LSU Tigers Football news and opinion.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
TIgers take on North Carolina in Atlanta
I got my e-mail from LSU that I was approved for my ticket request to see the Tigers take on the Tar Heels to start the upcoming football season. I am looking forward to this and I am planning on making this a good trip with some old buddies from high school and their wives. My pal Mike is a UNC graduate and he is probably going to get some of his UNC pals to come to the game too. It promises to be a good trip and even better after the Tigers take care of business on the field.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Coaches like it, but fear calendar changes
* By SCOTT HOTARD
* Advocate sportswriter
* Published: Jun 3, 2010
DESTIN, Fla. — Southeastern Conference football coaches such as LSU’s Les Miles would like to see an early signing period in place.
But they fear changes to college football’s recruiting calendar.
And that’s the snag.
When they discussed a mid-December signing date Wednesday at the SEC spring meetings, Miles and other league coaches decided they weren’t ready to push for the change if it meant taking focus from their teams.
“We can’t have a situation where you’re hurting the team you’re coaching on your campus,” Miles said. “We’re for an early signing period, but it’s not an easy thing to hash out. We felt like the signing date in mid-December would change the (recruiting) calendar and disadvantage quality of life, as well as the teams that you have on your campus and the ability to deal with that effectively.”
Basketball, baseball and other sports have fall signing dates. Football programs can’t sign a recruit until early February.
An early signing period in football would save schools time and money spent courting players who have already committed.
But if adopted, it would likely move contact dates into the spring or summer while increasing the number of official visits by prospects during the season.
“I wouldn’t mind if it’s done right, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. “We’ve knocked around a December date. It’s still really just a lot of talk about different things that need to be worked out.”
No tournament shuffle
One of the hot items on the week’s agenda never even made it upstairs.
During their meeting Wednesday morning, the league’s 12 basketball coaches voted against proposing any changes to the SEC tournament’s seeding system, squashing the idea before their afternoon meeting with athletic directors.
“There was a lot of discussion about it, but in the end, we decided it doesn’t need to be changed right now,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said of a new seeding structure. “There was no reason to change. Nothing’s broke. If you’re going to seed 1-12, you can’t really do it unless everybody plays each other the same number of times. That doesn’t happen.”
At the SEC tournament, teams are seeded based on where they finished in their division.
Buzz about seeding teams 1-12 came on the heels of a 2010 season in which the East Division dominated its West rivals. Tennessee and Florida had to play on the first day of the tournament despite having stronger résumés than State and Ole Miss, which received first-round byes as the West’s top seeds.
Scheduling dilemma
A quirk in the SEC football schedule has Alabama playing six of its eight league games against opponents that will have a bye the preceding week. Athletic Director Mal Moore is looking for the kind of help that would make the Crimson Tide’s SEC slate more manageable.
“It’s still being discussed,” Moore said. “Hopefully, a decision will come soon. There’s no question, we’re still hopeful something will happen. The commissioner is working on a couple of possibilities.”
LSU is among the teams that, if Alabama’s schedule holds, will have two weeks to prepare for the defending BCS champions.
LSU travels to Auburn on Oct. 23. Alabama comes to Tiger Stadium on Nov. 6 before facing the University of Louisiana at Monroe the following week.
SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack said the league will continue looking at the issue if it can’t find a resolution this week.
“It’s a long process,” Womack said. “The sooner the better, but we don’t necessarily want a drop-dead date. We want to make sure we’re doing all the things we can to find solutions for that issue.”
McWhorter winners
Tennessee track and field athlete Phoebe Wright and Auburn swimmer Jordan Anderson, the 2009-10 H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners, will be honored at an awards banquet today.
The annual award recognizes one male and one female from the conference whose work in athletics and in the classroom stands out.
Wright is a three-time NCAA distance medley champion who carries a 3.96 grade-point average.
Anderson was named an All-American as part of Auburn’s 400 medley relay squad and has a 3.92 grade-point average.
Volleyball player Lauren DeGirolamo and football player Lyle Hitt were LSU’s nominees.
* Advocate sportswriter
* Published: Jun 3, 2010
DESTIN, Fla. — Southeastern Conference football coaches such as LSU’s Les Miles would like to see an early signing period in place.
But they fear changes to college football’s recruiting calendar.
And that’s the snag.
When they discussed a mid-December signing date Wednesday at the SEC spring meetings, Miles and other league coaches decided they weren’t ready to push for the change if it meant taking focus from their teams.
“We can’t have a situation where you’re hurting the team you’re coaching on your campus,” Miles said. “We’re for an early signing period, but it’s not an easy thing to hash out. We felt like the signing date in mid-December would change the (recruiting) calendar and disadvantage quality of life, as well as the teams that you have on your campus and the ability to deal with that effectively.”
Basketball, baseball and other sports have fall signing dates. Football programs can’t sign a recruit until early February.
An early signing period in football would save schools time and money spent courting players who have already committed.
But if adopted, it would likely move contact dates into the spring or summer while increasing the number of official visits by prospects during the season.
“I wouldn’t mind if it’s done right, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” Ole Miss coach Houston Nutt said. “We’ve knocked around a December date. It’s still really just a lot of talk about different things that need to be worked out.”
No tournament shuffle
One of the hot items on the week’s agenda never even made it upstairs.
During their meeting Wednesday morning, the league’s 12 basketball coaches voted against proposing any changes to the SEC tournament’s seeding system, squashing the idea before their afternoon meeting with athletic directors.
“There was a lot of discussion about it, but in the end, we decided it doesn’t need to be changed right now,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said of a new seeding structure. “There was no reason to change. Nothing’s broke. If you’re going to seed 1-12, you can’t really do it unless everybody plays each other the same number of times. That doesn’t happen.”
At the SEC tournament, teams are seeded based on where they finished in their division.
Buzz about seeding teams 1-12 came on the heels of a 2010 season in which the East Division dominated its West rivals. Tennessee and Florida had to play on the first day of the tournament despite having stronger résumés than State and Ole Miss, which received first-round byes as the West’s top seeds.
Scheduling dilemma
A quirk in the SEC football schedule has Alabama playing six of its eight league games against opponents that will have a bye the preceding week. Athletic Director Mal Moore is looking for the kind of help that would make the Crimson Tide’s SEC slate more manageable.
“It’s still being discussed,” Moore said. “Hopefully, a decision will come soon. There’s no question, we’re still hopeful something will happen. The commissioner is working on a couple of possibilities.”
LSU is among the teams that, if Alabama’s schedule holds, will have two weeks to prepare for the defending BCS champions.
LSU travels to Auburn on Oct. 23. Alabama comes to Tiger Stadium on Nov. 6 before facing the University of Louisiana at Monroe the following week.
SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack said the league will continue looking at the issue if it can’t find a resolution this week.
“It’s a long process,” Womack said. “The sooner the better, but we don’t necessarily want a drop-dead date. We want to make sure we’re doing all the things we can to find solutions for that issue.”
McWhorter winners
Tennessee track and field athlete Phoebe Wright and Auburn swimmer Jordan Anderson, the 2009-10 H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year winners, will be honored at an awards banquet today.
The annual award recognizes one male and one female from the conference whose work in athletics and in the classroom stands out.
Wright is a three-time NCAA distance medley champion who carries a 3.96 grade-point average.
Anderson was named an All-American as part of Auburn’s 400 medley relay squad and has a 3.92 grade-point average.
Volleyball player Lauren DeGirolamo and football player Lyle Hitt were LSU’s nominees.
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