Friday night, sophomore forward Dominique Ferguson said his appeal of the athletic department's refusal to release him from his scholarship was denied. He was notified by an e-mail from Dr. Stephen Fain, Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and FIU's faculty athletics representative to the NCAA. CC'd on the e-mail were Dr. Pete E.C. Markowitz of the Physics Department; Thomas Baker, Law Preofessor; senior associate athletic director Julie Berg-McGraw; and complaince director Valerie Sheley.
Ferguson said the e-mail, sent four hours after his appeal meeting Friday, informed him the powers that be felt it would benefit him better to stay at FIU.
Never mind that the coach I personally saw make sure Ferguson went to class and got all the tutoring help needed being thrown out of FIU's house like some husband busted for getting something on the side. Never mind there's no coaching staff there now to follow up in the same manner.
The firings occurred hours before First Seder of Passover, but the school's trying to stem an exodus. It might take someone demanding, "Let my people go" while a sibling throws down a staff that turns into a snake.
FIU can't hold onto what's not there yet. Two players from Boca Raton Grandview Prep, 6-9 power foward Windale Glinton and 6-3 point guard Ivan Canete, both had committed verbally to FIU for 2013. Last Friday's firing of Isiah Thomas changed a few things.
Canete and Glinton's Grandview Prep coach announced their decommittment in a Friday afternoon phone call to me. Canete averaged 16.2 points, 5.2 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game for Grandview this season. MaxPreps has him as the No. 56 ranked player in the state.
I see one of the comment debates has been about Richaud Pack. I don't know the exact reason he left, but I do know it happened weeks after a Nov. 28 practice altercation. Pack stormed out of practice shouting he'd been punched in the face by Phil Taylor (other witnesses denied any fisticuffs took place). Thomas tried to calm Pack down and physically restrain him, but Pack twisted away and stormed off.
Pack was granted his scholarship release and transferred to Division III Adrian College, where he played his first game Dec. 22. Pack started seven of 18 games and averaged 14.6 points per game on 42.9 percent shooting.
In the wake of the coaching staff's firing Friday, several men's basketball players have asked for release from their scholarships and have been denied by the school -- for the moment. Players have appealed via e-mailed letter to a higher FIU power, FIU President Mark Rosenberg, and some hope to get their release by the end of the week after meetings with FIU staffers.
According to a source close to FIU, a school asking about one of the players was told in an e-mail by FIU that it was against athletic department policy to release players from scholarships during a coaching search.
One player I spoke to today said some players wanted to meet whomever the new coach will be, but desired their release just to keep their options open.
Joey de La Rosa, on the other hand, said he's transferring because, "Coach Thomas was my guy, loyalty is the key" at the start of a passionate defense of the coaching staff that focused mostly on the way the staff influenced kids off the court. Sophomore forward Dominique Ferguson also said this would be his last semester at FIU.
Sources say starting guard Phil Taylor also has asked for his release.
"I'm sure they feel like they had the rug pulled out from under them," Thomas said Wednesday night. "I'm sure whereever they go, they'll be assets to their school. I'm deeply humbled. I love those guys."
Thomas also said, "The unity and commitment they've shown each other in this tough time only strengthens my belief that next year was going to be a great year for us."
Whether or not that's accurate, expect those committed for next year, including Chicago's Milton Doyle, to head elsewhere.The next coach could come in with a stripped down roster and taking the table scraps in recruiting.
This is the full text of a letter sent to FIU Presdent Rosenberg:
Dear President Rosenberg, FIU Administrators, Faculty, Staff and Media:
We are writing this letter in regards to a few concerns we have surrounding the firing of our coach, Isiah Thomas, and his staff. First, we would like to explain that on Monday night at the Sports Banquet, we meant no disrespect to our university or anyone in attendance, but only wished to exercise our human right to protest and support our coach and mentors in a time of grief. Our staff taught us five values -- Honesty, Loyalty, Belief, Sacrifice and Trust -- so I am sure you can see that our “silent protest” stems from these excellent principles.
Our main concerns that we wish someone to address include why Coach Thomas and his staff were fired and why it was done in such an ugly fashion? Nobody in this university has sat down and given a thorough explanation as to why they were dismissed. This is very troubling because even though we are athletes we are still humans and have rights which should be respected. What is confusing is if Coach Thomas was fired for losing games, he is not alone in fault because we were the ones playing the games. He was given five years to fix an existing problem, and then it was cut to three. The team he had coming in next year was young but by far his best class. Neither he nor we got the opportunity to finish what we started and have no explanation as to why our goal was cut short by this university.
We also ask someone to look into why Coach Thomas and his staff had to be humiliated by being told they were fired and to pack their belongings immediately, with no explanation of what was going on in front of our team and other FIU staff members. It was quite embarrassing for us to witness and hurtful. They deserved a better way to leave. It is already embarrassing being fired.
We would like everyone to know that we came to FIU not only to gain an education and play basketball but also to be mentored by Coach Thomas. This is why we are extremely upset about his firing; we lost not a coach but a mentor. Maybe you are not knowledgeable of the many things that Coach Thomas has done in helping develop us as young men. These things don’t show up on the scoreboard at FIU but do show up on the scoreboard of life. There are too many to discuss but we will mention to you one of the most important ones he did and that you can investigate.
Please contact the writers of a book Coach Thomas suggested we read, “Out of Bounds, When Scholarship Athletes become Academic Scholars” by Dr. Jabari Mohair and Dr. Derek Van Rheenen from UC Berkeley. Not only did Coach Thomas tell us about this book but on multiple occasions he brought these authors to FIU to lead academic workshops which stimulated our minds and helped us to understand what it is to be a true scholar athlete. These workshops were also attended by FIU faculty and students who were not athletes. Even NBA All Star Amare Stoudemire sat in the workshops which lasted over a weekend. But, more amazing is that not only did Coach Thomas and his staff participate in the workshops but Coach Thomas has led by example by taking classes in sports and education with the professors via Skype. He also was admitted into the MA program at Berkeley in the School of Education. He was not only telling us to go to class but served as a role model by being a student himself. Please reach out and ask these professors about our team and coach and how education and mentoring was the focal point of his short tenure, not winning on the court but in changing lives. Coach would tell us that “our record may be losing on the court, but that will change in time but our graduation rate is 17-2 which is more important”. This is the Isiah we know and love not the one which the media attempts to destroy. If they brought their cameras and notepads into these workshops they may find it beneficial to report on how sports should be used to build character not destroy it.
Lastly, the AD of FIU told us only that Coach Thomas was fired because “we are going in another direction,” and we respect his decision even though we disagree with it. Every human has a right for “freedom of choice” which is a given not a privilege. We chose to come to FIU for at least 5 years to be mentored, play basketball and enjoy college life. FIU has given us a great opportunity and is a fine university. We have appreciated our time here.
Yet, some of us have asked to be released from the school and have been rejected by the AD. We ask that with our mentor being fired you to give us the freedom of choice to “move in another direction.” Please help us receive our athletic “releases” so that we can find a coach and program which will be a good fit in our growth. America has many fine universities to choose from, and we only wish to have the option of staying here or finding a place which has a coach that will continue in the same tradition as Coach Thomas. Even if FIU was to hire another ex- NBA coach that would not change our feelings about leaving because we did not come here thinking Isiah Thomas was going to take us to the NBA. But the person of Isiah Thomas as a mentor is what was important in our decision.
In one of our meetings with the Professors we learned that “when an athletic department uses players as commodities it loses its moral leadership”. We hope that this school sees us not as “bodies” but “minds” which can grow develop and become productive citizens of the world.
Thank you
FIU men’s Basketball Team
Athletic director Pete Garcia hasn't responded to calls or text messages the last few days, blowing up the basketball coaching staff then going underground like the athletic director of The Weathermen. Which brings to mind the first rap song...
SOFTBALL
All of the above overshadowns FIU senior Ashley McClain being named one of the 25 finalists for this year's USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.
McClain's hitting .419 with a .667 slugging percentage. She leads the team with nine doubles, five home runs, 29 RBI and a .534 on-base percentage that's 12th in the nation. She's one home run from tying the school record for career homers.
FIU dealt No. 6-ranked Louisiana-Lafayette only its second loss of the season Tuesday before being shut out Wednesday.
A day of awards for FIU ended with fired men's basketball coach Isiah Thomas getting an honor from his former FIU players -- they walked out of the FIU Athletic Academic Awards Banquet in protest of Thomas' and the staff's dismissal Friday.
Feelings on this? Was it rude to their fellow athletes, many of whom showed up in packs to support men's basketball, at an event giving laurels to the top jocks of both genders? Or was it a reasonable way to make known they didn't like what went down Friday and, maybe, the way it went down? (already, the word going around coaching circles was the staff got bum-rushed out of their offices). Clearly, they value Thomas beyond his basketball knowledge -- you don't find many eight-win teams even getting out of a chair for fired coaches.
When I heard about this, I couldn't help but think of Otter declaring to the Faber Panhellenic Council, "You can do what you want to us. But we're not going to sit here and listen to you bad mouth, the United States of America! Gentlemen!"
The walkout does call into serious question how many players will transfer, how many 2013 verbal commits go back on the market and how many 2012 freshmen will want to get back on the market.
VONNEGUT'S HARDWARE
Earlier, Collegiate Baseball News announced that FIU junior Jabari Henry was the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week, the second time in Henry's career for that recognition. Henry's four home runs in five games last week helped him pile up 13 RBI for the week.
The baseball team won the Community Service Award at Monday's banquet. The Swimming and Diving team got the Addidas Athletic Director's Award for classroom excellence; the Michael Felsberg Spirit Award; and the Champs/Life Stills/Challenge Cup Award. Senior midfielder Victoria Miliucci got the Academic Excellence Award. Sophomore guard Jerica Coley was selected Student-Athlete of the Year .
REUNITED AND IT FEELS LIKE HELLO, GOODBYE...
Georgia State, which once shared the Trans-America Atlhetic Conference (TAAC) with FIU will join the Sun Belt in 2013 as the league appears to be stocking up for the inevitable departure of some schools (most likely ones that start with "F" and have a major airport in the county). The Atlanta-based school started football recently.
What next? A return to the NBA? Recently fired FIU men's basketball coach Isiah Thomas said he needed to "take a couple of days to digest this."
"My plan today was to take a recruit out to dinner," Thomas laughed darkly hours after he and the FIU men's basketball coaching staff had been sacked.
Thomas said he had been interviewing a candidate to replace resigned assistant coach Frank Holloway when he got the call from FIU athletic director Pete Garcia using that euphemism "we're going in a different direction."
(And a hilarious euphemism it is. A pro sports radio play-by-play announcer heard that phrase as he was fired and laughed, "What, going in the direction of not having a play-by-play announcer?")
Thomas felt as if he really had only two years to turn FIU around because he was hired on Signing Day three years ago, essentially eliminating a recruiting season. He didn't go into this, but it's worth saying -- when he was hired, FIU wasn't just a program with a long tradition of losing amidst total apathy on campus and in the metropolitan area toward college basketball. Also, the program had its piece of the probation under which the whole athletic department labored since 2006. It's a program with no regular local radio broadcasts and no television.
The record says that hasn't changed much: 26-65 in three seasons, 14-36 in the Sun Belt and the Sun Belt record breakdown went 4-14, 5-11, 5-11. A 2-9 home record this season and eight wins overall was inexcusable considering FIU pulled off some shocking road wins.
Rarely have I seen a team that so often lapsed into dumb basketball for five to seven-minute blocs as this year's FIU men. Some teams have occasional brain farts and other teams live in a state of terminal brain flatulation. But this was a team that seemed to suffer rolling synapse blackouts. That points to coaching, but, at some point, players have to take some responsibility for that.
"But we're playing with freshmen and sophomores," Thomas pointed out. "At no place in the country do you walk in and win with freshmen and sophomores unless it's Kentucky freshmen and sophomores. The close games we lost, those are the games freshmen and sophomores lose."
A team with no margin for error got kneecapped with an injury that took out its best player, guard DeJuan Wright, for several games midseason. They lost power forward Tola Akamolafe to academic ineligibility sources say stemmed from bad advice given him. While we're on that track, other Camp Mitch sources said during the year FIU delivered academic rejections to point guard K.C. Ross-Miller and North Texas' dazzling Tony Mitchell. Too risky. To be fair, each got academically bumped from LSU and Missouri, respectively. But FIU's got athletes just as academically questionable competing in other sports.
As far as academics, 17 of 19 players graduated in Thomas' three years at FIU. Not surprising -- the man spent six NBA offseasons going back to school until he got his degree and is still taking graduate courses 25 years later. He doesn't pay lip service to academics. He cares about the books far more than the average college basketball or football coach. Would he bring in an academic risk? Yep. Would he also get angry if that kid or any other kid wasn't pushed to attain their academic potential or got lazy about it? Yep.
I asked him if he thought FIU was ready as a program and athletic department overall to be a consistent 18-20-win team that could contend for the NCAAs regularly out of the Sun Belt. He said he thought so with Myers, Chicago's Milton Doyle and Tim Williams coming in next year and four of the state's top 50 recruits verbally committed for 2013.
Next year's team won't have Wright or Jeremy Allen for leadership. As of now, it will have Phil Taylor moving to shooting guard, a more natural position for him, and five players 6-9 and over (if they all stay, post-Thomas): Brandon Moore, Dominique Ferguson, Joey De La Rosa, Gilles Dierickx and transfer Lekan Ajayi.
I interrupt my vacation for this post on the latest FIU news.
Isiah Thomas is out as men's basketball coach. Good or bad for FIU?
For those who harrumphed I didn't provide more spring football coverage, I was assigned to a few other things during that time (Honda, Doral, Heat, Panthers, FIU hoop). By the spring game, I was one day into vacation (insert punch line here). That's likely to be the case as long as spring practice runs through March and any year the spring game runs up against my daughter's spring break.
FIU's spring football session ends Friday at 7 p.m. with the Blue & Gold Spring Game on Alonso Field at FIU Stadium. You'll have a chance to see the freshmen who enrolled early as well as the toddler version of the new offense FIU hopes to have in late adolescence if not young adulthood by the fall. Also, allegedly, there will be about 100 recruits in the house.
Admission's free. First 200 students get a free t-shirt, something no college student can have too many of in their closet.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Antoine Myers, a 6-3 point guard from Baltimore Forest Park High by way of Pensacola State College, has verbally committed to FIU.
Myers averaged 7.6 points, 1.8 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game last season for Pensacola.
Senior guard DeJuan Wright's career-high 35 points and 13 rebounds Saturday night against South Alabama fueled FIU to its second home victory of the season highlighted a week of two double-doubles and earned Wright Sun Belt Player of the Week honors.
Wright also pulled down 10 rebounds while putting up 13 points in Thursday's loss to Troy.
Saturday, Wright set FIU records for free throws attempted in a game, 19, and made, 16. He finished the regular season averaging 16.1 points per game, leading the conference, and 7.7 rebounds per game, third in the Sun Belt.
TIM SAYS HE'S COMING
FIU got a verbal commitment Monday from Class of 2012's Tim Williams, a 6-7 power forward out of Chicago's Homewood-Flossmoor High.
A couple of things from FIU's 68-61 loss to North Texas:
1. It Could've Been You -- FIU was a finalist when North Texas 6-8 freshman Tony Mitchell, the Sun Belt's leading scorer and rebounder, made his collegiate choice. A source out at Camp Mitch says Mitchell would be on the FIU bench Thursday instead of North Texas', but he was rejected by FIU as too big an academic risk.
Some of you are gawking at the screen in disbelief. Some of you are laughing at the screen because with some of the pseudo-student-athletes at FIU or any but a few Division I schools, you wonder how they got into any educational institution other than ones that advertise on "Judge Judy." Every school has actual student-athletes and a number of athlete-students.
To be fair, Mitchell signed with Missouri in 2010, got ruled academically ineligible a year ago and transferred to North Texas. So, he is an educational crapshoot. All I'm chuckling at is the thought that he's that much more of a longshot than some folks already wearing blue and gold.
That also seems funny in light of Mitchell thorwing down a one-handed, windmill, Dominique Wilkins-escque dunk, then breaking off some verbal disrespect to the FIU bench (one person at that end of the court later said it was the F-bomb).
2. Ilguskas in the house -- Zydrunas Ilguskas, former center for Cleveland and, last season, the Heat, was at The Branch Thursday night to check out Mitchell. Ilguskas is now a special assistant to the general manager for Cleveland, but he'll be splitting time between here and Cleveland.
3. Point/Counter No Point -- I'll likely be writing on sophomore point guard Phil Taylor for Saturday's paper and on Taylor having to deal with Isiah Thomas, a fair-to-middlin' point guard in his day, as his coach.
One thing I know is Thomas wouldn't be happy with a stat line that includes, under assists, "0." Thursday joined the home loss to Middle Tennessee as Taylor's second zero-assist game of the season. He's had three others with only one assist.
4. Jeremy Allen Almost Grand -- Senior guard Jeremy Allen is three points from 1,000 for his college career.
From Lagos, Nigeria by way of the University of Wyoming and Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, comes transfer Lekan Ajayi, a 6-10, 245-pound forward. Ajayi, rated by ESPN as the No. 24 center in this year's recruiting class, will be available as a sophomore when the 2013 spring semester begins.
So FIU will have Ajayi, 6-10 Joey De La Rosa, 6-10 Brandon Moore and 7-0 Gilles Dierickx on the roster next season, academics permitting. That's not just a lot of size, that's a lot of fouls to give in physical games.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Here's why the last few weekends before National The Fax Is Working, Right? Day have college coaches across the land chasing Tylenol with shots.
FIU verbal commit Josh Glanton, a linebacker out of Haines City High, posts that with signing day nigh, it's "decision time" between FIU and Syracuse. Glanton's visiting this weekend, along with a momvan full of other recruits. Another load of recruits will be in the weekend after next. Better hope The Rusty Pelican brings its best stuff.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Sophomore diver Sabrina Beaupre was named Sun Belt Diver of the Week Tuesday. And the sky is still blue, grass is still green, 836 still more clogged than that Stanford kicker's chitlins. Beaupre's received this honor five times this season already. She swept the diving events at Saturday's FIU Invite with scores of 311.10 (1-meter) and 312.08 (3-meter).
Ah, but something new has been added with senior Kariann Stevens winning the Sun Belt's Swimmer of the Week award. Saturday, she won the 200-yard freestyle (2:00.29), 100-yard breaststroke (1:12.52), 100 free (55.33) and 100 Individual Medley (1:02.40) and was part of the victorious 200 free relay.
Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson junior Andre Horne, a 6-8, 230-pound forward, has made a verbal commitment to FIU for the 2013-14 school year. Horne averages 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game.
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
Head coach Mario Cristobal was marching through Georgia Thursday on a recruiting sweep.
One interesting transfer into the program is senior cornerback AJ Annelus. Interesting because of his rather serpentine path into South Florida. Annelus graduated Grandview (Mo.) Senior High in 2008, making him likely 22 when He redshirted for a year at Santa Monica Junior College before playing two seasons, then transferring to the University of Idaho. He spent the 2011 season there, getting into two games. Now, he's at Florida State College in Jacksonville, preparing to transfer to FIU.
SWIMMING
FIU won six of the 12 events at Thursday's FIU Relays, giving them a 12-point win over second place Eastern Michigan.
The six winning teams were in the 300 backstroke (Jenny Lee, Elly James, Danielle Meara); 800 freestyle (Vicnan Torres, Sonia Perez Arau, Nadia Farrugia, Colleen Quinn); 500 free (Kariann Stevens, Torres, Farrugia, Quinn); 200 free (Kelly Quinn, Stevens, Torres, Farrugia); the 400 medley (Klara Andersson, Stevens, Perez Arau and Meara); and the 400 free (Farrugia, Torres, Quinn, Grace).
The swim team will be back in action Saturday in the FIU Invite.
Members of the military, veterans and families of those currently serving overseas can get two free tickets to Saturday's FAU-FIU game with military, veterans or family identification. Said identification should be shown at the University Credit Union Box Office, which opens at 2 p.m. Saturday.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Hours before their exhibition against Florida Memorial, the men's basketball team officially announced the signing of 6-4 swingman Milton Doyle out of Chicago's Marshall High for the class of 2012. Doyle's verbal committment was reported on the blog last month.
FIU head coach Isiah Thomas grew up in the part of Chicago where Marshall is located and his late brother Gregory Thomas played there. You might've recall Marshall as the school Arthur Agee went to in the documentary Hoop Dreams after suburban private school St. Joseph's booted him, allegedly for unpaid tuition. With Agee as one of the leaders, Marshall wound up going "down state" to the finals of the 1991 Illinois State High School tournament by upsetting perennial power King High.
BASEBALL
The baseball team announced three signings Wednesday
Right-hander Michael Franco, out of Corpus Christi, Texas and Howard College, was named Most Valuable Pitcher in the Western Junior College Athletic Conference last season. Franco had a 10-2 record, 2.84 ERA, 88 strikeouts and 31 walks in 79 1/3 innings.
Reliever Reid Scoggins went 4-0 with a 4.59 ERA with 38 strikeouts and 24 walks in 33 1/3 innings for Howard. He had two saves. Another reliever, Tyler Sullivan, bounced from the University of West Florida to Weatherford Junior College, where he had 32 strikeouts and 13 walks in 28 innings, a 4.82 ERA and 2-1 record.
MEN'S SOCCER
Defender Anthony Hobbs, named All-Conference USA First Team earlier this week, was named to Conference USA's All-Academic team Wednesday.
6-9 Wendale Glinton from Lake Worth, a junior at Grandview Prep after starting at Lake Worth High, has verbally committed to FIU for 2013. Glinton plays center, although he'll have to bulk up to play any position at the college level. He weighs "210, 215. I've got to get up to 250," he said Tuesday night.
Glinton has played AAU ball with Amar'e Stoudemire's Each 1 Teach 1 AAU basketball program.
WOMEN'S SOCCER
The first game of the Sun Belt Tournament, which begins Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern time, in Murfreesboro, Tenn., is FIU vs. Arkansas State. Tuesday night, the Sun Belt announced their regular season awards at a get-all-gussied-up banquet.
Freshman of the Year went to forward Ashleigh Shim, the third consecutive FIU player to win the award, succeeding forward Chelsea Leiva (2010) and goalkeeper Kaitlyn Savage (2009). The Jacksonville Sandalwood graduate had four goals and three assists, second in scoring to Leiva's five goals and six assists.
FIU missed the regular season conference title by only a half-game. Yet,the All-Sun Belt First Team had four players from Denver, three from North Texas, three from Western Kentucky and one, senior defender April Perry, from FIU. Shim, Leiva, Savage and senior midfielder Kelly Hutchinson were named to the Second Team. The conference's 12 coaches selected the teams.
While sitting in the Graham Center, pondering if there was enough from football practice to blog (they're not that optimistic wide receiver Jacob Younger plays this week even though they're taking it easy with him. There, that's it), I heard about a verbal committment for men's basketball's recruiting class of 2012.
Chicago Marshall basketball coach Henry Cotton called Milton Doyle, a 6-4 guard/forward, the best unsigned senior in town to the Chicago Sun-Times. Doyle sat out last season after transferring from Chicago Tilden to Marshall, then breaking his wrist. Despite that, a buzz about Doyle remained, especially after summer ball. llinois Prep Bulls-Eye, http://iprepbullseye.com calls "one of the most athletic players in the state and a solid mid-major recruit."
I began the day arguing the day camp merits of new skirts vs. old Gymboree shorts with my six-year-old. I'll end the day soon debating the merits of pomegranate margaritas vs. Long Island Iced Teas. In between, I was rippin' and runnin' so much -- from the Non-Gilded Panthers to a Southern States bodybuilder who once weighed 450 pounds and almost died to Brandon Marshall's subpeona -- that I didn't get to update this blog with a couple of pieces of news.
Gilles Dierickx, the 6-11 Belgian out of West Hills Chaminade in the LA area, made his committment to FIU official. There's one scholarship left for the 2011 class.
Isiah Thomas said in a statement released through the communications department, "His size and athleticism are impressive. He is the type of player who is not afraid to be aggressive down low both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. At 6-11, 240, we are happy to have Gilles as a member of the FIU family. He joins a great class in Joey De La Rosa (6-11, 240), KeDorian Sullivan (6-7, 185) and Tanner Wozniak (6-5, 185)."
Two 6-11 guys and two guys who are have either fast metabolism or a slow first step to the buffet...moving right along...
Kicker Jack Griffin has been named to the watch list for the Lou Groza Award, given to the top placekicker each year.
Once again, there's a college football best-of award that's an homage to an NFL great. As mentioned in the previous post, few wideouts in NFL history match up to Fred Biletnikoff. But as a college football receiver, Biletnikoff might not have even been the best productive slow wide receiver of the 1960s (see "future Dolphin Howard Twilley"). And, as for all-time, the only way he'd be at a table with, say, Michigan's Anthony Carter or Nebraska's Johnny Rodgers is if he was serving something.
Lou "The Toe" Groza picked up his nickname as a dependable booter for Cleveland and actually didn't like being known more for being a kicker than an offensive tackle. He played for Cleveland during their All-American Football Conferenc years, 1946-49. When the four-time AAFC champions moved to the NFL in 1950 along with the 49ers and the original Baltimore Colts, Groza added dependable kicking to the Browns' awesome offensive arsenal. He led the NFL in field goals four times in the Browns' first five NFL seasons. He retired after the 1967 season. Groza went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1974.
Yet, that's pro football. Surely the Orange Bowl Committee, which gives out The Toe, could've honored one of the truly spectactular college kickers. Just in the old Southwest Conference from 1976-78, you had three kickers breaking records and collecting All-America honors -- Texas A&M's barefoot Tony Franklin, who nailed a then-record 65-yarder; Texas' Russell Erxleben, who beat his pal with a 67-yarder; and Arkansas' Steve Little, who tied Erxleben's record. A few years later in the Big Ten, Minnesota's Chip Lohmiller and Indiana's Pete Stoyanovich expanded the definition of "field goal range" to "on campus." Nevada's Marty Zendajas was money in his day.
Over on the court, the best college basketball player doesn't receive The Red Auerbach Award.
As it's Friday...
And while freshman Isiah Thomas endured his first Bob Knight practices at Indiana...
Still makes me wince...just like this one still makes me smile. Reminds me of the 1987 night they kicked against each other in the Metrodome. During the game, Baby Jessica got pulled from the well. 60,000 people roared for the saving of a child they didn't know existed two weeks before.
I spent yesterday supervising the re-installation of our hi-def dish and scrambling on about three other non-FIU stories, so I missed the late morning LA Times blog post spotted by Prowl poster J, saying 6-11 center Gilles Dierickx had received a 2011 scholarship offer from FIU and was expected to commit.
I just got confirmation this morning that they received the verbal commitment late Tuesday night. Dierickx, a native of Belgium, is out of West Hills Chaminade in the LA area and was ranked No. 19 among California recruits by MaxPreps.com. He averaged 13.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game for a 14-15 team.
Here's some video on Gilles...
And another video for women and men of a certain age and all who beat the alarm clock...
After writing on NBA lockout mess, consuming an entire aluminum container of shrimp fried rice from New Chinatown and noting Warren Sapp and Darnell Dockett both were hanging out in South Beach, I conked out Thursday night like a 1982 Chrysler K-Car. I meant to give more information on Boca Raton Grandview Prep guard Ivan Canete, who has verbally committed to FIU for 2013.
It's not as if we've got a full IMF dossier on the kid, but here are a few tidbits:
Born in Cuba
Spent his freshman year at West Palm Beach Cardinal Newman
His defensive length, at 6-3, gives other high school guards trouble.
Oh, and SourceHoops.com's Rick Staudt loves the kid. Here's what Staudt had to say about him off of March's Hoops Mountain Tipoff jamboree:
“Smart” and “Skilled” are the words that first come out of scouts’ mouths when talking about Canete. He sees the game a play ahead, makes the right pass instead of the fancy one, and if need be can create his own shot. Canete has range out to the arc and throws catchable passes to open teammates for scores when he breaks down the defense off the dribble.
And, this, from April, off the Disney Spring Classic:
The Boca Raton Grandview Prep product can play either guard spot equally well. At the point, he has very good court vision and his height allows him to see over most defenders. Canete handles and passes the ball well and understands when to push the pace and when to back off. Off the ball, he can knock down open jumpers or create on the drive. Defensively he works hard but does need to add strength which should come in time.
So, there you go. Enjoy your July 4 weekend. And, remember, the relative who winds up in the emergency room with only six fingers or toes because the others went shooting off with the fireworks he just knew everything about setting off? Not Captain Role Model.
Got the wife off to jury duty, the kid off to camp, hit the Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries (two bowls), dishwasher going, now down to business.
While I was scouring for the "Give Me the Night" video for my post on the swimming and diving recruiting class, the men's basketball team's scouring for talent paid off with a 2013 verbal commitment from Ivan Canete, a 6-3 point guard out of Boca Raton Grandview Prep. Canete's on MaxPreps.com's 2013 Players to Watch and has been designated by the site as a Top Underclassman. He averaged 12.1 points, 4.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.5 blocks and 7.9 rebounds per game last season for Grandview's 27-3 team.
While they're still trying to pull in kids for 2012, Isiah Thomas' staff has picked up what appears to be an early flower for 2013. To paraphrase Carl the assistant greenskeeper, "So they got that going for them. Which is nice."
If all goes to plan, FIU basketball essentially wrapped up its 2011 recruiting effort this week when Memphis-based KeDorian Sullivan signed a letter of intent with the Golden Panthers.
Sullivan, a 6-foot-6, 185-pound swingman from Southwind (Tenn.) High School, becomes the third high school player to ink with FIU.
Darnell Harris, a small forward from Christian Life Center Academy (Texas), is expected to snap up the Panthers’ fourth and final scholarship should he qualify academically.
In the heavily-publicized world of college recruiting, Sullivan is a relative unknown.
Last summer, SlamOnline.com wrote of Sullivan: “[He] might not be a big name nationally, but his high motor, slashing ability, finishing skills, activity on the boards, tough D and ability to excel in transition might change his low-key status as a recruit in the near future.”
Keswick Christian (St. Petersberg, FL) PG/SG Tanner Wozniak signed with FIU Friday morning. Wozniak, listed at 6-4, 185LB, plans on coming down to Miami sometime in the summer. Wozniak, a fourth-team Parade All American selection, averaged 31 points a game his senior year and participated in the CBS/Maxpreps 3-point contest in Houston.
Wozniak points to coach Thomas as one of the main reasons for picking FIU.
"[Thomas] knows basketball a lot," he said. "He’s going to help me get to the next level."
Signing class update
Joe de la Rosa, C, 6-210, 200LB, Montverde Academy, FL - STAUS UNKNOWN
Monteverde Academy's Joe de la Rosa still has not signed with FIU, according to Monteverde assistant coach Alton Clark. Clark said he could not comment further on where de la Rosa stood in the process.
Still waiting on official word from FIU on this year's signing class. From what I've been told, FIU should have a press release sometime next week. No date has been set.
