The Best Thing Going: S.C. State's Pough likes quarterback situation

Photo: South Carolina State Bulldogs head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough.

As the rain slowly started to drizzle down to the artificial surface on the field at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium Wednesday evening, South Carolina State head coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough exploded.

Practice was just minutes away from wrapping up, but Pough didn't like what he saw when backup quarterback DeWain Clark took a snap in a drill in the Red Zone and was harassed by a defender that should have been picked up by a blocker out of the backfield.

"Blown assignment after blown assignment!" Pough scolded while mixing in a few colorful words to ensure his backs that he meant business.

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Hillary! Stop the attacks!

Super OBAMA GIRL: The Lost Episode


Sexy! Flashy! Wonky! Super Obama Girl!


Hillary! Stop the attacks! Love, Obama Girl

B-CU women's basketball coach Francis Simmons resigns

Photo: Former BCU women's basketball head coach Francis Simmons

By: Bethune Cookman University Sports Information

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - After four season at the helm of the Bethune-Cookman University Women's Basketball program, head coach Francis Simmons has decided to resign effective immediately according to B-CU Director of Athletic Lynn W. Thompson. Simmons met with Thompson early Tuesday afternoon to discuss his plans for resignation.

"We are grateful for the work that Coach Simmons has done, and after meeting we both came to the conclusion that new leadership and direction would best serve the program at this time," commented B-CU Director of Athletics, Lynn W. Thompson.

Simmons, a native of Columbia, S.C., took over the program prior to the beginning of the 2004-05 season for now Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator at B-CU, Sandra Booker. In his four years guiding the Wildcats, Simmons amassed a record of 22-92 overall, including a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference record of 12-58.

The search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

BCU Pep Band -Let's Go Wildcats


Please, don't feel bad for Simmons. After four seasons and a career record of 22-92, this firing was long overdue. The BCU student-athletes deserve better coaching and mentoring. The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference deserves better performance from its member institutions sports programs.

Coach Simmons receives a retirement pension from the state of South Carolina where he worked for 32 years as a teacher and coach. He also served 17 seasons as an assistant men's basketball coach at South Carolina State University.

Simmons indicated that he has several offers on the table.

One offer is from BCU men's basketball coach Clifford Reed, who has invited coach Simmons to join his staff, as an assistant men's basketball coach. The Wildcat men's team finished 2007 with a 11-21 record. Clifford Reed needs to resign/or be fired, also.

Does Bethune Cookman know how to fire and retire non-performing coaches that continue to perform each year at extremely unacceptable levels?

Obviously not! Dang!

Did you notice how all the poor performing coaches and AAMU president were fired on April 1--(April Fool's Day). This is no joke.

-beepbeep

Competitive Sailing: Hampton University remains sharp

One historically black institution can boast of a sports achievement that no other black university can. Indeed, as colleges have transitioned into spring sports, Hampton University has fielded yet another scrappy team that is raising eyebrows in the rarefied, and mostly white, world of competitive collegiate sailing.

Hampton is the only historically black college to have a sailing team, and two Hampton students from Maryland, Jason Major-Henson and Nicole Clark, have been part of the team’s success.

Halfway into the season the Hampton University Pirates have already qualified for the conference championship regatta, the America Trophy, on April 12-13 at Hobart William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y.

Photo: Seniors Ray Potter and Yasmina Beckles helped lead the Pirates to a second place finish in both the A-Division and B-Division at the annual MAISA/SAISA Intersectional (Mid-Atlantic Division vs. Southeast Division) on March 24-25 at the Strawberry Banks.

They qualified by finishing seventh out of 16 teams in the Old Dominion University Open/South No. 1 regatta in March. Besides the Pirates the field at Old Dominion included Georgetown University, Navy, Washington College and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, which finished first and always has a tough squad. Hampton managed to top the University of Maryland, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, William & Mary College and others.

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MORE INFO ON HAMPTON UNIVERSITY CO-ED SAILING PROGRAM: http://www.hamptonpirates.com/index.asp?path=sailing

Coming Friday/April 4th on PBS: Morgan (State) Lacrosse Story

Photo: Morgan State University's 1975 Lacrosse Team -'Ten Bears'

INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY FOR PBS: 'THE MORGAN LACROSSE STORY'

View Movie Trailer for The Morgan Lacrosse Story: Click on Blog Title Above.

The Morgan Lacrosse Story, is slated to air nationally on PBS April 4th at 10 pm. The film chronicles the rise of the country’s first and only college lacrosse team at a historically black university--Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. .....Produced by Luke David.

The Morgan Lacrosse Story will begin airing on public television (PBS) on April 4th at 10:00 PM. Contact your local PBS station to find out when it will be aired locally.

This Documentary Brings Alive the Legacy of the First and Only College Lacrosse Team at a Historically Black Institution in the 1970's.

WASHINGTON, DC - College lacrosse was at the center of a significant storm in the early 1970's, a riveting story that is coming into full view for the first time on television with The Morgan Lacrosse Story, a new documentary film for PBS. An accounting of the first and only college lacrosse team at a prestigious and historically black institution, Baltimore's Morgan State University.

When a young white administrator reluctantly accepted the position of head lacrosse coach at Baltimore’s Morgan State University, a six-year journey culminating in a shocking upset began. The Bears’ solidarity and determination to succeed changed the sport of lacrosse forever, even as they played in a racially charged period in our nation’s history — the early 1970s.

An emotionally-charged film that deals with issues of race and class during the Civil Rights Era, The Morgan Lacrosse Story uses the official team sport of Maryland as a vehicle to tackle complicated issues, and to honor the legacy of a groundbreaking team who would eventually pull off one of the greatest upsets in intercollegiate sports history.

By introducing viewers to the courageous individuals who made this important part of history and allowing them to tell their stories directly, this highly dynamic one hour documentary film connects the audience to the real emotions of their experience.

The Morgan Lacrosse Story was deeply inspired by the book Ten Bears, co-written by Chip Silverman, the team's coach, and Miles Harrison Jr.

"It's rare to get the chance to work on something that you want to be a part of, a legacy worth preserving," David says. "Once I became aware of this story, there was no way I was going to let it go, or leave it in someone else's hands.

"With the archival resources that Chip had available, we knew we had to get things moving right away while everything was still intact. The real hook came once I started meeting the players and I realized how compelling they were as individual characters, let alone the civil rights backdrop of what they accomplished."

The Morgan Lacrosse Story is set in Baltimore, but the themes contained within quickly reveal themselves to be universal. The events of the team's formation and rise to prominence are re-told by the players themselves, and examined in historical context by thoughtful and informed narration by Wendell Pierce from HBO's "The Wire".

In addition, hundreds of photographs from the collections of Silverman and his players have been gathered for the film, as well as newspaper clippings from almost every game they played.

Through the prism of a sport infused with the spirituality of its Native American roots, the Morgan Lacrosse Story shows how this determined group harnessed the power of the game to change the college landscape forever.

"This is a positive story," Luke David concludes. "So many stories about race relations have a sour ending or feel hopeless, but here there's a resolution and a spiritual element. I hope people take the time to watch it, absorb the material and realize that things aren't always as inclusive as we think they are, but with courage things can be different and better."

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I expect this documentary to be as good as "Black Magic" was last month and it's definitely worth your time to watch and learn about the rich sports history of HBCUs during this era.

-beepbeep McDonald

MEAC's Suber, Oakley and Butler invited to WNBA Pre-Draft Camp

Photo: CSU's Rashida Suber, 5-8 shooting guard, Reading H.S./Reading, PA.

BALTIMORE, MD -- Coppin State seniors Rashida Suber and Shalamar Oakley have each been invited to the Women's National Basketball Association pre-draft camp held at the University of Tampa April 4-5.

The pre-draft camp will be held at the Bob Martinez Center located on the campus of the University of Tampa and will give WNBA coaches and general managers an opportunity to evaluate the skills of the approximately 40 prospects that will be attending the camp.

The camp will consist of on-court sessions, games and team interviews conducted by the head coach and general manager.

Suber led the Eagles averaging 17.9 points per game, while Oakley was second on the team averaging 17.5 per contest.

Photo: CSU's Shalamar Oakley, 5-6 point guard, Woodrow Wilson H.S./Camden, N.J.

Oakley was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2007-08 as well as earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the conference tournament.

Suber earned the conference's player of the year honor in 2006-07 and was a three-time first team All-MEAC selection.

Oakley, Suber and Hampton University's Rachel Butler are both profiled in the wnba.com draft section of the website.

Photo: Hampton University's senior guard Rachael Butler, Lincoln High School, Dallas, Texas.

Hampton University's Lady Pirate 5-8 shooting guard Rachael Butler is the only other MEAC player profiled on the WNBA pre-draft website. Butler was: Second Team All-MEAC selection for the third consecutive year (2007, 2006, 2005)...Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Year (2005). Butler also averaged 13.3 ppg., 4.8 rpg., and 1.5 apg., and played in 115 games in her stellar four year career for the Lady Pirates.

The WNBA draft will be held on April 9 at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla., and will be televised live beginning at 1 p.m. on ESPN2.

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AAMU Jennings alternately praised, criticized during tenure

Change welcome in beginning, but soon led to friction.

Dr. Robert Jennings was never trustees' first pick to become the 10th permanent president of Alabama A&M University.

They voted 5-4 to offer him the job on Dec. 16, 2005, after their unanimous first choice, Dr. Julian Earls, then director of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, had turned them down in October.

Jennings, now 57, was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of Future Focus 2020, an academic think tank and research training center in the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

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AAMU Jennings fired for financial improperiety