I made my first road trip with the Demon basketball team in a month Friday, riding the bus with the boys to Conway, Ark., for Saturday's game at Central Arkansas.
There was an obvious upswing in the vibe around the team all day long, despite their on-court struggles. The players now seem closer and clearly are having fun while they work toward improving their performance in uniforms.
There was frequent laughter during the evening shootaround at the Ferris Center, capped by the entire squad mimicing injured freshman James Hulbin, who has torn ligaments in his right elbow he sustained in a practice fall at the outset of the SLC season in early January. Now that's not funny, but by now, watching the right-hander work left-handed has become commonplace and quite amusing to his teammates.
The frivolity included head coach Mike McConathy, who led the team on the court with a stumbling, exaggerated imitation of the on-the-move 3-pointer that his son, Michael, hit to end the first half of last year's dramatic win at UCA. Clumsy would be a kind description of Coach Dad's version of Michael's awkward but on-target buzzer beater last season.
Michael later tried to replicate Colby Bargeman's game-winning running 8-footer, leaning in and off glass, with 0.5 second left in overtime last year. Let's just say that the shot is a lot easier if you are 6-foot-6, not 5-9.
I had driven on my own to Nicholls and Stephen F. Austin, and due to football's National Signing Day haul on Feb. 4, was unable to get away in time to make it to Lake Charles for a 7 o'clock game that night. I was happy to miss that one, as it turned out, except for missing the chance to visit with friends like Cowboys coach Dave Simmons, McNeese SID Louis Bonnette and Cowboys AD and former Demon footballer and javelin thrower Tommy McClelland.
Seeing this group enjoying each other's company, which was not the case earlier this season, was refreshing and encouraging. Let's hope it carries over to good play Saturday. I think it will.
BTW - the team watched the movie "The Express," the story of the late, great Heisman Trophy-winning Syracuse running back Ernie Davis, on the drive up. It's not the best sports movie ever, but it was inspiring and pretty well done overall. The ubiquitous shots of the sports media are laughable at every turn ... writers weren't really pounding their typewriters at the outset of an afternoon football game, for example; and the thuggery of opposing players, with the Cotton Bowl game against Texas breaking out into a bench-clearing brawl, was far past cinematic license. But the bottom line product was a solid B.
Just wish that the movie folks would let a real great story be told completely truthfully. The message would have been just as effective.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Address changes, accolades for ex-Demons
Former Demon offensive line coach Blake Miller, whose coaching ability might have been exceeded by his considerable culinary talents during his two years (1998-99) on the NSU football staff, is moving west.
Miller has been on the staff at Rice for the past three years. He's been hired as the O-line coach at Utah.
Miller will be in the capitol of the Morman religion with the Utes, coaching in a stadium the world knows as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics ....
... NSU three-sport athlete and former academic advisor extraordinare Julie Lessiter is back in the business. Lessiter left NSU last January to enter private business, to see if she would enjoy living a "normal" lifestyle working managing a medical practice in Shreveport-Bossier.
She's been announced now as the associate AD for student services and senior woman administrator at Arkansas State.
There she'll be working again with some old friends, head football coach Steve Roberts and several of his staff who were at NSU before heading up to northeast Arkansas in the winter of 2001.
The Southampton, England native made a huge difference in the lives of many student-athletes during her time at NSU, serving nine years as the "academic coach" for Demons and Lady Demons.
She played tennis, ran cross country and ran track for NSU during her undergraduate days. She has two undergraduate degrees from Northwestern ....
...The 1995 Southland Conference baseball player of the year is turning into a heck of a football recruiter. Terry Joseph was spotlighted by Rivals.com for his job as recruiting coordinator at Louisiana Tech, where he is also the secondary coach.
TJ was listed as one of the top 10 recruiters at non-BCS schools in the bowl subdivision.
Miller has been on the staff at Rice for the past three years. He's been hired as the O-line coach at Utah.
Miller will be in the capitol of the Morman religion with the Utes, coaching in a stadium the world knows as the site of the 2002 Winter Olympics ....
... NSU three-sport athlete and former academic advisor extraordinare Julie Lessiter is back in the business. Lessiter left NSU last January to enter private business, to see if she would enjoy living a "normal" lifestyle working managing a medical practice in Shreveport-Bossier.
She's been announced now as the associate AD for student services and senior woman administrator at Arkansas State.
There she'll be working again with some old friends, head football coach Steve Roberts and several of his staff who were at NSU before heading up to northeast Arkansas in the winter of 2001.
The Southampton, England native made a huge difference in the lives of many student-athletes during her time at NSU, serving nine years as the "academic coach" for Demons and Lady Demons.
She played tennis, ran cross country and ran track for NSU during her undergraduate days. She has two undergraduate degrees from Northwestern ....
...The 1995 Southland Conference baseball player of the year is turning into a heck of a football recruiter. Terry Joseph was spotlighted by Rivals.com for his job as recruiting coordinator at Louisiana Tech, where he is also the secondary coach.
TJ was listed as one of the top 10 recruiters at non-BCS schools in the bowl subdivision.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Vic the Demon vs. Chief Brave Spirit just won't die
Thanks to the antics of Arizona Cardinal's Big Red mascot wiping itself down with a Pittsburgh Steeler "Terrible Towel" during Super Bowl week, ESPN's Sportscenter has been running continuously a segment titled "Mascot's Gone Wild."
In that segment, which has been airing about 54-56 minutes after the hour, includes video of the infamous Vic the Demon vs. Chief Brave Spirit fight that occured just outside of the endzone during the Oct. 24, 1992 Northwestern State and Northeast Louisiana football game.
"The Tussle in Turpin" happened midway through the second quarter of the Homecoming game.
At the time, the footage made its way around the country, appearing on CNN Sports Tonight, ESPN College Gameday, NBC's Today Show, KNBC in Los Angeles, WUSA in Washington D.C., and many other TV outlets.
USA TODAY featured the mascot melee in its Oct. 28, 1992 issue. At year's end, the fight was named, by viewer vote, fourth on CNN's Plays of the Year.
The fight that won't die is resurrected for the time being, until that is, another mascot mayhem occurs.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Dynamic Demon coaching matchup Monday
Former Northwestern State point guard Mike Brey and former Demon assistant coach Buzz Williams square off Monday night on ESPN.
Brey's Notre Dame team will host Williams' first Marquette squad in a battle of Top 20 teams. Marquette brings a perfect 6-0 Big East Conference record into the contest.
Williams got his first full-time Division I coaching position on Mike McConathy's first NSU staff (1999-2000). Williams helped the Demons to their first-ever Southland Conference Tournament championship game and helped recruit players who got the Demons to their first-ever NCAA Tournament the following season. The SLC Finals appearance was the first of six in 9+ seasons under McConathy, and the 2001 NCAA Tournament trip was followed by a memorable 2006 NCAA appearance in which the Demons upset 15th-ranked Iowa.
Brey played for NSU from 1977-80 and is 7th in school history in assists (311, 4.3 pg). Brey's coach at Northwestern was Tynes Hildebrand, who now serves the NCAA as one of four regional officiating evaluators.
Brey's Notre Dame team will host Williams' first Marquette squad in a battle of Top 20 teams. Marquette brings a perfect 6-0 Big East Conference record into the contest.
Williams got his first full-time Division I coaching position on Mike McConathy's first NSU staff (1999-2000). Williams helped the Demons to their first-ever Southland Conference Tournament championship game and helped recruit players who got the Demons to their first-ever NCAA Tournament the following season. The SLC Finals appearance was the first of six in 9+ seasons under McConathy, and the 2001 NCAA Tournament trip was followed by a memorable 2006 NCAA appearance in which the Demons upset 15th-ranked Iowa.
Brey played for NSU from 1977-80 and is 7th in school history in assists (311, 4.3 pg). Brey's coach at Northwestern was Tynes Hildebrand, who now serves the NCAA as one of four regional officiating evaluators.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Plenty of NSU in Baseball America Top 25
The Baseball America college preseason Top 25 poll just came out and there are several reasons for Demon fans to be proud.
Texas A&M is the preseason No. 1. The Aggies' head coach is former Demon pitching coach Rob Childress (1995-1997), and their third base coach and recruiting coordinator is Matt Deggs, who was here at the same time on the staff of Dave Van Horn.
Van Horn is back at his alma mater, Arkansas, and the Razorbacks again are in the Top 25, at No. 22. Last year when the Demon basketball team was in Fayetteville, Van Horn reminisced fondly about his days at NSU during a halftime radio interview on the Demon Sports Network.
His program is one spot ahead of Alabama, where NSU alum Jim Wells has been head coach since 1995. Alongside Wells is Mitch Gaspard, who was Wells' assistant with the Demons in 1993-94, then at Alabama from 1995-2001, before he took over as NSU's head coach from 2002-2007. Gaspard returned to Alabama for the 2008 season and his recruiting has obviously provided a lift.
Wells is a Bossier City native and former head coach from 1982-86 at Loyola Prep. He got his baseball coaching staff in Dixie Youth ball in Bossier City.
Sitting at No. 6 in the poll is Ole Miss, where former LSU catcher Mike Bianco is head coach. Bianco was Wells' assistant coach in 1991-92 with the Demons.
Don't be surprised before the season ends to see former Demon head coach John Cohen (1998-2001) leading his first-year team at Mississippi State (his alma mater) into the rankings. If not in 2009, it will happen soon after. Just ask anybody who follows Kentucky. Cohen turned the Wildcats from SEC afterthoughts to SEC champs in his second year there as head coach.
Texas A&M is the preseason No. 1. The Aggies' head coach is former Demon pitching coach Rob Childress (1995-1997), and their third base coach and recruiting coordinator is Matt Deggs, who was here at the same time on the staff of Dave Van Horn.
Van Horn is back at his alma mater, Arkansas, and the Razorbacks again are in the Top 25, at No. 22. Last year when the Demon basketball team was in Fayetteville, Van Horn reminisced fondly about his days at NSU during a halftime radio interview on the Demon Sports Network.
His program is one spot ahead of Alabama, where NSU alum Jim Wells has been head coach since 1995. Alongside Wells is Mitch Gaspard, who was Wells' assistant with the Demons in 1993-94, then at Alabama from 1995-2001, before he took over as NSU's head coach from 2002-2007. Gaspard returned to Alabama for the 2008 season and his recruiting has obviously provided a lift.
Wells is a Bossier City native and former head coach from 1982-86 at Loyola Prep. He got his baseball coaching staff in Dixie Youth ball in Bossier City.
Sitting at No. 6 in the poll is Ole Miss, where former LSU catcher Mike Bianco is head coach. Bianco was Wells' assistant coach in 1991-92 with the Demons.
Don't be surprised before the season ends to see former Demon head coach John Cohen (1998-2001) leading his first-year team at Mississippi State (his alma mater) into the rankings. If not in 2009, it will happen soon after. Just ask anybody who follows Kentucky. Cohen turned the Wildcats from SEC afterthoughts to SEC champs in his second year there as head coach.
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