HU Pirates, coach again adjusting

This week, the Daily Press takes a look at a few spring questions facing local and state football programs. Today, Hampton University.

1Will new coach Donovan Rose improve on predecessor Jerry Holmes' 6-5 record?

On paper, it's possible. The Pirates have plenty of experience back on both sides of the ball and get 2008 MEAC champion South Carolina State at home. But HU got off to a quick 5-1 start in Holmes' only season as head coach before losing four of its last five games in a head-scratching implosion.

2How is Rose adjusting to his new job?

Rose, the Pirates' defensive coordinator last season after 17 years as their secondary coach, ascended abruptly to the top job when Holmes and Hampton parted ways in January. A week into spring practice, he's focusing on more details than ever before, monitoring players' on- and off-field actions. "You put in a lot of time and you want to make sure that everything is right," Rose said. "When you're in this position and you see it — I don't think, as a whole, coaches get enough credit, because they're the ones that do all the work."

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UMES and DSU makes NCAA 2009 National Collegiate Bowling Championship Field

A Historic First: Two MEAC teams in NCAA Women Championship Bowling Field of Eight

INDIANAPOLIS - The eight-team field competing for the 2009 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship was announced today by the NCAA Women's Bowling Committee. The field includes the following teams, all selected at large:

Arkansas State University
University of Central Missouri
Delaware State University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
University of Maryland, Eastern Shore
University of Nebraska, Lincoln
New Jersey City University
Vanderbilt University

Competition begins with a qualifying round in which each team bowls four five-person regular team games and five four-game Baker matches. Total pinfall during the qualifying round determines each team's seed in bracket play. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. The fifth Baker match serves as the position round. The pinfall from the position round serves as a tiebreaker, if necessary.

Based on the qualifying round, teams are placed in two four-team double-elimination brackets. Teams compete against each other in a best-of-seven games Baker match. Ties within a Baker game will be decided by another full Baker game. During bracket play, the higher seed receives starting lane preference for the first game of the match, the seventh game of the match and any tie-breaker game that must be played.

The Detroit Metro Sports Commission and the University of Detroit Mercy will host the championship, which will be held April 9-11 at Super Bowl Lanes in Canton, Michigan. Tickets can be purchased by calling 734/459-6070 prior to the championship.

The University of Maryland, Eastern Shore sport a 115-39 record, the second best in the country. The Lady Hawks defeated Arkansas State University, 4-2, to capture the 2008 NCAA National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship at Thunder Alley in Omaha, Nebraska. The win marked Maryland-Eastern Shore's first women's bowling national championship and first NCAA national title in any sport in the institution's history. The victory also made Lady Hawks' head coach Sharon Brummell the first woman and first African-American to lead a team to the title since the NCAA established the championship in 2004.

This is DSU's first trip while UMES, Nebraska, Central Missouri and New Jersey City are all making their sixth trip. Delaware State is ranked 4th in the country and have earned a bid for the first time in the 10-year history of the team.

“This is such a thrill for the team and the university,” said Delaware State second-year head coach Kim Terrell-Kearney, who has led the Hornets to a 117-36 overall record this season. The Hornets are 25-18 this season versus the other tournament teams with wins over No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 2 Nebraska.

For more information about the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship, log on to http://www.ncaa.com/ .

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ASU football: Players, new coaches coming together, Barlow says

Spring practices at Alabama State so far have been an odd sort of meet-and-greet. For the third straight year, sweeping coaching changes in the off-season have left the players and coaches using the early portions of spring camp as a time to get acquainted with one another. This year, new faces in the Hornets' camp include two coordinators, an offensive line coach, a running backs coach, a receivers coach and a linebackers coach. All of the new personalities and new coaching styles made the first practices a little clunky.

But head coach Reggie Barlow feels like things are moving along. "It's been different -- lot of new guys out there -- and it's taking some time for everyone to get used to one another," Barlow said. "But I think the guys are responding well to the new coaches. It's going pretty good, actually."

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Former star Moton becomes NCCU's coach

DURHAM -- LeVelle Moton described the past month as a bit "overwhelming." Two weeks ago, his wife gave birth to their first child and on Wednesday officials at N.C. Central appointed him as the Eagles' 17th basketball coach -- his first NCAA Division I head-coaching position.

"I really have to pinch myself," said Moton, the former Enloe High standout who later was a star guard for the Eagles. "March 2009 will be a month and year I will always remember. With the birth of my firstborn and just the opportunity to come back home and be the coach of my alma mater. ... This university was my father, it's a culture, it raised me. ... I owe this university an awful lot."

Moton, who is third on the Eagles' career scoring list (1,714 points), was a shooting guard from 1992 to 1996. He helped the team win an NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional title in 1993.

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SU’s Chatman getting reps at strong safety

Gary Chatman is nobody’s bum. At 6-foot-3 and a shade under 220 pounds, he looks more like a smooth-sailing missile than a rumbling, rolling fire hydrant. He is the kind of rare athlete who’s well-suited to not only play the drop linebacker position at Southern, but excel at it. Chatman had 57 tackles last year, 11 of them behind the line of scrimmage in playing one of the most important positions.

Yet as the Jaguars wrapped up their second week of spring football practice, Chatman ran with the second-team defense. On purpose. Spring practice is often a time for experiments, grand and small — and for now, Chatman is practicing as a strong safety. “I’m still trying to get the feel for it,” he said. “But it’s coming along all right.”

From the first day of this offseason, SU coach Pete Richardson said he wanted to look at Chatman in a different role. And as Richardson noted, there really aren’t many differences between Southern’s strong safety and drop linebacker. “He’s struggling with the instincts of playing two different positions, even if they’re similar,” Richardson said. “The more he goes through it, the better he’ll get at it.”
The move is something of a risk, but it’s not really a risk.

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SSU starts spring drills down one

Offensive coordinator Alan Hall accepts post at Winston-Salem State

Savannah State's football team began spring practice Tuesday without an offensive coordinator. Alan Hall resigned Monday after one season to take the same position at Winston-Salem (N.C.) State, a historically black college and member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. "It's tough when you get close to your kids, but that's the business side of it," Hall said Tuesday night via cell phone as he drove to Winston-Salem, N.C. "It's a move I felt I needed to make, professionally. I'm looking to be a head coach, and I need to put myself in a position to make that happen.

"(WSSU) is where Savannah State is working to be at in the coming years. (WSSU) is in its infancy in the MEAC, but they're a larger school with twice as many students, so they've got a larger revenue stream." Hall, who turned 36 last Tuesday, also served as SSU's quarterbacks coach. He came to SSU from East Mississippi Community College, where he served as offensive coordinator for two years.

WSSU offensive coordinator, Alan Hall

"Your window in coaching doesn't stay open very long," said Hall, a member of the Miami Hurricanes' 1991 national championship team and a backup to Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Gino Torretta. "It was a tough decision. I got the call (from WSSU) Sunday night. It was so close to the start of spring (practice) that I felt bad about the timing. But you don't get that call very often, and it was the time to strike."

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Delaware State Bowling Team Takes MEAC Title

Dover, DE-- The Delaware State bowling team is the new Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion. The Hornets defeated surprising Florida A&M four-games-to-none to capture the first MEAC title in team history this afternoon at Gate City Lanes in Greensboro, N.C., outscoring the Rattlers 792-to-706 in the four games.

DSU was undefeated in four Baker matches the last two days to claim the title. Florida A&M upset Maryland-Eastern Shore (UMES) this morning to advance to the championship round. UMES, the defending NCAA champion, had won the previous three conference titles. "This is a great achievement for our team and the university," said Delaware State second-year head coach Kim Terrell-Kearney. "Our girls have worked so hard all season, and its great to be rewarded with a conference championship. The MEAC is well respected in women's bowling, so winning the championship means so much to our program. Winning the conference and earning a NCAA Tournament bid were among our top goals this season."

Although there are no automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, the Hornets are among the favorites to reach the eight-team tourney for the first time is team history. The NCAA will announce its tournament selections on Wednesday (Mar. 25) at 5:00 pm. The 2009 NCAA Women's Bowling Tournament is set for April 8-11 in Detroit, Michigan.

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