Watching the Demon basketball team practice Thursday night were two NSU athletic greats who played for the Demons just a year ago and now are playing for pay.
Colby Bargeman headed across the pond today, back to England to resume playing for the Worthing Thunder in the English Basketball League.
Demetrius Bell is enjoying his first offseason after being with the Buffalo Bills in the NFL. You could see as he moved around the borders of the court, watching and encouraging his former basketball teammates, that he still loves hoops.
But he knows where his bread is buttered and is excited about next year, now that he knows the ropes and the Bills have retained head coach Dick Jauron.
More on Colby and D-Bell over the weekend. Bell will be watching the Demons play Saturday afternoon at Prather.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Quick hits
Lady Demon softball coach Donald Pickett is about to make his debut as a head coach and even more important, as a daddy.
His season begins the first weekend in February. There are major changes to the Demon Diamond that we'll detail later, but suffice to say you'll like the new look. Don't be surprised if there's a nursery (OK, that's stretching it, but understandable).
He and his wife are expecting a baby to arrive Friday. We'll update you ...
... now on to the less important notes ...
...The Demon basketball team is skipping the BCS national championship football game telecast, and Grey's Anatomy. The players, not happy with their performance in Thursday morning's workout, called a practice for tonight ...
...Look for a feature story on the McConathy family basketball history at Northwestern next week on KTBS-TV Shreveport. Reporters Leslie Spoon and Rob Brennan were at Prather Coliseum Thursday morning doing interviews and gathering material ...
... Sunday, you should be able to enjoy a profile of new Demon football coach Bradley Dale Peveto at www.shreveportimes.com if you don't receive the print edition. Sports editor Scott Ferrell carved 20 minutes out of Coach Peve Wednesday evening as our coach drove to a home visit ...
... Coach Peve and his staff are expected to be introduced at halftime of the men's basketball game Saturday in Prather Coliseum. Part of next week is a dead period for recruiting, meaning the coaches can't contact potential players, and there is the possibility that Coach Peve and staff might be able to do some friend-making among Demon fans at an event or two. Stay tuned! ...
... Former Demon baseball infielder Chris Salim is adding his wit and wisdom to the popular area radio talk show Sports On Call based on 100.7 FM KZBL, the Demon Sports Network flagship station, from 5-6 on Monday-Thursday evenings. He joins longtime host Mike Luster. They had a 30-minute visit Wednesday with Coach Peve, and had assistant men's basketball coach Mark Slessinger on the show Thursday evening.
His season begins the first weekend in February. There are major changes to the Demon Diamond that we'll detail later, but suffice to say you'll like the new look. Don't be surprised if there's a nursery (OK, that's stretching it, but understandable).
He and his wife are expecting a baby to arrive Friday. We'll update you ...
... now on to the less important notes ...
...The Demon basketball team is skipping the BCS national championship football game telecast, and Grey's Anatomy. The players, not happy with their performance in Thursday morning's workout, called a practice for tonight ...
...Look for a feature story on the McConathy family basketball history at Northwestern next week on KTBS-TV Shreveport. Reporters Leslie Spoon and Rob Brennan were at Prather Coliseum Thursday morning doing interviews and gathering material ...
... Sunday, you should be able to enjoy a profile of new Demon football coach Bradley Dale Peveto at www.shreveportimes.com if you don't receive the print edition. Sports editor Scott Ferrell carved 20 minutes out of Coach Peve Wednesday evening as our coach drove to a home visit ...
... Coach Peve and his staff are expected to be introduced at halftime of the men's basketball game Saturday in Prather Coliseum. Part of next week is a dead period for recruiting, meaning the coaches can't contact potential players, and there is the possibility that Coach Peve and staff might be able to do some friend-making among Demon fans at an event or two. Stay tuned! ...
... Former Demon baseball infielder Chris Salim is adding his wit and wisdom to the popular area radio talk show Sports On Call based on 100.7 FM KZBL, the Demon Sports Network flagship station, from 5-6 on Monday-Thursday evenings. He joins longtime host Mike Luster. They had a 30-minute visit Wednesday with Coach Peve, and had assistant men's basketball coach Mark Slessinger on the show Thursday evening.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
On the job, full speed and then some
Bradley Dale Peveto spent his first day on the job as the Demons' head coach Saturday, meeting with his staff into the evening, and again throughout Sunday, to line up recruiting plans.
He and his coaches made a very well received trip to Front Street Saturday evening for dinner at Mama's Oyster House.
Expect announcement of most if not all of the staff in the next few days.
Signing Day is Feb. 4. There could be some new Demon players on board before then as classes begin next Monday and transfers could enroll at the outset of the spring semester.
Coach Peve has been calling the current players to introduce himself. There's a full team meeting next weekend.
He and his coaches made a very well received trip to Front Street Saturday evening for dinner at Mama's Oyster House.
Expect announcement of most if not all of the staff in the next few days.
Signing Day is Feb. 4. There could be some new Demon players on board before then as classes begin next Monday and transfers could enroll at the outset of the spring semester.
Coach Peve has been calling the current players to introduce himself. There's a full team meeting next weekend.
Friday, January 02, 2009
The last go-round
As Keithan Hancock and Kalem Porterie, the old men among the current players on the Demons' basketball team, walked through the lobby of the Quality Inn in Stillwater to board the team bus for tonight's shoot-around at Gallagher-Iba Arena, it really sunk in.
This will be our last visit here, perhaps for a long while, and it's a mid-winter habit I'll hate to break.
OK, granted, the visiting team doesn't win very often at storied G-I-A. Doesn't matter if it's Demons or Jayhawks, Sooners or Longhorns, the ride out of Stillwater is usually a quiet one.
But there are creature comforts, not to mention the thrill of playing in one of the great venues in sport.
Silence has never been more golden than on Dec. 5, 2005, when the Demons held off a Cowboys comeback for a stirring 68-64 win that presaged postseason brilliance by Clifton Lee and Co.
Hearing the G-I-A crowd, which was earlier amped to a level that the floor was vibrating from the energy in the building, go completely silent was as pure a sound as I've experienced. The floor vibrating, however - that was nothing new for us at G-I-A.
The appeal here is tempered somewhat by the long drive to arrive. Even that has become tolerable over the last nine years. As possible, the trip up is cut in half, with a stop overnight in the DFW metroplex and a morning practice there before a four-hour jaunt up I-35 into the Indian Territories of the Sooner State. There's no easy way to endure the long ride home.
There are some ritualistic stops. Must have Hideaway Pizza, preferably the Big Country, a meat lover's feast named for the Cowboys' star center on their last Final Four team. Can't miss Eskimo Joe's, "Stillwater's Jumpin' Juke Joint," which is a great place for a meal and positively a fabulous location to mingle with Cowboy fans young and old, even during the semester break.
And there's the memorial to the nine victims of the horrible charter plane crash involving part of the OSU travel party returning from a game several years ago at Colorado. Among those who lost their lives - basketball SID Will Hancock, as charming and capable as they come, a gentle soul who left behind a young wife, Karen, the OSU women's soccer coach, and a baby boy. The memorial is located in the Gallagher-Iba Arena lobby, and is an elegant and subdued tribute to each of those who perished that night.
There are old friends. Each year, we're lucky to enjoy former Demon assistant basketball coach Jack Hearron, who recruited Coach Mike McConathy while on Tynes Hildebrand's staff when Mike was best known as "Opie" and was a scoring machine at Airline High in Bossier City. Jack played at OSU and works in the administration at the Oklahoma School of Science and the Arts in Norman, about 75 minutes to the south.
Nearly every year, I enjoy reuniting with John Mallory, a classmate of mine at NSU in the late '70s and early '80s. Mallory was very proudly right behind the bench for the Demons' 2005 win, and we posed for a picture afterward that is still in my office and I suspect his, as well.
Almost annually, our friend Cathie Page comes down from Iowa, and she's here again this year, passing out sweet treats to the players and staff. The first round this year was home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Not what I need, but too good to turn down! If you've read her tribute to her longtime friend Coach Mike on the current Demon Dust feature, you understand her connection. If you haven't read it, make it the next click on your computer.
It's always great to work and visit with my OSU counterpart, Mike Noteware, who goes overboard to make us feel at home not only at G-I-A but in town.
And there's the atrium at the Quality Inn. It transitioned from the Holiday Inn family during our annual treks, and has gone through some enhancements, but it's still old school. Witness the fact that I am sitting in the atrium near the front desk to get wireless, which is spotty at best in the rooms the further away you get from the desk.
There is a soothing fountain in the atrium, a collection of the flags of the Big XII schools, a pool table, a small game room, a steam room, a foosball table, a nice pool and a jacuzzi.
Stillwater is the home of the legendary Olympic and OSU basketball coach Henry Iba, and the birthplace of the Demon basketball "Hot Tub Club." OK, they shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, but ...
"The Hot Tub Club" originated a few years ago when the young assistant coaches enjoyed a dip on an especially wicked winter night. The 40-degree temps outside tonight are nothing compared to some of the teens and single-digit weather we've encountered previously.
For the last trip here, our friend Harris Wilson Jr., aka "Coach Black," is along with the team. He and Coach Sless have already enjoyed rekindling the "Hot Tub Club" late this afternoon.
Hopefully the Demons can rekindle some memories of 2005 tomorrow afternoon. It would be a fitting adieu for a series that seems destined to fade away after this meeting.
Doug Ireland, SID
This will be our last visit here, perhaps for a long while, and it's a mid-winter habit I'll hate to break.
OK, granted, the visiting team doesn't win very often at storied G-I-A. Doesn't matter if it's Demons or Jayhawks, Sooners or Longhorns, the ride out of Stillwater is usually a quiet one.
But there are creature comforts, not to mention the thrill of playing in one of the great venues in sport.
Silence has never been more golden than on Dec. 5, 2005, when the Demons held off a Cowboys comeback for a stirring 68-64 win that presaged postseason brilliance by Clifton Lee and Co.
Hearing the G-I-A crowd, which was earlier amped to a level that the floor was vibrating from the energy in the building, go completely silent was as pure a sound as I've experienced. The floor vibrating, however - that was nothing new for us at G-I-A.
The appeal here is tempered somewhat by the long drive to arrive. Even that has become tolerable over the last nine years. As possible, the trip up is cut in half, with a stop overnight in the DFW metroplex and a morning practice there before a four-hour jaunt up I-35 into the Indian Territories of the Sooner State. There's no easy way to endure the long ride home.
There are some ritualistic stops. Must have Hideaway Pizza, preferably the Big Country, a meat lover's feast named for the Cowboys' star center on their last Final Four team. Can't miss Eskimo Joe's, "Stillwater's Jumpin' Juke Joint," which is a great place for a meal and positively a fabulous location to mingle with Cowboy fans young and old, even during the semester break.
And there's the memorial to the nine victims of the horrible charter plane crash involving part of the OSU travel party returning from a game several years ago at Colorado. Among those who lost their lives - basketball SID Will Hancock, as charming and capable as they come, a gentle soul who left behind a young wife, Karen, the OSU women's soccer coach, and a baby boy. The memorial is located in the Gallagher-Iba Arena lobby, and is an elegant and subdued tribute to each of those who perished that night.
There are old friends. Each year, we're lucky to enjoy former Demon assistant basketball coach Jack Hearron, who recruited Coach Mike McConathy while on Tynes Hildebrand's staff when Mike was best known as "Opie" and was a scoring machine at Airline High in Bossier City. Jack played at OSU and works in the administration at the Oklahoma School of Science and the Arts in Norman, about 75 minutes to the south.
Nearly every year, I enjoy reuniting with John Mallory, a classmate of mine at NSU in the late '70s and early '80s. Mallory was very proudly right behind the bench for the Demons' 2005 win, and we posed for a picture afterward that is still in my office and I suspect his, as well.
Almost annually, our friend Cathie Page comes down from Iowa, and she's here again this year, passing out sweet treats to the players and staff. The first round this year was home-baked chocolate chip cookies. Not what I need, but too good to turn down! If you've read her tribute to her longtime friend Coach Mike on the current Demon Dust feature, you understand her connection. If you haven't read it, make it the next click on your computer.
It's always great to work and visit with my OSU counterpart, Mike Noteware, who goes overboard to make us feel at home not only at G-I-A but in town.
And there's the atrium at the Quality Inn. It transitioned from the Holiday Inn family during our annual treks, and has gone through some enhancements, but it's still old school. Witness the fact that I am sitting in the atrium near the front desk to get wireless, which is spotty at best in the rooms the further away you get from the desk.
There is a soothing fountain in the atrium, a collection of the flags of the Big XII schools, a pool table, a small game room, a steam room, a foosball table, a nice pool and a jacuzzi.
Stillwater is the home of the legendary Olympic and OSU basketball coach Henry Iba, and the birthplace of the Demon basketball "Hot Tub Club." OK, they shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence, but ...
"The Hot Tub Club" originated a few years ago when the young assistant coaches enjoyed a dip on an especially wicked winter night. The 40-degree temps outside tonight are nothing compared to some of the teens and single-digit weather we've encountered previously.
For the last trip here, our friend Harris Wilson Jr., aka "Coach Black," is along with the team. He and Coach Sless have already enjoyed rekindling the "Hot Tub Club" late this afternoon.
Hopefully the Demons can rekindle some memories of 2005 tomorrow afternoon. It would be a fitting adieu for a series that seems destined to fade away after this meeting.
Doug Ireland, SID
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Good news, bad news for NFL Demons
Great news Tuesday for former Demon All-America offensive tackle Demetrius Bell.
There's no coaching change this season in Buffalo. The coaching staff that believes in him so strongly that they kept him on the 53-man roster all year, not the practice squad where other teams could have signed him, is coming back next year.
That's huge for him. No new system to learn, no new coaches to impress, after making the team as a seventh-round NFL Draft pick last spring.
Bad news across the country with the rather surprising firing of Mike Shanahan as the Denver Broncos coach. He apparently would not fire his defensive coordinator.
That certainly puts former Demon offensive lineman Bill Johnson in a high risk of losing his post as the Broncos' defensive line coach.
But there may be an opening for that position in New Orleans. Demon legend Bobby Hebert believes his lifelong friend and NSU teammate Ed Orgeron will leave the Saints and move to LSU to be the D-line coach with a title like assistant head coach.
Expect those dominos to begin to tumble Friday.
There's no coaching change this season in Buffalo. The coaching staff that believes in him so strongly that they kept him on the 53-man roster all year, not the practice squad where other teams could have signed him, is coming back next year.
That's huge for him. No new system to learn, no new coaches to impress, after making the team as a seventh-round NFL Draft pick last spring.
Bad news across the country with the rather surprising firing of Mike Shanahan as the Denver Broncos coach. He apparently would not fire his defensive coordinator.
That certainly puts former Demon offensive lineman Bill Johnson in a high risk of losing his post as the Broncos' defensive line coach.
But there may be an opening for that position in New Orleans. Demon legend Bobby Hebert believes his lifelong friend and NSU teammate Ed Orgeron will leave the Saints and move to LSU to be the D-line coach with a title like assistant head coach.
Expect those dominos to begin to tumble Friday.
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