Doug Blackburn column: We need more Larry Robinsons

LARRY ROBINSON
 

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  -- An era is coming to an end. Monday will be Larry Robinson’s last official day as Florida A&M University’s interim president.

Twenty-one months of heavy but graceful lifting will become another chapter in the university’s rich history. Cornell vice president Elmira Mangum, hired in January to be FAMU’s 11th president, begins on Tuesday. It should be a seamless transition. Robinson is flexible and dedicated to Florida A&M.

He’s demonstrated that time and again in the wake of James H. Ammons’ resignation in July 2012. He has mended important fences with the Board of Governors. He worked with faculty and staff campus-wide to address issues cited by the university’s accrediting body to ensure that FAMU successfully came off a 12-month probation sanction. He has been the chief architect of one of the most comprehensive anti-hazing initiatives ever ...

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St. Aug's releases Sheals as head men's basketball coach

RALEIGH, North Carolina  --  Saint Augustine’s University announced Thursday, March 27, 2014, that Tony Sheals has been relieved of his duties as Head Men’s Basketball Coach. The university said they will begin a national search for his replacement immediately.

Sheals led the Falcons to a 13-16 overall record and 4-12 conference record last season after replacing former head coach Lonnie Blow, who left for a job at Virginia State, last August.

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South Carolina State's Garvin offered contract extension

SC State head men's basketball coach Murray Garvin
Courtesy: SCSU Athletics

ORANGEBURG, South Carolina  --  South Carolina State University has announced that head men's basketball coach Murray Garvin has been offered a four-year contract extension.  The agreement will run through June 30, 2018.

"I have the utmost confidence in Coach Garvin's ability to lead our men's basketball program, " said SC State President Thomas J. Elzey.  "His expertise as well as his personal devotion to each student-athlete is a testament to the culture of excellence he fosters, both on and off the basketball court. "

In his first full season at the helm, Garvin led the Bulldogs to an 8th place finish in the MEAC, the highest finish for the men's basketball program in three seasons.  The season highlights included a season sweep of Big South Champion Coastal Carolina, an NCAA tournament participant, and a home win versus defending MEAC Champion NC A & T State University.

Last season, the Bulldogs snapped a 25-game MEAC road losing streak and also earned victories over teams coached by two of the league's most successful coaches.

The men's basketball program has surpassed several milestones under Garvin's leadership. Among them, increasing retention and graduation rates among student-athletes, re-establishing Bulldog basketball camps which brought more than 1000 campers to the campus, and implementing a Student Success Mentoring program in the Greater Orangeburg community.

"I would like to thank President Thomas J. Elzey for granting me the opportunity to lead the SC State men's basketball program," said Garvin. "I am also grateful for Athletics Director Charlene M. Johnson, my family, our team and the entire athletics division. With their support, we continue our mission to build and sustain a winning program that is recognized as a dominant force in the MEAC."

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UCF to host big annual college football matchup, MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney, while Citrus Bowl is renovated

North Carolina A&T State University and Alabama A&M  University will face off for the 10^th anniversary MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney on August 31.

ORLANDO, Florida  -- The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference/Southwestern Athletic Conference Challenge is getting a  new home while the Citrus Bowl gets new digs.

The football game will be held Aug. 31 at Bright House Networks Stadium at The University of Central Florida. The university’s board of trustees approved the deal March 27.

The full name of the game is the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney. ESPN Events, a division of ESPN Regional Television, will be the event operator. The game, which showcases historically black colleges' football programs, is expected to bring 12,000-15,000 people to the Bright House Networks stadium.

The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN 2, and ...



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Johnson, Sims in spirited competition to start at quarterback for WSSU Rams

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  Quarterbacks Rudy Johnson and Phillip Sims know that there is plenty on the line during spring football practice at Winston-Salem State.

It’s true that there are no opponents to prepare for, or games to play, but they’re not without competition — with each other.

Johnson went 10-1 last season as the starter, passing for 2,400 yards and 25 touchdowns, and says he loves the competition Sims is providing for the starter’s job.

Sims, who has played at Alabama and Virginia, is one of the most decorated players to join the Rams and says there’s nothing like good competition in practice.

“I think it will ...

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2014 NCAA Bowling Selection Show: UMES 4th Seed

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana -- The eight-team field competing for the 2014 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship was announced Wednesday by the NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee.

UMES Bowling to Make 11th Straight Trip to NCAA Championships

INDIANPOLIS, Indiana  --  For an 11th straight year, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Women's Bowling team heard their name called as one of eight at-large selections to participate in the annual NCAA Women's Bowling Championship, during the NCAA.com selection show that aired today, March 26, 2014.

The team, coaches, athletic administrators, members of the local media and UMES administrators gathered in the conference room of the William P. Hytche Athletic Center to view the show. The Hawks heard their name called fourth and will enter as the fourth-seeded team among the eight selected. It is just the second year that the selection committee revealed the actual ranking of the eight-team field. Seeding of course is nice to know, but has no meaning at the bowling championships as the teams will bowl the first day to earn a seeding position at the championships.

The selection show, which aired live on NCAA.com, is now archived on the website for viewing.

Like last year, the field features six teams from the Central region and just two from the Northeast. In order the teams selected are:

1. Arkansas Sate
2. Central Missouri
3. Nebraska
4. UMES
5. Fairleigh Dickinson
6. Vanderbilt
7. Sam Houston State
8. Wisconsin-Whiewater

With the selections, UMES joins Central Missouri and Nebraska as the only three teams to attend all 11 championships.

UMES, who fell by one pin in the semi-finals of the 2013 championship, won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012. They went on to win the USBC Collegiate National Championship last season after the NCAA Championship event.

The 2014 event will be held in Wickliffe, Ohio, the site of UMES' 2012 NCAA title. That is the same site that the Hawks topped Fairleigh Dickinson in six games. With the victory, the Hawks became the first team since Nebraska in 2004-05 to win back-to-back national titles. The Huskers also won in 2009 and last year in 2013.  Last season gave Nebraska their fourth NCAA title, one more than UMES. The two are the only programs in existence that have won both an NCAA and USBC Collegiate National Championship.

All of the National Champions to date are represented in the field. FDU won in 2006 and 2010 with UMES winning in 2008, 2011 and 2012. Vanderbilt won the other title in 2007. The Hawks were runners up to Vandy in 2007, and a semi-finalist in 2013. They finished fifth in 2010 and seventh in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2009. UMES won in 2011 when they rebounded from a two-games-to-one deficit to top Vanderbilt and capture the Championship at Skore Lanes in Taylor, Michigan.

UMES is currently ranked third in the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) Coaches' poll and second in the Media poll. This season, as it did last year, the field represents the top eight teams in the coach's poll. The Hawks are coming off a second-straight win in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championships and have won six of the 10 events they entered this season. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Mid-American Conference will host the championship, which will be held April 10-12 at Game of Wickliffe in Wickliffe, Ohio. Tickets can be purchased on www.NCAA.com prior to the championship.

Competition begins with qualifying rounds in which each team bowls one five-person regular team game against each of the other seven teams participating in the championship for a total of seven games. Teams will be seeded for bracket play based on their win-loss record during the qualifying rounds.

Teams will then compete in best-of-seven-games Baker matches in a double elimination tournament. In the Baker format, each of the five team members, in order, bowls a complete frame until a complete (10-frame) game is bowled. A Baker match tied 3½ games to 3½ games after seven games will be decided by a tiebreaker using the Modified Baker format.

The championship finals will air on ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET on April 12. A tape-delayed broadcast of the championship finals will air on ESPN from 4-6 p.m. ET April 13. For more information about the National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship, log on to www.NCAA.com.

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