Alabama A&M: Jones entering pivotal contract year

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The number of hours he spends in his office are too many to count, but it is inside those four walls at the George H. Hobson Field House where Alabama A&M football coach Anthony Jones finds solace.

It has been well documented that Jones doesn't get out as much as he should to sell his program and he needs to hire an offensive coordinator, but his formula has worked well the last nine years. During that span, he has fashioned a 64-41 record, won a Southwestern Athletic Conference championship and played for the title on three other occasions, most recently in 2009.

He has averaged more than seven wins per year, more than any coach in school history, including Louis Crews, A&M's all-time winningest coach. He has a pair of nine-win seasons to his credit, something nobody else has done at A&M, and he has three eight-win seasons. That had only been done seven times before Jones arrived.

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FAMU's Baker just wants to contribute

Tallahassee, FL - Edmond Baker was a little emotional while trying explain how much he'd like to line up as a receiver in a football game this season for Florida A&M. He clasped his hands and tightly drew them to his chest, with his eyes closed. His feelings rang through every word.

"Every bit of me says I should be playing as a receiver," he said, "but it's up to the coaches how much I play as a receiver."

Baker knows that playing time will be unlikely given the Rattlers' depth at every wide receiver position. But getting an opportunity to be a contributor on special teams will suit him just fine.

"If the coaches feel I'll be better playing special teams than backing someone up as a receiver, then that's where I'll be," he said. "I'm more of a team player than anything else. If the team wins, I win.


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Southern's coaches working on details for game day

Baton Rouge, LA - The Southern football team held its final preseason scrimmage Saturday inside A.W. Mumford Stadium, and as head coach Stump Mitchell said, it wasn’t your typical take-it-easy dress rehearsal.

Unlike last season, when starters barely participated with one week to go before the season opener, this year’s final rehearsal was more comprehensive, for two major reasons: 1) the team needed a little extra work, and 2) during the regular season, Southern must take Sunday and Monday off because of NCAA-mandated practice limitations.

As it turned out, Southern’s coaching staff also had a few things to work on during Saturday’s scrimmage, as well. Mitchell said he’ll have four assistant coaches in the LP Field press box at 6 p.m. Saturday, when the Jaguars face Tennessee State. They are...

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This season to test Southern University fans, Mitchell

Baton Rouge, LA - Covered in sweat, physically spent and anxious to wrap up a long preseason, Southern football players gathered around Stump Mitchell near the 20-yard line on the south end of A.W. Mumford Stadium.

There, they took a knee. There, they listened as their 5-foot-8 coach delivered a fiery post-scrimmage speech — a speech intended to fire up the Jaguars for the week that lay ahead. This week, he told them, the season arrives. This week offers a chance for everyone to see how far they’ve come.

“These guys will be ready,” said Mitchell, whose team faces Tennessee State in Nashville, Tenn., at 6 p.m. Saturday, more than ready to forget about last year’s gruesome 2-9 record. “We’ve got some guys that are mature — more so than we had last year. And we’re just excited that (the season) is here.”

It is, without much doubt, a pivotal one for Mitchell, who enters the second year of a three-year contract.



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Morgan's Bozeman: Show-cause 'had a great effect on my life'

Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman had to wait 10 years before landing another head coaching opportunity after receiving an eight-year show-cause sanction from the NCAA for paying a recruit's family as head coach of the University of California.  Former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl received a three-year show-cause from the NCAA last week.

Baltimore, MD - In the spring of 2006, Todd Bozeman escaped the purgatory of the NCAA’s show-cause sanction. For 10 years, the prodigy-turned-castaway languished like a ghost ship. He was little more than a bar stool trivia question.

“Who was the coach of California when Jason Kidd led the team to a win over Duke in the ‘93 NCAA tournament?”

Bozeman was reborn five years ago when a little-known historically black college in northeast Baltimore tabbed him as its head coach. Morgan State University, a MEAC school with no discernible basketball history, took a flier on a washed-up cheater who sunk his own career before turning 35. That, at least, was the perception back then.

All these years later, Bozeman is still a trivia question, of sorts.

“Who is the only head coach in Division I basketball history to receive a show-cause penalty and ultimately land another head coaching gig?”

Hint: it’s not Clem Haskins or Kelvin Sampson or Dave Bliss. The answer is, indeed, Todd Bozeman.

Now, the entire state of Tennessee - and the college basketball world as a whole – wonder if ...

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Hampton's McCorory ready for the race of her life at IAAF World Championships

DAEGU, KOREA - Francena McCorory has been on some big stages, but this is the biggest.

Back in 2006, Bethel senior McCorory blazed to a national indoor high school 400-meter record of 51.93.

In 2010, Hampton University senior McCorory lowered the American indoor 400 record to 50.54. Great going, sure, but nothing quite up to her current achievements.

The 22-year-old Hampton resident is poised to run for the gold - or a medal of any hue - in the women's 400-meter final Monday night.

Looking powerful and confident, McCorory blazed to a career-best clocking of 50.24 taking her semifinal. USA teammates Allyson Felix, a three-time winner of the World 200 title, and 2009 Worlds 400 champion Sandra Richards-Ross, join McCorory in the eight-runner final. Felix ran 50.36, Richards-Ross 50.66.

"No problems, felt great," said McCorory. But a real problem to all three Americans may be veteran Amantle Montsho of Botswana, the fastest of all heat winners at 50.13.

Meet Francena on Facebook

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New coach Reginald Ruffin sets out to change attitude, expectations at Miles

FAIRFIELD, Alabama -- Casey Weston was sitting at home in Georgia on a hot summer night in July when he received an unexpected phone call. On the other end of the line was new Miles College football coach Reginald Ruffin.

Weston, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound quarterback with a rocket arm, had been mulling over where he wanted to continue his college career. After leading Prattville to the 2007 Class 6A state championship, Weston played two years at Northwest Mississippi Community College and set school records for career passing yards (4,943), completions (394) and attempts (695) while throwing 42 touchdown passes.



He then went to Northern Illinois University and redshirted in 2010, but when NIU changed coaches at the end of the season Weston decided to transfer.

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