|
|
UNDER THE BANNER What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
 ANNE LITTLE MAKES THREE: Winston-Salem State
University, which lost head men's basketball coach
Rick Duckett and head women's basketball coach
Debra Clark in successive weeks in May, was hit again
last week with the resignation of Athletics Director
Anne Little. Little, who has held the post since
July 1997, will leave the university on August 31. Under her
leadership, the Rams program has been dominant in the
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Associ-ation,
particularly in the major sports of football and basketball.
The basketball program under Duckett won the 1998-99
and 1999-2000 conference titles and advanced to the NCAA
Div. II playoffs three straight seasons. Head coach
Kermit Blount led the football Rams to titles in both 1999 and 2000,
including Pioneer Bowl appearances each year. Little was
selected as the CIAA Athletic Director of the Year after the
1999-2000 season when the Rams also won a softball title. Little,
a Livingstone graduate, is a former CIAA public
relations director and administrator for the National Association
of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Despite her successes at
WSSU, she reportedly had been under constant fire from alumni
since her arrival and, after the departure of the two
basketball coaches, was asked to step down by Chancellor
Harold L. Martin, Sr. In accepting Little's resignation, Martin
said, "Anne Little has served WSSU athletics with distinction
for nearly four years. She has worked diligently to
improve WSSU Athletics and the university is appreciative. We
wish her well."
ALBANY STATE PICKS ALUM: Albany State University announced June 1, the appointment of John Ira Davis, Jr., as the school's new athletics director and head men's basketball coach. Albany State President, Dr. Portia Holmes Shields named the former Monroe High School principal to both positions, effective July 1. Davis played basketball for Albany State in the 1960s and returned to coach the women's basketball program, the volleyball program and serve as an assistant in the men's program. In 1987 he led the Lady Rams basketball team to perfect, 28-0 record. "We are delighted to welcome Mr. Davis and believe that he will enhance our athletics program," Shields said. "With his years of educational leadership and accomplishments in sports, we are certain that our ASU Rams will soar to the top of their game," Shields said. Davis is a proven leader, having served as captain of his nationally-ranked college basketball team, and as coach of the only undefeated women's basketball team at Albany State. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
|
SMITH AXED AT TENN. STATE: Tennessee State
President, Dr. James A. Hefner fired Athletic Director,
Dr. James Smith, last week saying that Smith had
lost the confidence of a number of coaches and administrators at
the school in just 21 months on the job. Hefner cited a list of coaches
including men's and women's basketball head coaches, the head women's
track coach, the head volleyball coach and two assistant athletic directors
as those who had given up on Smith's ability to lead the department. One
of those mentioned by Hefner, former Head Women's
Basketball Coach and current Associate Athletics Director,
Teresa Lawrence Phillips, who has already served two times
as interim AD, will assume the post again until a replacement
is named. Unlike in the past, Phillips said she intends to
pursue the position on a full-time basis. Smith, who came to
TSU after an 11- year tenure at the University of Memphis, did
not comment on the firing but said he will make a statement at
the appropriate time. Smith followed Vivian
Fuller, who replaced TSU graduate Howard Gentry
Jr., in the full-time AD role. Fuller, now AD at the
University of Maryland-Eastern Shore
was on the job only 17 months before being fired by Hefner.