UNDER THE BANNER What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports  ONE MORE OUT: Southern University became the second Southwestern Athletic Conference school to create a men's basketball head coaching vacancy when they announced last week that five-year head man Tommie Green was being relieved of his duties and reassigned. Green had coached the Jaguars to a 74-64 record including a 11-16 mark this season, good for fifth place in the SWAC regular season standings. The Jaguars lost in the semifinals of the SWAC Tournament to eventual champion Alabama State. This was the first losing season for Green a former Southern point guard who was drafted by the NBA's New Orleans Jazz after the Jaguars won the 1978 SWAC title in his senior season. Green spent ten years as an assistant at Southern under former head coach Ben Jobe before being promoted to the top spot when Jobe left in 1996. Green was inducted into Southern's Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. Green's dismissal follows the removal of longtime Texas Southern head coach Robert Moreland.
MORE SWAC MOVEMENT: It was also announced last week that longtime Southwestern Athletic Conference media relations coordinator Lonza Hardy, Jr., is leaving the conference office to replace Charles "Chuck" Prophet as athletic director at Mississippi Valley State University. According to MVSU president, Dr. Lester C. Newman, Hardy, who began in the conference office in 1989, was picked from among a list of outstanding candidates. He said Hardy's background with the conference, as well as his ability to interact with officials at all levels of the athletics spectrum, including the NCAA, figured prominently in his being selected for the post. Prior to working at the SWAC office, Hardy enjoyed successful stints as a sports information director at Southern, Alcorn State and Albany State. At the conference office, Hardy initially held the title of director of publicity but later became the first person in the history of the 80-year-old conference to serve in the role of assistant commissioner. Later, he accomplished another first when he became the league's first-ever associate commissioner. A native New Yorker who grew up in North Carolina, Hardy is a 1978 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism. MORE ALL-STARS: Johnson C. Smith senior swingman Wylie Petty and Hampton senior center Tarvis Williams have been named National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-American teams. Petty, who averaged 17.7 points for the CIAA and South Atlantic Region champion Golden Bulls, was named to the NCAA Div. II first team. He was the only black college player selected to the team. Williams, the MEAC Player of the Year, was selected to compete in the Ocean Spray Roundball Challenge pitting the NABC College All-Stars against the world famous Harlem Globetrotters in a competitive game Friday, March 30th at the Target Center. The game, which begins at 7 p.m. (CST), is part of the activities of the 74TH annual NABC Convention in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four weekend. ROLLIN' WITH THE BOWLING: North Carolina A&T will make history April 18-22 when its women's team becomes the first black college team to compete in the 2001 Intercollegiate Bowling Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. The Aggies finished fourth last weekend in the East Region sectional qualifier in Downington, Pa., to advance to the national tournament. The Aggies are ranked 15th in the nation. The national championship will bring the top four teams from each of the nation's four regions to Grand Rapids. Head coach Adam Chaskin leads the six-person team which features captain Crystal Bailey along with freshmen Audrey McIntyre and Misty Young. All three have averages that rank in the top 150 in the nation. The NCAA will take over bowling as a national championship beginning with the 2003 season. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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