Earnest Wilson named ECSU Vikings head football coach

ELIZABETH CITY, North Carolina -- Elizabeth City State University has named its new head football coach. Athletic Director Derrick Johnson announced today that former ECSU offensive coordinator and Savannah State University (SSU) head football coach Earnest J. Wilson III has been tapped to head the Vikings football program.

"We are delighted that Earnest has agreed to become our head football coach," said Johnson. "His football expertise, leadership traits and passion for Elizabeth City State University are qualities that our student-athletes and fans will embrace."

Wilson is entering his 25th year of coaching. He comes to ECSU with a strong background in college and professional coaching experience.

Wilson is coming to ECSU from Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) member Savannah State University where he served as the head football coach since 2013. Prior to SSU, Wilson served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Hampton University in 2012.

Wilson took the helm at SSU at a time when the athletic program was faced with NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) sanctions, including scholarship reductions among other penalties. Wilson, who is credited with turning the program around, is also responsible for raising the football team's GPA from 1.9 to 2.5.

Wilson has a track record as a winning coach. While at Hampton University, the team's offensive attack was ranked in the top five and boasted the top rusher in the MEAC. Prior to Hampton he worked at Jackson State University as offensive coordinator, quarterback coach and wide receiver coach where his offense led the South Western Athletic Conference in scoring offense, pass offense, pass efficiency, first downs and fourth down conversions. Under his guidance, JSU led the nation in total offense, averaging almost 500 yards a game. During Wilson's time with JSU (2010-12) the team had the ninth highest scoring offense in the nation, averaging 35 points a game.

While at New Mexico State University, Wilson recruited the #2 Quarterback in the nation and his offense led the nation in total offense gained. Wilson's offense also captured the #3 spot for passing in Division I football.

Wilson's coaching background includes a stint as the head coach and director of football operations for the Jacksonville Tomcats and the Carolina Rhinos of Arena Football League 2 (AFL2). In his first season as the Rhinos head coach the team posted a 10-8 record. The next year, Wilson led the Rhinos to a 13-5 record and advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs. Wilson led the Jacksonville Tomcats to an 8-8 record (second place).

Wilson also served as the head coach of the Dayton Skyhawks of the Indoor Football League (1999). He led the team to the semifinals of the playoffs.

Wilson served as ECSU offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator, quarterbacks and receivers coach and offensive line coach from 1996 to 1998. He was also the head men's and women's track coach.

"Coach Wilson brings deep experience in college and professional football," said Johnson. "He is committed to elevating the student-athlete experience, catalyzing fan and community engagement, while developing a winning tradition."

COURTESY ELIZABETH CITY STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Records for Hopkins, Gathright in XU's road victory

TOUGALOO, Mississippi — Senior guards Trana Hopkins and Whitney Gathright combined for 58 points and five Xavier University of Louisiana women's basketball records Monday in a 78-68 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference victory against Tougaloo.
    
Hopkins scored a career-high 34 points and made seven 3-pointers to tie an XU game record. Gathright scored 24 points and set XU game records with 17 free-throws attempted and 15 made. Gathright raised her career total of made free throws to 429, an XU record, and her 150 made free throws in 2015-16 are an XU season record.
    
After a halftime tie at 28, Hopkins took control for the Gold Nuggets (18-11). She scored 18 points, including 4-of-4 3-pointers, in the third quarter. She scored eight points in the second minute of that period.
    
In addition to Gathright's three records, she raised her career point total to 1,324. She is the ninth Gold Nugget to reach 1,300.
    
Xavier's explosion occurred two days after a season-low-tying point total in a 60-47 loss at Edward Waters. The Gold Nuggets regained a tie for second place in the GCAC after Edward Waters lost 58-52 at home to SUNO. Xavier, Philander Smith and Edward Waters are 6-5 in conference. On Saturday, the final day of the regular season, Xavier will visit Dillard, Philander Smith will visit Tougaloo, and Edward Waters will play host to GCAC champion Talladega.
    
Hopkins produced the most points by a Gold Nugget since Cassee Davis scored 35 at Belhaven on Feb. 26, 1998. Gathright scored 33 in a 91-86 overtime victory Nov. 14 against the NAIA's current No. 1 team, Our Lady of the Lake.
    
Ahsia Clayton scored 16 points for Tougaloo (1-18, 0-11).
    
Xavier and Dillard will tip off Bat 3 p.m. Saturday at Dillard's Dent Hall. The Lady Bleu Devils won 57-52 at Xavier Feb. 6.

BOX SCORE

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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Nuggets slip to their lowest ranking of the season

NEW ORLEANS — Dropping 2-of-3 games, including a first-ever loss to Edward Waters, helped send Xavier University of Louisiana to its lowest position of 2015-16 in the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
    
The Gold Nuggets were tied for 30th place, down four spots, among the 33 teams receiving three-or-more points Tuesday. Xavier has victories this season against five teams ranked ahead of it, including No. 1 Our Lady of the Lake and No. 9 Shawnee State in November, but six losses in the last 11 games have put Xavier on the bubble in its bid to return to the national tournament for the first time since 2014.
    
Xavier began this past week with a 70-62 victory against SUNO, then lost 67-57 at Loyola — which climbed to 24th nationally — and 60-47 at Edward Waters.
    
Xavier, 18-11 overall and tied for second in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference at 6-5, will close its regular season Saturday in a 3 p.m. matchup with city and GCAC rival Dillard at Dillard's Dent Hall. The Lady Bleu Devils helped knocked the Gold Nuggets out of the top 25 with a 57-52 victory Feb. 6 at Xavier.
    
GCAC regular-season champion Talladega, which did not play this past week, dropped from 14th to 15th. Our Lady of the Lake received all nine first-place votes and tops the rankings for the fourth consecutive week.
    
The GCAC Tournament will be played March 4-6 in New Orleans, with first-round games at SUNO (women) and Dillard (men) and all semifinals and finals at Xavier's Convocation Center.

NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through Feb. 21) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 Our Lady of the Lake (9) 24-2 219 1 2 Westmont 24-3 212 2 3 Bethel (Tenn.) 24-5 202 7 4 Lyon 24-3 198 8 5 Campbellsville 23-6 178 4 6 The Master's 23-4 176 10 7 Columbia (Mo.) 25-3 174 3 8 Vanguard 19-5 173 6 9 Shawnee State 24-5 162 9 10 MidAmerica Nazarene 22-5 160 5 11 Freed-Hardeman 22-6 150 12 12 Lewis-Clark State 23-4 149 11 13 Central Methodist 24-2 141 tie-15 14 Wayland Baptist 20-4 129 13 15 Talladega 21-3 125 14 16 Montana State-Northern 21-6 113 17 17 Oklahoma City 16-7 101 18 18 Benedictine (Kan.) 24-4 96 20 19 Lindsey Wilson 22-5 95 22 20 Carroll (Mont.) 19-7 89 tie-15 21 Pikeville 21-5 78 21 22 LSU-Shreveport 19-6 70 23 23 Great Falls 19-9 68 24 24 Loyola 19-6 58 25 25 Langston 17-6 53 19        Dropped from rankings:  None        Others receiving votes:  Auburn Montgomery 40, Baker 39, Martin Methodist 24, Huston-Tillotson 13, Xavier 11,, Georgetown (Ky.) 11, Culver-Stockton 7, Cumberland (Tenn.) 3 Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold

XU Bruins, Setodji receive GCAC's weekly awards

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana's Sha'Nel Bruins and Thomas Setodji have been selected Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Players of the Week in tennis for Feb. 15-21. Bruins won for the second consecutive week and the third time in her career.
    
Bruins, a junior from Colfax, La., and a graduate of Grant High School, teamed with Dasia Harris to defeat Daniella Arcila and Anastasia Castro 8-3 and score Xavier's only point in a 6-1 loss to NAIA No. 4 SCAD Savannah in the Green and Gray Invitational at Lawrenceville, Ga.
    
Setodji, a home-schooled freshman from Domont, France, teamed with Kevin Chaouat to defeat SCAD Savannah's Quentin Staley and Sean Hajdu, the ITA's 18th-ranked NAIA doubles team, at the Green and Gold Invitational. Setodji led Yulin Liu 7-5, 4-1 in singles when the dual was halted with Xavier having clinched a 6-0 victory.
    
Next for Xavier will be a 3 p.m. Wednesday women's dual match against Grambling at Greenwood Park Tennis Center in Baker, La., a suburb of Baton Rouge. The XU-Troy men's dual, scheduled for Thursday at XU Tennis Center, has been moved to Franco's Athletic Club in Mandeville, La. Competition will start at 2 p.m.
    
Xavier's men are 4-2 and ranked fourth in the NAIA, and the women are 1-3 and ranked 13th.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
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XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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SSU Announces 2016 Football Schedule



COURTESY SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

SAVANNAH, Georgia -- The Savannah State University football program announced its 2016 schedule.

The 10-game slate will pit the Tigers against two Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs and has four home games, which will be played at Theodore A. Wright Stadium.

The Tigers open the season on the road against FBS foes Georgia Southern and Southern Mississippi. SSU play, GSU on Sept. 3 and Southern Miss. on Sept. 10.

GSU played in the GoDaddy Bowl in 2015 while USM played in the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Following a bye week on Sept. 17, Savannah State will begin Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play with a home contest against Bethune-Cookman, on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.

The Tigers play at Florida A&M on Oct. 1 at 6 p.m., but return home to face Morgan State on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.

Savannah State returns to the road on Oct. 15 to play North Carolina Central at 2 p.m. followed by a bye week on Oct. 22.

SSU will have a two-game home stand on Oct. 29 and Nov. 5.

The Orange and Blue Nation will celebrate Homecoming on Oct. 29 against Howard at 2 p.m. followed by a home game against Norfolk State on Nov. 5 at 1 p.m.

The Tigers will close out the season with road games at Hampton (Nov. 12) at 1 p.m. and South Carolina State (Nov. 19) at 1:30 p.m.

SSU's four home games will have themes.

The Bethune-Cookman game will be Greek Night/Parents Weekend; the Morgan State game will be The Pink Game/Military Day; the Howard game will be Homecoming; and the Norfolk State game will be Community/High School Band Day.

View Full 2016 Football Schedule

Date	Opponent	Location	Home / Away	Time
9/3/2016	Georgia Southern University	Statesboro, GA	A	TBA
9/10/2016	University of Southern Mississippi	Hattiesburg, MS	A	TBA
9/17/2016	Open		N	Open
9/24/2016	Bethune-Cookman University	Savannah, Ga. - Theodore A. Wright Stadium	H	7 p.m.
10/1/2016	Florida A&M University	Tallahassee, FL	A	6 p.m.
10/8/2016	Morgan State University	Savannah, Ga. - Theodore A. Wright Stadium	H	7 p.m.
10/15/2016	North Carolina Central University	Durham, NC	A	2 p.m.
10/22/2016	Open		N	Open
10/29/2016	Howard University	Savannah, Ga. - Theodore A. Wright Stadium	H	2 p.m.
11/5/2016	Norfolk State University	Savannah, Ga. - Theodore A. Wright Stadium	H	1 p.m.
11/12/2016	Hampton University	Hampton, VA	A	1 p.m.
11/19/2016	South Carolina State University	Orangeburg, SC	A	1:30 p.m.

COURTESY SAVANNAH STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Xavier will get Saturday rematch with ranked Dillard

NEW ORLEANS — When Xavier University of Louisiana visits Dillard in men's basketball at 5 p.m. Saturday, it will be the 14th consecutive time that one of the teams is in the NAIA Division I Coaches' Top 25. But for the second time this season, that ranked team is Dillard.
    
Xavier's Gold Rush were among "others receiving votes" Tuesday for the fifth consecutive week after 55 consecutive top-25 appearances. Dillard, which trailed Xavier in last week's rankings, climbed into a tie for 25th place with Oklahoma City.
    
This is Dillard's third top-25 appearance in 2015-16 after a 12-year absence from the rankings. The first time Xavier and Dillard met this season, the Gold Rush rallied in the second half Feb. 6 for a 69-61 victory at Xavier which helped knock the Bleu Devils out of the top 25.
    
Xavier has won six straight and 14 of the last 15 meetings with its longtime city and Gulf Coast Athletic Conference rivlal. The XU men won the last 11 times at Dillard's Dent Hall. The Bleu Devils have not won on their campus against the Gold Rush since an 84-68 decision Feb. 24, 2001.
    
Talladega, which clinched the GCAC regular-season championship outright with a 96-80 home victory Monday against Dillard, climbed from fifth to a third-place tie nationally. LSU-Alexandria received all nine first-place votes and tops the poll for the fourth consecutive week.
    
Dillard will be the final opponent of the regular season for Xavier, which is 19-10 overall and 6-5 in the GCAC. The GCAC Tournament will be played March 4-6 in New Orleans, with first-round games at Dillard (men) and SUNO (women) and all semifinals and finals at Xavier's Convocation Center.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through Feb. 21) Rank Team Record Points Last 1 LSU-Alexandria (9) 25-2 219 1 2 Georgetown (Ky.) 24-3 211 2 3-tie Talladega 22-4 195 5 3-tie Texas Wesleyan 23-4 195 7 5 Hope International 24-4 194 6 6 Lewis-Clark State 25-3 190 3 7 Pikeville 23-4 178 4 8 Biola 26-3 170 9 9 Freed-Hardeman 23-5 163 12 10 MidAmerica Nazarene 22-6 155 16 11 William Penn 22-6 145 10 12 Columbia (Mo.) 23-5 141 8 13 Langston 20-6 138 11 14 Mid-America Christian 21-7 130 13 15-tie Arizona Christian 21-6 108 17 15-tie Our Lady of the Lake 17-6 108 19-tie 15-tie Park 18-7 108 19-tie 18 Peru State 19-9 100 18 19 William Carey 18-10 92 14 20 Cumberlands 19-9 83 21 21 Carroll (Mont.) 18-8 80 15 22-tie William Jessup 18-8 67 22 22-tie Montana Western 18-10 67 RV 24 Westmont 19-8 55 23 25-tie Dillard 17-9 33 RV 25-tie Oklahoma City 13-9 33 25 Dropped from rankings:  No. 24 Middle Georgia        Others receiving votes:  Campbellsville 31, LSU-Shreveport 26, Bethel (Tenn.) 26, Southwestern Assemblies of God 19, Xavier 17, Dalton State 10, Voorhees 6 Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director XULAgold.com XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA  twitter.com/xulagold www.facebook.com/xulagold

Jackson's 3-pointer at buzzer gives XU win at Tougaloo

BOX SCORE

TOUGALOO, Miss. — Seth Jackson scored a career-high 25 points and made a 3-pointer at the final buzzer Monday to give Xavier University of Louisiana an 84-81 Gulf Coast Athletic Conference men's basketball victory at Tougaloo.
    
The Gold Rush (19-11, 6-5) won on the road for the second time in three days.
     
Jackson's shot occurred after Andravious Smith of the Bulldogs (12-11, 4-7) scored a tying 2-pointer after an offensive rebound with six seconds remaining.
    
Jackson, a junior guard, was 3-of-3 from behind the arc after entering the game 1-of-17 for the season. He made his first 3-pointer Saturday at Edward Waters to end a zero-for-15 drought.

Morris Wright scored 21 points, including four 3-pointers, for Xavier. Chris Ward scored 13 points and Gary Smith 10. Wright scored in double figures for the 38th consecutive game and made a 3-pointer for the 37th consecutive game.

De'Andre Scott scored 30 points and Quintarius Porter 24 for Tougaloo, which led 12-0 through the first three minutes and 43-42 at halftime. Scott made five 3-pointers.
    
Xavier will visit GCAC and city rival Dillard at 5 p.m. Saturday to close the regular season. The GCAC Tournament will begin March 4 in New Orleans, with first-round games at Dillard (men) and SUNO (women) and semifinals and finals at Xavier's Convocation Center.

Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
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