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Showing posts with label Prairie View A and M University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prairie View A and M University. Show all posts
Anyone who watched Moses Ellis play for Prairie View A&M over the years, and particularly last year, knows why he's considered one of the top defensive backs in the country.
He led the SWAC and the FCS with eight interceptions and 22 passes defended. In addition, Ellis had 41 total tackles with 28 solos, and was selected to the Walter Camp Foundation Football Championship Subdivision All-American team.
In case you missed Ellis' moves last season, you'll have the chance to see the senior take center stage in the seventh annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney in September at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla, pitting the Prairie View A&M Panthers against the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats.
SHREVEPORT, La. - Prairie View A&M went toe-to-toe with Jackson State in its Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament opener but came undone in the seventh inning en route to a 6-3 loss Wednesday afternoon at Fair Grounds Field.
Jackson State, the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division, scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to erase a one-run deficit and advance to the winner's bracket. Prairie View, seeded third in the Western Division, will face the loser of Wednesday night's matchup between Western top seed Southern and Eastern fourth seed Alabama State at noon Thursday.
The Panthers (24-20) took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth on RBI singles by Giovanni Angel and Evan Richard. Prairie View starter Michael Listi made that lead hold up through the next two innings but ran into trouble in the seventh.
Highlights of the 2011 Prairie View A&M Spring Football Game and interview with head coach Heish Northern after the game. The Panthers wrapped up spring practice on Friday, April 15 with its annual Purple & Gold Game at Blackshear Field in Prairue View, Texas. Log on for more information at www.pvpanthers.com.
Aiken, S.C. - South Aiken High School senior Jonathan Dingle took the next step to continuing his tennis career on Wednesday, signing to play at Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas. Dingle chose the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) institution over Winston-Salem State, North Carolina Central and Florida A&M for the opportunity to compete on a bigger stage.
"The fact that they were a major D-I school and the better chances to win the conference title and make it to the NCAA Tournament," was key, he said.
The Panthers' men's tennis team advanced to the SWAC semifinals this season, and played in last year's NCAA Tournament. Dingle said he was looking forward to the travel arrangements of college tennis.
Prairie View A&M wrapped up its first spring football practice under new coach Heishma Northern with Friday's Purple and Gold game. Northern said the team managed to get out of camp relatively injury-free and achieve a lot of the goals he set at the start.
"I thought we got a lot of keys in and got the guys to understand the new philosophy and the new tempo," Northern said. "I would rate (the camp) as a 'B.' "
One of the biggest competitions in spring practice was the battle for the starting quarterback job. Northern said senior-to-be Jonathan Troast, who started two games last season, will enter fall as the No. 1 quarterback, but Andrew McGlory and Amir Smith aren't that far behind at No. 2.
PVPanthers.com sat down with wide receivers coach Harry Williams and talked about a variety of topics as the Birmingham, Ala. native begins his first year as the team's receivers coach.
A native of Birmingham, Ala. Williams spent the past two seasons as a student assistant with the Panthers while enrolled in the school's engineering program. Williams, who'll graduate in May, was a standout wide receiver at Tuskegee University and was drafted in the seventh round by the New York Jets in 2005. He has also spent time with the Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, Houston Texans and the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.
K.J. Black started his collegiate career with Western Kentucky, he showed promise early but his path eventually brought him to the SWAC and to Prairie View, Texas where he called home while playing for Prairie View A&M, an HBCU team that is up and coming, long improved from its door mat years of ten to fifteen years ago.
Black was a vital contributor to the Panthers and is one of many HBCU athletes who are considered viable draft prospects. Black was the 2009 SWAC Offensive Player of the Year helping lead the Panthers to the 2009 SWAC Championship throwing for 22 touchdowns and only four interceptions his junior year.
Prairie View A&M will feature a new look this season under first year head coach Heishma Northern and new offensive coordinator Mark Orlando, the Panthers will feature an up-tempo fast paced spread offense.
Orlando a Florida State graduate, has worked his way up the coaching ranks. Orlando started out in the high school ranks as he began his career coaching for Lincoln High School in Tallahassee, Florida.
He then coached at Florida A&M for six years helping the team to a Division 1-AA National Championship, Orlando was then offered a position at Tennessee State where coached for another six years including a year at offensive coordinator in his final season with the Tigers.\
Prairie View, TX - Prairie View A&M baseball coach Waskyla Cullivan was accustomed to success while serving as an assistant under Michael Robertson from 2003-08, helping the Panthers make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2006-07.
But when Robertson departed for Texas Southern after the 2008 season, Cullivan was promoted to head coach and proceeded to preside over two of the program’s worst seasons in recent memory.
The Panthers went 21-25 in Cullivan’s first season and followed that up with a dismal 12-35 campaign in 2010. They failed to qualify for the SWAC tournament in both seasons.
Thus, pressure was building on Cullivan to right the ship in 2011.
WACO, TX — Prairie View A&M had some fun at practice this week trying to simulate what it will take to get off a shot against the Big 12 champion Baylor Lady Bears and 6-8 center Brittney Griner. Assistant coach Rob Amboree, who is 6-5, held up a hitting pad to make the Lady Panthers shoot over it.
PVAMU vs. #1 Baylor Time: 7:30 p.m. E.T. TV: ESPN2 Internet: ESPN2 - Click Here
“She alters the game,” first-year Prairie View coach Toyelle Wilson said. “You’ve got to prepare for that.”
Ready or not, 16th-seeded Prairie View will take on No. 1 Baylor on Sunday at 6:40 p.m. in the first round of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament. Going into the unveiling of the bracket earlier this week, Wilson said she was hoping to see her Southwestern Athletic Conference champions matched against a team other than Baylor because of Griner’s potential to make it so difficult to score.
WACO, Texas — Baylor went to the Final Four last season when Brittney Griner was a freshman. This time, the Lady Bears are a No. 1 seed for the first time with freshman starting point guard Odyssey Sims. The Big 12 champions are very good — and still very young.
The 6-foot-8 Griner is among seven sophomores for the Lady Bears (31-2), who open the NCAA tournament against SWAC champion Prairie View (21-11) on Sunday night at home, where they are 19-0 this season.
Brittney Griner has already had an impact on women's basketball like few players before her. The 6-foot-8 Griner can dunk, rebound, block shots and alter games with her imposing presence in the lane. Yet as dominating as she has been in her two seasons for the Baylor Lady Bears, she isn't so sure she has lived up to the billing.
"I don't think I'm as good as what everybody says I am," Griner said. "I think I'm alright."
Baylor has already been to a Final Four with Griner, making it last year when she was a freshman on a team that had lost its top four scorers from the previous season. This year, the Lady Bears were Big 12 regular season and tournament champions and are a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time.
Prairie View A&M’s Toyelle Wilson probably had the toughest act to follow of any first-year women’s basketball coach in the area at the beginning of the season.
Wilson took the reins in May after former coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke stepped down to take the top job at North Carolina-Wilmington. Cooper-Dyke, a Basketball Hall of Famer, went 86-72 in five seasons at Prairie View, leading the Panthers to four postseason appearances, including their first two NCAA Tournament appearances, and three Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles.
Wilson, a former assistant under Cooper-Dyke, had a huge shadow cast over her first season as head coach once athletic director Fred Washington opted to promote her. Some doubted she would be able to duplicate her predecessor’s success.
The Prairie View A&M Panthers’ anxiety over learning their destination in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament disappeared mere minutes into Monday evening’s selection show on ESPN.
Their name appeared underneath first-round opponent and No. 1 seed Baylor on the flat screens at Buffalo Wild Wings in Cypress, and the attendants at the Panthers’ selection show watch party roared in jubilation.
The 16th-seeded Panthers (21-11) will start their NCAA Tournament run against the Bears (31-2) in the Dallas Region at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at the Ferrell Center in Waco. The winner advances to face the victor of Sunday’s earlier matchup between No. 8 seed Houston (26-5) and No. 9 seed West Virginia (23-9).
Baylor is a No. 1 seed for the first time and playing at home to start this year's NCAA women's tournament.
The Big 12 champion Lady Bears (31-2) open this year's tournament Sunday against SWAC champion Prairie View (21-11). If they want to make it to the Final Four for the second year in a row, there is the real possibility that they will have to beat Big 12 runner-up Texas A&M for...
First-Year PVAMU Head Coach Toyelle Wilson wins first SWAC Championship and NCAA Division I Tournament bid.
GARLAND, TX – Once the final buzzer of the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship sounded, Prairie View A&M senior guard Dominique Smith rushed to embrace freshman guard Siarra Soliz and offer some words of encouragement.
“I’m leaving it,” Smith said. “It’s in your hands now.”
If Saturday’s championship against Southern is any indication, Smith and the rest of the seniors can rest assured that the program’s future is in good hands. Soliz scored a game-high 21 points, senior forward Robin Jones hit a go-ahead jumper with 33 seconds remaining, and the second-seeded Panthers closed the game on a 12-0 run to beat top-seeded Southern 48-44 on Saturday at the Special Events Center and capture the program’s third NCAA Tournament bid.
The Panthers (21-11) will appear in the Big Dance for the first time since...
GARLAND, Texas -- The first half of the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship was more than halfway done when Prairie View A&M's cheerleaders came running into the arena. They hustled down a long flight of stairs to reach the floor, then scrambled into position on the baseline.
Just like their team, they showed up late, but made a lot of noise when it mattered most.
Robin Jones made a go-ahead jumper from the foul line with 33.3 seconds left, the pivotal play in a 12-0 closing run that lifted Prairie View to a 48-44 victory and a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The Lady Panthers (21-11) started slowly in both halves, trailing 10-2 shortly before the cheerleaders arrived, then letting a five-point halftime lead get away by giving up the first seven points of the second half. They trailed nearly the rest of the game, and were down 44-36 with 5:13 left, matching their biggest deficit.
A memorable season for the Southern women’s basketball team has ended. Saturday night in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game, the top-seeded Jaguars lost a late eight-point lead and failed to score over the final 5:13, allowing Prairie View to pull ahead for a 48-44 victory here in Garland, Texas.
The Lady Panthers (21-11) earned the SWAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Southern (20-11) is coming home. Athletic Director Greg LaFleur said SU will turn down a bid to the WNIT because of concerns over travel costs.
The Prairie View A&M University Department of Athletics announced its 2011 football schedule today which features a nationally televised opener one of the ESPN family of networks, four football classics in three different states and six games inside the state of Texas.
First-year head coach Heish Northern will make his head coaching debut live on national television (ESPN Family of Networks) as the Panthers open up the season on Sunday, Sept. 4 versus defending Co-MEAC Champion Bethune-Cookman in the seventh annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge in Orlando, Fla. at the Citrus Bowl.
In addition to Northern's debut, the contest promises to be an exciting one as new Prairie View A&M Offensive Coordinator Mark Orlando served in the same capacity on Bethune Cookman's staff in 2010.
To accommodate the MEAC/SWAC Challenge, the 27th edition of the State Farm Labor Day Classic versus SWAC rival Texas Southern will take place on Saturday, Sept. 10 in Houston. On Sept. 17, the Panthers will begin a string of consecutive home games at Blackshear Field as they take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff followed by Mississippi Valley State on Saturday, Sept. 24.
After a series of home games in September, the Panthers will live out of their suitcases in the month of October with four games on the road. The annual Southwest State Fair Classic will open the month as the Panthers will take on Grambling State at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas on Oct. 1. This year's classic should live up to the billing as Northern served as an assistant under new Grambling State head coach Doug Williams for a total of seven years, including six at Grambling State.
On Oct. 8, Northern once again walks onto familiar territory as the Panthers travel to his hometown of Baton Rouge, La. and alma mater for a huge matchup versus Southern University. While the matchup will be extra special for Northern, several of his staff members will be fired up for the contest as they also have ties to both Southern and the city of Baton Rouge.
Following the Southern contest, Prairie View A&M travels to Montgomery, Ala. to square off against Alabama State on Oct. 15 and will have its first open weekend on Oct. 22. The second annual Shreveport Classic will close out the month as the Panthers will meet Jackson State in this year's edition on Oct. 29 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La.
For the first time since 1976, Prairie View A&M will face off against Texas State at Bobcat Stadium in San Marcos, Texas on Nov. 5. The following weekend on Nov. 12, Prairie View A&M travels to Alcorn State, Miss. for a matchup at Alcorn State which recently hired Melvin Spears as its new coach. Northern and Spears both worked together at Grambling State from 1998 to 2004.
The 2011 regular season campaign concludes on Saturday, Nov. 19 as the university will hold its annual homecoming game versus Alabama A&M at Blackshear Field.
GARLAND – Prairie View A&M had a comeback in its sights after pulling within three points of Jackson State with nine minutes left in Wednesday’s Southwestern Athletic Conference tournament first-round matchup. And then suddenly, the Panthers went ice cold.
The seventh-seeded Prairie View men made just one field goal over the final 9:08 against No. 2 seed Jackson State, ending their season with a 50-38 loss at the Special Events Center.
The Panthers (10-22) shot only 31 percent and hit only two of 13 3-pointers. Prairie View fell behind 30-21 at the start of the second half, but quickly closed the gap, pulling within 38-35 on a layup by Duwan Kornegay at the 9:08 mark.
GARLAND, Texas – Prairie View A&M was challenged by Jackson State in the first round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference women’s tournament but held on for a 56-40 win Wednesday morning at the Special Events Center.
Dominique Smith scored a game-high 17 points, and Siarra Soliz had 15 points to help the second-seeded Panthers (19-11) advance to Friday's SWAC semifinals, where they’ll face the winner of the matchup between No. 3 seed Alcorn State and No. 6 Grambling State. Robin Jones also had a monster game for Prairie View, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds, five blocks and three steals.
She spent five seasons at Prairie View A&M - which had lost at least 20 games 12 times in the 15 years before her arrival - and won or shared three straight Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles while taking the Panthers to NCAA tournaments in 2007 and '09.
"I felt like, being in the SWAC, no matter what we did, no matter who we played in the (nonconference schedule), we were always going to get that 16th seed and always be seeded against a No. 1,'' she said. "Because our RPI is so good (in the Colonial Athletic Association), I really felt like being in the CAA would give us an opportunity to legitimately fight for a title.''
TOWSON, Md. -- As Cynthia Cooper-Dyke turned to walk out a side door of the Towson Center to board the team bus for a seven-hour ride in the middle of the night back to Wilmington, N.C., it was gently brought to her attention that she had broken yet another clipboard in that night's game in frustration over her team's play.
"How many is that this year?" asked Cooper-Dyke. "Five," answered an assistant coach. There are three things that make that situation pregnant with irony. First, UNC-Wilmington, where Cooper-Dyke is in her first season as head coach, had just beaten Towson by 29.
Second, the win moved the Seahawks to a 21-6 overall record and to 13-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association, keeping them in contention for an at-large NCAA tournament bid.
JACKSON, Miss. – Jackson State University Interim Athletics Director Robert Walker announced that the university has terminated second-year JSU Assistant Baseball Coach Kevin Whiteside. The termination follows an on-field altercation on Saturday, Feb. 19 which involved a student athlete from an opposing team.
Birmingham, Ala. (Feb. 21, 2011) - The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced today that four student-athletes and one assistant coach have been suspended for their participation in an on-field altercation Saturday, February 19 between the Jackson State and Prairie View A&M baseball teams. Each of the five individuals were ejected from Saturday’s game and per NCAA rules on fighting ejections, will serve a mandatory suspension without appeal.
Jackson State assistant coach Kevin Whiteside has been suspended by the league for six games and fined $2,000.00 for his involvement in the altercation.
Two Jackson State players, Kendall Logan and Marshum Hall, have been suspended for three games, and the university fined $1,000.00 for their involvement in the altercation.
Two Prairie View A&M players, Evan Richard and Andre Oliver, have been suspended for three games, and the university fined $1,000.00 for their involvement in the altercation.
The actions taken by each individual were in direct violation of the league’s policy prohibiting coaches and student-athletes from displaying unsportsmanlike behavior, which is subject to the league’s Schedule of Penalties approved by the SWAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors.
“The Southwestern Athletic Conference holds its coaches and student-athletes to a high standard, and we expect sportsmanship between our member institutions to be a high priority,” SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said. “Two of our baseball teams, while representing their respective universities, displayed completely unacceptable behavior. The integrity and reputation of the Southwestern Athletic Conference is too important to condone these actions.”
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Prairie View A&M bowling team returned to the lanes this past weekend and put forth a strong showing as they finished second in the FAMU Classic.
Prairie View A&M jumped out to a 4-1 record in Baker Set after the first day of tournament play as they beat Alabama State (702-600), Jackson State (720-664), Florida A&M (692-641) and Florida State (729-696). Their lone loss came at the hands of Sam Houston State as the No. 5 ranked team in the nation defeated them 674 to 629.
After a solid opening day, day two wasn’t as successful for the Lady Panthers in team format as they began with a heartbreaking two-pin loss to Sam Houston State (918-916). The Lady Panthers bounced back with wins over Alabama State (880-736) and FAMU (789-786) before dropping the last two matches to Florida State (1001-837) and Jackson State (822-773) for a 2-3 mark.
Going into the third and final day of competition, the Lady Panthers were seeded second overall and began bracket competition against top-seeded Sam Houston State. Playing in a 4-of-7 Baker format, the Lady Panthers fell 4-2 to SHSU and dropped into the loser’s bracket. Prairie View A&M bounced back and knocked off FAMU 4-2 and advanced to the championship match versus Sam Houston State once again. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers couldn’t overcome their nemesis as SHSU defeated them 4-2 to win the championship.
Finally, somebody found a more entertaining use for Cowboys Stadium's gigantic video board than punting footballs into it.
The Black Eyed Peas, who were lowered onto the Super Bowl stage from the massive HD scoreboard, delivered a 15-minute halftime performance layered with spectacle and studded with guest stars. The Peas are frequently derided for being pop music aimed at the lowest common denominator -- and make no mistake: the songs comprising the set list were not artistic gems -- but the quartet did exactly what a Super Bowl halftime show should -- it entertained.
The setlist spanned most of BEP's more recent career; current hits like "The Time (Dirty Bit)" were blended with older hits like "Pump It" (which featured the Prairie View A&M University marching band).
ARLINGTON, TX — One should never expect art during a Super Bowl halftime show. A barely 15-minute mini-concert in the middle of a football field surrounded by the cacophonous spectacle of a gargantuan, glass-and-metal stadium is not the ideal setting for musical revelations.
So anybody complaining about the Black Eyed Peas’ 13-minute gig Sunday night sandwiched between the two halves of the biggest sporting event in the country needs to realize that will.i.am, Fergie , Apl.de.ap and Taboo dished out exactly what made them famous in the first place.
That field was mighty busy during the show, what with the 60 members of the Prairie View A&M University Marching Storm marching banddoing its thing and a slew of dancers on the platform with the Peas as well as on the surrounding Astro turf.
Super Bowl XLV will be much more than a high-profile football game in Texas for PVAMU alumnus and Fort Worth native Jimmy R.O. Smith. The 2003 graduate will have a hand in choreographing the event’s half-time show.
Smith will assist in orchestrating the show, which will be headlined by the Black Eyed Peas. Smith’s close proximity to the production has also opened the door for 60 members of the PVAMU Marching Band to participate in the show.
I was asked by a friend and a driving force in the industry, Fatima Robinson, to assist her with this elaborate piece of work that I feel could possibly be my largest one to date,” Smith said. “She hired me earlier in my career as a member of Eddie Murphy's band in feature film ‘Dreamgirls’ and now she’s bringing me on to assist her in one of her largest projects.”
Smith credits his years at PVAMU in helping him to shape his character. After serving as drum major in the PVAMU’s award-winning Marching Storm, he ventured to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of a career in entertainment. Fast forward and Smith has choreographed, danced and produced alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. He has appeared in major motion pictures such as “Stomp the Yard” and “Burlesque” and has toured with top notch artists like Keri Hilson, Jennifer Lopez and Fergie.
A total of 20 student-athletes have signed national letters of intent to play football for Prairie View A&M University on Wednesday.
“Recruiting has gone well as we’ve met our critical needs,” said first-year head coach Heishma Northern. “I’m happy with our assistant coaches for going out and doing their due diligence as they did a fine job of keeping our class intact after the coaching change.”
Northern also mentioned the difference in recruiting as a head coach for the first time compared to being a coordinator.
“One of the first things that stood out was that I had to make the sales pitch of what myself and the program is going to do for the kids,” he said. “As a coordinator, my biggest thing was bringing players to the table and letting Coach Frazier decide but now I had to make the ultimate decision on whether we’re going to offer a particular kid and decide if the scholarship was going to be a full, partial or walk-on opportunity. I had to make some tough decisions regarding that situation but that comes with the territory of being a head coach.”
Anyone who watched Moses Ellis play for Prairie View A&M over the years, and particularly last year, knows why he's considered one of the top defensive backs in the country. 
