| Thursday, September 28, 2017 |
| Mississippi State announces Presidential Scholars | |
 | Mississippi State University has announced the 2017-2018 recipients of its top scholarship. The 14 MSU Presidential Scholars include 13 freshmen and one sophomore, and were selected from more than 500 applicants. The students join 39 Presidential Scholars already in the MSU Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College. In order to be considered for the scholarship, students must have at least a 3.75 GPA and a minimum score of 30 on the ACT or 1330 on the SAT. "We are a community of scholars who value the life of the mind and the pursuit of knowledge, but what makes our scholarship program special is the emphasis we place on effecting positive social change through research and social engagement," said presidential scholars mentor Donald Shaffer. "We don't just hope that our Presidential Scholars will change the world; we expect it." |
| Rotary gets update on Zambia well project from MSU's Dennis Truax | |
| Mississippi State University civil engineering professor Dennis Truax updated the Starkville Rotary Club on efforts to dig wells in the African nation of Zambia at the club's weekly meeting on Monday at the Starkville Country Club. Truax helped launch and now serves as the faculty adviser for the MSU student chapter of Engineers Without Borders, which has worked over the last several years to establish a series of wells in the landlocked country. In all, the work put in by Truax and his students has directly impacted at least 7,000 people and possibly scores of others. In addition to digging wells to provide fresh drinking water, the group also found ways to promote other things to help boost the quality of life, such as sports, animal husbandry and hygiene. "We looked at a number of opportunities to engage with the community and work with them in addition to providing water," Truax said. |
| Drone measures effect of wind turbines on farmland | |
 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautics University used a small unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to study the effects of wind turbines on farmland beneath them and found that they can impact soil, crops and livestock. Kevin Adkins, an assistant professor of aeronautical science and director of Embry-Riddle's Gaetz Aerospace Institute in St. Lucie County, Florida, flew a drone into wind turbine wakes to measure differences in relative humidity levels. He and his colleague Adrian Sescu of Mississippi State University published their research findings in the International Journal of Green Energy. |
| Supervisors review hospital bids | |
 | Some details about bids Oktibbeha County has received for a potential sale of OCH Regional Medical Center emerged after a lengthy board of supervisors meeting, but some details are still unclear. Supervisors met for a special-call meeting Tuesday afternoon. The vast majority of the meeting, which lasted about two hours and 15 minutes, was held behind closed doors in executive session while supervisors reviewed bids for the county owned facility. When Tuesday's meeting returned to open session, supervisors did not discuss the bids, but instead handed out a press release to members of the public and media, and adjourned. Board President Orlando Trainer said the press release should give voters and idea of what the bids speak to. "In that little press release, those points that we emphasized, those are the points that give you an indication about the direction we're heading," Trainer said. |
| Millsaps poll finds support for transportation, not gas tax hike | |
 | A plurality of Mississippians believe improving the state's transportation system should be the Legislature's top priority, but an overwhelming number oppose increasing the tax on gasoline -- viewed by many as the most logical way to pay for additional road and bridge needs. Those results were revealed in a poll released Wednesday by Millsaps College in Jackson and by Mississippi-based Chism Strategies. The scientific poll, conducted Sept. 14-18, has a margin of error of 4.4 percent and was weighted to reflect the turnout of the 2015 statewide elections. "The findings of the state of the state survey may help inform policymakers in the weeks and months ahead in their efforts to tackle critical issues impacting our state and our citizens," Dr. Nathan R. Shrader, assistant professor of political science at Millsaps, said in a news release. |
| U.S. Chief Justice Roberts helps celebrate bicentennial | |
| U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts praised the efforts of law students from the University of Mississippi and Mississippi College, saying their moot court efforts were more successful than his when he was eliminated in the first round of his school's competition. When asked to differentiate between the case he was arguing in the competition and another, Roberts replied one difference was that he had read the case he was arguing but not the other one. "That might have hurt me," he said at the end of the competition held Wednesday afternoon in the state Supreme Court chamber where Roberts and five chief justices and judges from Mississippi courts heard the oral arguments of two students from each law school. The justices, which also included state Supreme Justice William Waller Jr. and U.S. Northern District of Mississippi Chief Judge Sharion Aycock of Itawamba County, praised all four students. |
| Chief Justice John Roberts visits Mississippi for bicentennial | |
 | U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Roberts helped the state's judiciary celebrate Mississippi's bicentennial on Wednesday, presiding over a moot court competition and speaking at a banquet in Jackson. Roberts and Mississippi judges including state Supreme Court Justice William Waller Jr. grilled Mississippi College School of Law and University of Mississippi School of Law students in a moot court competition in state Supreme Court chambers. One group of students argued in the fictitious "Millstone v. United States" that a man was wrongfully convicted for criminal negligence for a chemical pollution disaster, the other to uphold the conviction. Roberts praised the future jurists after their oral arguments. |
| US chief justice hears Mississippi students' practice case | |
 | The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court interrupted with questions several times Wednesday as four Mississippi law students argued a practice case before him and other federal and state judges. In the Mississippi Supreme Court chamber, the judges listened to about an hour of arguments in a moot court case about corporate negligence. When the judges left the room to evaluate the case, the audience of other judges, lawyers, law school teachers and fellow students applauded. Back in the courtroom a short time later, Roberts said the students argued well under pressure. The judges decided that the team from the University of Mississippi, James Kelly and Meredith Pohl, prevailed by a narrow margin over the team from Mississippi College, Patrick Fields and Lindsay Roberts. |
| Alabama race moves McDaniel closer toward Wicker primary challenge | |
| The Tuesday defeat in Alabama of Luther Strange, a well-moneyed incumbent, by fierce conservative Roy Moore appears to have pushed Chris McDaniel closer toward a Republican primary challenge of incumbent U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker in 2018. "Last night certainly does make 2018 more compelling," McDaniel told the Daily Journal Wednesday afternoon, echoing comments he released on social media and in a barrage of recent media interviews. In Alabama's Republican primary race, Moore styled himself a fierce opponent of the current GOP congressional leadership. McDaniel made much the same pitch in 2014 during his near-miss effort to oust longtime incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. |
| Chris McDaniel, Chuck Johnson and 'all-out war' for senate seat 2018 | |
| Conservative Roy Moore's primary win Tuesday over "establishment" Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama sent some tremors through the GOP's foundation, some of which could be felt in Mississippi. For starters, tea party favorite state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who's been toying with a primary run against Republican Sen. Roger Wicker next year appeared emboldened. He told the The Washington Post's Robert Costa, "what's happened in Alabama increases the likelihood that I jump in" to a challenge of Wicker. He also intimated some big-money donors have pledged campaign financing of $1 million or, as McDaniel said, "It may be more." Does this portend another #MSSEN battle like the meteoric mud-fest between McDaniel and Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014? Here's one possible sign of a coming Mississippi election-pocalypse in 2018: Charles C. Johnson, a California political blogger who has in turns been described as an "investigative journalist," a "far-right mega-troll" and other things I can't repeat in print is vowing to return to Mississippi. |
| Bannon pushes Chris McDaniel closer to Sen. Wicker challenge | |
| State Sen. Chris McDaniel is inching closer to a 2018 bid against U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, spurred on in part by meetings this week with former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. "I'm still undecided, but that victory (by Roy Moore in Alabama) last night makes the 2018 race much more compelling," McDaniel told Mississippi Today. "Steve and these individuals are very patient and experienced people," McDaniel continued. "They're not the type of individuals who seek rushed decisions. When we've discussed my political future, they've encouraged me to make the right decisions for the movement." McDaniel -- who said he thinks the political climate in the state is more favorable for him now than in it was when he challenged U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in 2014 -- said he and Bannon had several conversations about a 2018 bid against Wicker this week, both in the formal meeting Monday night and in sidebars at Moore's campaign events. |
| Roy Moore's Alabama Victory Sets Off Talk of a G.O.P. Insurrection | |
 | Republicans are confronting an insurrection on the right that is angry enough to imperil their grip on Congress, and senior party strategists have concluded that the conservative base now loathes its leaders in Washington the same way it detested President Barack Obama. The defeat of Senator Luther Strange, Republican of Alabama, in a primary election on Tuesday night appears to have ushered in a season of savage nomination fights and activist-led attacks on party leaders. Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump's former chief strategist and a vehement antagonist of the party establishment, said on Tuesday night that he intends to target Republican senators in Mississippi, Arizona and Nevada for defeat. And that rebellion could spread. Trent Lott, a former Senate Republican leader, was blunt: "Every Republican senator had better get prepared for a challenge from the far right." |
| Moore's win conjures 2018 nightmare -- for both parties | |
 | Roy Moore's win in Alabama's Senate primary has raised the specter of a nightmare scenario for Democrats and Republicans: The GOP picks up a handful of seats next year, padding its Senate majority, but with candidates like Moore, who buck party leadership as often as they fall in line. The Alabama race is the latest contest forcing both parties to take seriously candidates they once might have dismissed as unelectable. "The thing that Roy Moore really has, and everybody thinks it's the Ten Commandments, it's actually taking on The Man. And that's kind of a bipartisan thing. That's a Trump thing, that's a Chris McDaniel thing," said Jeff Roe, who served as Luther Strange's chief political consultant. No one is happier about the current state of affairs than the president's old chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who is lending aid and encouragement to renegade candidates across the country. On Monday, after speaking at a Moore rally, he dined with McDaniel and Mark Green, a prospective Senate candidate from Tennessee, at the Marriott resort in Point Clear, Alabama. |
| GOP senator responds to Trump: 'I'm not hospitalized' | |
 | Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) on Wednesday appeared to respond to President Trump, saying he is not in the hospital, but is recovering at home in Mississippi. His comments came after Trump tweeted earlier in the day that the Senate GOP's ObamaCare repeal bill needed more time because one "yes vote" was in the hospital -- an apparent reference to Cochran, who is being treated in Mississippi for a urological issue. "With one Yes vote in hospital & very positive signs from Alaska and two others (McCain is out), we have the HCare Vote, but not for Friday!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. But Cochran, apparently the "hospitalized" senator referenced in Trump's tweet, responded that he's not actually in the hospital. "Thanks for the well-wishes," Cochran tweeted. "I'm not hospitalized, but am recuperating at home in Mississippi and look forward to returning to work soon." |
| Trump Proposes the Most Sweeping Tax Overhaul in Decades | |
| President Trump on Wednesday began an ambitious push to slash taxes and salvage what remains of his embattled legislative agenda in Congress this year, proposing a politically challenging array of tax cuts for individuals and businesses that would constitute the most sweeping changes to the federal tax code in decades. Mr. Trump, smarting from the latest defeat this week of his efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, cast the tax plan as an economic imperative and the fulfillment of a promise to his working-class supporters to deliver benefits in the form of lower taxes, better jobs and higher wages. After months of secret talks among Republicans, the nine-page proposal produced by the so-called Big Six working group prompts as many questions as it provides answers. |
| New Albany bakery owner tells story of starting her business at small business seminar at MUW | |
| It was 1997 and Mary Jennifer Russell of New Albany was reeling because she'd just lost her first "real job" out of college. She swung from odd job to odd job, from substitute teaching to selling embroidered pillows for a friend's pillow business. And on the side, she baked and sold cakes. But when she sold 10 cakes at once to a yogurt shop in Tupelo a year into her impromptu business, she realized she'd found what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. That was the story she told a small crowd of young business professionals and entrepreneurs at a small business seminar BancorpSouth and the Columbus Lowndes Chamber of Commerce hosted at Mississippi University for Women Tuesday evening. Nearly 20 years after selling cakes to the Tupelo shop, Russell's Sugarees Bakery employs 37 people and produces 1,000 cakes per week. Other speakers at the seminar included Chip Templeton, director of the Small Business Development Center at Mississippi State University. |
| String of sexual assaults reported on Ole Miss campus | |
| School officials are working harder to make sure students are safe after five sexual assaults were reported in less than a month on the University of Mississippi campus. "Whenever we have any type of crime, we are constantly vigilant to keep the campus safe," said University Assistant Police Chief Ray Hawkins. "Part of that is an increased presence of uniformed officers on campus." Between Aug. 27 and Sept. 25, there were five reports of sexual battery on campus. Two of the reports occurred at residence dormitories -- Brown and Crosby halls. The other reports were at fraternity houses -- Kappa Sigma and Alpha Tau Omega. Charges in the fifth incident, Sept. 8 at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, were downgraded and are now being investigated as disturbing the peace. According to the University Police Department, a person of interest was interviewed in connection with the Sept. 15 incident at the Kappa Sigma house but no one has been arrested or charged in connection with these incidents. |
| UM students, Title IX office respond to recent policy changes | |
 | Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced a formal rescinding of Obama-era guidelines for Title IX action on college campuses last week. Ole Miss Title IX Coordinator Honey Ussery said the changes and the memo will not change much for the current Title IX policies and processes on campus. "It does not prohibit the policies we have in place; therefore, our department will continue its practices," she said. The memo states colleges must have a clear standard of proof in cases. One such case was reported this week on Ole Miss' campus. Monday night, the University Police Department received a report of sexual assault at Brown Hall. This is the fourth sexual assault reported this year, after eight reported assaults in 2015. University administration has not released a statement on the issue, but Ussery said she does not agree with DeVos' claim that the accused are treated unfairly. |
| Delta State professor signs latest work at Cotton Row Bookstore | |
| Michael Smith, associate professor of English and poet, will have a book signing from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday for his latest work, "And There Was Evening, And There Was Morning," which pays homage to late wife and his stepdaughter who both battled cancer. Smith is a native of Philippi, West Virginia. He received his M.F.A at the University of Notre Dame. In 2010, he began working at Delta State University in the division of literature and language. Smith is no stranger to the publishing world as he has published three collections of poetry. His work includes "Byron and Bagdad" and "Multiverse," as well as a translation of Goethe's Faust, which was published by Shearsman Books in 2012. His latest book is his first nonfiction work and tracks the loss of Smith's first wife, Emily to cancer after the birth of their second child and explores marriage, family, and tragedy. |
| Authorities say a Memphis man confessed to Jackson State bomb threats | |
| Jackson authorities arrested a Memphis man accused of calling in a bomb threat to a Jackson State University dormitory last week. Jackson State University Assistant Chief of Police Dee McClendon said Christian Ashleigh Jones, 20, of Memphis, surrendered to university police about noon Wednesday. The Mississippi Department of Homeland Security assisted police with the investigation. McClendon said Jones confessed to calling in two bomb threats to JSU, where his ex-girlfriend attends. Jones is being held in the Raymond Detention Center on one count of false report of placing explosives and weapons of mass destruction. |
| U. of Alabama nurses use skills during disaster simulation | |
 | At 1 p.m. Wednesday, screams filled the Capstone College of Nursing at the University of Alabama. Inside, dozens of Hillcrest and Tuscaloosa County high school students, wearing tattered clothes covered in fake blood, yelled for help during a disaster simulation. The exercise called for participants to pretend that a bomb had detonated in the foyer of the building. Among the screaming students, scattered papers and flipped-over chairs, a group of student nurses emerged from the hall. During the simulation, the nurses employed triage techniques on each person, checking for vital signs and assessing who was injured and who was dead. For those who pretended to die in the simulation, the nurses would put a piece of black tape on their shirt. If someone was still alive, they received a piece of red tape and were treated. Laura Parisi, a senior studying nursing, said that although the "disaster" was a simulation, the screaming and pandemonium made the situation real for her, raising her adrenaline. |
| UGA's Double Dawgs program accelerates path toward bachelor's, master's degrees | |
 | The University of Georgia has implemented a new initiative aimed at lowering the cost of obtaining a master's degree while also giving graduates a competitive advantage when entering the workforce, UGA President Jere Morehead said. The Double Dawgs program allows UGA students to earn a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in five years or less, providing them with advanced skills upon graduation and also saving them time and money. "This is a really exciting program for our students. It allows us to give them more opportunity at a lower cost." said Dr. Rahul Shrivastav, UGA's Vice President of Instruction. The program provides students with more than 100 accelerated pathways toward receiving their undergraduate and graduate degrees from UGA. |
| LSU appoints acting police chief three months after former chief retired | |
 | LSU appointed an acting police chief Monday, almost three months after the former chief retired. Major Bart Thompson was announced as the acting chief in a memo sent to the LSU Police Department by Dan Layzell, LSU's vice president for finance and administration. Former chief Lawrence Rabalais retired July 5. At that time, university spokesman Ernie Ballard said until an interim chief was named, Thompson would oversee "administrative and operational matters relating to LSUPD." Ballard said Wednesday the university is still "fleshing out the job description and how to best structure the position for a search." |
| U. of Florida housing official terminated after larceny arrest | |
 | A top University of Florida Housing official suspected of being involved in the grand theft of more than $180,000 has been fired. Azfar Mian, former senior director of UF housing and education, was sent a termination letter Monday after being placed on administrative leave last week, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said in an email. Mian was arrested Sept. 18 on grand larceny of more than $100,000. He is suspected of using his university-issued credit card to buy $25,000 in household items, more than $11,500 in maintenance items like lawn mowers and more than $44,000 in miscellaneous items or services including internet, electricity and seven cell phones, a Gainesville police report shows. |
| U. of Missouri announces School of Visual Studies within College of Arts and Science | |
 | Art is often interdisciplinary and involves collaboration between different kinds of artists, said Pat Okker, interim dean of the University of Missouri College of Arts and Science. At MU, for example, a digital storytelling student might work on a project with a film studies student. To encourage that collaboration, MU announced a new school, the School of Visual Studies, within the College of Arts and Science at an exhibit Wednesday evening at the Sager Braudis Gallery. The school merges the departments of art, art history, digital storytelling and film studies and aims to "explore the visual arts in their full complexity," according to its website. Although multiple departments have merged, the degree programs in these departments have not changed, Okker said. "It will allow students to have more opportunities to work with students in the other degree programs," Okker said. |
| U. of Missouri College of Engineering promotes inclusivity in new center | |
| A new Inclusivity Center opening in the University of Missouri College of Engineering will encourage discussion between MU students and faculty, with a focus on social justice and diversity in engineering. The college hosted a 2-hour open house event for their new center in Lafferre Hall on Wednesday. The center is part of the college's Office of Diversity and Outreach Initiatives, which also includes the minority and women's engineering programs. Tojan Rahhal, director of the office, emphasized the center's goal of providing a welcoming environment for all students. "The idea really is to bring everything under one umbrella, to really be collaborative and in a sense join forces, but also open communication amongst everybody," Rahhal said. |
| U. of Missouri grad students feel unwanted, according to survey | |
 | When graduate students were asked last year whether they planned to complete their studies at the University of Missouri, one in four who responded said they had seriously considered leaving before they finished. For graduate students with a disability, the number was higher, and in the Rankin & Associates climate survey released earlier this month, their responses showed they felt they were not valued or respected. "Literally, I had a professor tell me to give up because of my disability," one respondent wrote. Discontent among graduate students -- especially graduate assistants -- was one of the first signs that the fall 2015 semester was not going to be a normal time on campus. |
| As deadline looms, chances of extension for Perkins Loan program uncertain | |
 | As the expiration date for the Perkins Loan program approaches this week, it's unclear whether the program will survive to the next financial aid cycle -- despite bipartisan support for legislation in both chambers of Congress that would extend the program to 2019. The Perkins programs allows participating colleges and universities to fill the gaps between the full cost of attendance and the amount of aid low-income students get through sources like Pell Grants, work study, and Federal Direct Loans. The loans come with an interest rate of 5 percent that only begins to accrue when a borrower enters repayment. Congress hasn't put new money into the program since 2004. New loans are funded instead by the repayment of older loans. Critics of the program, among them Senator Lamar Alexander, the Republican chairman of the Senate education committee, say it adds to a needlessly complex financial aid system. |
| Who Is A College Teacher, Anyway? Audit Of Online University Raises Questions | |
 | Who, exactly, is a university teacher? What defines teaching? And how should the profession evolve in an age of rising tuition, worldwide connectivity, and fast-changing job markets? Surprisingly, a recent federal audit of Western Governors University raises these questions. The school was founded 20 years ago by a consortium of states; it's a nonprofit, online-only institution that has racked up accolades, becoming a national role model for its innovative and low-cost focus on working adults. But the inspector general of the Department of Education claims that their approach cuts too many corners. Rather than innovative, they say, WGU is more like a correspondence school of yore. The audit calls on WGU to return $713 million of federal student aid. |
| Graduate school enrollment grows again, but at slower rate | |
| Enrollment at graduate schools is still increasing, but at a slower pace than before. Researchers point to a market correction and declining growth in international students.Enrollment in graduate school is up, continuing a trend in first-time graduate students researchers have seen for five years. But growth rates are starting to dip, according to numbers from a new report the Council of Graduate Studies co-published with the Graduate Record Examinations Board. The report shows the "strength of graduate education and the attractiveness of U.S. graduate programs to both domestic students and [students from] abroad," said Suzanne Ortega, the council's president. "There were almost 2.25 million applications to graduate school." Colleges across the country have seen drops in international student enrollment, especially in graduate programs and among students from China, India and Saudi Arabia. Some colleges cited the Trump administration's policies, although others credited market forces as a cause. |
| It's Been a Terrible 2 Years for the U. of Louisville | |
 | Almost exactly two years ago, an escort published a book in which she asserted that the University of Louisville had plied men's basketball recruits and their fathers with alcohol and prostitutes over several years. The explosive allegations shocked observers, and prompted the university to open an internal investigation. For most campuses, that would have been a month's worst headline. But Louisville is not just any campus. A few weeks after the escort's book was published, the university's president, James R. Ramsey, donned a sombrero and posed for a group photo with members of his staff, some of whom also wore fake mustaches and carried maracas. They said the stereotypical costumes were part of a Halloween party, but the ensuing outrage over the racial insensitivity prompted Mr. Ramsey to apologize. The last 24 months have seen a seemingly nonstop flood of abysmal headlines for the University of Louisville. It's endured multiple investigations of several stripes, it's faced an intense vacuum of leadership, and its very accreditation seems under threat. |
| Obscenities, flag protests both can leave sour tastes | |
| The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison writes: "As I understand it, the primary purpose of the 1st Amendment to our Constitition is to protect us from governmental interference with our right to free speech. It gets a little murky here, but an employer, for instance, might have a reason to take action against an employee based on that employee's speech. In some instances, the circumstances might be such as to require the courts decide how far an employer can go in limiting a worker's speech. But there is no doubt in my mind that free speech does not protect people from all consequences -- just not consequences from the government." |
SPORTS
| How Dan Mullen is able to be play-caller and head coach at Mississippi State | |
| It's Monday afternoon and Dan Mullen has just finished his weekly press conference with the local media. With a large stack of papers under his right arm, he walks away from the podium. He is halfway to the door when he pauses, looks at a few reporters and apologizes. Mullen assured those in the room that he wasn't trying to be curt with his responses to questions. In actuality, no one thought he was brief; the media gathering lasted its typical 15 minutes and Mullen offered detailed answers. Clearly, Mullen had other things on his mind. "Today is a big game-planning day for me and I feel a little behind," Mullen said. "I'm not trying to be short. I'm just antsy to get back to the game-planning." So goes life for Mullen during game week. It's not that he doesn't want to discuss some of the game plan for No. 24 Mississippi State's upcoming visit to No. 15 Auburn on Saturday (5 p.m., ESPN), it's just he actually has to make sure there is one first. |
| Mississippi State's Martinas Rankin named semifinalist for Campbell Trophy | |
| Mississippi State senior offensive tackle Martinas Rankin was selected as a semifinalist for the Campbell Trophy on Wednesday. The Campbell Trophy is presented annually to the top scholar-athlete in college football. Rankin is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and was named to the Dean's List at MSU this past spring. The Mendenhall native maintains a 3.31 grade point average while majoring in kinesiology with an emphasis in clinical exercise physiology. On the field, Rankin -- a preseason second team All-SEC selection -- has started 14 of a possible 17 games during his Bulldog career after transferring in from Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. |
| Mississippi State's Ben Howland optimistic and encouraged about upcoming year | |
| Ben Howland begins his third season at Mississippi State on Friday when the Bulldogs hold their first team practice. Howland is 30-33 during his time in Starkville and has yet to make the postseason. However, that could change this year. "I really like our team and where we are right now compared to the previous two years," Howland said. "I like our culture and the leadership on the team. I like the fact that we have experience coming back and guys have a much better feel for what's expected. We had a very good summer, the best summer by far that we've had. I'm very optimistic and encouraged coming into this campaign." Howland's confidence has exuded down to his players as well as MSU tries to reach the Big Dance for the first time since 2009. |
| Dak Prescott made sure Cowboys didn't leave Arizona on losing streak | |
| Dak Prescott was walking through the halls of University of Phoenix Stadium as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning, talking about the importance of the Dallas Cowboys' 28-17 win against the Arizona Cardinals, when a fan asked for a photo. He immediately stopped, put on a smile, said thank you and kept on walking. If he was sore, he didn't show it. If he was tired, it didn't show. He did show he was pleased. "It was a tough win -- a tough, team win," Prescott told ESPN. But it was one play that demonstrated what matters most to Prescott and why his teammates have chosen to follow him. |
| Steve Robertson discusses his book Flim Flam, and what's next | |
| In most cases, there's a tale behind every tattoo. Gene's Page Mississippi State writer Steve Robertson is a man of many. And Robertson compared writing his first book, Flim Flam, which chronicles, from his view, the happenings behind the NCAA's investigation into Ole Miss, to getting his first tattoo. "Once you get it and understand the process and there's nothing to be afraid of, that you really can do it, it's an encouragement," Robertson said. Robertson worked on the book for more than a year, and now, a little more than three weeks after its release, he said more than 5,000 copies of the book have been sold. "I think people were expecting an 8,000-word message board post, kind of a hit piece on Ole Miss, but that was never the intention," Robertson said. "I just wanted to let the facts of the story and details provided by Ole Miss and public records to lead the narrative rather than preconceived notions about how things should be presented." |
| New rules for LSU student groups tailgating at Parade Grounds | |
| Student groups planning to tailgate on LSU's Parade Ground before Saturday's game against Troy will have to comply with some new rules, according to a letter LSU sent out this week. Among the regulations: Assigned spots, no common drink containers, no glass containers, no couches, no vehicles, no tent walls or drapes. Groups affected include fraternities, sororities, academic and religious-based organizations and sports clubs. The new regulations released by LSU are only for Parade Ground activities. The new rules don't apply to groups tailgating elsewhere on campus. Some Greek activities, including tailgating, had been suspended for a week following the death of freshman fraternity pledge Maxwell Gruver. Also, last week law enforcement announced increased security at LSU home games, particularly targeting underage drinking after recent incidents involving alcohol on campus, including Gruver's death. |
| Texas A&M task force looks to make Kyle more welcoming for fans , more intimidating for opponents | |
 | Texas A&M is continuing its quest to be known nationwide as one of the most iconic venues in college football with the help of the Game Day Enhancement Task Force and its implementation of a few new features to the on-campus experience. The task force, which is a joint effort between Texas A&M Athletics and the 12th Man Foundation, began early this year with the stated goals of making game day in Aggieland the greatest and most intimidating environment in college football while still honoring A&M's traditions and fostering the best customer environment for fans. Texas A&M Athletics officials said more than 100 people, divided into 11 subgroups, contributed to the findings of the task force. |
| UGA tennis coach Manny Diaz rescues parents, seeks help for Puerto Rico | |
| Historically, hurricanes end up missing Puerto Rico because of the trade winds. The island usually gets the outskirts of big storms. But Hurricane Maria gave Puerto Rico a direct hit last weekend, surprising islanders who had been used to missing them, and devastating the U.S. commonwealth. "It is just total devastation there," Diaz said Wednesday. "Beautiful rain forest in the center of the island. A beautiful picturesque island that looks like an atomic bomb hit it." Diaz, the longtime and national championship-winning head coach of the UGA men's tennis team, watched in horror. He frantically texted and called family members, especially his parents: Manuel Diaz Sr., 91, and Avelina, 86. The family got lucky: Diaz purchased a plane ticket online the night the hurricane hit, and didn't even ask his parents, he just bought them. They landed in Atlanta on Monday afternoon, much to the relief of Diaz -- who had been there since before dawn. |
| Vanderbilt football won't move to potential MLS soccer stadium | |
 | Vanderbilt University announced Wednesday that it won't join in on a proposed shared-stadium concept with Major League Soccer in Nashville -- a much-debated scenario that would have moved the home of Commodores football off campus to The Fairgrounds Nashville. But Vanderbilt is still looking at using the potential stadium for one or two football games a year if it is built. The university issued a statement saying they plan to remain at Dudley Field, the school's longtime home for football. Its decision comes as many Vanderbilt faithful have roundly criticized the proposal to move football 2 miles away from the school's West End campus. The proposed soccer stadium at the fairgrounds is part of Nashville's bid for an MLS expansion team. Vanderbilt's decision is not expected to hurt Nashville's chances of landing an MLS club. The league only cares that a stadium plan is secured. |
| In College Basketball Scandal, Follow the Money... and the Shoes | |
| In the sneaker business, the feet of professional athletes are the most valuable billboards in the world. The company that gets its shoes on the best basketball players, football players and soccer players wins, because those athletes' footwear choices have outsize influence over everyone else's purchasing decisions. That fundamental truth about high tops and cleats -- that getting top players in your brand and keeping them there is good business -- was the subtext of a critical piece of a corruption and bribery network outlined on Tuesday by federal prosecutors, which swiftly resulted in the demise of a Hall of Fame coach's career. Nike, Adidas and Under Armour are the biggest players on the college basketball scene. In recent years, all three have invested vast sums in so-called grass-roots basketball leagues, which exist outside the high school structure. |
| Auburn president Steven Leath to ESPN: Chuck Person 'an isolated individual' in scandal | |
 | The fact that Chuck Person was arrested on six counts of federal corruption could have far-reaching implications within the Auburn Athletics Department, but university president Steven Leath believes the men's basketball program's associate head coach acted alone. In an interview with ESPN, Leath said that the the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York told him that Auburn was not the main target of the investigation, but was rather caught up in it because of Person's involvement. "I think it says clearly that they don't think there's some structural problem or some broader problem at the university, that this was an isolated individual," Leath said in the ESPN story. "I don't think anybody else knew. I don't think there's any indication at Auburn that anybody else knew about this." Leath said the FBI first contacted him by phone on Monday, which he said he assumed was in regards to his security clearance -- a topic that was discussed at the most recent Auburn Board of Trustees meeting. |
| Alabama associate AD resignation tied to FBI investigation | |
| The resignation of Kobie Baker from his position as associate athletics director at the University of Alabama came after an internal investigation indicated Baker may have been involved in a scheme to accept money in return for directing a UA player to sign with an Atlanta financial advisor after declaring for the NBA draft, The Tuscaloosa News has learned. Alabama announced Baker's resignation on Wednesday. Although Baker was not charged with a crime in the recent FBI roundup of figures allegedly connected with corruption in college basketball, UA acted in the belief that he was involved in a meeting with Atlanta-based advisor Rashan Michel, who was arrested on Tuesday as part of an FBI sting operation. Prior to joining Avery Johnson's staff in 2015, Baker was the assistant director of enforcement for basketball development at the NCAA. He was also the associate director of amateurism certification at the NCAA. |
| How college hoops corruption became a federal investigation, and why it might get bigger | |
 | The federal investigation that sent shock waves through college athletics and the sports apparel industry this week began in late 2014, when a little-known financial adviser to a few professional athletes in Pittsburgh became an FBI informant. That November, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday in New York, Marty Blazer agreed to help the FBI investigate the black market surrounding major college sports. Since 2000, Blazer later would admit, he had paid college athletes if they agreed to become his clients when they turned pro, and he could introduce FBI agents to others he had met along the way. Three years later, that investigation burst into public view Tuesday. How far the fallout from this investigation extends -- how many schools, coaches and athletes will be implicated -- likely depends on a series of conversations that will take place over the next few months between prosecutors and lawyers. |
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