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UNDER THE BANNER What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
ANOTHER OPENING: Applicants are rolling in for Jackson State's women's basketball head coaching position, a position that came open when Andrew Pennington was reassigned following a 8-18 season. "It's really hot right now," JSU Athletic Director Roy Culberson said. "I've had calls coming in, e-mails, faxes, you name it. It's a good job." Culberson is close to finalizing a six-person search committee that will help select the Lady Tigers' new coach. Culberson plans to choose three finalists from among the applicants and bring those three finalists in for a round of interviews. "We hope to name a new coach by May 1," Culberson said. "I want a coach who can create more than just a women's basketball team. I want a coach who can create a women's basketball program." Culberson said JSU is also still looking for a new women's volleyball and women's soccer coach.
A PRO ALTERNATIVE: Three black college players, all from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, are among the 60 players taken in the six-round April 10 United States Basketball League (USBL) Draft. First to come off the list was Hampton center Tarvis Williams who was taken by the Oklahoma Storm as the ninth pick of the first round. Williams swept regular season and tournament MVP honors in the MEAC averaging 22 points, six rebounds and nearly five blocks per game. Former South Carolina State star guard Mike Wiatre went in the second round to the Brooklyn Kings. Wiatre, a 6-3 point guard, was the 2000 MEAC Tournament most valuable player as he led the Bulldogs to last season's tournament title. He averaged 15.9 points per game in his senior season. North Carolina A&T senior point guard James "JJ" Miller was taken by the Maryland Mustangs with the sixth pick in the sixth and last round. Miller, a second team all-MEAC pick this year, averaged 15 points for the Aggies. The USBL has ten teams. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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HIGH
SCHOOL GEM: Texas Southern has plucked a gem from the high school
ranks to resurrect their basketball fortunes. Ronnie Courtney,
43, a Houston native that has guided the city's Willowridge High School
to the last two Texas state 5A championships including a 39-0 mark this
season and 75-1 over the past two seasons, was named Wednesday as the
Tigers new head coach. Courtney will take over from longtime, successful
coach Robert Moreland who was let go following his 26th year at
TSU. Moreland guided the Tigers to the 1977 NAIA national championship
and got TSU into the NCAA Tournament in '90, '94 and '95 but struggled
in recent years with his team finishing 7-22 this season, eighth in the
Southwestern Athletic Conference. Courtney comes in as one of the
hottest coaches on the national scene. This year's Willowridge team finished
second in the nation in USA Today's ranking and Courtney was named
last week as the newspaper's national coach of the year. Two of
his players, point guard T. J. Ford, who has committed to Texas, and shooting
guard Daniel Ewing, a Duke signee, have been featured in recent high school
all-star games. Eight of nine seniors on his Willowridge team have received
Div. I scholarships. Courtney, who also applied for head coach openings
at Morgan State, Florida A&M and Rhode Island, compiled
a 100-44 record at Willowridge from 1997-2001. He previously coached Davis
High School to a 137-76 mark from 1989-97. "It's a big day and hopefully
it'll get bigger as he gets more acclimated," said TSU athletic director
Alois Blackwell. "The recruiting aspect of it looks real good."
Courtney did not waste time fanning the flames. "You've got to look
at my track record," said Courtney. "I'm very energetic, I'm
a student of the game and I stress to the players to play hard. We're
definitely going to the Big Dance (NCAA Tournament)."