Eugene Richardson: Outstanding basketball player and coach

MOULTRIE, GA — Eugene Richardson had an outstanding career playing basketball at Moultrie High, Bethune-Cookman College and professionally in Europe. But he became a successful high school coach almost by accident.

After playing in Finland, Holland and Belgium for seven years, Richardson returned to Florida determined to do what he had wanted do since he was a student at Bethune-Cookman several years before. Richardson wanted to use his degree in physical education and become a teacher.

And it was while teaching at Everglades Middle School in 1990 that he was asked to take over the boys basketball team there. In three years as the head coach at Everglades, the school won three middle school championships.

But when he was asked to become the head coach at Coconut Creek High School in 1995, he hesitated and asked his wife Mae about it.

“You’re always gone anyway,” Richardson remembers his wife saying. “You might as well.”  And so began one of Florida’s finest high school boys basketball coaching careers.

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MEAC upholds replay reversal in Hampton vs. Bethune-Cookman

NORFOLK, VA -- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Commissioner Dennis Thomas has issued a statement regarding the final play of the Bethune-Cookman University vs. Hampton University football game played on Thursday, September 22, 2011 in Daytona Beach, Fla. The game was televised live on ESPNU.



"In addition to reviewing the video with the MEAC's Coordinator of Football Officials Rosie Amato, I felt the need to procure external analysis of the play in question and requested three seasoned and nationally respected officials including Rogers Redding, CFO National Coordinator of Football Officials and NCAA Football Rules Committee Secretary-Rules Editor, Doug Rhoads, Coordinator of Football Officials for the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and Dr. Gerald Austin, Coordinator of Football Officials of Conference USA, to independently review the play in question. Upon their review it was concluded unanimously that the ruling to reverse the on field call to an incomplete catch was accurate therefore invalidating the final Hampton touchdown.

The analysis of the video evidence concluded that the airborne receiver did not maintain control of the ball after hitting the ground, and by rule did not fulfill all the elements of the process of completing the catch. The rule support for this reversal is Approved Ruling 7-3-6-XII and 7-3-6-XIII found on page FI-35 of the 2011-12 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations manual."

Courtesy MEAC Media Relations

B-CU Coach Denson helps mold running backs

Bethune-Cookman at Miami

WHERE: Sun Life Stadium, Miami

WHEN: 3:30 Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011

RECORDS: B-CU 2-1, Miami 1-2

TV: ESPNU

RADIO: WELE 1380AM

Daytona Beach, FL - Autry Denson Jr.'s playing resume gave him instant credibility when he arrived at Bethune-Cookman as the Wildcats' running backs coach. His character away from the field also paid immediate dividends.

"Autry is a great example as a father, as a man, for our players to follow," B-CU coach Brian Jenkins said. "I think he's made a big impression on our players being good decision-makers off the field."

Denson a South Florida native is Notre Dame's all-time leading rusher and played four seasons in the NFL. He earned a business degree at Notre Dame and put it to use as a financial adviser to pro athletes before he retired from playing football. He also spent some time in the corporate world and focused on charities to help inner-city youth.

Denson, who played two seasons for the Miami Dolphins ...

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Falcons Pro-Bowl returner Eric Weems keeps everything in perspective

TAMPA -- A popular joke inside the Atlanta Falcons' locker room is that Eric Weems is so tight with his money that he still has a couple of Pell Grant checks left over from his college days at Bethune-Cookman.

The Pro Bowl return specialist smiled when he heard that line again inside the visitors' locker room Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. He didn't mind hearing it, because he knows there's a little bit of truth to it.

"That's always been me," Weems said after Tampa Bay beat the Falcons 16-13. "I like to be smart with my money. I'm tight. I'm a cautious investor. I'm not going to buy five cars, a house here, a house there. I've got one car -- my Dodge Magnum. It's an '08 and rides smooth."

Weems doesn't just throw away his money. The way the 26-year-old looks at it, every NFL player's career has an expiration date. For someone who makes a living returning kickoffs and punts, that expiration date can come sooner rather than later.



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Miami Hurricanes have respect for Bethune-Cookman

Miami, Florida -- If Miami running back Lamar Miller’s left shoulder injury is bearable, he will play against Bethune-Cookman University at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday.

It became evident late Sunday afternoon that Miami coach Al Golden in no way intends to peek past Bethune Cookman to plan toward 11th-ranked Virginia Tech — the Canes’ Atlantic Coast Conference road opponent on Oct. 8.

Not after UM’s 28-24 loss to Kansas State in which the defense allowed 265 yards rushing and couldn’t come up with a turnover after four Wildcats’ fumbles. And not after the Hurricanes offense couldn’t score the winning touchdown after four chances from within 2 yards.

“All respect,’’ Golden said Sunday during his Kansas State recap teleconference, “we’re trying to win the game. That’s all we’re trying to do. … We’re not there right now.



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B-CU wins after refs nullify last-second Hampton TD

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- Hampton players swarmed the field and jumped on their hero. They didn't bother to listen to the referee announce that David Legree's touchdown pass with no time left would be reviewed.

But after several minutes the replay officials decided that receiver Isiah Thomas did not maintain possession as he fell to the ground on the apparent 12-yard TD pass, and Bethune-Cookman came away with a 35-31 victory in a bizarre Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game Thursday night at Municipal Stadium.

Backup quarterback Jackie Wilson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Eddie Poole with 2:50 left in the game for the final margin of victory.

Legree, who passed for 225 yards and a touchdown and ran for two touchdowns, appeared to lead the Pirates (2-2, 1-1 MEAC) to victory with no time left.

But it was B-CU (2-1, 1-1) that got the final chance to celebrate in the back-and-forth contest that started nearly an hour late because of lightning in the area.




YOU BE THE JUDGE!! TD or NOT?

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HU's new offensive coordinator opens up Pirates' offense

HAMPTON (2-1, 1-0 MEAC) at BETHUNE-COOKMAN (1-1, 0-1)
WHEN: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Municipal Stadium, Daytona Beach, Fla.

TELEVISION: ESPNU (7:30 P.M.)
INTERNET: ESPN3

HAMPTON, VA — Donovan Rose first met Willie Snead at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting in Michigan in September 2010. Rose, Hampton University's head football coach, was in the audience as Snead, fresh off a 2009 state semifinal appearance at Muskegon Heights (Mich.) High, delivered a speech.

Neither man knew it at the time, but that speech also was a job audition.

After Rose's Pirates went 6-5 in 2010, averaging just 17.5 points per game, Rose found himself in the market for an offensive coordinator. One of the names that surfaced was that of Snead, a native of Belle Glade, Fla., who had made an impression on Rose.

"He had a way with people," Rose said. "(He's) a guy that is not easily thrown off track. He's just a very kind of mellow, consistent guy about getting things done. His resume was very impressive."

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Bethune-Cookman faces Hampton in key MEAC game

Time: 7:30 p.m ET

TV: ESPNU

DAYTONA BEACH, FL — Brian Jenkins' inaugural season at Bethune-Cookman was a year-long run to a potential undefeated season and the Wildcats' claiming a share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship for the first time since 2002.

The 2011 season could all come down to Thursday night — just three weeks into the campaign – when Bethune-Cookman meets Hampton in a nationally-televised (ESPNU, 7:30 p.m.) MEAC game at Municipal Stadium.

It's perhaps already a must-win for B-CU (1-1,0-1) if it wants to stay in the conference race. Hampton (2-1,1-0) has already beaten 2010 co-champion Florida A&M and doesn't have to face the South Carolina State team that beat B-CU 26-18 on Sept. 10.

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B-CU's big win nets ranking in 1st FCS poll

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Bethune-Cookman jumped right out of the gate to dominate Prairie View A&M on Sunday in the MEAC-SWAC Challenge at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The Wildcats also jumped out of the gate into The Sports Network/Fathead.com Football Championship Subdivision Top 25 poll. B-CU rolled out to a 42-0 lead in the first half, and never looked back in a 63-14 season-opening rout Sunday.

The poll, released Monday, had the Wildcats at 25th with 377 points. Eastern Washington, ranked first in the preseason poll last week, was still first with 3,653 points.

South Carolina State just missed making the top 25 with 335 points. The Wildcats and the Bulldogs -- 21-6 losers at Central Michigan on Thursday -- meet at 4 p.m. Saturday at B-CU.

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SWAC Shellacking: Bethune-Cookman opens with 63-14 rout

ORLANDO, FL -- New season. New quarterback. Same old Wildcats. Bethune-Cookman started its second season under head coach Brian Jenkins a lot like it started its first -- with a thorough thrashing of an overmatched opponent.

Last year, B-CU pummeled an NAIA team -- Edward Waters (70-10) -- in Jenkins' debut. On Sunday, the Wildcats cruised to a 63-14 victory over Prairie View A&M before an announced crowd of 17,337 in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge at the Florida Citrus Bowl.

Prairie View of the Southwestern Athletic Conference is coming off a 7-4 season, but the Panthers (0-1) are rebuilding under new coach Heishma Northern, while the Wildcats (1-0) are reloading with a new quarterback.

Senior Jamarr Robinson, who transferred from the University of Maryland, passed for 251 yards and a touchdown and added two scoring runs while playing just one series into the third quarter, when the 'Cats took a commanding 49-7 lead.

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MEAC/SWAC Challenge: Bethune-Cookman vs. Prairie View

Orlando, FL - Sunday's seventh installment of the MEAC/SWAC Challenge features an experienced team in Bethune-Cookman versus a relatively inexperienced team in Prairie View A&M.

The series pits annual contenders from the two FCS conferences for Historically Black Colleges and Universities against each other. While this game is very early in the season, it can set the tone for each team. The MEAC leads the series 4-2 with South Carolina State being the only team to have won twice.



Sunday's game will take place in Orlando, Fla., at the Florida Citrus Bowl. The game attracts nearly 20,000 fans each season. Bethune-Cookman comes into the season as one of the preseason favorites for a black college national championship.

A look at the two teams:

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B-CU's foe will be familiar

Daytona Beach, FL - Bethune-Cookman and Prairie View A&M have never met before on the football field. But neither team is likely to surprise the other when they open the season Sunday in Orlando in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge.

Mark Orlando, B-CU's offensive coordinator last year, is now the offensive coordinator at Prairie View. And Panthers assistant coach Prince Pearson is a cousin of B-CU head coach Brian Jenkins.

"When you coach long enough you encounter different scenarios," Orlando said. "And meeting your previous school in your first game is a little different."

With Orlando running B-CU's offense last year, the Wildcats were second in Football Championship Subdivision in scoring at 38.17 points per game. While Orlando brings his no-huddle spread offense to the Southwestern Athletic Conference school, B-CU has replaced him with another guru of the spread in former Toledo, Clemson and Syracuse offensive coordinator Rob Spence.

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Big-school transfers prop up Bethune-Cookman WRs

Daytona Beach, FL - Like most coaches, Bethune-Cookman's Brian Jenkins is well aware of the pattern. You start creating depth at a position and recruits begin to look elsewhere. All football players want to get on the field right away and few want to share playing time.

That's why wide receiver has become sort of an enigma at B-CU. The position seems to be a magnet for Football Bowl Subdivision transfers. For the second year in a row, the Wildcats will have four former major-college players sharing the receiver spots with B-CU veterans and freshmen



There is so much receiver talent on the team, you'd think there wouldn't be enough footballs to keep everyone happy. But these players welcome the influx of talent. The more the merrier.

And they may even have a major-college transfer throwing them the ball in former Maryland quarterback Jamarr Robinson, who is battling Jackie Wilson, David Blackwell and freshman Quentin Williams to be the starting signal caller in the Wildcats' no-huddle, spread offense.

The Wildcats will play their first game next Sunday against Prairie View A&M in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando.

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B-CU will return with ‘Speedway Offense,’ strong defense

Daytona Beach, FL - Bethune-Cookman University had a historic 2010 football season. In Head Coach Brian Jenkins’ first year, B-CU was HBCU National Champions, MEAC co-champion, won 10 straight games, hosted a FCS playoff game, and boasted the HBCU Player of the Year. Can the Wildcats do better in 2011?

At a glance

The B-CU Wildcats (10-2, 7-1 in 2010) lost to New Hampshire in the first round of FCS playoffs.
Head Coach Brian Jenkins is 10-2 and going into his second season.

Gone: QB Matt Johnson (2,753 total yards, 21 total TDs), WR JeVaughn Reams (41 receptions/catches, 714 yards, two TDs), RB Androse Bell (426 rush yards, eight TDs) DL Mike London (23 total tackles, one sack), S Aaron Bagsby (37 total tackles, one sack), DB Arkee Smith (33 total tackles, five interceptions).



Back: QB Jackie Wilson (556 total yards, nine total TDs), RB Isidore Jackson (514 rush yards, 11 total TDs); RB Jonathan Moment (six rush TDs); WR Eddie Poole (33 receptions/catches, 550 yards, eight TDs), WR/KR Courtney Keith (763 return yards, three receiving TDs); WR Maurice Francios (249 receiving yards); OL Nattiel Curry, OL Alex Monroe; OL Marquell Rozier; LB Ryan Lewis (81 total tackles, five sacks, four interceptions, three TDs), LB Reggie Sandilands (80 total tackles, four sacks, one interception), DL Ryan Davis (58 total, eight sacks, one interception), DB Mike Williams (44 total tackles, six interceptions); DB Xavier Rhodes (37 total tackles one interception), DT Jimel Farrington (29 total tackles, one sack).

New kids on the block: QB Jamaar Robinson (Maryland); RB Rodney Scott (Mississippi); LB Al-Ghaffar Lane (Rugers); WR Keith Stroud (Rutgers), DL Harold Love III (Feather River CC).

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'Big brother' is watching 'little brother' at B-CU

Daytona Beach, FL -- Ryan Lewis and Reggie Sandilands pack the punch in the middle of Bethune-Cookman's defense, and the rest of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference knows it. Lewis was voted the MEAC's preseason defensive player of the year, and Sandilands joined his Wildcat teammate on the all-conference first team.

The senior linebackers are similar in size, each standing 6-foot-1. Lewis weighs 235 pounds and Sandilands is 240. They are two of a kind in many ways, and they benefit from their similarities.

"Ryan and Reggie complement each other very well. They're almost like twins," B-CU coach Brian Jenkins said in a phone interview Saturday. "They think alike. They chastise each other. They train together. Yet, they compete and challenge each other daily. It's a remarkable relationship really."

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Is Quentin Williams looking at a redshirt at B-CU?

Daytona Beach, FL - When former Jefferson quarterback Quentin Williams signed with Bethune-Cookman last February, one of his many reasons he was going to the Division I-AA school was because he wanted to play early.

The reigning Florida Mr. Football's path to the playing field might have hit a roadblock. A already-present logjam at quarterback just got even more crowded.

Former Maryland starter Jamarr Robinson has reportedly transferred to Bethune-Cookman. Robinson redshirted his first season with the Terps and graduated in four years, meaning he has one more year of eligibility and can play right away because he's transferring to a I-AA school. Robinson started Maryland's first three games last year, but was benched for redshirt freshman Danny O'Brien, who won the starting job.

Williams, who guided Jefferson to a 15-0 record...


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Report: Former ACC QB transfers to Bethune-Cookman

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Bethune-Cookman's answer to replacing Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year Matt Johnson just might be a player who already has graduated from college.

Former University of Maryland starting quarterback Jamarr Robinson has transferred to Bethune-Cookman, according to a report in USA Today.

B-CU head coach Brian Jenkins declined to comment on Robinson, and the News-Journal was not allowed access to Thursday's practice.

Robinson was redshirted his first season at Maryland and graduated within four years, so he has one year of playing eligibility remaining. He can transfer down a level from Maryland, a Football Bowl Subdivision team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, to a Football Championship Subdivision (formally I-AA) school, enroll in a graduate-degree program and play right away, pending NCAA approval. B-CU is an FCS school and offers two graduate-degree programs.

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Honors aside, B-CU's Curry focused on 2011 season

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Natiel Curry is the center of attention for Bethune-Cookman's offense. The senior center is on six preseason All-America teams, including The Sports Network and Lindy's first teams, as well as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference preseason first team.

But it doesn't seem to matter to the 6-foot-2, 300-pound offensive lineman that he's getting all kinds of preseason honors.

"It doesn't really mean anything to me for this season, because it's stuff that people are recognizing me for from last season," Curry said after Friday's morning practice. "Last time I checked, this is a brand new season with some different opponents."

Curry helped B-CU go 10-2, win a share of the MEAC championship and advance to the FCS playoffs last season. That he can keep the preseason accolades from going to his head is just one reason why head coach Brian Jenkins is so happy to have the veteran lead the Wildcats' offensive line.

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B-CU Wildcats to be tested with tough schedule

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - Most people recognize Bethune-Cookman University as a school with a great marching band, "The Marching Wildcats," but this past year, the band might have played second fiddle to the upstart football program.

Under the direction of second-year head coach Brian Jenkins, the Wildcats completed a 10-2 season in 2010, which saw them claim a share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship, advance to their first NCAA FCS playoff appearance since 2003 and take the National Black College Football title.

With the recent success of last season, Jenkins must rely on stellar student athletes including senior linebacker Ryan Lewis. Lewis was named preseason MEAC Defensive "Player of the Year." Lewis has been named to the All-MEAC First Team as well and is joined by offensive linemen Natiel Curry and Alex Monroe, defensive end Ryan Davis, linebacker Reggie Sandilands, and safety Michael Williams.

Named to preseason All-MEAC Second Team are running back Isidore Jackson, wide receiver Eddie Poole, and offensive lineman Marquell Rozier. No defensive players were named.



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Killingsworth-Putney joins Bethune-Cookman Coaching Staff

Daytona Beach, FL - Bethune-Cookman's volleyball team just recorded a big lift in its search for a new assistant coach. Kisya Killingsworth-Putney is joinging the team.

Killingsworth-Putney's accolades are all spikes, each more ball-flattening than the next. At Pine Ridge High, she was named Miss Florida Volleyball in 2003 and led the Panthers to a state tournament berth. At the University of Florida, she was an All SEC player and an All-American.

She played on teams that won the SEC and appeared in the NCAA Regionals all four of her years as a Gator. Killingsworth is of just five players in Gators history with 1,000 kills and 300 blocks in her career. And in the rally era of UF volleyball stats, Killingsworth-Putney is the only player in school history to accumulate 300 blocks and 300 digs, and she finished her career with a school record 65 solo blocks.

Killingsworth-Putney will be rejoining her longtime coaching partner Isaac Raphael, who was hired as the Wildcats' head coach in July.

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