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Augusta, GA - If you drive over near and around Paine College you'll see things are starting to happen. That's a good sign with the new health eduction activities learning center or heal center about to break ground. The new man in charge of the athletic department, Tim Duncan is looking forward to it.
Duncan has been on the job for a couple of months and is getting caught up to speed on everything Paine College athletics. The HEAL center is a big part of it seeing there will be a 2500 seat arena incorporated in it. Duncan also knows there's a few fences to be mended along the way.
"I think my job is to get out in the community and to show we are still a part of the community that Paine College is here, that we're looking to build relationships, if there's relationships to be repaired, we will definitely do that very aggressively and we're excited about the opportunity." said new athletic director Tim Duncan.
Duncan says they hope to break ground in the next 30 days and it'll take 11 months to finish for the center. In the mean time, the basketball team will need a place to play. They finished out this past year at Josey and are working on one location for the entire season.
"Basketball is our revenue generating sport for Paine College so we want...
Montgomery, AL - Officials from Alabama State University announced today the schedule for the 2011 Football Coaches Caravan that runs from July 11 through July 15.
The inaugural caravan, aimed at promoting ASU Athletics and boosting football season ticket sales, will roll through five cities in Alabama and Georgia. ASU athletic director Stacy Danley and head football coach Reggie Barlow will lead the Tour Team during stops in Mobile, Birmingham, Phenix City/Columbus, Ga., Atlanta, and Montgomery. Also traveling on the tour are ASU's associate vice president for Development, Zillah Fluker, and director of Alumni Relations, Cromwell Handy.
“'It's a GREAT time to be a Hornet' is more than just a catch phrase,” Danley said. “The transformation that is taking place on campus directly affects where we are looking to go with ASU Athletics. I am excited to get out and meet with alumni, fans and friends of Alabama State on the caravan.”
The Tour Team will meet alumni, fans and other ASU supporters at various venues during the five-city tour. Danley will provide an overview of the entire Hornet athletics program. The Tour will also showcase the University's Vision 2020 Transformation Plan, construction progress of the new Hornets Football Stadium, the outlook for the upcoming football season, season tickets packages, the Hornet Club and the many new and exciting developments taking place on campus.
Fans will get an insight on the crown jewel of the athletics construction project, the new Alabama State University Football Stadium. Located on campus just off of I-85, the 30,000-seat stadium will feature 20 suites, club and loge seating and will be one of the premier facilities of its size in the nation. Construction is set to be completed in time to host the 2012 Turkey Day Classic.
The Caravan will also allow Hornet fans a chance to get to hear from Coach Barlow and members of his coaching staff as they prepare for the 2011 season. Entering his fifth season as head football coach, Barlow is thrilled to meet with supporters as well.
“I am looking forward to meeting with everyone that stands with ASU,” Barlow said. “I love Alabama State and feel blessed to be at my alma mater during this amazing time of transformation.”
The 2010-2011 ASU Athletic season was arguably the best in school history. A total of five Hornet teams won SWAC divisional, league or tournament titles, helping Alabama State finish second in the Commissioners Cup standings for Best Overall Program in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The ASU football team had a big season in 2010. The Hornets had a pair of three-game winning streaks, posting its highest win total since 2003. They won the Eastern Division Championship for the first time since 2004 and won the State Farm Magic City Classic defeating archrival Alabama A&M.
The following is the official schedule, subject to change: Monday, July 11: Mobile, Ala; 6-8 P.M. Mobile Marriott, 3101 Airport Boulevard, Mobile, Ala. 36606 Tuesday, July 12 – Birmingham, Ala; 6-8 P.M. Birmingham Sheraton, 2101 Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North, Birmingham, Ala. 35203 Wednesday, July 13 – Columbus, Ga; 6-8 P.M. Columbus Double Tree, 5351 Sidney Simmons Boulevard, Columbus, Ga. 31909 Thursday, July 14 – Atlanta, Ga; 7-9 P.M. Stats Restaurant, 300 Marietta St. NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30313 Friday, July 15 – Montgomery, Ala; – 6-8 P.M. Alabama State University Acadome, 1595 Robert C. Hatch Drive, Montgomery, Ala. 36106 By Alabama State University Sports Information
Birmingham, AL - Three years ago, Darieal Wimbley had never heard of lacrosse. Next month, she will head to Howard University in Washington, D.C., on a lacrosse scholarship.
It’s a historic event for the recent Ramsay High School graduate. Wimbley is the first girls athlete from a Birmingham city school to sign an NCAA Division I lacrosse scholarship.
Wimbley has Ramsay assistant principal and lacrosse coach Yancey Williams to thank for her improbable college sports choice. Wimbley had been a member of the Rams’ highly successful basketball program throughout high school. She also played soccer until Williams introduced lacrosse to the students one day during Wimbley’s sophomore year.
"He came to our P.E. class and had a trash can full of (lacrosse) sticks and some balls," Wimbley recalled. "I looked at him and said to myself, ‘What in the world does this man have with him?’ He started talking about lacrosse and we played it in the gym."
It still took some convincing from Williams for the 5-foot-7 Wimbley to join Ramsay’s lacrosse club team that spring.
"I was playing soccer and I didn’t want to play lacrosse," Wimbley said. "He kept asking me, so finally I went out there and fell in love with it.
Crestview, FL - July 1 was a big day for Crestview native and former Baker basketball player B.J. Ellis as he was named an assistant basketball coachat Mississippi Valley State University, a NCAA Division I school in Itta Bena, Miss.
The Delta Devils are best known for football, or at least one football player, Jerry Rice, the National Football League’s all-time leading receiver. That doesn’t mean MVSU doesn’t take basketballseriously.
The Delta Devils are coached by former Kentucky star Sean Woods. And it was one of Woods’ college games that helped fan the fire Ellis has for basketball.
“I’ve always loved basketball,” he said. "And I can remember sitting down and watching the game between Duke and Kentucky (the NCAA tournament East Region finals) when my boss was playing at Kentucky. He hit the floater to put Kentucky up over Duke and then of course Christian Laettner hit the shot in the last second (to give Duke the win).
“It was one of the craziest shots I’ve ever seen in basketball. To think that I would be his assistant, his right-hand man is unbelievable.”
In his own way Ellis has taken a less traveled path from Baker to Mississippi Valley State.
Detroit, MI - Lions senior personnel executive James (Shack) Harris will be inducted into the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame on July 16 in Grambling, La.
Harris, who played quarterback for legendary coach Eddie Robinson, helped Grambling win or share the Southwestern Athletic Conference title in 1965-68 and compiled a 31-9-1 record. In 1969, the Buffalo Bills drafted Harris in the eighth round. In 1974 with the Los Angeles Rams, Harris became the first African-American quarterback to start an NFL conference championship game.
Harris said he was inspired to dream big and play quarterback in 1963, when he watched Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I Have a Dream" speech on television. In a released statement, Harris said playing for Robinson at Grambling was "probably the greatest decision I ever made. Coach Robinson told me, in four years I would play quarterback in the NFL -- and I believed him. And I believed in Martin Luther King's words."
Elizabeth City, N.C. -- Saint Paul’s loss turned out to be Elizabeth City State’s gain as three athletes from the now defunct Tigers athletic program have transferred to ECSU.
Leading the way is women’s basketball guard DeAudra Brown, who was the Lady Tigers’ leading scorer last season.
“I had a couple of offers and ECSU was the first school I went to,” said the rising senior from Rocky Mount. “The environment was good. I met a couple of the players. I had played against them, but didn’t actually know them. They were excited to meet me and the atmosphere was really good. I didn’t feel any bad vibes from anybody that met there. It was an all-around good visit.”
Brown’s move, along with football players John Davis and Patrick Louther, was prompted when Saint Paul’s in a money-saving move, suddenly shut down its athletic program in...
Tickets, which range in price from $10 (students only) to $50, are available for purchase at KSU's Department of Athletics (in Bell Gymnasium) and the Office of Alumni Relations (in Hume Hall). The Circle City Classic is a joint collaboration between Indiana Black Expo. Inc. and the Indiana Sports Corporation. The net proceeds from the Classic help fund scholarships and support youth initiatives for each organization. Since 1984, over 1 million dollars have been awarded to deserving Indiana natives who pursue higher education.
For more information about purchasing Classic tickets, please call 502-597-6011 or visit www.ksuthorobreds.com's Fan Zone. To ensure you are seated with other Thorobred fans, you are encouraged to purchase tickets from KSU.
Savannah, GA -- Nearly a year to the date, Savannah State University broke ground on renovations for T.A. Wright stadium. Now, it's almost done.
SSU Vice President of Student affairs Irvin Clark confirmed a grand opening September 29th. The renovated stadium will include a turf playing field, specialized seating, along with an updated concession stand and press box.
"Everyone is absolutely excited about it," said Clark. "Not only for the faculty, staff, and students that are currently here, but for our incoming class of freshman, they're excited, our parents are excited, and we have a community that is very excited about this project."
For first-year head football coach Steve Davenport, the new stadium brings with it raised expectations.
The University of Arkansas Pine Bluff has issued a press release announcing the selection of current Hampton University athletic director Lonza Hardy, Jr., as the new leader of the Golden Lions athletics department. Mr. Hardy has resigned from the same position at Hampton University, effective September 6. Read it for yourself...
Press Release: UAPB, July 7, 2011
Lonza Hardy, Jr. will resign from his position as athletics director at Hampton University effective September 6, 2011. Hardy, who has held the post since 2007, will become Athletics Director at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
During Hardy's stint at Hampton, the HU athletics program has captured 11 championships, including titles in women's basketball, men's basketball, women's cross country, women's indoor track and field and women's outdoor track and field. The banner year for the program was in 2010-11, when four HU teams captured league titles and both the men's and women's basketball teams earned bids to the NCAA tournament after winning their respective Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournaments.
"We are very privileged to have been able to recruit someone with his qualifications and accomplishments," said Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, Jr., UAPB's chancellor.
In each of Hardy's years at HU, the athletics program captured the Mary McLeod Bethune Trophy, symbolic of having the best overall women's sports program in the MEAC. Last summer, the university's athletics program was ranked as the No.1 athletics program among the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by the Learfield Sports Group, which also ranked the program among the nation's top 150 programs overall. The HU Athletics Hall of Fame was also initiated under Hardy's guidance two years ago.
Hampton University is expected to release a companion announcement today of Hardy's resignation
New Orleans -- Last year at Dillard's athletic leadership training, student-athletes received pictures of what Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championship rings would look like. At this year's training, members of the GCAC championship track and field team will receive the real thing.
The track and field team joins the volleyball team, which already received its rings, as Dillard's first conference championship programs since Hurricane Katrina.Athletic Director Kiki Barnessaid they serve as examples the other athletes can aspire to match.
"Sometimes people need to see tangible things, like they need to see an actual ring," Barnes said. "Well, when our volleyball team won, that particular vision became a reality. So they're going to be walking around campus with rings. It's really going to provide a real-life visual for the other student-athletes who are still hoping and wanting to generate that. It's more of a motivation because it's real now, not paper."
Those teams' success shows the growth the Bleu Devils have experienced since Barnes, also the women's basketball coach, became the interim athletic director in 2006. Barnes had the interim tag removed in 2009 and set out to implement a plan that included hiring staff, increasing scholarships and improving facilities, steps that created a foundation for the program on which to build.
Prairie View, TX - The Prairie View A&M Department of Athletics has announced season ticket information for the 2011-12 athletic campaign. Once again, fans will have a variety of season ticket options to choose from ranging from all-sports to football-only packages.
The Panther Pack ($325) includes admission to all home athletic contests for the year, one ticket each to the Southwest State Fair (Dallas) and Shreveport Football Classics, reserved floor seating for men's and women's basketball games, a complimentary Prairie View A&M athletics gift, tailgate access for home football games (excluding homecoming) and a four-month subscription to Panthervision, Prairie View A&M's new live video stream which will debut in September.
Individuals who select the Purple Pack ($250) will receive admission to all home athletic events, one ticket apiece to the Southwest State Fair and Shreveport Football Classics, assigned basketball seating and tailgate access for home football games (excluding homecoming).
For $200, the Gold Pack allows admission to all home sporting events, one ticket each to the Southwest State Fair and Shreveport Football Classics and tailgate access for home football games (excluding homecoming).
Football fans that purchase the $140 Football package will receive admission to all home football games at Blackshear Field, one ticket each to the Southwest State Fair and Shreveport Football Classics and tailgate access for home football games (excluding homecoming).
The 2011-12 athletic season will be a memorable one as the Panther football team debuts a new head coach in Heish Northern coupled with the women's basketball team coming off an NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Appearance under head coach Toyelle Wilson. The Lady Panther volleyball ranks as one of the elite teams in the SWAC as they're coming off a SWAC West Championship under the guidance of head coach Alicia Pete. The men's basketball team, led by Byron Rimm II, had an impressive recruiting season followed by strong performances from the baseball, bowling, golf, soccer, tennis, track and volleyball teams.
For the second straight year, fans will have the option of purchasing season tickets online at the newly created Panthers Market Place. The link, which is accessible via the Prairie View A&M University website or below, is a one-stop shop that offers everything from the ability to purchase tailgate options and tickets for selected athletic events.
For more information or to place your order for season tickets call (936) 261-9100. A PDF copy of the season ticket brochure is attached and also available for download on the season tickets link via the Prairie View A&M athletic website.
Savannah, GA --Marilynn Suggs, Savannah State University’s first female athletics director, was fired Wednesday after less than seven months on the job.SSU interim president Cheryl Dozierannounced her decision to make a “change in leadership in the athletics department” during an 11:20 a.m. news conference at Tiger Arena. Suggs did not attend.
Dozier appointed SSU men’s basketball head coach Horace Broadnax as interim athletics director.
“As the interim president, I wanted some changes in leadership and this is one of the areas that I wanted to see a change as we move forward in (NCAA) Division I and in the MEAC conference,” Dozier said.
DURHAM, N.C. – In their first season as a full Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) program, North Carolina Central University will tackle a challenging 31-match slate against nine NCAA tournament teams (three Atlantic Sun, one Atlantic 10, four Big South, one Colonial Athletic Association, one PAC 10, three SoCon and one SWAC opponent), including 12 league matches.
In her fifth season as the NCCU head women’s volleyball coach, Georgette Crawford-Crooks releases the 2011 volleyball schedule on Friday, June 29.
“As we continue to strive for Division I excellence, our schedule has to remain competitive and challenging,” said Crawford-Crooks.
NCCU begins the season with three consecutive tournaments, beginning with the fifth annual NCCU Hilton/RTP Invitational on Aug. 26-27 in the McDougald-McLendon Gym. The mighty maroon and gray will host volleyball programs from Campbell, Elon and Florida Gulf Coast.
The Eagles will travel to the nation’s capital for their first appearance at the Georgetown Tournament on Sept. 2-3 in Washington, D.C. NCCU will face Central Connecticut on Sept. 2, and George Washington and UNC Wilmington on Sept. 3.
Daytona Beach, FL - C.J. Reed has played his last basketball game for Bethune-Cookman. The reigning Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year has received his official release from the university, his father and former Wildcats coach Clifford Reed said Wednesday.
Other schools can now contact C.J., and his release essentially opens up a recruiting battle for the former Atlantic High standout.
The rising senior guard -- who averaged 18.8 points and 4.9 assists per game as a junior and led the Wildcats to their best season in 30 years -- received the release letter late Tuesday afternoon, according to Clifford Reed.
"Since the official release Tuesday, we have been in contact with schools in the ACC, Conference USA, Southern Conference, A-Sun and Horizon Conference," Clifford Reed said in a phone interview. "Some teams have shown interest. Some teams have already offered (an athletic scholarship)."
Clifford Reed said C.J. is definitely transferring.
Coach Horace Broadnax named
Interim Athletics Director at SSU
Savannah, GA - Savannah State University President Cheryl Dozier is making a change in leadership in the Athletics Department. Today, Dozier announced the appointment of an interim director of athletics and a national search to select the next SSU athletics director.
“I have appointed Horace Broadnax to serve as interim athletics director,” Dozier said.
“Mr. Broadnax is currently our head basketball coach, a position he has held since coming to SSU in 2005. His proven leadership as director of our successful men’s basketball program and his commitment to team building are assets SSU will need as it begins a national search for a director of athletics. Broadnax brings many years’ experience in Division I athletics as an athlete and coach. He has experience in the NCAA and MEAC to which SSU is currently a provisional member. I am grateful that he has agreed to serve in this interim capacity.”
President Dozier stated “We would like to thank Mrs. Stacey-Suggs for her dedicated commitment to SSU over the past 22 years in several different capacities. Mrs. Suggs served in the position of athletic director for six months, after serving in an interim capacity for a year.
ALBANY, GA — A 10-0 regular season, an SIAC title, a deep run in the D-II playoffs and being named the SBN National Black College Football Championship sure was nice last season for the Albany State football program.
But in 2011, the Rams plan to take it up a notch. With a super-competitive, extremely tough slate of games scheduled for the upcoming season — including at home against rival Valdosta State, a trip to Indiana for the 28th Annual Circle City Classic against Kentucky State and a chance to play in the inaugural SIAC East vs. West Championship game in Atlanta — the Rams hopes their fans are as ready as they are for this year.
And starting today, ticket packages will go on sale for what certainly could be another record-breaking Rams season. Season ticket packages for ASU’s home football games are $70. Tickets for an upcoming classic games — of which ASU will play in four (Circle City Classic, Fountain City Classic, South Georgia Heritage Classic and Music City Classic) — will also go on sale today.
Good for ASU home games only, the season ticket package includes...
DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Eight days after firing men's basketball coach Clifford Reed, Bethune-Cookman elevated assistant head coach Gravelle Craigto acting head coach. Craig, 41, was appointed to the new role Tuesday.
Reed was fired for -- according to his termination letter -- "failure to cooperate and insubordination with respect to the university's investigation into allegations against the university and its men's basketball program."
Reed had been head coach for 10 seasons and directed the program's turnaround to three straight winning seasons. The Wildcats went 21-13 in 2010-11, won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title and received a bid to the National Invitational Tournament to cap the school's most successful season in 30 years.
"We felt that we've been on the right track, and we've accomplished so much, that we decided to continue on with the existing staff," athletic director Lynn Thompson said in a phone interview Tuesday evening. "The program has been working. The elements are still there."
Saint Paul's College produced one NFL player-- DB Greg Toler of the Arizona Cardinals. Greg was
selected in the 2009 NFL draft, 31st pick
4th round, 131st overall. Toler is from
Temple Hills (Prince George's County), Maryland, Northwestern High School.
Lawrenceville, VA -- The grass on the practice field stood knee-high. A hawk that had been perched on the bleachers took flight and plunged in near the 30-yard line.
Nearby, Kevin Grisby waded through the weeds on his last day as St. Paul's College football coach.
Like most coaches and athletes at St. Paul's, Grisby prided himself on doing more with less. He fielded a team with just 7-1/2 scholarships that played home games at a high school stadium. He'd done without an adequate weight room and an air-conditioned office. He'd recruited players to a tiny rural school with a declining enrollment, many of whom came sight unseen based on his promises to their coaches and parents that he'd take care of them.
"If guys actually come to visit," he said, "it's tough to sell the school."
Tallahassee, FL -- 58 days until FAMU opens its season against Fort Valley State and the Rattlers are staying as fit as they can in the summer months.
"Last year at this junction we had 12 athletes here," says director of Strength and Conditioning for FAMU Russell Barbarino. "This year for the first summer session we had 42 guys here. Now that the summer session two has started we have about 75 to 80 athletes because that includes some of the freshmen that are coming on campus."
"They are empowering each other," adds Joe Taylor. "They are there in the numbers."
Four days a week players are lifting and conditioning under their own free will. These workouts are voluntary as coaches can not instruct their players until practice begins.
TUSCALOOSA, AL | Thomas (T.C.) Logan’s last season with the Stillman College football team coincides with Teddy Keaton’s first as the Tigers’ head coach, but they both want the same thing.
Keaton wants to build a winning program at his alma mater. Logan, who’ll be playing for his third head coach in four years, wants to close out his career with a championship.
“I really don’t have specific goals, statistics-wise, of how many catches or how many touchdowns, but I really do want to be an All-American in this game,” said Logan, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound tight end from Gulfport, Miss. “I want to bring home a conference championship because I’m more of a team person, rather an individual stat person.”
Stillman, which won three of its last four games, finished at 3-8 overall and 2-7 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2010. L.C. Cole, the head coach for two seasons, was dismissed and replaced by Keaton, who started coaching as a member of Theophilus Danzy’s staff at Stillman back in 1999.
New York, NY - Jabari Peters is an atypical New York City basketball standout.
He didn’t play AAU basketball until hooking up with New Heights just recently. He found a low-major Division I college that wanted him and didn’t opt for prep school to see if he could do better. He went to Grady, which hasn’t fielded a winning program in more than five years, yet never considered leaving.
“It shows it doesn’t matter where you go, it’s what you do where you are,” the Coney Island native said Monday night, hours after arriving at Texas Southern for summer classes to play for coach Tony Harvey.
Videographer: olabam; Jabari Peters averaged 27.1 points per game and put up 50 points on Brooklyn AA champion Lincoln as shown in this clip.
The reigning regular-season SWAC champions offered Peters a month ago and he signed two weeks later after passing the NCAA Clearinghouse, the result of his strong finish in the classroom.
“I spoke to the coaches and I felt it was a real good fit for me,” the 6-foot-3 shooting guard said. “When they told me I had the opportunity to come here and play right away, that was big. A lot of freshmen don’t get that opportunity. They won the conference last year; that was a big factor in me making my decision.”
GREENVILLE, MS – Second-year Mississippi Valley State University Head Football Coach Karl A. Morgan is a fighter and one who persevered through difficult times his whole life. In that regard, he has a common bond with MVSU.
“The school really needs help from our support groups, alumni, and the community,” said Morgan, a former NFL player and UCLA standout who has more than 20 years of coaching experience. Through a lot of hard-work and fundraising, we were able to raise enough money to get repairs done to the stadium.
“My message to others is to give and donate whatever it is you can,” he said. “I can say Willie Totten and others have been out trying to bring resources back into the university, but it needs to be better. We need for people to give more, the more they give the better things can be.”
Morgan said having additional resources is key to move Valley out of the lower tier. “It is simple as that,” said Morgan. “We need more resources, and that is our biggest problem. Resources are needed and that is number one here at Valley.” Morgan said he is confident that just like in the past, the community will respond and step up to the plate.
Morgan shared his story and his aspirations for MVSU at the Greenville Kiwanis Club meeting Tuesday at the Greenville Golf & Country Club.
SALISBURY, N.C. — By the end of the two-week band camp at Overton Elementary School, Anthony Johnson hopes students walk away with a lifelong love of music. Without music, Johnson said, he wouldn’t be where he is today, working as the school’s technology facilitator.
“I stayed in school because of band,” he said.
Johnson, a Livingstone College marching band alumni, set out to share his love of music with the students at Overton by launching the Mini Funk Factory drumline last November. Since then, the drumline has grown into a full-fledged band with more than 100 instruments including everything from saxophones to trumpets to flutes.
“The kids just kept coming,” he said. “And I believe that if a kid wants to do something at this age you should find a way to make it happen.”
After receiveing donated instruments, Johnson decided it was time to call in some backup. He approached Sidney Sessoms, the band director at Livingstone College, to see if they could form a partnership. “I was all for it, realizing that a lot of the budgets in the public school system have been cut and music programs have taken a hit,” Sessoms said.
Clayton, OH -- Northmont High School grad Aaron Burke has signed to run track and field at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Kentucky.
Burke was a Division I regional qualifier in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter relays as a junior and senior. He owns PR’s of 50.9 in the 400 and 2:01.5 in the 800.
Burke most recently was named Northmont’s athlete of the month for this past May. He’s a 2011 graduate of Northmont.
Lorenzo and Pamela Burke looks on as son, Aaron Burke signs scholarship to run track and field at Kentucky State University, a NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) program.
Clark Francis, (Hoop Scoop) recruiting analyst labeled the recruiting class that Howard men’s basketball coach Kevin Nickelberry signed as a top 40 class.
Washington, D.C. -- Howard men’s basketball coach Kevin Nickelberry was never confident about securing a commitment from Prince Okoroh, the Eleanor Roosevelt forward who Nickelberry felt was good enough to play in the Atlantic 10 Conference and smart enough to thrive in the Ivy League.
As a Gates Millennium Scholar, Okoroh had his choice of schools. Would Okoroh want to suit up for a team that had won just six games this past season? Would he commit to a program whose basketball court was sprinkled with dead spots and whose poorly ventilated locker room was no bigger than a large storage closet?
The answer was yes. And when Okoroh called Nickelberry with the news in mid-April, a few days before he was named MVP of the preliminary game of the Capital Classic, the coach was “astonished,” Okoroh recalled. “He almost didn’t believe me at first. When I told him I was coming, it was almost like he fainted.”
This area’s already competitive college basketball recruiting landscape became more competitive in recent weeks with coaching hires at Maryland, George Washington andGeorge Mason. But an under-the-radar development has been the recruiting by success-starved Howard, which assembled an attention-grabbing class punctuated by Okoroh’s signing.
