Super Bowl XLIII: Bethune-Cookman Band to get 6 minutes of fame

DAYTONA BEACH -- Twenty-three minutes before kickoff Sunday at the Super Bowl, members of the Bethune-Cookman Marching Wildcats will be doing their thing. They get six minutes -- a performance condensed by about half -- to leave their mark on the celebrities and flashing bulbs at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium. Director Donovan Wells told the band it appears unlikely the show will be aired on NBC's pregame.

With NBC selling 30-second spots to advertisers for $3 million, even any exposure for this historically black university could be incalculable. Band members, though, were holding on to a four-letter word after practice. "Keep hope alive," Darius Hatcher said. "Maybe we'll get a clip," Kourtney Lewis added.



THE PREPARATION

Even still, Wells is sure the 320 musicians and dancers won't be star-struck. He's making sure with some 15 hours of practice in advance of the big six minutes. For about two hours Tuesday, band members played with precision, sprinted, marched and danced their routines over and over in search of perfection.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Q-and-A with Marching Wildcat Jared Brown

Super Bowl: Hometowns of Boldin, Holmes falling victim to economy, violence

PAHOKEE, Fla. -- This is not a happy story. Maybe you heard otherwise, but if you did, you heard wrong. This story isn't happy. Dead teenagers don't giggle.

This story is about the two star receivers in Super Bowl XLIII who clawed their way out of the same nook of Florida, the Cardinals' Anquan Boldin and the Steelers' Santonio Holmes, but it's also about the death and destruction they left behind. People are dying. Towns are dying. So don't believe a damn thing you've heard about the reunion of Boldin and Holmes in this Super Bowl. Not if all you've heard is hokey happiness. Because this story isn't hokey. It isn't happy.

"Kids are getting killed," Holmes says. Yes they are. "Our towns ... they're in trouble," Boldin says. Yes they are. This isn't a happy story. But it should be.

Going home

On a per capita basis, no town in the United States has better football than Pahokee. Pahokee High has been to six straight state championship games, and won five. Pahokee products are all over college football, including Wake Forest All-American cornerback Alphonso Smith and starting defensive back Janoris Jenkins of national champion Florida. Pahokee has sent more than a dozen players to the NFL, a statistically staggering feat for a city of 6,000.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Video: Obama Says He's Rooting for the Steelers
On the NFL: Outcome could well be in Fitzgerald's hands
The few, the proud, the Cardinals fans
It's stability vs. futility in the Super Bowl
"Beyond-average" Cardinals do not belong in Super Bowl
Why Tomlin? 'He was going to be a terrific coach'

Alcorn State Names Interim Head Coach

By Alcorn State Media Relations

President George E. Ross has announced that Earnest Collins, Jr. is the Interim Head Football Coach. Coach Collins assumed his duties on January 29, 2009.

"We are pleased to have Coach Collins serve in this capacity. He is an exceptional leader, he’s student-athlete centered, and possess the knowledge base to lead our football program in a positive direction. The respect and support this young man has garnered from the ASU community is tremendous," says President Ross.

As Interim Head Football Coach, Collins will operate with all the responsibilities and authority of the head coach. "I want to thank Dr. Ross for the opportunity to become the Interim Head Football Coach. I believed when I came here that we were going to take this program to new heights, and that is still our plan."

Coach Collins brings over 13 years of coaching and teaching experience in athletics. He entered his first season as Defensive Coordinator/Associate Head Coach at Alcorn State University last year. Prior to joining the Braves’ staff, Coach Collins spent a year coaching the Secondary for the University of Central Florida, where the Knights ranked 3rd in the C-USA defensive statistics.

Coach Collins began his collegiate coaching career at Northwest Missouri State University as a Secondary/Assistant Special Teams Coach from 1996-1999. During those three seasons with the Bearcats, they won two NCAA Division II National Champions 1998, 1999. After leaving Northwest Missouri, he returned to his alma mater, the University of Northern Colorado as the Coordinator-Secondary/Special Teams, Strength and Conditioning during 1999-2003. While there, he helped to shape a defense that was ranked nationally from 2000-2003.

When Coach Collins departed from the Bears, he became a part of the Jayhawks coaching staff. From 2003-06, he served in the capacity of the Special Teams and Cornerbacks Coach. During his tenure there, he organized the "Character First" and "Mentors" programs. Also, the Jayhawks’ defense was ranked 3rd in the Big12 and 20th in the nation.

Coach Collins began his collegiate playing career at the University of Northern Colorado 1991-94, as a defensive back and punt returner. He earned All-North Central Conference honors following his senior year. He currently holds the Northern Colorado records for career (967) and season (497) punt return yards.

Coach Collins received his B.A. in Kinesiology (Physical Education) from University of Northern Colorado. In 2000, he received his M.S. in Athletic Administration from Northwest Missouri State University.

He is a member of the NCAA Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee. Collins’ professional memberships include the Black Coaches Association and the American Football Coaches Association.

He is married to Tabatha, and they have two daughters, Tayler and Marci.

FAMU bowling overcoming adversity to roll to second in MEAC

Jazmin Bingham was looking so much to the start of the bowling season with FAMU's team. She was finally going to get a chance to rejoin her former high school teammate Nina Gilbert on a college team. Then, the news came last summer that left Bingham numb. Gilbert had lost her life in an automobile accident. "I lost a teammate and I lost a friend," said Bingham, who played with Gilbert at Gwendolyn Brooks Preparatory High School in Chicago. "She was always very high-spirited and always looked out for me. It was sad. It was devastating to lose somebody like that."

The entire FAMU team was devastated, then just two months into the season more adversity came. Their assistant coach Paul Williams died unexpectedly; just a few weeks after the team had undergone a head-coaching change. But through their misfortune, the Rattlers found inspiration to roll to a second-place tie in the Southern Division of the MEAC. That secured a berth for FAMU in the conference championship as one of eight teams that qualified.

Photo Gallery: FAMU Bowling Team Practices

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Mistakes hinder FAMU women
FAMU's Okeafor earns All-America honor
Financial audit clean for second straight year at Florida A&M

N.C. A&T's Lee: We're selling a brand-new era

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Alonzo Lee's first two weeks as N.C. A&T's new head coach have been anything but quiet. Lee was introduced Jan. 16 and immediately met with recruits and current players while trying to fill out the rest of his coaching staff. Between meeting with recruits and trying to find a house in Greensboro, Lee sat down with the News & Record to talk about myriad issues surrounding Aggie football, next week's national signing day, A&T's recruiting budget and how long he thinks it will take to turn around a program that has lost 36 of its last 39 games:

Let's talk about recruiting. How much of a handicap is it when it's just you and two other coaches out there talking to players?

It's very much a handicap, but it's the way you look at things. It's definitely an uphill battle. You would love to have your entire staff, but I can't count anything that's not there.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

READ RELATED ARTICLES:
Memo to Al and Jesse: get a job
Game Notes: Howard vs. NCAT
Aggies batter rams before dogbite
North Atlanta QB has picked school, but not telling anybody

Tough non-conference benefits Prairie View women

Prairie View A&M women's basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke's philosophy has been to take life a game at a time.With a 6-1 record in Southwestern Athletic Conference play, life has been pretty good for the Lady Panthers, who host Alabama State Saturday afternoon (5:30 p.m.). The two-time defending conference champs have ripped off five straight wins since a 63-58 loss to Southern Jan. 5 and are reaping the benefits of a daunting non-conference schedule.

"Our biggest concern is that we don't want to peak too soon," said Cooper-Dyke. "We know everyone has been the aggressor against us, and that's something we need to change. We've worked on that in practice, so now we have to be able to turn the tables against our opponents." The Lady Panthers had their mettle tested in an 83-77 overtime win at Arkansas-Pine Bluff Monday, where Prairie View had to overcome a 17-point deficit with 12 minutes left. In Cooper-Dyke's eyes, the rally could serve as a turning point for the team.

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.

Doing his best to make NSU the best it can be

Marty Miller does his best thinking while tooling around in his little red Corvette. In those moments, Norfolk State's athletic director imagines a dynamic future in which the Spartans dominate the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Miller believes 2009 will be the football team's best season since joining Division I in 1997. Men's and women's basketball - both under upstart coaches - are two to three years away from separating themselves from the rest of the conference, he assures.

If NSU's major sports programs follow his lofty time line, it will largely be due to Miller's commitment to the program, which he took over on an interim basis in December 2004. He fashions himself a winner, and he has high expectations for the future. Whether it's Scrabble or any game the Spartans are involved in, Miller hates to lose - one reason the former Army lieutenant coached the Spartans' baseball team to 700 victories. "I'm always competing in everything I do," Miller says. "I wonder how I got to this point in life. But I'm like that at everything I do. In life, I want to be the best."

His wife of 35 years - and mother to their son, 33-year-old Marty Eric - confirms that. "He would come home after coaching, and I knew when he walked in the door whether he won or lost," Liz Miller says. "It's always been about NSU for him. "NSU is the other woman in my life."

CONTINUE READING, CLICK BLOG TITLE.