BCSP Notes . . .

Manny Upton played both baseball and football at Norfolk State during his college days and eventually worked for his former head coach, Marty Miller, now NSU's athletic director, as an assistant baseball coach. Later, Manny became a pro scout and currently works as a respected basketball official on the college level.

Though Manny, nicknamed 'Bossman' was a talented player and standout for the Spartans, playing center field and catcher while earning all-CIAA honors, he never got a chance to play in the Major Leagues. His sons, both drafted out of high school in the Norfolk, Va., area, are more than making up for that oversight.

Manny's oldest son Melvin, nicknamed B. J., (Bossman Junior), was drafted second overall in the 2002 amateur draft and is currently the second baseman for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

BJ, 22, tore up the major leagues early in the season with his average climbing as high as .378, second best in the American League. He has been slowed by a strained left quadriceps injury that landed him on the disabled list on June 9. He returned to the Devil Rays' line-up on June 29 and is currently hitting .320 with nine home runs and 31 runs batted in thru 56 games (200 at bats).

BJ's little brother, Justin, 19, was taken with the first overall pick of the 2005 amateur draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is currently the center fielder for Mobile, the AA franchise of the Diamondbacks and was amongst the youngest players selected to play in Sunday's All-Star Futures Game which preceded Tuesday's Major League All-Star Game.

In two minor league stops this season, Justin has hit .318 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs and generated lots of superlatives for his impressive blend of power, speed and hitting acumen. According to most reports, if all goes well, the Diamondbacks could bring Upton up for a September cameo and give him a legitimate crack at a starting job next spring.

Stillman has new athletics director
Stillman College has named Curtis Campbell as its new athletics director, effective immediately. He takes over for Greg Thompson, Stillman's football coach, who had served on an interim basis since January.

Campbell is an experienced administrator in the academic environment, with more than 10 years of service. He arrives at Stillman from Blackburn College, a Division III school in Carlinville, Ill., where he has served as athletic director since 2005.

Campbell's arrival marks his second stop among Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schools. He worked for four years at Kentucky State University, where he served as assistant athletic director for compliance and later served as interim athletic director.

While at KSU, he also monitored athletic scholarships, assisted with game-day operations, and coordinated tickets and ticket sales while assisting with the management and development of the athletic budget.

Prior to his time at KSU, Campbell served as coordinator of student-athlete development at the University of Minnesota, where he assisted in the development and implementation of a comprehensive CHAMPS Life Skills Program for all 700 student-athletes. In addition, he also coordinated the community service program for Minnesota student-athletes.

Before his work at Minnesota, Campbell was a resident director at Virginia Tech, where he supervised a staff of 19 resident assistants, a graduate assistant RD, and 40 night monitors in a residence hall of 896 students. While at VT, he also dealt in crisis management of 9,000 students on a rotating basis.

Campbell also worked in numerous capacities at Radford University in his native Virginia from 1997-99, at various times serving as resident director and in the offices of athletic compliance.

A 1990 graduate of Longwood College with a B.S. in social work, Campbell earned his M.S. in student affairs administration from Radford in 1999. In addition to his administrative experience, he has various teaching experience and has served on numerous committees. He is also a veteran of the United States Army, having served his country from 1981-84.

Campbell and his wife, Sereta, are the proud parents of two children, Caleb, 11, and Cagan, 7.

Cheyney placed on NCAA probation for three years
The NCAA Division II Committee on Infractions has penalized Cheyney University of Pennsylvania for major violations in the institution's athletics program. The violations include ineligible participation by football student-athletes, unethical conduct by the former head football coach, as well as a failure to monitor and lack of institutional control. Penalties for the violations included placing the university on three years of probation, a vacation of records, and a one-year show-cause penalty for the former football coach, among other sanctions.

The Committee on Infractions stated in its report that the case, "involved a serious breach of ethical conduct legislation by the former head coach and the failure of a long-time Division II member institution to have in effect a viable, comprehensive compliance system administered by knowledgeable personnel."

The most serious violations took place in the football program and were knowingly committed by the former head coach. During the 2004 football season, six ineligible student-athletes, five of whom were partial qualifiers, received extra benefits in the form of travel expenses while traveling to away games. Further, four of the six ineligible student-athletes competed in one or more of the away contests and another impermissibly participated in practice. These violations were committed at the direction of the former head coach, who had been told two years earlier after similar violations occurred that ineligible student-athletes were not allowed to travel to away contests.

The committee also found the university failed to withhold two student-athletes from competition during the 2005 football season even though it had acknowledged they had previously competed in away games while ineligible.

The committee found the university failed to monitor the conduct of its coaches and the administration of its athletics programs during the summer of 2002 through September 2006, based on a lack of system for effectively monitoring various aspects of its athletics program. These aspects included participation by ineligible football student-athletes, purchasing health insurance for student-athletes, failure to provide the required graduation data and official visit limitation information to prospective student-athletes, failure to track countable athletically related activities, publicizing oral commitments from prospective student-athletes, failure to notify student-athletes regarding financial aid renewal, and the provision of benefits to enrolled student-athletes by individuals whose actions triggered the booster status.

The university did not agree that all of these violations were major infractions. However, the committee noted in its report that "while standing alone many of the violations would be considered secondary, they are all major as part of the cumulative case."

Alabama State releases former Cheyney head coach
Alabama State University has released its assistant head football coach and football operations coordinator, Lee Brown, for actions associated with NCAA infractions committed by Brown during his tenure as Cheyney University head football coach.

"We are saddened and shocked by the infractions committed by Coach Brown," said ASU head football coach Reggie Barlow. "However, we consider accountability as the greatest ability on the ASU football team and staff and must exercise appropriate discipline at every level."

Brown came to ASU from Edward Waters College where he served as defensive coordinator and secondary coach. He completed only one season at ASU as the running backs coach in 2006.

© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.

Return to Front Page