ETTRICK, VA - Even though Virginia State reached the CIAA championship game last season — the Trojans lost 14-7 to Shaw — VSU is ranked sixth in the conference preseason poll, which was released Thursday at the CIAA kickoff press conference at Virginia State University.
"I thought we'd get a little bit better recognition," said VSU coach Andrew Faison, who was named CIAA coach of the year after guiding the Trojans to an 8-3 record.
But VSU was predicted to finish eighth last year, so exceeding expectations is nothing new to Faison or the Trojans. He said he'll just use the preseason ranking as motivation for his players, just as he did a year ago.
"It's preseason," Faison said. "It's no big deal."
The top four teams in the preseason poll — defending champion Shaw, Winston-Salem State, Saint Augustine's and Fayetteville State — come from the Southern Division. Even though VSU is predicted to finish sixth overall, the team is ranked second in the Northern Division.
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Friday, July 22, 2011
Fayetteville State coach Kenny Phillips not buying preseason predictions for his Broncos
Fayetteville, N.C. - Perhaps it was unintentional. But Fayetteville State football coach Kenny Phillips stole a page right out of Yogi Berra's book.Thursday during CIAA Media Day festivities at Virginia State. Asked about the upcoming season, with his Broncos pegged in the preseason poll to finish fourth in the league's Southern Division, Phillips delivered a calm, if somewhat confusing, aphorism.
"If the prediction goes as the predictions go, they never do," he said.
Phillips has recent firsthand experience with the unreliability of preseason polls. Last season, for example, his Broncos were picked to win the CIAA, yet they sputtered to a disappointing 5-5 season and a fourth-place finish in their division.
"Where you're picked at is where you start," Phillips said. "But it's where you finish at (that matters)." So will FSU exceed expectations this season?
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The Predicted Order of Finish and Preseason All-CIAA team are being formally announced. To see a list of those, go here and here.
Southern University handles scholarship loss
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Southern football coach Stump Mitchell on Monday confirmed the loss of nine full scholarships spread among 19 players - the result, he said, of NCAA penalties brought forth because of SU’s substandard score in the Academic Progress Rate. Mitchell, however, said the team had yet to lose any players because of the predicament.The blow was announced on the eve of this year’s Southwestern Athletic Conference media day and less than two weeks before his team starts practice, Aug. 4. Southern was susceptible to harsh penalties because its football team had a history of substandard APR scores.
The APR is a rolling four-year system that measures classroom performance of student-athletes on every Division I team. Teams scoring below 925 can face penalties, and teams scoring below 900 are subject to “severe” penalties.
According to data released...
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Williams preparing to make another run with Grambling
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Asked why he returned to coach football at his alma mater, Alabama’s Bear Bryant is famously supposed to have replied: “Mama called.” For Doug Williams, his whirlwind return to Grambling was for similar reasons.“I always feel responsible for Grambling because Grambling was good to me,” Williams said as he faced a barrage of interviews Tuesday at SWAC football media day. “I hope that by coming back I’m giving back.”
The Zachary native was set to take a front office job with the Washington Redskins - the franchise he led to victory in Super Bowl XXII with a virtuoso MVP performance - when former Grambling coach Rod Broadway abruptly resigned on Feb. 3 to become head coach at North Carolina A&T.
Almost immediately, Williams said, his phone started ringing. At the other end of the line were ...
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Thursday, July 21, 2011
Jackson State University names new athletics director
Jackson, MS - Jackson State University has named a seasoned athletics director and college administrator as its new athletics director.
Vivian L. Fuller, 56, will take the helm of Jackson State’s athletics program later this summer, just in time for the start of JSU’s celebration of 100 years of football.
“I’m excited to be a Tiger,” Fuller said.
“Jackson State has such a long and proud tradition; I look forward to honoring that tradition and helping our student athletes be the best they can be.
JSU President Carolyn Meyers announced Fuller’s appointment on July 20 before a large crowd of JSU fans inside the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center’s Sports Hall of Fame.
“Vivian Fuller’s leadership skills, along with her experience as an athlete, academician, and director of athletics at three institutions, make her the best choice for Jackson State University at this time.” Meyers said. “I’m very confident that she will be able to lead our athletics programs to prominence, ensuring that JSU student-athletes succeed on the field or court as well as in the classroom.”
Fuller comes to Jackson State University from Sojourner-Douglass College, where she serves as dean of the college’s Cambridge, Maryland campus. Before joining Sojourner-Douglass in 2003, Fuller spent more than a decade directing the athletics programs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Tennessee State University and Northeastern Illinois University.
When named AD at Tennessee State in 1997, Fuller became the first African-American woman to lead a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Athletics program with a football team. That team finished its first season under her leadership with a 9-3 record and won the Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Jackson’s State’s new AD is a nationally known expert on academic support programs for student-athletes, academic advising, women in sports and management and gender equity. She has testified before the U.S. Senate in congressional hearings on gender equity and minority participation in sports and has been involved in numerous NCAA committees including the Management Council, the Peer Review Committee, the Initial Eligibility Standards Committee, the Gender Equity Task Force and the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP), for which she served as chairperson.
Fuller began her career in higher education at Bennett College in 1978 as the director of intramural and instructor of physical education. From 1984-87 she served as assistant director for advisement programs for student-athletes at North Carolina A&T, earning a promotion to assistant director of athletics. In 1987, she became associate director of intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University in Pennsylvania, where she was responsible for internal operations of the program and developing the academic component for student-athletes.
Fuller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from Fayetteville State University in 1977, a Master’s of Education from the University of Idaho in 1978, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Iowa State University in 1985.
For more photos, click the following link: PHOTO GALLERY
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Vivian L. Fuller, 56, will take the helm of Jackson State’s athletics program later this summer, just in time for the start of JSU’s celebration of 100 years of football.
“I’m excited to be a Tiger,” Fuller said.
“Jackson State has such a long and proud tradition; I look forward to honoring that tradition and helping our student athletes be the best they can be.
JSU President Carolyn Meyers announced Fuller’s appointment on July 20 before a large crowd of JSU fans inside the Lee E. Williams Athletics and Assembly Center’s Sports Hall of Fame.
“Vivian Fuller’s leadership skills, along with her experience as an athlete, academician, and director of athletics at three institutions, make her the best choice for Jackson State University at this time.” Meyers said. “I’m very confident that she will be able to lead our athletics programs to prominence, ensuring that JSU student-athletes succeed on the field or court as well as in the classroom.”
Fuller comes to Jackson State University from Sojourner-Douglass College, where she serves as dean of the college’s Cambridge, Maryland campus. Before joining Sojourner-Douglass in 2003, Fuller spent more than a decade directing the athletics programs at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Tennessee State University and Northeastern Illinois University.
When named AD at Tennessee State in 1997, Fuller became the first African-American woman to lead a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Athletics program with a football team. That team finished its first season under her leadership with a 9-3 record and won the Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Jackson’s State’s new AD is a nationally known expert on academic support programs for student-athletes, academic advising, women in sports and management and gender equity. She has testified before the U.S. Senate in congressional hearings on gender equity and minority participation in sports and has been involved in numerous NCAA committees including the Management Council, the Peer Review Committee, the Initial Eligibility Standards Committee, the Gender Equity Task Force and the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP), for which she served as chairperson.
Fuller began her career in higher education at Bennett College in 1978 as the director of intramural and instructor of physical education. From 1984-87 she served as assistant director for advisement programs for student-athletes at North Carolina A&T, earning a promotion to assistant director of athletics. In 1987, she became associate director of intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University in Pennsylvania, where she was responsible for internal operations of the program and developing the academic component for student-athletes.
Fuller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from Fayetteville State University in 1977, a Master’s of Education from the University of Idaho in 1978, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Iowa State University in 1985.
For more photos, click the following link: PHOTO GALLERY
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Keshia Campbell Appointed Athletics Director at Hampton U.
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| HU Athletics Director Keshia Campbell (Photo courtesy of: MEAC Media Relations) |
Campbell, the first female athletics director to lead the Pirates, replaces Lonza Hardy, who has been named director of athletics at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Hampton received several nominations and expressions of interest for the position of director of athletics. After careful review, two of the candidates were invited for interviews with members of the coaching staff and athletic administration. Dr. Rodney Smith, vice president for administrative services, who supervises athletics at Hampton then interviewed both finalists. Smith was also impressed with Campbell and recommended her for the position of athletics director at Hampton.
"Ms. Campbell comes with athletics management experience, knowledge of the institution's athletics program and direct experience from within the National Collegiate Athletics Association," Smith said. "We are very excited to welcome her as a member of the Hampton family and we are looking forward to continued excellence from our student-athletes under her direction."
Prior to her current position as director of business affairs at University of Texas at Dallas, Campbell held two administrative positions at the NCAA, assistant and associate director of championships, from 2006-2009. Campbell is also no stranger to Hampton; she served as assistant and associate director of athletics at Hampton from 2004-2006 and was head women's basketball coach at South Carolina State University for seven years.
A two-time graduate of South Carolina State, Campbell earned a bachelor's degree in physical education and a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling.
"I am thrilled and honored to be appointed to the helm of the Pirate athletics program," said Campbell. "Hampton is recognized as one of the best Division I mid-major programs in the entire country and I look forward to carrying on the tradition of excellence."
Campbell is another in a long line of women being appointed to senior administration positions under William R. Harvey's tenure as Hampton president.
"Ms. Campbell has the administrative skills and experience to continue to guide our student-athletes to academic and athletic success," Harvey said. "We believe her passion and vision will further elevate the bright future of Hampton University athletics."
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Chattahoochee Tech's Brian Collier signs with Lemoyne-Owen
Memphis, TN - Chattahoochee Tech men’s basketball player Brian Collier has signed with four-year Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tenn. He will have two years of eligibility remaining for the Magicians, who play in the NCAA Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
“I think it’s great that Brian has found a home for the next two seasons,” said Chattahoochee Tech head coach David Archer. “He has the ability to develop into a post player who can have a great impact. Lemoyne-Owen will be a good fit for him to continue to develop as a student and a player.”
The 6'9, 265-pound post player averaged...
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