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OLIVER "BUDDY" POUGH HEAD FOOTBALL COACH SOUTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
ORANGEBURG, South Carolina -- Two of South Carolina State’s most visible coaches are taking a wait-and-see approach to news that their programs may face significant cuts after a university budget proposed Tuesday showed extensive cost-reduction measures.
“At this point, I’m just waiting to see what the final determination is,” Coach Buddy Pough said Wednesday. “I’m still trying to get the best information. We just have to remember nothing is final at this point. There are some things that the board still has to work on.”
Murray Garvin, head men’s basketball coach, echoed his football counterpart’s thoughts.
“It hasn’t happened yet,” Garvin said. “I have confidence in our administration, and at this point, I’m hopeful things work out for the best.”
The university administration’s proposed education and general budget, which has supported athletics in the past, does not fund any sports programs for 2015-16. The budget sets out to cut spending by 20 percent, including $2.5 million in athletic scholarships.
Kevin Nickelberry Head Men's Basketball Coach HOWARD UNIVERSITY
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Howard University head men's basketball coach Kevin Nickelberry will conduct his annual Youth Basketball camp from August 3-6 in Burr Gymnasium on the campus of the University.
The camp is designed for youth, ages, 6-18 who have not completed or started their senior year of high school. The camp hours are 7 am until 4 pm on Monday and 9 am until 4 pm from Tuesday through Thursday. Before and after care is available. The camp fee is $150 with a special discounted rate of $125 for Howard University staff and employees.
For more information, CLICK HERE to download the camp brochure.
HAMPTON, Virginia – Janell Crayton, who previously served as an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina Asheville, has been hired in the same capacity with the Hampton University women's basketball program.
"Coach Crayton is a tremendous addition to our staff," head coach David Six, entering his seventh season, said. "She's very organized, she can get out there and work with the kids and push the kids. We're glad to have her."
Crayton was on the UNC Asheville staff for three seasons, serving as recruiting coordinator on top of handling scouting and post player development. During this most recent season, Crayton saw senior forward Jeannie Buckner earn All-Academic honors from the Big South.
Buckner was second on the team in both rebounds and blocked shots this past season.
Prior to her tenure at UNC Asheville, Crayton was the Director of Basketball Operations for the College of William and Mary. Her duties with the Tribe program included film exchange, coordinating team travel, on-campus recruiting, team promotional activities, as well as other administrative responsibilities.
Crayton joined the William and Mary staff after working as an assistant coach at Colgate University in 2010-11. While with the Raiders, her duties included recruiting, player development, scouting, travel, and special event planning. On the court, Crayton helped develop the Colgate post players.
Prior to Colgate, she worked at Oberlin College, where she served as an assistant coach, interim head coach, and associate head coach during her three seasons. In these roles, Crayton's responsibilities included team travel, scouting, coordinating community service, film break down, recruiting, and player skill development. During her time at Oberlin, five players earned all-conference honors.
Before coaching at Oberlin, Crayton was an assistant coach at Oglethorpe University for a season.
In addition, Crayton was an AAU 15-and-under coach from March to May of 2007, and she boasts international experience that includes a teaching internship in Ghana – as well as playing and running youth camps with Basketball Travelers Inc. in Turkey.
Crayton was also a player-coach for Athletes in Action in the Czech Republic.
Crayton is a 2006 graduate of Davidson College, where she was a four-year letterwinner for the Wildcats. A two-year captain, Crayton was named First-Team All-Southern Conference and All- Tournament Team in 2006. In addition, Crayton was named to the North Carolina All-State Team in 2006.
Crayton was also a standout in the classroom, twice being named Academic All-Conference.
She is a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), as well as the Black Coaches Association. In 2006, Crayton participated in the Nike "So You Wanna Be a Coach" program, and in 2010, she graduated from the NCAA Women's Coaches Academy.
For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website atwww.hamptonpirates.com. COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
NEW ORLEANS — Kevin Murph, a 6-foot-6 forward from Austell, Ga., and Pebblebrook High School, is Xavier University of Louisiana's third men's basketball signee for the 2015-16 season.
Murph averaged 10 points and 10 rebounds per game this past season for a Pebblebrook team which finished second in the Class AAAAAA state playoffs. Murph was a four-year varsity starter, set a school record with more than 900 career rebounds and helped Pebblebrook reach the state semifinals his junior year.
"We're very excited to have Kevin join Team Gold," XU head coach Dannton Jackson said. "We feel like his athleticism and his skill set will help us right away. We are excited about him coming from a winning program. He has played against some of the best competition in the Georgia area. We feel like he's ready to come in and make a contribution.
"Like all freshmen, he will have a learning curve. But we believe he will make that adjustment quickly. It will be fun to watch him grow the next four years."
Pebblebrook's Falcons were 27-6 in 2014-15 and 24-6 in 2013-14. The school is in Cobb County in the Atlanta suburb of Mableton.
"Kevin is a really tough kid. He displays toughness on the court," Pebblebrook coach George Washington said. "He has a high, high basketball IQ and has played at a high level in high school and AAU with the Southern Stampeders. We were ranked as high as 19th in the country his senior year, and Kevin was a big part of our success."
"He's a funny kid with a great personality. You'll laugh a lot around him."
Murph will major in business at Xavier. He is a cousin of Stacey Augmon, a former UNLV standout and 15-year NBA player who spent two seasons with the New Orleans Hornets.
Previously announced XU signees were Louisiana guards Leland Alexander of Houma and Seth Jackson of Baton Rouge.
Xavier was 24-10 in 2014-15, finished second in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament, qualified for the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship for a school-record fifth consecutive year and ranked 21st in the postseason poll. The Gold Rush have the NAIA's longest active streak of top-25 appearances, 50.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – North Carolina Central University men's basketball head coach LeVelle Moton has been selected as a court coach for the 2015 USA Basketball Men's U19 World Championship Team training camp, USA Basketball announced Wednesday.
Moton is one of three to be selected as court coaches by the USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team Committee, chaired by Syracuse Hall of Fame head coach Jim Boeheim.
The three court coaches (Moton, Donnie Bostwick of Southwestern Assemblies of God University and Kerry Keating from Santa Clara University) will assist the 2015 USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team coaching staff during training camp, which will take place June 13-19 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"It means the world to me to be selected to USA Basketball," Moton said. "I am humbled and honored to have an opportunity to represent my country and impact young lives while doing so. As a kid, we all dream of USA Basketball opportunities, and I thank God that mine has come true."
The 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship, will be played June 27-July 5 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, where the USA will be led by the University of Arizona's Sean Miller and assistant coaches Ed Cooley of Providence College and Archie Miller of the University of Dayton.
Moton enters his first USA Basketball coaching assignment after becoming the first men's basketball coach in NCCU history to repeat as Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season champions with a 16-0 record in 2014-15.
In his six years at his alma mater, Moton has amassed a 114-75 record (.603 winning percentage), which includes three consecutive 20-win seasons, trips to the NCAA and NIT postseason tournaments and the school's first MEAC Tournament championship title.
Moton was named the MEAC Coach of the Year for 2013-14 and the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) District 15 Coach of the Year for 2014-15, while also being a finalist for the Hugh Durham (Top Mid-Major Coach) and Ben Jobe (Top Minority Coach) National Coach of the Year awards in each of the past two seasons.
The NCCU Hall of Famer joined the program's staff after serving as the boys basketball coach at Sanderson High School in Raleigh, North Carolina from 2004 to 2007, where he led the Spartans to an overall record of 59-25 (.702 winning percentage) and back-to-back North Carolina High School Athletic Association Cap-7 Conference Tournament championships (2006 and 2007).
A 1996 graduate of NCCU with a bachelor's degree in recreation administration, Moton became the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,714 points during his historic hardwood career as an Eagle from 1992-96, earning the nickname "Poetry `n Moton."
During his junior and senior seasons, Moton was voted All-CIAA First Team, NCAA Division II South Atlantic All-Region First Team and NCAA Division II All-America Honorable Mention. He was named the 1996 CIAA (Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association) Men's Basketball Player of the Year and was inducted into the NCCU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004.
In December of 2013, Moton received his master's degree from NCCU in special education with a focus on learning disabilities.
USA Basketball
Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA Basketball, chaired by Jerry Colangelo, is a nonprofit organization and the national governing body for men's and women's basketball in the United States. As the recognized governing body for basketball in the U.S. by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), USA Basketball is responsible for the selection, training and fielding of USA teams that compete in FIBA-sponsored international competitions, as well as for some national competitions, and for the development of youth basketball initiatives that address player development, coach education and safety.
USA Basketball men's and women's teams between 2012-14 compiled a spectacular 122-4 win-loss record in FIBA and FIBA Americas competitions, the World University Games and the Nike Hoop Summit, and posted a 65-8 win-loss record in official FIBA and FIBA Americas 3x3 competitions.
USA teams are the current men's and women's champions in the Olympics; men's FIBA World Cup and women's FIBA World Championship; men's and women's FIBA U19 and U17 World Championships; men's and women's U18 and U16 FIBA Americas Championships; the FIBA 3x3 Women's World Championship; the FIBA 3x3 Women's U18 World Championship; and the women's Youth Olympic Games. USA Basketball currently ranks No. 1 in all five of FIBA's world-ranking categories, including combined, men's, women's, boys and girls.
For further information about USA Basketball, go to the official website at usab.com.
COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
MACON, Georgia — With a disappointing loss in the SIAC Championship game still fresh, Albany State assistant coach Steve Smith said this year is all about finishing.
Smith was present at the 2015 Peach State Pigskin Preview Tuesday at the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. He said the Rams have a lot to build on this season.
Offensively, Caleb Edwards and Charles Stafford are still fighting for the starting job at quarterback. The two are equally talented in their own ways and Smith said it will come down to “who stays consistent in managing what we’re trying to get done offensively. The guy who stays consistent is the guy who will run the offense.”
Albany State held out a few players during its spring game due to injury, but Smith said everybody’s healthy and moving well. They have 60 players at summer workouts and he said they’re in a good place in terms of health.
The Rams are under the direction of head coach Dan Land this year and Smith said the adjustment period has been smooth thanks in large part to Land’s experience and familiarity with the program.
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina -- For the first time in his four years at Winston-Salem State Coach A.G. Hall has signed the most balanced recruiting class he could find.
Hall, the women’s basketball coach for the Rams, signed four players who all have something in common – versatility.
“I’m pretty sure you will see all of them contributing next season,” Hall said about his latest class.
Kandace Tate, a 6-3 forward from Homewood, Illinois, is the lone Division I transfer of the four players signed. Tate played one season for Eastern Illinois seeing action in 25 games and averaging 8.1 minutes a game and 1.8 points a game.
Taylor Boyd, a 6-2 center, and Trei Torain, a 6-1 forward, are junior-college transfers who each have two years of eligibility left. Boyd is from St. Louis where she averaged 11 points and eight rebounds last season for Georgia Perimeter College and Torain, who is from Roxboro, averaged 12 points and seven rebounds for Temple College in Texas.
