Jackson, MS - Gone will be that ancient video board towering over the field and that puny broken one atop the opposite end zone. Upgrades are coming to those rickety elevators and that paint-chipped press box, too.
Jackson State fans will see a few noticeable differences at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium this fall, the first year the university is in control of the 60-year-old venue. Today, JSU takes ownership of the stadium from the Department of Finance and Administration for at least three years, according to a legislative bill passed in March. University officials said earlier this year they will pour $1.5 million to $3 million into the structure - most, if not all of those funds, coming from a legislative bond bill.
The worn press box will get a new paint job and the elevator to the press box and club levels will be renovated. But more importantly, JSU fans will see two new scoreboards when they enter the 60,000-seat stadium on Sept. 3 for the team's opener against Concordia College.
The stadium's outdated jumbotron is to be replaced with a massive virtual scoreboard that will more than double the size of the current video screen.
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Friday, July 1, 2011
WVSU to open season versus Bowie State, Virginia State
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia State will open its 2011-12 men's basketball schedule against a pair of CIAA programs in a West Virginia Conference arena.The Yellow Jackets, facing a rebuilding year after losing five starters from a second-place WVC club (20-10), will play Bowie State then Virginia State in the Clarion Hotel Classic at Shepherd to open Coach Bryan Poore's 13th season at the Institute school.
Those Nov. 11-12 are two of the four non-conference games for State. WVSU also has a home-and-home deal with Johnson C. Smith of the CIAA. The Jackets' schedule is completed by the league-mandated 22 WVC games.
"Our non-conference schedule is complete with (Atlantic) regional games against quality CIAA teams that should help us in the regional rankings," Poore said. "We also are fortunate to only have one of those actually on the road, with the two neutral site games in the Shepherd classic.
"The Conference portion of the schedule is a flip-flop of last years in the two-year cycle adopted by the WVC. We have an early home stretch and a late road stretch, so I guess it balances out."
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NCCU's New Football Coach Has Made a Career of Turning Losers into Winners
Durham, N.C. - Henry Frazier III knew he was taking on a pretty tough challenge when he left his head coaching job at Prairie View A&M to become NCCU’s new football coach.
But Frazier has spent most of his life overcoming obstacles. As an African American youngster raised in a single-parent household with two older sisters, he not only graduated from high school but became the first man in his family to finish college and even has a master’s degree.
He became quarterback at Bowie State and took the longtime CIAA doormat Bulldogs to a conference championship in 1989.
He took over a long-losing high school program at Central High in Capitol Heights, Md., and made it respectable before returning to Bowie as head coach and turning the program in the right direction again.
And in he went for the 2004 season as head coach at Prairie View A&M - which had just a few years earlier suffered through a record 80-game losing streak - and by 2009 had long-suffering fans crying tears of joy after a SWAC championship.
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But Frazier has spent most of his life overcoming obstacles. As an African American youngster raised in a single-parent household with two older sisters, he not only graduated from high school but became the first man in his family to finish college and even has a master’s degree.
He became quarterback at Bowie State and took the longtime CIAA doormat Bulldogs to a conference championship in 1989.
He took over a long-losing high school program at Central High in Capitol Heights, Md., and made it respectable before returning to Bowie as head coach and turning the program in the right direction again.
And in he went for the 2004 season as head coach at Prairie View A&M - which had just a few years earlier suffered through a record 80-game losing streak - and by 2009 had long-suffering fans crying tears of joy after a SWAC championship.
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One story earns Xavier's Cassiere three awards
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| Ed Cassiere, SID Xavier University of Louisiana Read the feature |
Cassiere's story — "McDaniel, Douglas Made July Memorable for XU Athletics" — received first place for features in the NAIA's Dr. W. Jack Bell Writing Contest. It also received first place in District 6 — which comprises Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas — in the College Sports Information Directors of America's coach/administrator profile/historical feature division. In the Louisiana Sports Writers Association's sports information contest, the story placed third among best releases.
The feature described the accomplishments of XU standouts Jimmie McDaniel (men's tennis) and Herb Douglas (men's track and field). McDaniel in 1940 played Grand Slam winner Don Budge in what has been called the first important interracial tennis match, and Douglas in 1948 long-jumped 24 feet, 9 inches in London to win bronze and become Xavier's only Olympic medalist.
It's the second time in three years that Cassiere received a best-in-the-NAIA award. He's earned nine awards the past three years in NAIA contests. Cassiere was the only Louisiana entrant to place first in CoSIDA District 6 this year.
Cassiere has won more than 60 awards in a sportswriting career which he started as a 10th-grader in 1974. The 2011-12 academic year will be Cassiere's sixth as Xavier's SID.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY
VISIT: XULA ATHLETICS
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Hampton University athletic director Lonza Hardy Jr. interviews at Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Hampton University athletic director Lonza Hardy is interviewing for the same post at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a Southwestern Athletic Conference school.
An email from UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr., obtained Tuesday night by The Daily Press, invited university administrators, faculty and staff to a reception to meet Hardy on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
"Over the past couple of days, I have visited with officials at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for discussions on their athletics program and their vacancy for an athletics director," Hardy said in an email Tuesday night. "Where those discussions may lead has not been decided, neither on the part of the university nor on my part. Consequently, my focus is on continuing to prepare Hampton University's athletics program for the start of a new school year and to continue getting our staff, coaches and student-athletes ready to fulfill the lofty goals that we have for all of our athletic teams."
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An email from UAPB Chancellor Lawrence A. Davis Jr., obtained Tuesday night by The Daily Press, invited university administrators, faculty and staff to a reception to meet Hardy on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
"Over the past couple of days, I have visited with officials at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff for discussions on their athletics program and their vacancy for an athletics director," Hardy said in an email Tuesday night. "Where those discussions may lead has not been decided, neither on the part of the university nor on my part. Consequently, my focus is on continuing to prepare Hampton University's athletics program for the start of a new school year and to continue getting our staff, coaches and student-athletes ready to fulfill the lofty goals that we have for all of our athletic teams."
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Clark Atlanta names Dale Brown as men's basketball coach
Atlanta, GA - In March, Clark Atlanta captured its first SIAC men’s basketball championship title in 46 years. Still, school officials saw untapped potential in the program.“Today isn’t about what has happened in the past, it’s about building a team to ensure that we play even harder, work even smarter and aim even higher in the future,” associate athletic director D’Wayne Robinson said Wednesday upon the introduction of Dale Brown as the next head coach of the CAU men’s basketball program.
“I must say, we will win, and we will win right away,” Brown said. “My philosophy is real simple: Play hard, play smart and play together.”
Brown’s basketball résumé is extensive. During his junior college days at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Brown was named NJCAA men’s basketball player of the year in 1991.
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Pascagoula's Dale Brown named basketball coach at Clark Atlanta
Dale Brown, a Pascagoula native, has been named men's basketball coach at Clark Atlanta University, the school announced Wednesday.
Brown, 42, coached the last three seasons at Dillard University in New Orleans, but was named coach at Meridian Community College on June 10. But less than a month later, he's on the move again, taking over the program at CAU, a member of the Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
FAMU Rattlers arriving early to take care of studies
Tallahassee, FL - Florida A&M running back James Owens went home to Orlando for a brief stay, then returned to the grind of offseason conditioning. This week he began an even more important chapter in his summertime routine — attending classes.
For Owens and most of the 65 other players who didn't go home for the summer, attending classes is an option they decided they'd take. It's one way of easing the fall semester workload in the classroom and keeping them on course for on-time graduation.
"I probably would be at home watching a lot of TV and doing nothing," said Owens, a walk-on who earned a scholarship following an impressive spring. "Now I'm in Tallahassee working out and studying I know I'm doing the right thing."
For the football players, who have demanding fall semesters packed with playbooks, traveling and practices in addition to their class work, summer school means they could carry fewer than the average 16 hours during the season. But there are some like defensive tackle Padric Scott, who doesn't have much of a choice when it comes to summer school because of their majors.
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For Owens and most of the 65 other players who didn't go home for the summer, attending classes is an option they decided they'd take. It's one way of easing the fall semester workload in the classroom and keeping them on course for on-time graduation.
"I probably would be at home watching a lot of TV and doing nothing," said Owens, a walk-on who earned a scholarship following an impressive spring. "Now I'm in Tallahassee working out and studying I know I'm doing the right thing."
For the football players, who have demanding fall semesters packed with playbooks, traveling and practices in addition to their class work, summer school means they could carry fewer than the average 16 hours during the season. But there are some like defensive tackle Padric Scott, who doesn't have much of a choice when it comes to summer school because of their majors.
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