Taylor tries to beat B-CU in own backyard

DELAND, FL — Florida A&M football coach Joe Taylor came right into the backyard of Bethune-Cookman University and caused quite a stir with the help of an audience of FAMU fans Saturday morning. Taylor, who is preparing for his second season as the Rattlers' head coach, fielded questions from the audience. It was apparent that beating B-CU in recruiting in the tiny town is a priority for most of those in the group that makes up FAMU's Volusia County Alumni Association.

Getting the best of the qualified players in the small town — nestled between Orlando and Daytona — is part of his mission, Taylor told the gathering at Chisholm Community Center. "There are lots of schools in Florida that have tremendous athletes off the beaten-path," Taylor said afterward. "There is another college in this area (B-CU) that's recruiting in this area, but we just came to make sure that we talk to the alumni and let them know what kind of program we run."

Taylor will do just that during the next six weeks, as he makes the rounds throughout Florida and other parts of the country to inform FAMU fans on the upcoming season. The appearance in Volusia county was the third of seven stops on Taylor's summer tour.

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Prairie View coach agrees to 4-year contract

Prior to Cooper-Dyke's arrival on campus, the Lady Panthers had never had a winning season.

Prairie View A&M has reached an agreement on a four-year contract with women’s basketball coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke. “Prairie View is where we want her,” athletic director Fred Washington said Wednesday. Cooper’s original four-year contract expired at the end of last season.

Cooper, a former star with the now-defunct Houston Comets, has led the Lady Panthers to the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons and one trip to the Women's NIT. During that span, Prairie View has won three consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles and two postseason conference tournament titles.

“We hadn’t seen very much success in women’s basketball,” Washington said. “We had never approached 20 wins, which we had the last two years, and never seen championship-caliber performances or the level of interest in women’s basketball from our fans or potential student-athletes that we have now.”

Washington said Prairie View A&M has reworked the contract of football coach Henry Frazier III and signed men’s basketball Byron Rimm II to a new four-year contract. It's great keeping a coach who can coach anywhere."

PVAMU women’s basketball players Gaati Werema, Candice Thomas and Dominique Smith were selected by USA Athletes International to represent the United States in the 2009 Vienna Basketball Tournament in Vienna, Austria. The Lady Panthers trio are competing abroad this summer from May 28th – June 6. This is a first for PVAMU and the SWAC and shows the superb influence of Coach Cooper-Dyke on HBCU basketball on the global stage.

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Southern battles, falls to Minnesota Gophers

Coach Roger Cador ends year with a 30-17 mark with two-and-out in the NCAAs.

Sunglasses still covered much of his face. A gleaming dark-blue helmet still sat atop his head. Near home plate at Alex Box Stadium, Southern catcher Michael Thomas bent forward and placed his hands on his knees. His eyes searched the bright reddish-brown dirt for answers. Saturday afternoon, the Jaguars had just finished their last game of the season — an intense, emotional back-and-forth elimination game in the Baton Rouge Regional that ended in an 11-8 loss to Minnesota.

“A lot of pain,” Thomas said. “Standing out there, I thought we were going to pull out the win today.” For Thomas, this was tough to process. So many times, SU had battled back — not only in Saturday’s game, but for much of their wild and mostly successful 2009 season. Thomas, for his part, had returned to action after missing 20 games with a broken hand, one of many Jaguars who’d succumbed to injures over the season.

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Bethune-Cookman Wildcats go 2-and-out the hard way

GAINESVILLE, FL -- Another day, another heartbreaking loss, another early exit from the NCAA Regionals for the Bethune-Cookman baseball team. On Friday, B-CU lost 8-7 when Florida scored three runs in the ninth. On Saturday vs. Jacksonville, the Wildcats again fell 8-7, this time when a pinch hitter failed to come through with two men on base in the ninth.

"We lost two close games," Bethune-Cookman coach Mervyl Melendez said. "(Friday) we lost in the ninth inning. (Saturday) we lost in the eighth inning. That is baseball." Jacksonville (37-21) moved on to play in another elimination game at 1 p.m. today against Miami, which lost 8-2 to Florida on Saturday night. Bethune-Cookman (32-28) went two-and-out in the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in 10 trips under Melendez, this time with an unusual ending.

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MEAC representatives to visit Savannah State

NCAA: SSU's three-year probation 'is now over."

Savannah State University's bid to be admitted to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is moving forward following a three-year delay. MEAC commissioner Dennis Thomas told the Savannah Morning News on Tuesday that he and other MEAC representatives will be at SSU June 29-30 for an official site visit - one of the final steps before joining a conference.

SSU has competed as an NCAA Division I Independent since leaving the Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2002. The Tigers paid a $10,000 non-refundable application fee to the MEAC in 2005.

"We will be visiting Savannah State University at the end of June," Thomas said during a telephone interview from MEAC headquarters in Virginia Beach, Va. "That's virtually all I can say about it. We will be visiting. It's a site visit for the membership committee. We won't be in town for more than two days." Thomas and other MEAC representatives made an official site visit to SSU on May 8, 2006. MEAC school presidents were set to vote on the school's admittance, but the NCAA placed SSU's football program on a three-year probation the week before the scheduled decision.

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Prairie View A&M mourns beloved band leader

George Edwards, 60, dies of injuries from car accident. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Edwards earned a bachelor’s degree in music at Florida A&M University and his master’s from Michigan State University.

George Edwards, director of Prairie View A&M University’s Marching Storm band, died Thursday from injuries sustained in a car accident earlier this month. He was 60. Former students — many of whom followed Edwards’ example and became school band leaders themselves — were stunned to hear that the man they called “Prof” was gone.

“Everybody is still in shock,” said Christopher Knight, a member of the Prairie View band in the 1990s who now teaches at M.C. Williams Middle School in Houston. “You always suspected Prof would grow old in the position.” The Marching Storm, with its drum line and Black Foxes dance troupe, has performed around the world, including the inaugural parade for former President George W. Bush in 2001 and the Tournament of Roses parade in January. Houston audiences may be more familiar with the clash between the Marching Storm and Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul, a highlight of the Labor Day Classic football game between the two historically black universities.



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Alcorn State baseball coach retires after 40 years

LORMAN, MS — With Alcorn State’s baseball season coming to an end with a loss in the SWAC Tournament championship game last Sunday, one might think that coach Willie “Rat” McGowan could finally take it easy. After all, McGowan did announce his retirement last month and has coached his final game in the ASU dugout. But McGowan’s retirement doesn’t take effect until June 30, and the coach is still working hard until then.

“I’m recruiting and trying to find some ball players,” McGowan said on Wednesday. “We’ve got some good kids coming in. I’m going to be coaching until my last day. I want to leave the Alcorn baseball program competitive for the next coach. I think the team we’ll put together will be able to win a championship.”

Coach Willie "Rat" McGowan #25, won 720 games with the ASU Braves.

And that is something McGowan’s final Alcorn team almost did. The Braves lost the opening game of the SWAC Tournament to Texas Southern before winning four straight games to advance to the championship game. However, the Braves lost to Southern 12-10 to bring down the curtain on McGowan’s 40 years at the helm of the Alcorn baseball program.

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