Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Tennessee State University alum coaches Michigan State Spartans golf team

Photo: Michigan State University Spartans head golf coach Sam Puryear

Life coach: The Sam Puryear impact

Photo Gallery: Sam and the Spartans, http://www.golfweektv.com/gallery/SamPuryear

It’s been another frigid winter in central Michigan. Snowfall in East Lansing has been about 14 inches above average, which isn’t good news for Michigan State senior Nate Gunthorpe. The Spartans have putting practice at 6 a.m. three days per week, and it’s a few miles from his off-campus house to the school’s indoor Rearick Golf Complex.

“Waking up, getting snow off your car, warming it up and being there by 6 ready to putt,” Gunthorpe said. “We definitely know why we’re doing it.”

Waiting for Gunthorpe and his teammates is first-year head coach Sam Puryear. Standing 6 feet tall and dressed impeccably in Spartan green, Puryear is a man with a plan. His energy is palpable, and his preparation is relentless. Always approachable and never short on one-liners, Puryear is just nine months removed from his first college coaching job, a 1 1/2-year stint as Stanford’s assistant coach, in which he helped head coach Conrad Ray guide the Cardinal to the 2007 NCAA championship.

Now, as the first black head golf coach in a major NCAA Division I conference, Puryear has the reins of the Spartans, a team that rose into the top 20 earlier this season.

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Mini Bio:
Sam is a 1992 graduate of Tennessee State University. He served three years as the assistant golf coach at Stanford University, winning the NCAA Division I national golf championship last season (2007). Prior to joining Stanford, he served as Executive Director of East Lake Junior Golf Academy in Atlanta, GA., where he managed the development of golf instruction and curriculum for an academy serving more than 1,000 youth. Puryear has a proven track record for fundraising, campaigning, and program support.

Samuel G. Puryear Jr. was born and raised in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Great article!!

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3-way battle for quarterback at WSSU

Photo: Winston Salem State University head football coach Kermit Blount.

If Winston-Salem State had to play a football game today, Coach Kermit Blount said it would be tough to choose a starting quarterback.

One of the priorities during spring practices, which ended yesterday, was to find a starter from the three candidates. But with the final spring scrimmage being rained out yesterday, Blount couldn’t say who won the battle.

The three candidates - junior Jarrett Dunston, sophomore Brian Wynn and freshman Tienne Jefferson - all had their good and bad moments during the 14 practices that were spread out during the past three weeks.

Another candidate who will arrive in the fall is Branden Williams, a talented player from Seale, Ala. Williams, 6-1 and 190 pounds, came to watch practice on Friday, making the long drive with his father, Arthur. Williams, who is playing high-school baseball this spring, passed for more than 3,000 yards and rushed for more than 2,000 while scoring a combined 45 touchdowns in his career.

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LSU opens key week at Southern Jaguars

Paul Mainieri gathered the LSU baseball team near first base Sunday at McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., fresh off its only victory of a three-game series at Florida.

LSU (16-10) will play Southern (10-10) at 6 p.m. today at Lee-Hines Field. "Playing Southern at Southern will be tough,” Mainieri said. “Centenary’s been playing good ball. They beat Arkansas the other day. That’s not going to be an easy game."

“All the pressure is on LSU to win,” Cador said. “There’s no pressure on us. LSU better come in, and they’d better be able to beat us by a whole bunch of runs, or people are going to think there’s something wrong.”

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Wells is Savannah State University football's last hope

Photo: SSU Tigers head coach Robby Wells is on the hot seat before the season starts for the 2008 Tigers.


Robby Wells saw Savannah State's football program as "a little gold mine" six years ago. Now the Tigers' head miner, Wells must find that hidden mineral vein. Or SSU should close its mine for good.

This is a program in peril. Nine coaches in 13 years, four since Wells became taken with the school as a South Carolina State assistant in 2002. Ten wins since moving to Division I-AA in 2000, only three against I-AA competition. A fan base dwindling with each coaching change, blowout loss and stranger-than-fiction episode, like student coaches selling steroids to players.

Wells is the Tigers' last hope. The administration made a long-term commitment when they hired him four months ago, with athletics' headmaster Claud Flythe promising Wells will be at SSU as long as he himself is.

Wells will either make the Tigers respectable or drive them to extinction. Such is the risk taken by a historically black college that hires a young white man with no head coaching experience to lead its marquee athletic program.

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Former Florida A&M head coach Rubin Carter was a finalist for this position. Kent Schoolfield, a former Fort Vally State head coach, and FAMU and Florida State assistant coach was also a finalist. Georgia Southern's legendary QB/current Bethune Cookman assistant coach Raymond Gross was a finalist.

But, the SSU president selects Robby Wells, with no head coaching experience--period, over coaches that have had some success at the Division I level or higher.

Carter was a Miami All-American and NFL All Pro; Schoolfield was an NFL player and FAMU All American; Gross won national championships with GSU and was an All-American player. Wells credentials just doesn't measure up to the other coaches that were available to SSU.

In all fairness to Wells and his staff, they have no chance of winning, even with a 12 game schedule stacked with NAIA and Division II programs.

Inadequate scholarships--no incoming talent equals no winning program. You can't attract Division I level talent based on a pipe dream and an unproven coaching staff. Who would put their football future into the hands of an unproven commodity like Coach Wells.

It can get worst than the Tigers ever imagined with a possible record of 1-11 or 0-12 in 2008, and a Tigers fan base quickly disappearing. SSU in its current condition with NCAA probation and reduced scholarships, would be hard pressed to be a competitive Division II program, today.

Nine coaches in 13 years speaks volumes about the ineptitude of the SSU administration when it comes to the major economic engine of the school.

Moreover, why schedule 12 football games in 2008, and only play four games on the Tigers home field? You don't make money playing road games at Division II and NAIA stadiums, so what's the logic behind that move?

The Tigers are not a Division I FCS football program in any stretch of the imagination, and until a full commitment is made financially to SSU football, attempting to compete at the FCS (formerly 1-AA) level is a major disservice to the Tigers student-athletes and fan base.

It will take more than hope (with no head coaching experience) to win at SSU. The first order of business should have been to hire a competent athletic director.

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The future of Alabama A&M University

Only a strong leader can save the university from itself

Whether you supported Dr. Robert Jennings in his almost two-year tenure at Alabama A&M University or whether you thought he had proved himself unequal to the task of leading the historically black school effectively, the decision by the board of trustees on Monday to fire Jennings must lead to this conclusion: This is a regrettable time for the university.

But we'll go further: A&M's leadership is, in fact, in chaos and there's little hope it can reach a state of equilibrium unless things change dramatically and soon.

Exactly why Jennings was fired remains unclear. Reports of Jennings' alleged questionable payments to staff members haven't been effectively addressed publicly.

The board has continued to meet behind closed doors to discuss his job performance, saying it was dealing with "good name and character" and getting legal advice.

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Jennings plans court action against firing by A&M

Photo: Fired Alabama A&M University president Dr. Robert R. Jennings.

Alabama A&M University President Dr. Robert Jennings was fired by the board of trustees in a 7-1 vote March 31, 2008, but will not leave without a fight.

"He feels like this was an absolute travesty of justice," said his attorney, John Saxon of Birmingham. "It was a kangaroo court. "I'm not even sure, first of all, that this was a lawful meeting."

Saxon said Jennings was not given a hearing or chance to respond publicly to the charges against him, and the termination was based on the report of an ad hoc committee never approved by the board.

"He has not been afforded due process, and we plan to fully challenge the decision and all of these points in Madison County Circuit Court," Saxon said. "I think he didn't play ball the way some people wanted him to play ball and to go along the way things had been in the past. And that bothered some people, some people in high places."

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Dr. Jennings is a Morehouse College grad earning a B.A. in sociology in 1972; earned a M.A. in educational psychology in 1974 and a Ed.S. degrees in interrelated learning, 1979 from Clark Atlanta University. He also earned a Doctor of Education degree in educational administration and policy studies from Clark Atlanta University in 1982.

FAMU's Coach Taylor happy with RBs, defense

Photo: Quarterback Eddie Battle #8, comes out of the first week of spring practice holding on to the starting position. The 6-2/215 redshirt junior is from Titusville, FL/Astronaunt H.S.

After reviewing the film from Saturday's scrimmage, Florida A&M football coach Joe Taylor was pleased with his team's ability to run the ball and pointed to the receiving corps as an area in need of improvement.

"The running game I was very satisfied with," Taylor said. "We just need to find the top three or four receivers and give them some more reps. I was also impressed with the special teams. We need to work on our punt team, but our kickoff return was good."

Taylor was also pleased by the play of his defense, which has so far had the better end of the stick in 11-on-11 drills.

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