There were several friends in the stands and around the NSU basketball team Wednesday at Arkansas.
Former baseball head coach Dave Van Horn (1995-97) brought an Arkansas hat to give to our buddy "Coach Black," Harris Ray Wilson Jr., and was the halftime guest interview on the Demon Sports Network broadcast. Van Horn's baseball program at Arkansas led the nation in attendance last year.
He enjoyed reliving his days in Natchitoches, offering up tales of players like Rob Landstadt, Matt Donner and Terry Joseph and taking pride in the pitching rotation that he and assistant Rob Childress (now Texas A&M head coach) built. That included three players -- Brian Lawrence, Brandon Emmanuel and Alan Davis -- who were still pitching for pay in 2007. That's talent.
Dave's wife Karen is keeping busy with their two daughters. She also worked on campus during their days in Natchitoches ...
Former assistant baseball coach Travis Janssen (2002-04) spent time with the Demons Wednesday and attended the game. Trav is assistant coach at Jacksonville State. He and wife Christy, a Fayetteville native, met when he was an assistant coach at Arkansas in 2000, and they brought their two children home for the holidays....
NSU alumni Ricky Walmsley and former football player Daryl Andrews were in the stands for the game. Walmsley instructed his 7-year-old son Connor that he was not to call the 'Hogs, this one time, because they were playing Dad's beloved Demons. Andrews didn't have his 14-year-old daughter with him, much to his regret -- "if it was a football game, she might have come," he said, but her social options were too varied to join Dad at a basketball game!
... Interesting to see a couple of Arkansas icons at the game. Retiring athletics director Frank Broyles was fetching a cold drink and a piece of pizza in the press room before the game. He is in his early 80s but has remarkable presence and is far from "retiring," continuing after he steps down from the AD post to work with the Razorback Foundation in fundraising (they're building him an office at the foundation building, which is located down the left field line at Van Horn's baseball complex) and he is striving for the benefit of Alzheimers Disease victims as a driving force in fundraising and awareness ...
... Right behind the Razorback bench was PGA and British Open golf champion John Daly, who stayed for the entire game.
Doug Ireland, SID
Friday, December 21, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Razorback land
One person you don't expect to see in Bud Walton Arena at the start of the Demons' shootaround at 11 a.m. today ...
Houston Nutt.
Yes, the FORMER Arkansas football coach, now at Ole Miss, in the arena. He has a daughter on the Arkansas women's team, which wrapped up its morning workout just before the Demons took the floor.
Assistant academic advisor Brad Herman is a huge Arkansas fan, and he noticed Nutt sitting by himself in the stands. He took the opportunity to say hello and wish Nutt well in his new job. They did not call the Hogs. We'll see and hear that enough tonight.
More encounters with people we know, to be reported later today. Lunch beckons. Have to have my priorities...
Doug Ireland, SID
Houston Nutt.
Yes, the FORMER Arkansas football coach, now at Ole Miss, in the arena. He has a daughter on the Arkansas women's team, which wrapped up its morning workout just before the Demons took the floor.
Assistant academic advisor Brad Herman is a huge Arkansas fan, and he noticed Nutt sitting by himself in the stands. He took the opportunity to say hello and wish Nutt well in his new job. They did not call the Hogs. We'll see and hear that enough tonight.
More encounters with people we know, to be reported later today. Lunch beckons. Have to have my priorities...
Doug Ireland, SID
Monday, December 17, 2007
Catching up on loose ends
Apologies for the break in the blogosphere, so let's catch up on some notes and news ...
...Great visit Saturday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with former Demon football player Russell Roge. That's Capt. Russell Roge of the LSU university police.
Russell keeps very close tabs on Natchitoches, NSU and the Demons. Right now, he and his colleagues have the best and worst case scenarios. They are loving the football success, but the recent tragic double murder on campus has them working with a multi-jurisdictional task force -- all the way to the feds -- to solve the heinous crime. It's a reminder of what Russell constantly tells students, and especially athletes -- err on the side of caution, do not be confrontational, turn the other cheek, check your pride at the door and live to play another day.
Russell is the same gregarious fellow we all loved in Natchitoches, and he is highly regarded among his peers at LSU, that's easily seen in a few minutes around them. He deserves all the good things that come his way ....
... It's a matter of perspective. LSU radio announcer and NSU alumnus Jim Hawthorne was proud to attend Friday's commencement exercises at Prather Coliseum, watching his granddaughter become the fifth family member to earn a Northwestern degree. The whole bunch is from Anacoco.
Saturday night, Jim told me how very impressed he was with the ceremonies and the campus and how quickly it all went off ... I asked him if he had a long delay getting off campus, and he said no. Of course, when you are used to dealing with the traffic getting away from the stadium that Hawthorne faces each fall in 27 seasons of LSU football, it makes a packed Prather Coliseum crowd a lot less daunting ....
... Seen at the pregame alumni gathering in Baton Rouge at Walk-Ons Restaurant, former Demon football defensive coordinator and now LSU assistant coach Brad Peveto, known now as Bradley Dale Peveto. He gave a big shout out to all his Demon friends while hosting an LSU recruit at the restaurant ....
... The Lady Demon basketball team is headquartered in Vicksburg for its games Tuesday night at Alcorn State and Thursday night at Jackson State. Vicksburg is, among other things, the hometown of Lady Demon assistant coach Trina Frierson. The team will visit the National Civil War Battleground Museum during their stay, says head coach Jennifer Graf.
... The Demons are headquartered tonight in Conway, Ark., just past halfway to Fayetteville for their Wednesday night game at Arkansas. They will work out Tuesday morning at 9 at the arena at our Southland Conference cousins, Central Arkansas, then roll up to Fayetteville to set up shop.
There, we'll see a couple of former Demon baseball coaches. Dave Van Horn is the head coach at Arkansas. The Demons' head man from 1995-97 will be the halftime guest on the Demon Sports Network broadcast. It will be great to catch up with him.
Also watching the game, from behind the NSU bench, will be former third base coach Travis Janssen, now at Jacksonville State. Travis met his lovely wife Christy in Fayetteville, before he came to NSU on Mitch Gaspard's first staff in 2002. Travis was an assistant coach with the Razorbacks under the retired Norm DeBryan ....
...Assistant academic advisor Brad Hermann is on his second straight Demon basketball road trip. He went to LSU Saturday with the team, along with Dr. Bill Dickens, the venerable health and human performance professor. He's making this trip in part because he's a native Arkansan who does, in every other instance, love calling the Hogs ....
...Keep your eyes open, a revamped www.nsudemons.com is coming soon!
Doug Ireland, SID
...Great visit Saturday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with former Demon football player Russell Roge. That's Capt. Russell Roge of the LSU university police.
Russell keeps very close tabs on Natchitoches, NSU and the Demons. Right now, he and his colleagues have the best and worst case scenarios. They are loving the football success, but the recent tragic double murder on campus has them working with a multi-jurisdictional task force -- all the way to the feds -- to solve the heinous crime. It's a reminder of what Russell constantly tells students, and especially athletes -- err on the side of caution, do not be confrontational, turn the other cheek, check your pride at the door and live to play another day.
Russell is the same gregarious fellow we all loved in Natchitoches, and he is highly regarded among his peers at LSU, that's easily seen in a few minutes around them. He deserves all the good things that come his way ....
... It's a matter of perspective. LSU radio announcer and NSU alumnus Jim Hawthorne was proud to attend Friday's commencement exercises at Prather Coliseum, watching his granddaughter become the fifth family member to earn a Northwestern degree. The whole bunch is from Anacoco.
Saturday night, Jim told me how very impressed he was with the ceremonies and the campus and how quickly it all went off ... I asked him if he had a long delay getting off campus, and he said no. Of course, when you are used to dealing with the traffic getting away from the stadium that Hawthorne faces each fall in 27 seasons of LSU football, it makes a packed Prather Coliseum crowd a lot less daunting ....
... Seen at the pregame alumni gathering in Baton Rouge at Walk-Ons Restaurant, former Demon football defensive coordinator and now LSU assistant coach Brad Peveto, known now as Bradley Dale Peveto. He gave a big shout out to all his Demon friends while hosting an LSU recruit at the restaurant ....
... The Lady Demon basketball team is headquartered in Vicksburg for its games Tuesday night at Alcorn State and Thursday night at Jackson State. Vicksburg is, among other things, the hometown of Lady Demon assistant coach Trina Frierson. The team will visit the National Civil War Battleground Museum during their stay, says head coach Jennifer Graf.
... The Demons are headquartered tonight in Conway, Ark., just past halfway to Fayetteville for their Wednesday night game at Arkansas. They will work out Tuesday morning at 9 at the arena at our Southland Conference cousins, Central Arkansas, then roll up to Fayetteville to set up shop.
There, we'll see a couple of former Demon baseball coaches. Dave Van Horn is the head coach at Arkansas. The Demons' head man from 1995-97 will be the halftime guest on the Demon Sports Network broadcast. It will be great to catch up with him.
Also watching the game, from behind the NSU bench, will be former third base coach Travis Janssen, now at Jacksonville State. Travis met his lovely wife Christy in Fayetteville, before he came to NSU on Mitch Gaspard's first staff in 2002. Travis was an assistant coach with the Razorbacks under the retired Norm DeBryan ....
...Assistant academic advisor Brad Hermann is on his second straight Demon basketball road trip. He went to LSU Saturday with the team, along with Dr. Bill Dickens, the venerable health and human performance professor. He's making this trip in part because he's a native Arkansan who does, in every other instance, love calling the Hogs ....
...Keep your eyes open, a revamped www.nsudemons.com is coming soon!
Doug Ireland, SID
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