Latest News About South Alabama Sports February 16, 2010
Football
Earlier this month, the Jags signed 22 players for their 2010 class. Their process to get to Football Bowl Subdivision play will continue this week as they return to the practice field for Spring workouts.
On Thursday, they will begin working out for 15 practices which includes four full-contact practices and three scrimmages. Their practice period will end on March 10th when they will conclude their spring drill session with a 6pm scrimmage at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Admission and parking will be free. The other 14 workouts will be held at the Jaguars on-campus practice facility near the Football Fieldhouse. All events are open to the public and free.
Head Coach Joey Jones says things will be different from last year. “I expect the first day to be a really good day, as opposed to waiting three to five days to get things going last spring. Last year, we were starting from scratch. Nobody knew terminology or each other, but now we’ve started to build a team. We’ve gone through a summer program, a year and an offseason, so our kids know each other and what to expect from us as coaches. We should be able to pick up from where we were at the end of the season and progress from there.”
The opening week of spring drills will have the Jags out on the practice field for workouts on Thursday at 7:30am and Friday at 7am in only helmets. Then drills on Saturday at 9am with pads but no tackling. Four other full pads practices without full contact are scheduled for February 22, February 24, March 1, and March 8 all will begin around 7am. Their first full-contact practice is scheduled for Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30am with more scheduled for February 25, March 2 and March 4.
The Jags first scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday, February 27 at 9am. Other scrimmages are scheduled on Saturday March 6 at 11am and their final scrimmage on March 10 at 6pm. On Tuesday, March 9 at 9am, the Jags will work out only in pads in preparation for the scrimmage the next day.
Men’s Basketball
Bryan Sherrer went down with a knee injury early in the February 11th game against Florida International. It was announced yesterday by Coach Ronnie Arrow that he tore his lateral meniscus and will miss 2-4 weeks.
Bryan has started the first 26 games of the season and averages just over 10 points per game, which is third best on the team. He also ranks eighth in the nation in free-throw percentage at 90.8%.
This will be a big loss for the Jags as the Sun Belt Conference tournament begins in just about two and a half weeks in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The tournament is the only hope the Jags have to make the NCAA Tournament this season after losing two key players for the rest of the season back in January.
Martino Brock, a freshman, was named the Sun Belt Conference’s Men’s Basketball Player of the Week on Monday. This was his first honor of his collegiant career.
His contributions over the last week lead the Jags to two wins by averaging 18.5 points and 12.5 rebounds. He also recorded two double-doubles. He ranks second on the team in two categories, with a season average of 12.3 points per game and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Women’s Basketball
After starting off strong (9-0) in the Sun Belt, the Lady Jags have cooled off with two 3 game losing streaks recently. They are now sitting at 4th place (of six) with a 9-6 record in the Sun Belt eastern division and in 6th place overall in the SBC.
Arkansas-Little Rock and Middle Tennessee State are leading their divisions, both with 13-1 records in the Sun Belt. UALR has the overall edge for the season with a record of 20-5 to MTSU’s 18-5.
However, it just came to our attention that Tashley Gaines has been dismissed from the team. She was the Jags leading rebounder and their third leading scorer. It is unknown why she was dismissed from the team at this time as no official announcement has surfaced.
Jags End Three Game Skid And Southpaw Wins A National Championship
Sorry I have been MIA until now but as you may have noticed, the Jags rebouding and inside game was also MIA for a while. The Jags lost three games in a row before coming up with a big win against Troy on Saturday night.
The Jags lost in overtime against Western Kentucky 67-64 before the BCS Championship game. Then they lost to Arkansas State two nights later 69-63 where ASU outplayed the Jags in the second half to battle back from a 9 point deficit. Both games were played at the Mitchell Center. These were two consecutive losses but three consecutive losses at home in the Mitchell Center.
Then on Thursday, January 14th the Jags traveled to Louisiana-Monroe and lost 61-58 in a close game despite commiting 23 turnovers. This was the Jags 3rd consecutive loss.
The Jags then returned home to the Mitchell Center to face the Troy Trojans. Troy connected on a game tying three pointer with 4.3 seconds left but Allyn Cooks would go the length of the floor to make a lay-up at the buzzer to win the game for the Jags 69-67.
After this span of four games, the Jags are now 12-7 overall and 4-3 in the Sun Belt. The current standings has Eastern Division as Western Kentucky 4-1, South Alabama 4-3, Troy 4-3, Florida Atlantic 4-3, Middle Tennessee 3-3, and Florida International 3-5. The Western Division standings are: Arkansas State 5-1, Denver 5-3, North Texas 4-4, Louisiana-Lafayette 3-3, New Orleans 2-5, Louisiana-Monroe 3-5, and Arkansas-Little Rock 1-6.
The Jags will play their next two games on the road. On Thursday, January 21 they play North Texas at 7pm then on Saturday January 23 they play Denver with a 5pm CST start.
Also South Paw, South Alabama’s mascot, won the National Championship in Orlando Florida. This was his first national championship. This was Southpaw’s first national championship competition and was able to defeat YouDee from Delaware for the title.
Joe Gottfried Honored At His Retirement Ceremony
Joe Gottfried was honored today for his 28 years of service to the University of South Alabama. University President Gordon Moulton hosted the ceremony held on Thursday afternoon at the Mitchell Center. Gottfried served the last 25 years at athletic director before he stepped down from this position on August 1st.
He is a 1963 graduate of Ashland College and would earn his master’s degree from Morehead State in 1969.
Coach Gottfried, a 1963 graduate of Ashland College and 1969 graduate of Morehead State where he received his master’s degree, came to USA as an Assistant Athletic Director in 1981. He served in that position through 1984 when he was promoted to the position of Athletic Director. Previous to USA he had successful coaching stints at Ashland and Southern Illinois. In addition to being in the USA Athletic Hall of Fame, he is also a member of the Ashland College and Crestline (Ohio) High School Halls of Fame.
The Jaguars athletics experienced success both in competition as well as in the classroom under his direction. Plus he probably had the most impact on the school’s architecture in recent years, with the development and improvement of the athletic facilities. Gottfried was also very instrumental in adding football as the 17th program for the school. He initially lead discussions in an attempt to bring football to the USA campus in 2001 and was finally approved by the Board of Trustees on December 6, 2007.
Gottfrieds impact can be seen in the $30 million Mitchell Center, which is the home of the men’s and women’s basketball program as well as offices for athletic department presonnel, Stanky Field which underwent a $3.5 million renovation prior to the 2005 season, a 4,000 square-foot baseball clubhouse built in 1996, the intramural fields on the west side of campus, the softball complex built prior to the 2007 season which was the first-ever for the program, a new locker room for the softball and soccer programs, improvements to Jaguar Gymnasium, the Striplin Center, “The Cage” soccer facility, the USA Track Complex, the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts, the football field house and the football practice fields.
However just as important the athletics is the academics which also flourished under coach Gottfried. With the addition of football, the athletic department is at an all-time high of more than 300 student-athletes. In the latest Academic Progress Rate report released by the NCAA last month, 13 of 16 programs in competition at South Alabama scored above the 925 standard set by the NCAA. Also under coach Gottfried, 83% of South Alabama’s student-athletes that have completed their eligibility have graduated. There have been 37 individual student-athletes that have been named to the Sun Belt Conference Commissioner’s List for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA while 32 others have made the Sun Belt Acadeimc Honor Roll with a GPA of 3.0 or higher in 2007-2008.
Also 75 South Alabama student-athletes have earned All-America recognition while 62 of the schools coaches were selected the SBC Conference Coach of the Year in their sports. South Alabama has claimed the Vic Bubas Cup 10 times in a 13 year span. No school in league history has earned the award more than USA. South Alabama teams have won 104 league titles, appeared in 54 NCAA Championship events, and have had 123 individual student-athletes qualify for NCAA postseason play. Including two track and field athletes who have won NCAA titles. Plus, in baseball, 95 players have signed with prefessional teams including 17 who have made it to the Major Leagues.
Thank you coach Gottfried for your hard work and dedication to South Alabama Athletics, thank you for taking time to talk to students and fans, and thank you for putting South Alabama in the position continue to improve its level of competion for many years to come.
Jags Announce The Scheduling Of Three Other Start-Up Programs
This was actually released about a week ago, but has been put on the back burner due to preseason practice coverage. However, USA will be facing three fellow start-up programs in the near future. This will make for a great measuring stick as to how the program is doing in relation to other start-up programs.
The Jags will have home-and-home series against Georgia State, Lamar University and Texas-San Antonio over the next three seasons, with two starting next season.
Lamar dropped football in 1989 and is set to return to play next year and will be the first of the three play the Jaguars. South Alabama will visit Lamar on October 16, 2010 then the Cardinals will travel to Mobile the next season on September 10th. This will be the first home game for the Jaguars as they begin the two years transition to FBS play in 2011.
The Jaguars will host Bill Curry and the Georgia State Panthers on October 30, 2010 and will then travel to Atlanta for the October 22, 2011 matchup. Georgia State University announced the start of their program in April of 2008 but decided to begin play in the fall of 2010 with their home games being played in the Georgia Dome. Bill Curry who has served as head coaches at Alabama, Kentucky and Georgia Tech was hired to start their program.
The University of Texas-San Antonio announced in December 2008 that it will begin playing football in the fall of 2011 and will be on the Jaguars schedule for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The Jags will play the roadrunners on October 11, 2011 then they will be the season opener on September 1, 2012. Larry Coker, the former head coach at Miami, was hired to lead the program in March.
Coach Jones spoke about this scheduling, “We felt like playing schools the first couple of years in the same boat we are starting a brand new football program would be a great thing. With Bill Curry coaching at Georgia State and Larry Coker at UT-San Antonio, I believe they will bring us some credibility with the type of programs they are going to run. We’re very excited about playing against those teams. As we move on with scheduling hopefully we will continue to play schools like these that will grow with us, maybe they can develop into rivalries.”
So far the Jaguars have two scheduled games for 2010, five scheduled games in 2011 and three for 2012. South Alabama has previously announced contracts with Navy for a four game home-and-home series, Mississippi state (a two-for-one series, two in Starkville and one in Mobile), North Carolina State (two-for-one series), Kent state (another two-for-one series) and a trip to Tennessee for 2013.
The Jaguars will be eligible to compete for the SBC Conference championship and to play in a bowl game in 2013.
There is only 11 days until the first-ever game by the Jaguars. GO JAGS!
First Ever Media Day For South Alabama Football
On Monday, head coach Joey Jones as well as offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, defensive coordinator Bill Clark, and players Jon Griffin, Charlie Higgenbotham and Anthony Mostella participated in the first ever Media Day for South Alabama Football. The program included a tour of the fieldhouse and lunch before the highly anticipated interviews.
Highlights of the press conference can be read on the USA Jaguars page located here.
Less than 12 days until kickoff. Do you have your tickets yet?
The Joey Jones Radio Show Returns To WNSP
Get ready to order up what has to be your favorite dish on the Baumhower’s menu, because the Joey Jones Radio Show is back. On Tuesday, the University of South Alabama announced that the radio show will begin its second season on August 25th.
The show will air live from Baumhower’s Wings Restaurant on Airport Boulevard, just like last season. It will feature interviews with Jaguars assistants and other various athletic department personnel and of course Coach Joey Jones and Lee Shirvanian. The program will air on WNSP 105.5FM during lunch from noon-1pm.
However, they will not be airing each week as in the previous season. The show will air on Tuesdays before Jaguar games as well as the August 25th and November 17th which is the Tuesday after the season finale. The airing dates are Aug. 25, Sept. 1, Sept. 22, Oct. 6, Oct. 13, Oct. 27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10 and Nov. 17.
Gary Saunders, Jaguars Sports Marketing General Manager remarked, “Baumhower’s Wings Restaurant in Mobile has been a supporter of University of South Alabama athletics for several years. Their three-year commitment to host the Joey Jones Radio Show is another example of the confidence they have in our first-year football program. We look forward to working with them on future Jaguar Sports Marketing/IMG College programs.”
CEO Bob Baumhower also had remarks to share about the deal. “We at Baumhower’s Wings Restaurant are happy to support the University of South Alabama and the athletic program,” Baumhower stated. “This year we are excited to once again host the Joey Jones Radio Show and support the inaugural season of Jaguar football. Coach Jones and his staff have put together a competitive team, and we are honored to be part of it.”
When you go to Baumhower’s, make sure to order by name. Ask for the “Joey Jones Special” which is the Black and White Chicken platter. Trust me, you won’t regret it!
Quarterback Kyle Stewart Has Left The Team
Thunderjags and learned that freshman quarterback Kyle Stewart has left the team for personal and family reasons. He is planning to enroll at Florida State in January and probably will not play football. We hate to see him go, he had tremendous potential and a pretty strong arm, but we all can understand that family has to come first.
WNSP Announced As The Broadcast Home For Jaguars Football This Fall
Friday, Jaguars Sports Marketing announced that WNSP 105.5 FM in Mobile will be the broadcasting home for Jaguars football games this fall.
As expected by many Lee Shirvanian, the longtime voice of the Jaguar Men’s basketball and baseball teams, will be calling the play-by-play action with Rick Cleveland handling the color analysis. Pat Greenwood will be hosting the pre and postgame shows in addition to halftime activities and sideline reporter for the network.
Shirvanian has been the voice of the Jags for 30 years and is also the co-hot of the “Morning Sportscenter” on WNSP as well as serving as co-hosting the Coach Joey Jones Radio Show which ended its run on March 25 of this year with a potential return to the airwaves closer to kickoff of the season.
Rick Cleveland is the freshman football coach at UMS-Wright Prep School in Mobile as well as the head boy’s tennis coach. He also serves as the host of “Prep Sports Weekly” and the “Prep Sports Report.”
Pat Greenwood, the longest-tenured member of the NBC 15 staff in Mobile, having worked there since 1997. He became the station’s sports director in 1997 but returned to news in September 2007.
USA will hit the field to take on Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy at Ladd-Peebles Stadium for their first ever football game on Saturday, September 5th with kickoff scheduled for 4pm. Visit USAJaguars.com or call (251)461-4USA for tickets.
Jaguars Hit The Practice Field Early To Begin Their First Ever Fall Camp
Coach Jones looking on during the Jaguars first practice of fall camp. Photo by Doug Roberts.
The Jaguars had two firsts today for the program. This marked their first preseason football camp for their first season. But it was also the first time the Jags used their new field turf practice field on campus near the new fieldhouse.
Everyone was so excited that more than 150 people, including graduate and student assistants, managers and training staff were on the field before the 6:30am schedule and were ready for the day. The Jags practices for over two hours and worked through team and individual drills dressed in helmets and shorts.
Practice began with about 15 minutes of special teams work. Players not involved with this were working with position coaches around the perimeter of the field. Next they had about 25 minutes of individual drills for all players. Then the majority of the remaining practice time was focused on team drills with the offensive and defensive units separated on either end of the field. About midway through this portion of the practice, there was about 15 mintues of skeleton passing drills which was 7-on-7 drills. Then there was about a 10 minute session of 11-on-11 practice which included running plays.
Probably one of the biggest questions coming into practice is who will be the Jaguars’ starting quarterback. With Saucier, the most experienced quarterback in the Jaguars system, making the move to safety leaving that question without a definite answer right now. It wasn’t decided on the first day of practice, but coach Jones has said that the staff has a definite timeline in mind for deciding who will be where on the depth chart. Coach Jones reiterated, “By the end of week two we would like to have our ones and our twos picked. That doesn’t mean it will be over for the other players, but at some point we do have to make decisions.”
Coach Jones continued about the quarterback position, “Quarterbacks need a lot more reps than other players, it’s much more of a mental game at the position. Receivers and running backs need a lot less reps to get ready to play a game.”
Kyle Stewart, freshman from Tallahassee, FL, was quoted saying, “We’re all new to this, we don’t know the playbook very well but are learning. We’re equally talented, whoever picks it up the quickest and makes the biggest plays during camp is probably going to get the first shot.”
Myles Gibbon, freshman from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, also spoke about the quarterback position, “I think the coaches want to see someone who has some experience and can make the right reads. We have some great competition here between guys who have come from all over the place. It’s friendly and we’re having fun, but you want to make sure when you get in there you make the throw. I’m going to do my best and see what happens from there.”
Probably the player that somewhat has a leg up on the competition is Junior transfer Brennan Sim. His time spent at Oregon State has potentially given him two years of collegiant experience and maturity over his freshman counterparts. He has had two years to learn and understand the rigors of collegiant football.
Both Gibbon and Stewart spoke about the challenges they face in their transition from high school to college level football.
“It’s pretty big, so it was overwhelming when we were first given the book,” said Gibbon. “But, we’ve been working all through the summer in 7-on-7 drills so I’m used to the passing plays even though there’s a lot of concepts and many plays with receivers in different spots.”
“It’s a lot different than high school. The playbook is much bigger with a lot more formations and motions,” Stewart observed. “Plus, you have to read defenses a lot better than you need to in high school, and you need to learn many more signals. With all of this coming at you, you just have to keep working and studying the best you can.”
Coach Jones was quick to caution everyone about how much information one is able to get out of a single workout in helmets and shorts. “We’ll know more when we get into pads. You can tell a little bit about receivers and quarterbacks, and maybe defensive backs, but you can’t evaluate linemen and linebackers without pads on. Some of them may have looked great today but won’t when they start hitting, and others may not be as good in shorts as they are with their shoulder pads on.”
Coach Jones noted that, in addition to the heat and rain factors, two other factor were behind the early practice time. “I want some discipline in this program, and I think that waking up early and going to meetings before an early practice helps with that,” coach Jones said. “Plus, I had to do it when I was playing.”
Otherwise, Coach Jones was very upbeat and pleasant about their first practice. “The kids know it’s for real right now, so you could feel a heightened excitement on the field,” Coach Jones said. “They know that we have a game right around the corner, it’s always more exciting when you are looking forward to that.”
Gibbon said he was so excited that he couldn’t sleep Monday night. “We had to wake up a five, and I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 a.m. It’s great just to be out here, it’s been so long since I finished last season.”
The biggest difference for Coach Jones and his staff, when comparing the first day of spring practice to the first day of fall camp is personnel. He said “I saw a lot of better athletes out there. There are some quick guys out there who also have some size.”
Probably one of the most resonate and exciting statements was from recently announced transfer from Alabama, Charlie Higgenbotham. He said, “It was extremely exciting, I am thrilled to be here. I know a lot of these coaches know what they are talking about, and a lot of the players are great guys — everyone is working hard. Things are being run here the right way, which is really exciting.”
Having a player who has been under Nick Saban for two years say that Coach Jones and his staff are running things the right way is indeed something to be excited about.
The Jaguars will be on the practice field again on Wednesday at 7am to continue their preparation for the programs first ever game against Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy at 4pm on Saturday, September 5th at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Dr. Joel Erdmann Named To Replace Gottfried As Athletic Director
On Sunday afternoon, university president Gordon Moulton, introduced Dr. Joel Erdmann as the next athletic director for the University of South Alabama. Dr. Erdmann was one of over 50 applicants for the position after Joe Gottfried announced his upcoming retirement on August 1st.
Dr. Erdmann is 46 years old and has served as athletic director at Southeastern Louisiana University Hammond, Louisiana for the previous two years. Previous to that he served in the same capacity at Division II North Alabama for five years between 2002 and 2007. During his time at UNA, the football team won two Gulf South Conference Championships (2003, 2006) and Division II Regional Championship (2003). While at Southeastern Louisiana the school captured its first ever Southland Conference Men’s All-Sports Trophy and also captured two conference championships while also playing an instrumental role in facility upgrades.
Three candidates were interviewed on campus in the previous few weeks, Erdmann, Brian Wickstrom from UTEP and Derrick Ramsey from Coppin State. President Moulton phoned Erdmann over the weekend and offered the job to him.
Erdmann has previous ties to the university. He held several positions at USA where he received his master’s degree in physical education. He was a graduate assistant coach for the baseball team, assistant to the athletics director, executive director of the Jaguar Athletic Club and other capacities including handling compliance issues, game operations and special projects. He was also a tenured associate professor in the College of Education.
Dr. Erdmann is a native of South Dakota where he graduated from South Dakota State . He earned his doctorate from Florida State University in Sports Managament and Athletic Administration in 1995.
President Moulton spoke about Dr. Erdmann at the press conference on Sunday by saying, “Joel Erdmann brings to the University of South Alabama the experience that comes from having led other athletic programs, as well as a familiarity with and appreciation for USA athletics stemming from his earlier leadership position here. Dr. Erdmann is the right person to take the torch from Joe Gottfried and lead University of South Alabama athletics to the next level.”
Following are Dr. Erdmann’s remarks about his selection to be USA’s fourth Athletic Director since the school was founded in 1963. “I appreciate President Moulton and everyone who was involved in the selection process. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead this tradition-filled department and look forward to capitalizing on the addition of football while maintaining a high level of excellence throughout all sport programs. It is truly a privilege to be a member of the University of South Alabama and a memorable time to be a Jaguar.”
I hope this is the right hire for the position. I thought this would be a good time to hire a solid name to further strengthen the athletics department, however its also nice to have someone that seems to truly appreciate the University and has the excitement and energy to help lead it along. With Football set to kick off its first season in a mere 46 days, that enthusiasm and energy will definitely be tested quickly.
The funniest line to end the statement was from the usajaguars.com press release. The last line says, “A native of Bismarck, N.D., Erdmann is married to the former Tina Milton. The couple has three dogs and a cat.”
Go Jags!
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