South Alabama Being Left Out Of EA’s NCAA Football ’13
South Alabama alum and avid support like myself Jon Garcia posted the following on Facebook this evening.
“So, it was found out today that South is not included in the coming release of the NCAA 13 football video game that is extremely popular (http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2012/6/6/3067170/ohio-state-overall-e3-ncaa-football-13-team-ratings), but UTSA, Texas St, and UMASS are. All 4 of us are new to FBS this year, yet South is the only one that was left out. There is apparently some confusion as to why. With someone supposedly in the know stating that South “did not get its paperwork in on time” whatever that means. South announced FBS plans before any of those schools mentioned above.
Tweet @jdewiel and click the “submit feedback” button at the top of the page via http://www.easports.com/ to demand answers.”
I don’t know if they have enough time to add South Alabama and do a good job. But hopefully they will pay very close attention to us for next year’s release or maybe add us with an online update later.
Go Jags!
UPDATE 2012-06-08: Apparently the supposed person “in the know” is not really in the know. So I struck out the information included from said person.
Latest News About South Alabama Sports
Lady Jaguar Softball Team, Sun Belt Champions
The South Alabama Lady Jaguar Softball team is in Tuscaloosa and will play Georgia Tech today at 3:30 pm in their first ever appearance in NCAA Regional play after defeating rival Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt Conference Championship. This will be the first time both schools have faced each other on the diamond. Georgia Tech season record stands at 36-21 overall. Most recently, the Yellow Jackets beat Virginia, No. 19 Florida State and Virginia Tech to become the 2012 ACC Tournament champions to get the #2 seed in the Tuscaloosa Regional. Visit the USAJaguars.com page for links to information about the Tuscaloosa regional and for links to live radio coverage this afternoon.
Coach Joey Jones and the South Alabama Football team announced recently that they have promoted Brendt Bedsole from Director of Football Operations to be an on-field coach. Last month coach Kurt Crain died unexpectedly. Coach Brian Turner will return to coaching the entire defensive line, defensive coordinator Bill Clark will coach the inside linebackers and Coach Bedsole will coach the outside linebackers according to an interview on WNSP’s Morning Sports Show. Coach Bedsole has coached at three Universities before; Samford, Murray State and Auburn as well as Hoover High School before joining the Jaguar staff.
Myles Gibbon takes in Carter-Finley Stadium before the team takes the field for warm-ups.
Myles Gibbon, the Jaguars first starting quarterback, graduated on Saturday and will be transferring to a school closer to his native home in Canada. He has two years of eligibility remaining and can play immediately since he has graduated with his undergrad degree. Gibbon was responsible for the throw to Courtney Smith for the first ever touchdown in Jaguar history against Hargrave Military Academy.
Gibbon started six of the programs seven games in it’s first season, missing the last game with an injury. That season he led the team in total offense with 632 yards, was 29-of-51 passing for 538 yards and six touchdowns and rushed for 94 yards and two more touchdowns. He then started the first two games of the 2010 season and played in seven of the Jags 10 games that year, passing for 325 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for 68 yards and a touchdown. Last season, however, he played sparingly yet rushing for 105 yards and passing for just 82 yards and one touchdown. His career totals as a Jaguar stand at 865 yards passing with nine touchdowns and ran for 267 yards and three touchdowns, a total offense of 1,132 yards. He was responsible for 12 scores total.
Congratulations on your graduation Myles, you have been an excellent ambassador for the South Alabama program and remain a role model for student-athletes entering the program.
Go Vote For South Alabama
As posted earlier, ESPN Gameday will be filming a commercial on a fan selected campus this summer and South Alabama is in a good position to be that campus. Voting is open now and runs through May 10th so spread it to all your friends and family now. Click HERE to vote now! You will need a Facebook account to vote.
Announcement About FIU And UNT Expected Tomorrow
A series of press conferences are expected tomorrow for schools who have been invited to join Conference USA. Sun Belt schools University of North Texas and Florida International are expected to join Charlotte, Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana Tech in announcing their acceptance of an invitation to join Conference USA. Old Dominion is currently studying a possible move to Conference-USA from FCS.
The potential division split in Conference USA could look something like this:
Eastern Division: UAB, Charlotte, East Carolina, FIU, Marshall and Southern Miss
Western Division: Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Texas-San Antonio, Tulane, Tulsa and UTEP
This leaves the Sun Belt with South Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Arkansas State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, Texas State, Texas-Arlington, Troy and Western Kentucky. Of those 12 schools, Texas-Arlington and Arkansas-Little Rock do not have football programs. It was feared that along with FIU and UNT that it was possible that Middle Tennessee and FAU could also leave for C-USA.
So the Sun Belt will continue to look for at least two more schools who have football programs in order to round out a conference membership of 12 football-sponsoring schools in order to have a championship game.
But who are they looking at? Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson said on Wednesday that four to six FCS schools within the current Sun Belt geographic footprint have inquired about joining the conference. Those FCS that want to join FBS in 2013 must apply by June 1, 2012 in order to do so. However, Benson cautioned that the Sun Belt would only add schools if they thought it would improve the conference.
Two potential schools looking to move up to the FBS level would be Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. Some rumors going around the internet is that current WAC members New Mexico State and/or Idaho could join the conference. But Benson dismissed those as being “premature”. Denver University is leaving the conference this summer, much to the remaining schools delight, as travel to Denver was exhausting and costly. But adding New Mexico State and Idaho, even just for football, would be equally as detrimental.
A school that is possibly being overlooked for possible expansion is Lamar. Lamar has an enrollment of nearly 15,000 students, however their endowment according to Wikipedia is only $87 Million. But when I visited their campus in 2010 when they hosted South Alabama, it was a beautiful campus with some very nice facilities for the basketball and football programs. It would also give Texas State and in-state rival.
Texas State Joins Sun Belt Conference In 2013
The Sun Belt Conference released a press release today announcing that Texas State Univeristy will join the conference beginning July 1, 2013 and will begin conference competition for the 2013-2014 academic year.
“Texas State University has worked very hard to be ready for FBS competition and joining the Sun Belt Conference represents a new opportunity for our future,” said Texas State University President Denise M. Trauth. “The Sun Belt’s record of competitive success over more than 35 years provides a tradition of excellence that we are happy to join. Our students and alumni will bring a very strong fan base that will welcome these new opportunities. Just as Texas State is the rising star of Texas, we believe that the Sun Belt is also on the rise and we are happy to be a part of its future.”
“On behalf of the presidents and chancellors of the Sun Belt Conference, it is my honor to welcome Texas State University as the newest member of our league family,” said Sun Belt Conference Executive Committee President and Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins, Jr. “We are not the same conference we were 10 years ago. The Sun Belt is strong athletically as demonstrated by the fact that our bowl record over the last eight years is better than five other BCS conferences. We are stronger academically, as 90 percent of our teams have achieved an Academic Progress Rates of 925 or higher. Texas State is an excellent addition to our strong, growing conference.”
Texas State is located between Austin and San Antonio in San Marcos. It is home to over 34,000 students and opened in 1903. They are the only university in Texas to have graduated a US president in Lyndon B. Johnson in the class of 1930.
TSU sponsors 16 varsity programs including football, whom former University of Alabama head football coach Dennis Franchione is the current head coach. Their mascot is the Bobcat and they will play their first season at the FBS level in 2012 and will be eligible to compete for football conference championships and bowl games when they join the Sun Belt in 2013.
“Texas State is a great addition to the Sun Belt Conference as the Bobcat athletic program is destined for success in the Football Bowl Subdivision,” said Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson. “The Sun Belt Conference’s rise to prominence will continue with Texas State as part of our league.”
“We are very excited about becoming a member of the Sun Belt Conference in 2013,” said Texas State Director of Athletics Dr. Larry Teis. “We know that our student-athletes will be eager to succeed in the Sun Belt, and we will enter the conference ready to compete. We look forward to building new rivalries with some Sun Belt schools and renewing rivalries with others. The Sun Belt Conference encompasses eight states from Texas to Florida that are rich in college athletic traditions, especially in the sport of FBS football.”
Texas State’s budget for athletics ranks in the upper half of the current Sun Belt Conference membership, and its undergraduate enrollment ranks near the top of the league’s current membership.
Welcome to the conference TSU!
Vote For South Alabama In The ESPN Gameday Vote
ESPN Gameday will be filming a commercial on a fan selected campus this summer and South Alabama is in a good position to be that campus. Voting is open now and runs through May 10th so spread it to all your friends and family now.You will need a Facebook account to vote.
Memorial Services Announced For Coach Crain
Two services over the next two days have been announced for Coach Crain.
An open memorial is set for Thursday at 4pm in the worship center in Cottage Hill Baptist Church in Mobile. In Birmingham there will be a visitation at 3:30pm followed by a 5:30pm service of celebration at the Southern Heritage Funeral Home on Friday.
A statement was released on Wednesday by the family, “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. Thank you.”
Individuals wishing to assist the Crain family can make a donation to the “Crain Nation Fund” at any BancorpSouth Bank branch which has been established on behalf of his three surviving children.
Update: Local15 news has a video online where they interviewed Coach Joey Jones about Coach Crain’s death. You can view it here.
Remembering Coach Kurt Crain
This is one of the last photos I took of Coach Crain.
It’s easy to write about a game or recruiting. It get’s difficult to write about serious injuries. But it’s very hard to write about someone who has passed away before their time.
This article is one of those articles that are very hard to write.
Tommy Hicks of the Press-Register wrote a very good post about his memory of Coach Crain. While I didn’t know him nearly as well as Tommy, he recognized me whenever he saw me.
I guess he would see me as I watched over their practices in the spring and fall. I try to make as many functions as I can to support the team and my school. Occasionally we would get to a moment to chat so I could congratulate him on his fine work with the players. Ask him about some of the younger guys and how their grades were looking. I always like to ask about grades.
When it wasn’t game time or practice time, he would greet me with a “hey buddy” with his smile. He seemed genuinely happy to chat with anyone when he had the time.
I always liked to watch him coach the linebackers. He was loud and he knew what he wanted in order to make them what they needed to be on the field. They worked hard in practice and he would correct them when they did something wrong. But he was quick to congratulate them when they did something well.
One of my favorite memories was when South Alabama played their first road game in Dothan. Justin Dunn intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. I think the first coach to congratulate him was Coach Crain and I think he was about half way out to the numbers when they met with a slap on the helmet and barking into his ear.
That’s the Coach Crain I remember. A great man always willing to talk, everyone was a friend, knew what he wanted from his players and one of the first to give them a slap on the head and tell them how well they did.
Coach Crain, you will be missed by many.
The Crain family released a statement through the University this evening: “We appreciate all the kind words and prayers for our family as we face this difficult time. Kurt was a positive presence and influence on many lives, especially through his love of football, and we hope he will be remembered for all the gifts and passion he brought to the game. Kurt was also a wonderful husband and father, and we ask that you give our families time to grieve our loss privately. At this time no service arrangements have been finalized, but we expect that we will hold a service in Birmingham as well as a memorial service at a later time in the Mobile area. We will provide that information when it is available. Thank you.”
Auburn AD Jacobs Calls Coach Crain ‘Incredible Individual’
Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs called Coach Kurt Crain a “fierce competitor” who would be deeply missed. “The entire Auburn family is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Kurt Crain,” Jacobs said. “He loved the game of football as much as he loved Auburn. Kurt was an incredible individual who I was blessed to be friends with for over 25 years.”
Coach Crain was found dead by Spanish Fort police at his home on Tuesday. “It appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound,” said Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson. Vinson also said the investigation into Crain’s death is continuing and that an autopsy will likely be performed Wednesday.
Last season, Crain suffered with prostatitis, an infection of the prostate, which required at least three surgeries during the season. The illness forced him to miss the Jags’ game at North Carolina State and he also missed some practices. Crain, a Birmingham native, had said he lost 32 pounds in the early stages of the disease and the treatment. Most of his prostate had been removed.
No further details on his death were immediately available, according to a USA press release.
Associate Head Coach Kurt Crain Dead At 47
Associate head coach Kurt Crain was found dead today, he was 47. The cause is not known at this time per this AL.com article.
Spanish Fort police reported that he was found dead in his home this afternoon. Further details was not released but they did indicated that foul play was not suspected. Coach Crain was among the first coaches hired by Coach Joey Jones when he came to South Alabama. In a release by the University coach Jones was quoted saying, “We’ve lost a great man, coach and mentor at the University of South Alabama. In my opinion, Kurt was one of the best overall coaches I’ve ever seen. He cared about the players, they respected him greatly, and he was a tremendous football coach and motivator. I think about what a great man and what a great teacher he was for these young men. All Kurt would ever talk about was his family and how much he loved his wife and kids. That’s the kind of man he was.”
Coach Crain began by playing football at Auburn University where he was selected as an AP All-American linebacker and lead the team to a 19-3-2 mark as the 1987 SEC championship, two bowl berths and a top-10 finish finish in the polls both seasons. He was a two time All-SEC selection at linebacker and voted as a captain his senior season.
Crain played two seasons in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and Green Bay Packers. He began his coaching career in the early 1990’s as a graduate assistant with Auburn. He then went on to coach at Troy with Larry Blakeney and TCU with Pat Sullivan before coming to South Alabama.
Coach Crain worked with the inside linebackers for three seasons prior to this spring when he had moved to the defensive line. The inside linebackers, lead by him, lead the team each season with stops while helping the Jaguar defense to rank in the top 20 nationally in FCS in both pass defense and total yards nationally in 2011.
He will be sorely missed not only on the practice field and the sidelines, but in the field house. I spoke to coach Crain a few times and he, like all of the coaches at South Alabama, was humble and loved to talk about everything.
Please keep his wife and children in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this terrible time.
Update 8:45pm The Baldwin County coroner Stan Vinson says that Coach Crain died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He suffered from prostatis, an infection of the prostate, last season which required at least three surgeries and IV antibiotics. The illness forced him to miss the Jaguars first FBS game at North Carolina State as well as a number of practices. He had lost over 30 pounds because of the illness and most of his prostate had to be removed.
The Press-Register quoted Coach Jones from a phone interview saying, “I always ask them, ‘How do you want to be remembered? When I think about Kurt, when I heard the news, all I thought about was the great persons that he was. Those kids, you could tell he meant a lot to them. He meant a lot to everybody in that room. … I told them to focus on the good that he did in his lifetime.”
“He was always a happy-go-lucky, loved-to-play-football guy when I knew him as a player. He was the same way here as a coach.”