UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
JOE OUT AT FAMU IN 2005: According to a report in the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday, Florida A&M
officials have chosen not to extend the contract of longtime
football Coach Billy Joe past the 2005 season. Athletic Director
Joseph Ramsey II said he informed Joe of the decision during a meeting
on Monday morning. "We've got to create an entirely different
focus for our football program, and the direction that we're going in
now with the program is not good," Ramsey told the Sentinel. "So
we're refocusing our energies in an entirely different direction when it comes to recruitment,
scheduling, everything." Joe, the school's head football coach
since 1994, has compiled an 86-46 record at Florida A&M and
a 237-108-4 record in 31 seasons overall. He did not
immediately return a telephone message left at his home
Monday night. The Rattlers finished the 2004 season at 3-8.
WIMBUSH HILL FINALIST: Fort Valley State running back Derrick Wimbush, who led the SIAC and all black college rushers with 1,840 yards, averaging 167.3 yards per game and topped the SIAC and black college scoring charts with 22 touchdowns (132 points, 12.2 ppg.) has been named a national finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy as the NCAA Division II College Football Player of the Year. Wimbush was one of the top two players from the Southeast region who advanced through regional voting. Two players from the Northeast, Northwest and Southwest regions joined Wimbush and Arkansas-Monticello quarterback Cory Allred as national finalists. The finalists were selected by the NCAA Division II sports information directors in regional voting and will now be placed on the national ballot where all 156 of the division's SIDs will select the award's nineteenth winner. National voting will conclude on November 29 and the top three finishers will be invited to the presentation banquet. The winner of the award will be announced at the Harlon Hill Trophy and Division II Football Hall of Fame Banquet on Friday, December 10, in Florence, Al., prior to the Division II Football Championship game on December 11.
FAMU, AA&M IN VB REGIONALS: The 22nd-ranked
Florida A&M Lady Rattler volleyball team will 
host one of 16
subregional rounds of the 2004 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, Friday
and Saturday, Dec. 3 and 4, at the Jake Gaither Athletic Center on
the FAMU campus. Three nationally-ranked programs, #7 Stanford,
#12 Florida and Florida A&M along with Atlantic Sun champion
Jacksonville start play Friday at 5 p.m., as #1 Stanford (24-6) takes on
#4 Jacksonville (15-12) followed at 7 p.m., by #2 Florida (27-4)
against host and #3 Florida A&M (28-2). FAMU head coach Tony Trifonov,
his staff and team watched the pairings announcement and the group erupted into
deafening cheers when the Florida A&M name
appeared on the screen. FAMU is riding the crest of a
27-match regular season win string into this weekend's play, a
run which began September 10 with a stunning 3-1 upset
of current #1 Nebraska in Lincoln. Trifonov said Sunday
that "our goal this year was to reach the Final Four, and
we figured we would play one or more of these teams to get
to Long Beach. The 2004 Alabama A&M Lady
Bulldogs women's volleyball team, winners of the last five
SWAC titles under head coach Betty
Austin, will travel to Georgia Tech for the opening rounds of the Minneapolis regional
of the 2004 NCAA tournament to be held December 3-4.
Joining the Lady Bulldogs will be UC-Santa Barbara
(23-3), Georgia (18-11), and host Georgia Tech (25-6).
© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.