmitter power at 800 Watts in the daytime and 1,000
Watts at night.
[View
radio-locator.com's daytime coverage map for WMFD.]
[View
radio-locator.com's nighttime coverage map for WMFD.]
Pirate
softball takes Conference USA win in ten
Memphis starter Jenna Kubesch
was perfect through eight and two-thirds innings, but East Carolina's
softball team found a way to push across the only run of the game in the
bottom of the tenth inning to defeat the Tigers in the Conference USA
softball tournament at Central Florida.
Memphis (36-24) defeated Tulsa
2-1 in game one earlier in the day to advance and face the Pirates
(39-18), who received a bye in the first round.
Miami's ADee stepping down after 15 years
Miami athletic director Paul Dee
has announced his intentions to step down from his position effective
June 1, 2008. Dee will remain athletic director for the next year and
then become a member of the Miami faculty.
Dee's career at Miami began in
1981 as the university's vice-president and general counsel. He was
named athletic director in 1993. When he steps down next year, the
60-year-old Dee will have served in his position for 15 years, tied with
Jack Harding for the longest tenure of any Miami athletic director.
May 10, 2007
ECU's Paisley is
C-USA's freshman of the year
East Carolina pitcher Toni
Paisley has been named Conference USA's softball freshman of the year as
announced by the league at its end-of-the-season banquet in Orlando, FL,
Wednesday.
Paisley's honor was announced in
conjunction with the naming of the All-Conference team on the eve of
today's first pitch of the 2007 C-USA Softball Championship tournament
presented by Coca-Cola and hosted by Central Florida. The all-league
list included five Pirates: sophomore Jessica Johnson (first team),
Paisley (second team and all-freshman team), senior Keli Harrell (second
team), freshman Charina Sumner (second team and all-freshman team),
freshman Kaui Tom (all-freshman team).
Johnson was also selected to the
C-USA Softball All-Academic Team.
Paisley holds a record of 19-5
overall and 10-3 in conference play. The freshman has thrown 19 complete
games this season and ranks in the top six among C-USA pitchers in ERA,
wins, opposing batting average and strikeouts.
Pirate women's track signs Durham standouts
East Carolina's has landed a
pair of prep stars from Durham, ECU head women's track and field coach
Curt Kraft announced Wednesday.
"These athletes will help us
continue to build on great North Carolina kids," said Kraft of Ericka
Charles and Kia Haskins, who have formally signed National Letters of
Intent with the Pirates.
Charles, a senior at the Durham
School of the Arts, was the 2006 state runner-up in the outdoor
200-meter dash (2A) and was fourth in the 400-meter dash (2A). She is
currently the state champion in the indoor 500-meter dash (1-3A) and her
time ranks fifth all-time in North Carolina history. Charles was named
Conference Track Athlete of the Year and was named to the 2006 All-State
Cross Country team (2A).
Haskins is a senior at Durham
Hillside High School. She is the 2005 state champion in the outdoor
400-meter dash (3A), and was seventh in the 200-meter dash (3A). Haskins
was named team MVP and is currently ranked in the top ten in her
graduating class at Durham Hillside.
Man gets life for killing TCU football player
A 42-year-old Conroe, TX, man
received a life sentence Wednesday for fatally shooting Texas Christian
freshman kicker Kasey Davis last year, according to various news reports
out of Texas.
Police say Davis was gunned down
in a car while heading home for Christmas break in January 2006 — in an
apparently random shooting — by Jeffrey Clay Lasiter. Neither men knew
each other.
Lasiter pleaded guilty Monday
before the start of his trial. His attorneys had argued that he suffers
from a mental illness.