SCSU Series: Changing the culture

Though coaching different sports, Glad Bugariu and Doug Robertson have plenty in common. Both arrived at South Carolina State University from successful coaching stints at NCAA Division II programs. Bugariu led the Belmont Abbey College women’s soccer team to back-to-back conference titles while Robertson posted 100 victories in five basketball seasons at Shaw University.

Each also had a moment in their careers when they looked at the respective programs at S.C. State and were attracted by an opportunity to vastly improve the product.“I really think there’s potential here,” Bugariu said. “There’s always potential here. We have scholarship money. The budget’s okay, there’s potential. In that respect, there are certain things that appealed to me.”

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MEAC expresses academic concerns

Photo: Florida A&M University director of athletics, William "Bill" Hayes

NORFOLK, Va. — There's no middle ground when it comes to meeting the NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Report standards. That was the message FAMU athletic director Bill Hayes and other MEAC officials heard for more than 90 minutes Thursday.

Hayes came away from the all-day meeting, promising to make FAMU a flagship school for graduating student-athletes. FAMU will use money from a grant it recently received to hire a full-time monitor to gauge athletes' classroom performance, Hayes said.

"We're going to put more teeth into it," he said. "We've got to have better supervision. It can't be lax. It's got to be matter-of-fact. Once we do that you will see an improvement." FAMU's APR rating wasn't immediately available, but in a recent report it hovered close to 50 percent.

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Bethune Cookman's Ash finishes 3rd in 110m hurdles

TOLUCA, Mexico -- Bethune-Cookman rising sophomore Ronnie Ash finished third in the 110-meter hurdles at the North America, Central America and Caribbean Under-23 Track & Field Championships.

The 19-year-old All-American finished in 13.72 seconds behind winner and fellow American Jason Richardson. Ash, who is recovering from a strained hamstring, also finished third to Richardson, who attends the University of South Carolina, in last month's NCAA Track and Field Championships.

"I'm happy with him coming off the aches and pains," B-CU track and field coach Garfield Ellenwood said. "He hadn't actually raced since the NCAAs. It's been a great year for him."

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Southern QB ready to get back in the flow

Southern quarterback Bryant Lee is ready to get going — really going — for the first time since late November. Held out of contact drills during spring practices after breaking a thumb in the Bayou Classic, the junior will join his teammates in returning to campus July 31. The Jaguars start practice Aug. 2.

“I’m ready to get back into the flow of it now,” Lee said. Now that the thumb is good, SU, 8-3 last season, needs Lee to get back where he was — and continue to improve. “We’re taking it one step at a time,” Lee said. “(SU strength and conditioning coach Thomas Hall) has us working extra hard in the weight room. And as players we’re taking it as a responsibility for us to get the job done.”

SU lost wide receiver Gerard Landry and running back Darren Coates, who completed their careers last season. As the top playmaker returning, Lee is a key piece in SU’s success or failure.

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Q&A: ASU men's basketball coach Lewis Jackson: Hornets coach endures tumultuous offseason

The life of a college basketball coach -- even one in the middle of the offseason -- is rarely a walk in the park. If you doubt that, spend a few minutes with Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson. Since his team's season ended with a shocking upset loss to Jackson State and a trip to face Arizona State in the National Invitation Tournament, Jackson and his assistants have endured the death of a player, the signing of four highly-touted new players and the departure of their most promising young stars.

They've also spent weeks on the road recruiting and some time working on next season's schedule. Jackson, who was still out recruiting, took a little time this week to talk to the Montgomery Advertiser about all of it.

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Tennessee State offense not a problem

Offensively, the Tigers return 10 of 12 starters, including the OVC's leading passer, senior quarterback Antonio Heffner. Heffner completed 56 percent of his passes for 1,486 yards and 10 touchdowns before suffering a season-ending ankle injury in the seventh game of the season.

One of Heffner's favorite targets, senior receiver Chris Johnson, grabbed 41 passes for 740 yards and four touchdowns last year. He'll be a key part of the Tigers' effort to end an eight-year OVC title drought. "We always had the pieces, but we didn't have the mental toughness to do what we needed to do," Johnson said. "But now since we have matured, we believe we can break a lot of school records and we'll make a deep playoff run."

Photo: TSU QB Antonio Heffner is back for his senior campaign to lead the big blue Tigers.

TSU travels to Normal, Ala., for its first test of the season against Alabama A&M. The Tigers then return to LP Field to face Southern in the 10th annual John Merritt Classic, a game that honors the Tigers' late coach and helps raise scholarship money for TSU students.

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SSU basketball player arrested on charges of theft

Photo: SSU star player Patrice "Nikki" Robinson.

Savannah State University women's basketball player Patrice "Nikki" Robinson, the Tigers' leading rebounder and shot-blocker last season, was arrested July 9 on a charge of theft by deception. Robinson, 24, a former Swainsboro High School star and the Savannah Morning News 2002 Player of the Year, is accused of stealing clothing valued at $114.02 from her employer, Goody's Family Clothing in Swainsboro.

Swainsboro Police Department Cpl. Craig Morris wrote in an incident report that Ellen Palmer, manager of the store at 664 South Main St., is the complainant. According to the police report, the "complainant stated that the offender (employee) stole merchandise by ringing items up and then voiding the transactions."

Robinson was arrested July 9 and released the same day. "I was told not to say anything about it," Robinson said Friday from her home in Swainsboro. Palmer said she, too, has been advised not to talk about the incident.

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READ COMPANION STORY ON "NIKKI ROBINSON": http://meacswacsports.blogspot.com/2008/02/heres-to-you-savannah-state-ms-robinson.html

Southern University making summer news

The lull in the Southern University sports year is on the verge of ending. Next month, football players will be on campus and Brian Johnson will be making long jumps in the Beijing Olympics. The full-on gumbo will be ladled hot and heavy later. Here’s a little summertime shrimp-and-corn soup to tide Jaguars fans over for now.

• Friday, in cool, hip and beautiful San Francisco, the Giants host the Milwaukee Brewers and leading off for both teams will be two former Southern players: Fred Lewis with the Giants and second baseman Rickie Weeks with the Brewers.

Both players arrived with little fanfare, Weeks as a freshman in 2001 and Lewis as a junior-college transfer in ’02, his only season at SU.

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SCSU players say happy early birthday to Willie Jeffries this weekend

SANTEE - By sheer coincidence, Willie Jeffries shares the same January 6 birthdate with another coaching legend, Lou Holtz. Over the next two days, however, the South Carolina State coaching great will celebrate his “birthday” six months in advance. Along with former players, close friends and his wife, Mary, Jeffries will be feted as part of a birthday party weekend taking place at Santee Resort.

Following brunch and a round of golf Saturday morning, the celebration kicks off at 3 p.m. where Jeffries will get roasted by his former players, including Greg Holden and team captains from the two periods he coached at SCSU (1973-78; 1989-2001), and receive special recognition. For event co-organizer John Alford, who played on the 1976 Bulldog team which won the Black College National Championship, Jeffries remains more than just a head coach.

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Justin Higgins ready to continue quarterbacking dominance at Grambling

Any football fan that saw Justin Higgins in a Rayville uniform over the past three years knows he is a playmaker. Whether Higgins was throwing the ball downfield to the Hornets’ prized receivers or taking the ball and barreling through the line, the three and a half-year high school starter could change the momentum of any game.

Grambling — where Higgins signed a national letter of intent in February — has no doubt Higgins can continue that dominance on the field. There is just one gray area hanging overhead. Higgins finished his immaculate high school career with a torn ACL in the second round playoff loss to E.D. White last November.

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Black schools winning more Fulbright awards

Parents who want to send a child to a black college know they have to look south, but if they prefer one that will also offer a good opportunity for international exposure, the right school may not be as far away as they might think.

The black college that has produced the most students who win a Fulbright fellowship, the prestige program of international exchanges, is not Howard, or Hampton University in Virginia, or Morehouse College or Spelman College in Atlanta, or any other private school.

The top producer is Morgan State University, a state school in Baltimore. Since the Fulbright program began in 1946, 120 Morgan students have won awards to conduct research or teach English in 30 different countries from Jamaica to New Zealand.

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Robbery charges against NSU's Monroe are dropped

Charges of armed robbery against Norfolk State University basketball player Brandon Monroe were withdrawn Wednesday, a little over two months after his arrest following an incident on Old Dominion University's campus.

Monroe's attorney, Michael Fasanaro, described the case against his client as simple mistaken identity. "The description by witnesses was of a guy being about 6-foot-2," Fasanaro said. "We're talking about a basketball player who is 6-7 or 6-8."

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Former WSSU Wedlock comes clean about DVD

I have been talking with former WSSU football player Jonathan Wedlock via e-mail and myspace for about two months now. I’ve been looking forward to doing an interview with him because I knew quite a few people wanted to hear about from him.

I ran a story (by Steven Gaither) about his professional football career taking off in the American Indoor Football Association and quite a few readers hit me up about that piece. Some wanted to know if his “So Hard To Be A Ram” DVD was still available. Yes, it’s still available. And he’s still willing to give out a copy or two.

I wanted to ask him about that infamous Youtube classic, as well as his football career. Wedlock is one of the leading running backs for the Florence (South Carolina) Phantoms. We also discussed a number of other things like Division I, differences in arena leagues, homecoming and late night partying.

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Throwbacks: Grambling 80 list honored best football players over program's first eight decades

The News-Star selected the top 80 players from Grambling as the storied program celebrated eight decades of football in 2006.

GRAMBLING — Grambling resident Ray Higgins' grandfather, Milton "Twenty" Douglas, was on the local college's first football team, organized 80 years ago. No, Eddie Robinson wasn't Grambling's first head football coach — a common mistake, Higgins notes, chuckling. It might seem that way since Robinson coached nearly 60 of those years.

Higgins is celebrating that long history of football at Grambling — both by highlighting its storied accomplishments and adjusting a few misconceptions — on a fan-operated Web site called http://www.gramblingstateuniversity.com/. There, he's informally polling fans across the nation to assemble a list of the program's Top 80 all-time players. "The great thing has been talking with people from different eras about Grambling's history," said Higgins, a booster who graduated from Grambling Lab and then GSU.

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Howard Bison Oliver blazes to 110 hurdles crown

David Oliver ran the fastest time in every round on the way to his first U.S. outdoor championship

When he found her on his victory lap, the former Denver East athlete and newly crowned Olympic trials champion gripped his mother in a long, tight hug. "I'm just glad to be able to share this moment with her," said Oliver, who blazed to the finish line Sunday in 12.95 seconds to win the 110-meter hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials. "She's my inspiration. Without her guidance, especially when I was younger, I wouldn't be able to do the things I'm doing now."

David Oliver's 12.95 wind-aided Olympic Trials Final race in the 110 meter hurdles.


Oliver's mother, Brenda Chambers, was an All-American at Colorado in 1981 in the 400 hurdles. She competed in the 1980 Olympic trials at the same stadium as Oliver but never had a chance to compete in those Olympics because of an American boycott. Her son only recently emerged as a track star. He played football and ran track at Howard University but wasn't a standout until after college. He was the lowest seed in the 110 hurdles in the 2004 Olympic trials but now has the second-fastest time in the world.

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Coleman Preaches Success at UAPB

Photo: UAPB Golden Lions first year head coach Monte Coleman.

(Click here to see UAPB's two-deep depth chart.)

Changes are in the mix for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions. The Golden Lions' successful recruiting class and eight returning starters will be the beginnings for new head coach Monte Coleman. Coleman is the same retired Washington Redskin linebacker who won three Super Bowl rings and played in the National Football League for 16 seasons.

Upon retirement, Coleman said he was denying himself of his true calling. As legendary as he's become in the sport that he now coaches, Coleman is also a prominent minister in the Assemblies of God denomination. "I was actually coming back to Pine Bluff to be a minister, then an opportunity here became available and I came on board," Coleman said.

"My first hope is for winning football games. I'm not used to losing. I especially want to win when I'm on the football field, but it takes players being disciplined. As a football team, if we put discipline in every thing we do, we can have some major accomplishments."

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Ex-TSU Coach Temple led first U.S. team to China in '75

Hall of Fame Coach Ed Temple (Edward S. Temple) is Tennessee's most honored and accomplished track and field coach. His famous Tigerbelles Women's Track Club of Tennessee State University (TSU) won twenty-three gold, silver, and bronze Olympic medals, thirty-four national team titles, and thirty medals in the Pan American Games.

Historic track trip helped to open doors

Profoundly polite people, hotels without keys and a relay team with only anchor legs. That's what former Tennessee State track Coach Ed Temple remembers most about a historic 1975 trip to China with a U.S. track and field team. As coach of the first American team to compete in China during the communist era, Temple guided 38 female athletes on a goodwill tour of meets in Hong Kong, Canton, Shanghai and Peking, now commonly known as Beijing.

"I was reluctant to go since it was China and no one had ever been to China at that time," Temple said recently. "But I was also curious. It turned out to be one of the most unique experiences I have ever had." With athletes preparing for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Temple looked back on his trip to China, which was just beginning to open its doors to more of the world.

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The 81 year old Coach Temple served the United States and TSU 43 years, retiring in 1993. He is a native of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and is a member of the National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the TSU Sports Hall of Fame, and has also received the Helms Award.

Mr. Temple attended and graduated from Tennessee State University, (B.S. and M.S. degrees in Health and Physical Education; minor in Sociology). He has also done work toward the doctoral degree at Pennsylvania State University.

There is a wonderful story in the biography of Ed Temple on how he was persuaded by his neighbor to attend Tennessee State, that's very funny...

"It was fate and a bit of trickery that led Temple to Tennessee State University.

After his high school graduation in 1946, Tom Harris, Temple's neighbor and also a coach at Tennessee State, persuaded Temple to attend the university by telling him that Leroy Craig would be attending also. Craig was Temple's rival and after hearing this, he turned down Pennsylvania State University because he thought that Tennessee State University must have been a good school if Craig was enrolling, and so he too enrolled.

He later learned that Harris had misconceived Craig with the same story and both gullible athletes were coaxed to attend Tennessee State University. Declining Pennsylvania State University was not an easy task but nevertheless, Temple decided to stay at Tennessee State. A scholarship was not offered, so Temple was forced to compensate for his tuition with work-aid."

TSU coach sprints back to Olympics

Cheeseborough is U.S. assistant in women's track

Chandra Cheeseborough's life has been a collection of very fast, very significant footsteps. As a young girl she outran every boy in the neighborhood. As a teenager her feet carried her into the track and field spotlight, where she set American records, won Olympic gold medals and international acclaim.

She kept striding forward and became women's track and field coach at her alma mater, Tennessee State University, taking over the Tigerbelles program for the legendary Ed Temple. Now, as the United States prepares for next month's Olympics in Beijing, the 49-year-old Cheeseborough is taking another big step, serving as an assistant coach for the U.S. women's team.

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As an athlete, Cheeseborough was named to three United States Olympic teams. She placed third as a 17-year old in the 100-meter dash in Montreal. She qualified for the ill-fated 1980 Olympic team that did not compete because of a boycott. In 1984, at the Los Angeles games, she made Olympic history by running a leg on two Gold Medal Relay Teams and was the silver medalist in the 400-meters.

Coach Cheeseborough has led the TSU track program to a pair of consecutive Ohio Valley Conference Outdoor Track Championships and is the reigning OVC Indoor champion as well. She is a four-time OVC Coach of the Year.

A native of Jacksonville, Florida, she is a graduate of both Ribault High School and Tennessee State University, earning a B.S. degree in Health and Physical Education.

SU's House looking to qualify in long jump

Southern University sophomore Jason House was a last-minute addition to the pool of high jumpers competing for three spots on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team.

House, the 2008 Southwestern Athletic Conference champion in the high jump both indoors and outdoors, gets his first chance to claim a spot tonight when qualifying for the men’s high jump at the Olympic trials begins at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The high jump is slated to get under way at 9:25 p.m. CDT.

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Ex-WSSU lineman Hayes finds time to give back

William Hayes is in the very early stages of what he hopes will be a successful NFL career but he is also finding time to focus on helping others.

Hayes, a former star at High Point Andrews and Winston-Salem State, was a fourth-round pick by the Tennessee Titans in April's NFL Draft. He will speak in Jamestown next week, talking about his life on and off the football field in a speech titled "Making the Right Choices."

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