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UNDER THE BANNER What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
 "SATELLITE"
TIME AT MVSU: Former quarterback Willie Totten is the new football
coach at Mississippi Valley State University. Totten, 39, nicknamed "Satellite"
when he teamed with Jerry Rice to set 55 NCAA passing records at MVSU in
the 1980s, was tabbed by Athletics Director, Lonza Hardy, Jr., Friday to
replace LaTraia Jones, who was reassigned after posting a 5-28 record over
the last three years. Totten becomes the 14th head coach in the school's 48 years
on the gridiron. His appointment is contingent upon approval by the Board of Trustees
for the Mississippi State Institutions of Higher Learning. For the past two seasons,
Totten has served as offensive coordinator for the Delta Devils, re-joining the
MVSU coaching staff after serving two seasons as the head football coach and athletics
director at Eastside High School in Cleveland, Ms. Before going to the high school
ranks, the four-time All-SWAC selection was an assistant football coach at MVSU
under Larry Dorsey. Totten worked as the school's head men's and women's
tennis coach from 1996-98. From 1988-89, he worked as a graduate assistant under
Grambling State's legendary head coach Eddie Robinson. Totten received
his Master of Science degree in Sports Administration from GSU in 1989. Totten
helped MVSU to a 28-11-1 record as the captain of "The Satellite Express"
offense. Rice was Totten's top receiver under then Delta Devil head coach Archie
"Gunslinger" Cooley's pass-happy offense. Rice and Totten's pass-catch
combination set 75 NCAA records, including Totten's amazing feat of nine passing
touchdowns in one game. For their collegiate exploits, the former Magnolia Stadium
- home of the Delta Devils - was renamed Rice-Totten Stadium in the spring of
1999.
A CLOSER LOOK: Morgan State officials were in Atlanta Saturday at the Pioneer Bowl hoping to get a closer look at Tuskegee head coach Rick Comegy, the hottest head coaching prospect in black college football after winning 23 of his last 24 games. MSU athletic director, Dr. David Thomas, seeking to fill the Bears' head coaching vacancy caused by the termination of Stanley Mitchell, was in Atlanta at the behest of the school's president, Dr. Earl Richardson, to watch Comegy's Golden Tigers in action. Thomas and was to meet with Comegy before the victorious coach left Atlanta. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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OGLESBY
DEBUTS: Former South Carolina State kicker Cedric Oglesby made
one of two field goals and both extra point attempts in his NFL regular season
debut Sunday for the Arizona Cardinals. Oglesby kicked a 35-yard field goal 22
seconds before halftime to give the Cards a 17-7 lead en route to a 17-10 win
over Dallas Sunday. Oglesby's field goal came on his first regular season attempt.
He later missed a 35-yarder. Oglesby was signed by the Cardinals to replace rookie
kicker Bill Gramatica who suffered a torn ACL celebrating his first quarter, 43-yard
field goal against the New York Giants on Dec. 15. Oglesby, who went to mini-camp
with the Cowboys in 2000 and to training camp with the San Diego Chargers this
past summer, was working as a substitute teacher in Atlanta when he got the call
from the Cardinals. "I am a certified P.E. teacher and I was going to take
a full-time spot this year because I wasn't sure what was going to happen with
football," Oglesby said Tuesday at the Cards training facility. He connected
on all three of his 2001 preseason field goal attempts for the Chargers, including
a game-winner against the Dolphins. "I was kind of thinking that maybe it
might have been over," Oglesby said of his kicking career in the league.
"I didn't stop trying to prepare for it." The 5-11, 175-pound native
of Decatur, Georgia booted 21 field goals at SCSU, including a long of 52 yards.