Cooper-Dyke building UNC Wilmington into a winner

Cynthia Cooper-Dyke Photo Album

Excerpt:

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.''

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Cooper-Dyke Bringing Hall of Fame style, Broken Clipboards to UNC-Wilmington

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.

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Spears hires Green, Brown leaves Alcorn

Vyron Brown, recently tabbed by Spears as the Braves’ new offensive coordinator, has left Alcorn and will be returning to Grambling State to be with newly named coach Doug Williams.

LORMAN, MS — Alcorn State head football coach Melvin Spears has hired 2002 Alcorn State graduate Louis Green as the linebacker and special teams coach.

Green played for Alcorn coach Johnny Thomas from 1998-2002 as a linebacker. He played high school football at Jefferson County High and lettered in track and field and basketball as well.

After finishing at Alcorn, he played in the National Football League for the Baltimore Ravens and the Denver Broncos. He was with the Broncos from 2004-2009 when he was a linebacker and also played on special teams. He won the Ed Black Courage Award while with the Broncos and was in the National Youth Program at Alcorn for four years.

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Pep band, students and alumni resurrect a UMES tradition

PRINCESS ANNE, MD -- The once popular UMES Homecoming Parade that had disappeared during the past few decades will be resurrected this Saturday featuring the campus' new pep band.



University officials originally planned to keep the parade small and limited to campus, but recently changed the route to go through downtown Princess Anne after student and alumni groups signed up to participate, said Kimberly Dumpson, director of Alumni Affairs and planned giving at the university.



"The parade has taken on a whole new life," she said. "It's really turned into something bigger than what we thought."



At the center will be the pep band, which will turn into a marching band for the occasion.

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S.C. State's Buddy Pough Talks Recruiting and 2011

Orangeburg, S.C.-- On National Signing Day, while all the buzz was about the eventual announcement of Jadeveon Clowney and Clemson's late rally, South Carolina State was putting together a class ranked first in the MEAC.

Head coach Buddy Pough, who is entering his 10th season at his alma mater, says the Bulldogs' streak of three straight years in the post-season made quite an impression on the prospects. Pough says the good news for his program is that he may not have to rely on those newcomers this season, a sign that recruiting has been going well even before this year.



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Mississippi Valley State Announces 2011 Football Schedule

ITTA BENA, MS - The Mississippi Valley State Department of Athletics has announced its 2011 football schedule. The 2011 slate of contests includes facing non-conference institution South Alabama along with the other nine members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The season opener for the Delta Devils will be on September 3 when MVSU hosts the Hornets of Alabama State. After on open week, MVSU will take on in-state rival Alcorn State (Sept. 17) followed by 2009 conference champion Prairie View A&M (Sept. 24).

The month of October will see MVSU host Southern (Oct. 1), travel to Alabama A&M (Oct. 8), host Jackson State (Oct. 15), travel to Grambling State (Oct. 22) and host 2010 SWAC champion Texas Southern (Oct. 29). The game against the TSU Tigers will be the highlight of Homecoming 2011.

The month of November will see MVSU travel to Mobile, Alabama to face the Jaguars of South Alabama on a Thursday night contest on November 3. The game will be the first time the Jaguars will take on a member of the SWAC in football. The regular season concludes as the Delta Devils host conference rival Arkansas-Pine Bluff on November 12.

Delta Devils 2011 Football Schedule
Date  Game   Location    Time

September
3 Alabama State Itta Bena, Miss. Rice-Totten Stadium 5pm
10 OPEN
17 @ Alcorn State Alcorn State, Miss. Jack Spinks Stadium TBA
24 @ Prairie View A&M Prairie View, Texas Blackshear Stadium TBA

October
1 Southern Itta Bena, Miss. Rice-Totten Stadium 2pm
8 @ Alabama A&M Huntsville, Ala. Louis Crews Stadium 1pm
15 Jackson State Itta Bena, Miss. Rice-Totten Stadium 2pm
22 @ Grambling State Grambling, La. Robinson Stadium 2pm
29 Texas Southern (Homecoming 2011) Itta Bena, Miss. Rice-Totten Stadium 2pm

November
3 (Thu.) @ South Alabama Mobile, Ala. Ladd-Peebles Stadium TBA
12 Arkansas-Pine Bluff Itta Bena, Miss. Rice-Totten Stadium 1pm

December
10 SWAC Football Championship 2011 Birmingham, Ala. Legion Field 1pm

Courtesy Mississippi Valley State University Media Relations

Minus leads Stillman past Albany State

ALBANY, GA - Sharod Minus scored 27 points off the bench for the Stillman College Tigers, including 7-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, in a 90-71 victory Thursday night over Albany State in men's basketball action.

Rakee Anderson added 18 points and six assists for the Tigers, while LaJay Sears scored 17 with four assists. Lee Riley contributed 10 points and six rebounds.

Albany State was led by Oscar Morris with 16 points. Stillman (20-5, 19-4 SIAC) plays at Tuskegee at 3 p.m. Saturday.

ASU men's, women's hoops close regular season on losing note

ALBANY, Ga. — And that’s why you don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

Just ask the Albany State women’s basketball team, which thought it would lock up the No.1 seed in next week’s SIAC Tournament with a win against Stillman on Thursday, but after a second-half meltdown — ending in a 75-67 loss — all the Lady Rams can now look forward to is the No. 2 seed.

“We had a lack of execution on offense (Thursday night),” said Lady Rams coach Robert Skinner, whose team watched Stillman blow the lid off a game that was all knotted up at 29-29 at halftime. “We just didn’t play good defensively."

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BCU Announces 2011 Football Schedule

Wildcats Open With MEAC/SWAC Challenge; Face Miami on 10/1

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A season opening ESPN game and a first-ever meeting with a renowned national powerhouse highlight the 2011 Bethune-Cookman University football schedule released today.

Coming off a 10-2 season that saw them claim a share of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship, advance to their first NCAA FCS playoff appearance since 2003 and being named National Black College Football Champions, the Wildcats will open the season against SWAC foe Prairie View A&M in ESPN's MEAC/SWAC Challenge on September 3 in Orlando. On October 1, the Wildcats travel to south Florida for a date with the Miami Hurricanes; their first foray against a BCS team.

"We announced in 2010 that we wanted to upgrade our schedule. The success of our program in Brian Jenkins' inaugural season paved the way for us to consider new and bigger opportunities for our team, university and fans to experience," said B-CU Athletic Director Lynn Thompson. "We are proud to move in this new direction."

Jenkins agreed with Thompson and is looking forward to the challenging 11-game slate. "It's a strong schedule that will test us early," Jenkins said.

Of the Wildcats' 11 games, eight are in the state of Florida, including five in Daytona Beach. The Daytona Beach games includes two early season matchups against MEAC power South Carolina State and Hampton that will set the tone for the conference race.

"It will be very convenient for our fans to follow us in record numbers like they did last year," Thompson said. "We're excited about what 2011 will bring to our fans."

Two key dates always important for Wildcat fans are Homecoming - slated for October 15 against Fort Valley State, an old rival from the days of Division II -- and the Florida Classic November 19 against Florida A&M.

For season ticket information, contact the BCU ticket office at (386) 481-2465.



2011 B-CU Wildcats Football Schedule
DATE OPPONENT LOCATION
September 4 Prairie View (MEAC/SWAC Challenge) Orlando, Fla.
September 10 South Carolina State * Daytona Beach, Fla.
September 17 Open
September 24 Hampton * Daytona Beach, Fla.
October 1 Miami Miami, Fla.
October 8 North Carolina A&T * Greensboro, N.C.
October 15 Fort Valley State (Homecoming) Daytona Beach, Fla.
October 22 Norfolk State * Norfolk, Va.
October 29 North Carolina Central * Durham, N.C.
November 5 Morgan State * Daytona Beach, Fla.
November 12 Savannah State Daytona Beach, Fla.
November 19 Florida A&M * (Florida Classic) Orlando, Fla.

HOME GAMES IN BOLD -- *-MEAC Game

By Bethune Cookman Media Relations