| Thursday, May 3, 2018 |
| About 3,000 to Graduate From Mississippi State University | |
 | A judge who donated Abraham Lincoln and Civil War materials to Mississippi State University will speak to university graduates. Former Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams will also get an honorary degree from the university. Robert Clark Jr., the first African American elected to the Mississippi Legislature following desegregation, is also getting an honorary degree. About 3,000 students will graduate. Also Thursday, Meridian Community College President Scott Elliott will address graduates of MSU's Meridian campus. |
| Planting cotton: Mid-South finally drying out | |
 | The Mid-South had 13.43 inches of rain in February -- a new record for the areas around Tupelo, Miss., Memphis, Tenn., and Jonesboro Ark. Weather experts say LaNina has been the culprit, and although they say the Mid-South should be transitioning out of that weather pattern, they were still estimating above-average rainfall throughout March -- and they were right. An update on planting activities from Extension personnel across the Mid-South reflects a central theme -- warm and dry weather is needed. Darrin Dodds, associate Extension, research professor, cotton agronomics, Mississippi State University believes cotton producers in his area are not behind yet. "I would have loved to see Mississippi farmers start planting cotton around April 15, but our weather patterns were just not conducive to that at all this year," says Dodds. "If you look back at the last five or six years, our springs have been so wet and cool." |
| SHS holds first academic signing day | |
 | Starkville High School recognized its class of 2018 with an academic signing day Tuesday. The event gave several SHS seniors an opportunity to publicly state their intentions for after high school, and sign to make it official. Students on academic, career/ technical and military paths participated. SHS alumna and Mississippi State University women's basketball player Blair Schaefer also spoke at the assembly. "I think it's good to recognize students', not just athletics, but academics," said senior Reese Dunne, who will attend MSU as a presidential scholar. "We had 150 people that seemed to enjoy it. It was great." The SHS Class of 2018 will include approximately 315 graduates. Commencement is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 25 at the Humphrey Coliseum. |
| Positive economic signs follow Cotton District Arts Festival | |
| The 2018 Cotton District Arts Festival brought people from all across the state and beyond to Starkville for a day of art, food and other revelry on April 21. The festival has also surpassed the 2017 event in revenue. According to the Starkville Area Arts Council, vendor revenue has been reported at more than $185,000, with more than $13,000 in tax revenue for the community. However, the figure could increase, as not all vendors have yet reported their earnings. The SAAC also plans to field surveys for both vendors and the community at large with the goal of improving the festival in future years. Greater Starkville Development Partnership Director of Tourism Jennifer Prather said although the Partnership did not have numbers for the festival directly, hotels in town were at capacity during the weekend. "Anytime we can partner two strong events like Super Bulldog Weekend and the arts festival together, it makes a really good economic impact on the city," Prather said. |
| OCH, Pafford make pitches for EMS district service | |
 | Starkville alderman will soon have to decide whether to bring in a private ambulance service provider for a proposed emergency medical service district, or work with OCH Regional Medical Center on the project after hearing presentations at Tuesday's meeting. OCH and Pafford EMS, a private, Ruston, Louisiana-based company, are vying to provide service to the district. The EMS District, which Fire Chief Charles Yarbrough introduced to aldermen in April, would allow up to three ambulances to be stationed at fire stations 1, 4 and 5, to allow faster response times throughout the city. Ambulances currently dispatch from OCH for all city, county and Mississippi State University calls. |
| Rep. Jay Hughes announces run for lieutenant governor | |
 | Jay Hughes, former alderman for the City of Oxford and current member of the state House of Representatives, announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor this morning in Jackson. Hughes, a practicing attorney in Oxford and a veteran of the U.S. Army, said his campaign will hinge on a few key factors: education, equality and hard work. As Oxford's only sitting democratic representative, Hughes will potentially be running against current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R) and Vicksburg mayor George Flaggs Jr., who left the democratic party in March and declared himself Independent. Hughes and his team will leave Jackson and travel to Biloxi, Hattiesburg and Meridian before heading to a campaign launch party in Oxford. |
| Jay Hughes announces lieutenant governor run | |
 | State Rep. Jay Hughes of Oxford has announced that he will run for lieutenant governor in statewide elections next year. The first-term Democratic lawmaker revealed his plans during a Thursday morning press conference in Jackson, striking a strident, populist tone. "Career politicians and the party elite are so consumed with getting power and keeping control," Hughes said. "They remember only their big campaign donors and lobbyists, and forget everyone else." Since he took office in 2016, Hughes has built a reputation as an outspoken critic of Republican legislative leadership. His vocal stances have long fueled speculation that he would seek higher office. |
| State Rep. Jay Hughes running for lieutenant governor in 2019 | |
| A first-term Democrat in the Mississippi House said Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor in 2019. Rep. Jay Hughes of Oxford said the state needs to improve public education, highways and mental health services. Hughes, 54, is the first candidate to announce for what will be an open seat next year. Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is limited to two terms and is preparing to run for governor. Hughes is an attorney and developer. He has been a frequent critic of Republican leaders in the Mississippi House and is known for frequent social media posts giving his own ideas about education funding and other issues. |
| Newly appointed senator visits Jackson County to assess needs of community | |
 | Newly appointed U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith was in Jackson County on Monday visiting various industries within the county touring facilities such as the Port of Pascagoula, and Northrop Grumman and Chevron. "It's refreshing to see all of the expansion taking place down here," Hyde-Smith said. "The plans I have seen look very promising and I certainly want to be a part of continuing to capitalize on these improvements to keep a strong economy going here in Jackson County." Hyde-Smith said she felt it was important to make her rounds while in the county to listen to the people and industry in the area to hear their concerns and what they felt would help improve economic opportunity in the county. |
| Rep. Gary Chism recovering well from stroke | |
| This time, it was different. In 2009, State Rep. Gary Chism suffered a stroke. "It split my face right down the middle: Everything on my left side was numb and everything on my right was normal," said Chism, who is recovering in Jackson after a second stroke, which he believes occurred around April. 7. "It wasn't like that this time." Familiar with the typical symptoms that accompany a stroke -- weakness or numbness on one side of the body, slurred speech -- Chism said the symptoms were profoundly different this time. Chism, a Republican from Lowndes County, has served on the Legislature since 1999. |
| Rep. David Myers keeps seat as judge tosses election challenge | |
| A Mississippi lawmaker will get to keep his state House seat after a judge dismissed a challenge from his opponent in the 2015 Democratic primary. The Enterprise-Journal reports that Circuit Judge James Bell ruled Tuesday against Tasha Dillon. She claimed that voting irregularities caused her to lose the primary to Rep. David Myers of McComb. Bell heard two days of testimony from witnesses for Dillon. He said a review of ballot boxes showed insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, and he declined to order a new election. |
| Trump defends payment to Stormy Daniels after Giuliani revelation | |
 | President Trump on Thursday defended hush money paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels, saying he reimbursed his personal attorney through a retainer that had "nothing to do with the campaign." Trump in a series of tweets said his attorney, Michael Cohen, received a monthly retainer "from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA." The president said the Daniels agreement "was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair." Contradicting past claims that he knew nothing about payment, Trump said such arrangements "are very common among celebrities and people of wealth." |
| Corker-Blackburn drama risks must-win Senate seat for GOP | |
 | Republicans are increasingly unnerved by the rift between retiring Sen. Bob Corker and Marsha Blackburn, the GOP congresswoman vying to replace him, saying it could cost them a must-win seat in Tennessee. The duo's chilly relationship has spilled into the open after Corker praised Blackburn's Democratic opponent and refused to even utter her name in multiple media appearances this spring. The retiring senator's remarks have boosted former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen and agitated Blackburn's supporters, who want Corker to help heal the state party, not inflame its divisions. The drama between Blackburn and Corker, combined with Bredesen's crossover appeal, hint at a potential train wreck for Republicans in November that could swing the narrowly divided Senate to Democrats. |
| 'I can't afford an apartment': Congressmen sleeping in offices cry poverty | |
| Crying poverty amid decade-long stagnant salaries and Washington's steep cost of living, an increasing number of House lawmakers have turned into professional squatters at night, hitting the sack in their Capitol Hill offices -- on everything from cots in closets to futons stashed behind constituent couches -- to save a few bucks during the work week. But some of the penny-pinching pols' colleagues are disgusted by what they call an unsanitary, undignified practice and want it banned. Proposed legislation set to be introduced in the House as soon as this month would prohibit politicians from turning their offices into makeshift sleeping quarters, arguing that the move is violating IRS and congressional ethics rules. "Look, it's unhealthy. It's nasty. I wouldn't want to be entertained in somebody's bedroom," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), who is among those spearheading the bill. "Sleeping in your office is not proper" ethically, either, Thompson said. |
| Less than one-third pass latest bar exam to become Mississippi attorneys | |
 | The passing rate for the bar exam to become a licensed attorney in Mississippi continues a downward spiral. The most recent exam preliminary results, from February, show 28 of the 90 applicants, or less than a third, passed the exam. In February 2017, of the 87 individuals who took the exam, 27 passed, based on an examination of bar results released by the Administrative Office of Courts. The February 2017 results were later revised to show 36 of 88 passed. University of Mississippi School of Law Dean Susan Duncan said 73.4 percent of Ole Miss' first-time exam takers passed the February exam. She said students retaking the bar exam tend to have the highest failure rate. Overall, about 64 percent of Ole Miss law school graduates passed the February bar exam, Duncan said. |
| University hospital to drop top Mississippi private insurer | |
| Mississippi's largest hospital says it will stop accepting policies from the state's largest private insurer after June 30 unless it gets a revised contract. The University of Mississippi Medical Center provided the notice to Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi on Monday. The move sets up a test of market and political power between the Flowood-based insurer and the medical center, as the hospital system tries to increase revenue and the insurer tries to hold down costs. Medical Center CEO Kevin Cook said the hospital hopes to resolve the dispute before June 30 and avoid any interruptions, but said medical center leaders chose to force the issue. "To be blunt, we've just gotten tired of having nonproductive conversations with them," Cook said. University of Mississippi Medical Center is not the only Mississippi hospital contesting payment practices by Blue Cross. |
| UMMC, Blue Cross slugging it out over contract | |
| The University of Mississippi Medical Center says it will cancel its contract with Blue Cross & Blue Shield June 30 --- unless the state's largest insurer revises the contract. "We carry an extra burden for the state of Mississippi ... taking care of the sickest of the sick," said Kevin Cook, CEO of the UMMC health system. "Often insurers recognize that burden. Blue Cross is not recognizing our special status." The main problem is the contract with Blue Cross is 28 years old and allows the insurer to change the financial terms at any time without notification, Cook said in a news conference Wednesday. The two sides experienced a similar impasse in 2013 --- a matter that involved Gov. Phil Bryant and was eventually settled. On Wednesday his spokesman, Clay Chandler, said the governor hopes UMMC and Blue Cross can agree to a new contract so that those patients "will not experience a disruption in care. He appreciates UMMC keeping patient concerns paramount." |
| 'Brain drain' event looks beyond data, explores why Mississippians leave | |
| In four years, from 2011 to 2015, Mississippi lost $1.5 billion in total income through outmigration of its residents. In the six years from 2010 to 2016, the state lost 35,013 people --- about the population of Tupelo. Mississippi is the only state in the nation that's losing this many people at this fast of a rate. Though these statistics -- commonly referred to as Mississippi's "Brain Drain" -- have been brought more fully into the public arena by Rethink Mississippi's Jake McGraw, less talked about is the qualitative motivations behind them. On Tuesday evening at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics at the University of Mississippi, senior honors student Savannah Smith joined McGraw and six student panelists to discuss her thesis, which delves into why Mississippians are leaving the state. While the brain drain has been documented through data from the U.S. Census, the IRS and other government agencies, some state leaders deny the phenomenon. Most notably, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has stated that he believes the data to be exaggerated. |
| USM, Hattiesburg police issue scam alerts | |
 | The University of Southern Mississippi Police Department is warning people on the Hattiesburg campus and surrounding area to be aware of a man who allegedly was soliciting donations for the Golden Eagles baseball team on Wednesday. The suspect is believed to be in his early 20s, UPD officials said in a news release. He is believed to be wearing Southern Miss attire and carrying a backpack. Southern Miss officials said there is no authorized solicitation for the program at this time. The warning comes a day after Hattiesburg police said another man allegedly was seeking donations by phone for the Hattiesburg Police Department Benevolent Fund. |
| Record number to graduate from Meridian Community College | |
 | With more than 560 students being awarded their degrees and certificates Friday at Evangel Temple, Meridian Community College will establish an all-time record of graduates for a single school year, according to MCC Dean of Student Services Soraya Welden. MCC holds three commencements each school year in August, December and May. For the 2017-18 school year, MCC will have graduated 996 students. "It's amazing for a college the size of MCC to almost reach 1,000 graduates for the year," said Scott Elliott, retiring MCC president. "The credit goes to my colleagues -- the faculty and staff at MCC -- who have tried very hard to instill a culture among our students of finishing what you start and promoted the value of the Associate Degree." Besides setting a graduation record for the entire school year, Welden noted that the 568 graduates for Friday's spring term was also an all-time record for the May program. |
| A Stunning Ouster in Tennessee Gets Ugly and Feels Like Political Payback | |
 | The sudden firing on Wednesday of Beverly J. Davenport, the first female chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, stunned and angered her supporters on the flagship campus and raised the specter of more political retribution and legislative meddling in a state that has earned a reputation for it. At a minimum, it was another ugly breakup in a system where personnel matters often get personal. In a scathing letter that was made public Wednesday afternoon, Joseph A. DiPietro, the system's president, detailed what he described as Davenport's significant shortcomings: She was, he said, a poor communicator, a bad team player, and someone resistant to necessary professional coaching. The only nice thing that DiPietro had to say to the chancellor, who enjoys significant campus-level support, was "Dear Beverly." |
| Tennessee chancellor dismissed abruptly; president cites 'poor performance' | |
 | Beverly Davenport's tenure as chancellor of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville almost fell apart a few months in, when a firestorm around the hiring of a football coach linked to Penn State's Jerry Sandusky brought calls for her resignation. She survived then -- but no longer. University of Tennessee System president Joe DiPietro fired Davenport Wednesday in an unusually public way 15 months into her term. Her immediate dismissal was accompanied by the release (to The Tennessean of Nashville) of a brutal termination letter from DiPietro, which criticized Davenport's "lack of trust, collaboration, communication and transparency" in her relationships with him and other leaders, "very poor" communication skills in many settings, and "unwillingness" to use a professional coach, among other things. Davenport, the university's first female chancellor, will earn $439,000 -- three-quarters of her $585,000 pay as UT's leader -- to become a tenured professor of communication at UT Knoxville. |
| Beverly Davenport shakeup has legislators concerned about U. of Tennessee's image | |
 | Lawmakers and faculty leaders at the University of Knoxville decried UT President Joe DiPietro's decision to terminate Chancellor Beverly Davenport on Wednesday, and several voiced concern about what sort of message the university was sending to perspective students and would-be faculty members. Davenport was placed on administrative leave with pay effective immediately until June 30. She will earn $1.7 million for four years of work as a tenured communications professor -- even though she was dismissed for poor communication skills. Rep. Rick Staples, D-Knoxville, said Davenport's possible removal was rumored when the state legislature was putting the board of trustees together last month, but Wednesday's announcement surprised him. He said the turmoil at the top isn't good for the school. Sen. Becky Duncan Massey, however, said while she was "very sorry" to see Davenport removed from the chancellorship, she didn't think the coming change in leadership would negatively impact the school. |
| Unnamed donor's two grants hold a potential $10M for U. of Arkansas | |
| Top 10 gifts to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in fiscal 2017 include two grants from the same unnamed donor potentially totaling more than $10 million. Five-year grants of up to about $7 million supporting UA's Supply Chain Management Research Center and up to about $3 million supporting the Department of Education Reform specify an "annual written request" must be submitted to the donor from the University of Arkansas Foundation, according to gift agreements released by the university. UA released details of the previously unannounced gifts in response to a request from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette seeking gift agreements for each of the top 10 gifts for fiscal 2017, which ended June 30. Under the state's public-disclosure law, the university released gift agreements or supporting documents for 11 gifts made either to UA or the University of Arkansas Foundation. |
| Donor anonymity routine, professor says | |
| Top donors to colleges and universities sometimes want to remain anonymous, said Noah Drezner, an associate professor at Columbia University's Teachers College. "Oftentimes when institutions are not giving out names, it was because it was at the donor's request," said Drezner, who studies giving to colleges and universities. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville released gift agreements or supporting documents for 11 gifts in response to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette request for records of the university's top 10 gifts in fiscal 2017. UA redacted some of the documents, withholding the identities of donors in six of those 11 gifts. "Limited information has been redacted in the event the donor has requested anonymity, based on the competitive advantage exemption to the FOIA," UA public information officer Rebecca Morrison said in an email, referring to the state Freedom of Information Act. |
| Court denies U. of Arkansas bid to toss former student's rape-case lawsuit | |
| A federal appellate court on Wednesday denied a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former student claiming the school acted with "deliberate indifference" when she reported being raped by another student. The case attracted high-profile supporters and opponents of the university's legal argument for the lawsuit's dismissal. In court documents, the university cited sovereign immunity in challenging whether it could be sued for damages under Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools receiving federal funding. Federal authorities have said schools must react promptly and effectively to address sexual harassment and sexual violence. Judge Duane Benton of the 8th Circuit, in a 10-page opinion, wrote: "By accepting federal funds, the University in fact consented to suits for compensatory damages for violations of Title IX." |
| Louisiana House votes to allow more guns at schools, universities | |
 | The Louisiana House voted 59-36 Wednesday to allow visitors to carry guns at K-12 schools and on university campuses if they have concealed weapons permits. The legislation would allow people to have guns at schools and universities, regardless of whether the institutions are public or private. House Bill 602, sponsored by state Rep. Blake Miguez, R-Erath, now moves to the Senate for consideration. Under current law, most people are not allowed to carry a gun into a school or university building unless they are in law enforcement or use a weapon for class. This proposal would allow visitors to educational institutions -- but not students or employees who work on campus -- to carry a weapon as long as they had a conceal carry permit. Miguez said about 125,000 people in Louisiana are conceal carry permit holders. |
| Doctors, former Auburn students puzzled by eye cancer cases | |
 | Ashley McCrary's husband has called her "Sweet Eyes" since the two were high school sweethearts. People tell her she has her father's eyes. And it was in her right eye that a rare form of cancer, known as ocular melanoma, formed. "I know it may sound very vain, but I remember writing in my journal one day: 'Of all things, for me to have cancer in my eye, the one thing that I liked about myself?," McCrary told the Opelika-Auburn News. "It was very hard." McCrary is one of more than 40 people who either attended or worked at Auburn University and say they have this same type of cancer. When she was diagnosed in 2012, two decades after her 1992 graduation, McCrary already knew two friends and fellow Tigers who were battling the disease and had to have the affected eye removed. McCrary, who has a son currently enrolled at Auburn University, said she has heard many theories from people about why the cancer has affected so many people in a seemingly concentrated area. |
| Texas A&M reports sewage discharge from campus dorm started in August | |
 | Texas A&M University has discovered a sewage leak on campus that apparently began in 2017, university officials announced Wednesday. A sanitary sewer line from Whitely Hall had been improperly connected to a storm drain after renovations were completed in August, according to a statement released by the university. The problem was discovered Tuesday, and work to reroute the sanitary sewer line was expected to be completed Wednesday. The university said an estimated 1.18 million gallons of sanitary sewer effluent flowed into detention ponds on the campus golf course and into Wolf Pen Creek over the course of eight months. The agency also advises the public to avoid contact with waste material, soil or water in the potentially affected area. |
| U. of Missouri expects big increase in freshmen | |
 | The University of Missouri is predicting a surge in freshman enrollment for the fall, reversing a trend that began in 2016 after protests that drew national attention to the Columbia campus and months of adverse publicity. In a news release Wednesday, MU reported that 4,547 students accepted for entry in the fall had paid the $300 enrollment deposit by Tuesday, up 534 from this time last year. The incoming freshman class in August was the smallest in 20 years and overall enrollment at the MU was the lowest since 2008. Overall enrollment at MU is expected to continue to decline, despite the upsurge in interest from new students. "As a land-grant university, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to make higher education more accessible and to give a higher return on our students' investments," Chancellor Alexander Cartwright said in the news release. |
| American Higher Education Hits a Dangerous Milestone | |
| Drawing almost no attention, the nation crossed an ominous milestone last year that threatens more economic polarization and social division: For the first time, public colleges and universities in most states received most of their revenue from tuition rather than government appropriations. This historic shift away from tax dollars funding the bulk of public higher education comes precisely as the nation's youth population is crossing a succession of milestones to become more racially diverse than ever. As statisticians would say, it's an open question whether these twin trends represent an example of causation or just correlation. But whether resources are shrinking because diversity is growing, or the two trends are proceeding independently, their convergence is still a dangerous development -- not only for higher education, but also for the nation's economic future. |
| Touting economic development is as American as motherhood and apple pie | |
 | Consultant and columnist Phil Hardwick writes in the Mississippi Business Journal: "Economic and community development have seemingly passed motherhood and apple pie as the 'American' thing. When was the last time you heard a candidate for public office proclaim his or objection to economic development? But exactly what is economic development? Or community development for that matter? The term 'economic development' was hardly used before World War II, although the concept has been around for centuries. Even though everyone wants it, and even though everyone seems to know what it means, the term 'economic development' is still in search of a standard definition. Let us begin with a survey of several contemporary definitions." |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State earns No. 6 national seed, will be at home for NCAAs | |
| The celebration isn't over yet. Mississippi State men's tennis players are still wearing their Southeastern Conference Tournament Champions t-shirts and hats, several days after MSU beat Texas A&M to win the tournament Sunday; some of them have worn the combination every day since then. Even mere minutes before their NCAA tournament fate was announced, some of them were debating names for the trophy they just won. "It's such a big high, it'll take a few days," said junior Trevor Foshey, who won a third-set tiebreaker to clinch the championship. Coach Matt Roberts is still feeling it: "It's been hard for me to sleep." The time for celebration will eventually end. Tuesday's announcement was the first step. The NCAA revealed the bracket for its men's tennis team championships, granting MSU the No. 6 seed nationally and the right to host the first two rounds of the tournament. |
| Mississippi State women's tennis team earns bid to NCAA tournament | |
| The Mississippi State women's tennis team doesn't intend to be intimidated next week when it plays in the NCAA tournament. On Tuesday, No. 31 MSU (15-10) learned it will play William & Mary at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 11, in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. If MSU wins, it will face Morgan State or No. 2 seed North Carolina in the second round. "I feel the seed doesn't matter," MSU junior Anastasia Rentouli said. "We have proved multiple times this season that it doesn't matter. We beat (Vanderbilt) and they were No. 2 in the nation. UNC is No. 2, so we know we can beat the No. 2 in the nation. I think we're approaching the tournament with confidence." |
| Mississippi State's Ben Howland thrilled about returning team | |
| Ben Howland's Bulldogs are getting back together. Four Mississippi State underclassmen who had declared early for the NBA Draft have all chosen to return to school and that has gotten the veteran head coach energized about the team's potential for the upcoming season. "Obviously to have Lamar Peters, Aric Holman and Nick and Quinndary Weatherspoon all back with the rest of the nucleus we have returning and the guys that we're adding, it's really an exciting time for me, our staff and our fans in anticipation of the 2018-19 season for men's basketball," Howland said. "I'm really excited and just thrilled." |
| Tougher schedule taking shape as expectations grow for Mississippi State | |
| It was May 2 and basketball conversations don't usually last long -- if they even start at all -- for another handful of months around here, but that didn't stop Ben Howland from scheduling a press conference. "I wanted to call this to express my excitement for the fact that we're having everybody return that put their name in the draft and was going to test the waters," Howland said Wednesday. "It's a really exciting time." With a talented roster officially in place, the expectation is for Mississippi State to at least make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009 -- and a lackluster non-conference schedule won't hurt its chances this time. |
| Q Weatherspoon will return for senior season at Mississippi State | |
| Mississippi State confirmed Tuesday night that junior guard Quinndary Weatherspoon will return for his senior season. All four MSU players -- Quinndary and Nick Weatherspoon, Lamar Peters, and Aric Holman -- who declared for the draft or contemplated entering it will return to school. Quinndary Weatherspoon averaged a team-high 14.4 points per game to go with 6.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He was a second-team All Southeastern Conference selection and the winner of the Howell Trophy, given the best collegiate men's basketball player in the state of Mississippi. |
| NBA can wait: Ben Howland happy players returning to Mississippi State | |
| For weeks, a quartet of Mississippi State basketball players had their toes dipped in the waters of the NBA Draft. One by one, Lamar Peters, Nick Weatherspoon, Aric Holman and Quinndary Weatherspoon decided it wasn't time to jump in just yet. Both Weatherspoons, Peters and Holman have all made recent decisions to return and play the 2018-2019 season with the Bulldogs. An elated head coach Ben Howland expressed his jubilation on Wednesday. "To have Lamar, Q, Nick and Aric all back with the rest of the nucleus we have returning and the guys we're adding, it's a really exciting time for me and our staff and our fans and the university," Howland said. "There's anticipation for the 2018-2019 season in men's basketball. It's really exciting. I'm just thrilled. I think our players are thrilled." MSU's high expectations come with good reason. |
| Re-ranking college football's preseason top 25 after spring practice | |
| Every team in the Football Bowl Subdivision got better this spring, if only because it's hard to get worse during the first few months of college football's dreary offseason. But a few things have changed. Clemson and Alabama might have inched closer to settling their respective quarterback competitions. Penn State found its next running back. Michigan landed a five-star quarterback. Now's a good time to re-rank the USA TODAY Sports way-too-early Top 25 for 2018. That one had Clemson and Alabama at No. 1 and No. 2. This one does as well. But there are changes, including Mississippi State's move from No. 25 to No. 21. The Bulldogs and first-year head coach Joe Moorhead move up four spots after a productive spring. Their best asset: Moorhead's offense tore through the Big Ten and may achieve somewhat similar results in the SEC as quickly as this season. |
| Former NCAA hero Morgan William gets chance with WNBA's Aces | |
| Mississippi State women's basketball coach Vic Schaefer couldn't recall how many charges former Bulldogs point guard Morgan William drew during her four-year career. Either 105 or 115. "She exudes toughness, fearlessness, competitive spirit," Schaefer said. "She's as physical as they come ... She'll do whatever it takes at any moment." Exactly why she's at the Aces' training camp William, who most famously ended Connecticut's 111-game winning streak with a buzzer-beating shot in the 2017 women's Final Four semifinals, was not selected in the WNBA draft last month but received an invitation to Las Vegas' camp, which began Sunday. Bill Laimbeer, Aces president of basketball operations and coach, lauded William's toughness and competitiveness, and said she deserved a chance to prove herself at the highest level. |
| Ole Miss releases response after NCAA Committee on Infractions rejects sanctions appeal | |
 | Last week, the University of Mississippi received the NCAA Committee on Infractions' (COI) response to its sanctions appeal. After some deliberation among university officials, that response was released Wednesday afternoon along with a list of actions Ole Miss plans to take in its second appeal. The official response from the COI is essentially a rejection on all fronts of the appeal. The release states that every argument made by Ole Miss in its appeal is flawed and invalid. "In challenging the two violations and the scope of the two penalties, Mississippi ignores and attempts to second guess legislated standards. Its arguments fail," states the COI's response. The university's rebuttal takes a firm stance of opposition to the COI's rejection of this initial appeal. |
| NCAA Committee on Infractions stands behind multi-year bowl ban, other penalties in response to Ole Miss' appeal | |
| More than four months after issuing final penalties in the football program's infractions case, including a multi-year bowl ban, the NCAA's Committee on Infractions is standing behind them in response to the school's written appeal. Ole Miss challenged the two-year postseason ban -- the school previously self-imposed a bowl ban for the 2017 season -- the charge of a lack of institutional control and a recruiting penalty that would limit prospects to one unofficial visit per academic year for the length of the school's probation period, which runs through Nov. 30, 2020. The school also disputed in its appeal filed in February the finding that Oxford-based retailer Rebel Rags provided thousands of dollars worth of impermissible benefits to recruits and their family members, but the COI stood behind that as well, stating in its response the findings being appealed were "not clearly contrary to the information in the record." |
| Alabama tennis signs 11-year-old with chronic illness | |
 | Caleb Holcomb has never served a tennis ball over a net. He has never returned a volley. The 11-year-old, a fourth-grade student at Englewood Elementary, is not a prodigy, but he became a member of the University of Alabama men's team Wednesday. He signed a national letter of intent with the Crimson Tide at a ceremony at Coleman Coliseum at 5:04 p.m., and UA coach George Husack added his signature to make it official. Caleb watches football, tennis, any sport you can name, on television. He hasn't been able to participate because he has a rare immune deficiency condition that prevents his body from producing enough antibodies to fight bacteria, viruses and fungi. |
| More renderings of LSU's renovated football operations building emerge | |
 | More renderings of the renovations to LSU's football operations building emerged Wednesday here in Texas. The school released images of the renovations to more than 200 attendees at a football caravan event featuring LSU coach Ed Orgeron, athletic director Joe Alleva and other officials at the JW Marriott at the Galleria in west Houston. The program is extensively sprucing up the 12-year-old operations center. Renovations are expected to span more than a year, ending by June 30, 2019 and forcing coaches and staff members to work out of Tiger Stadium's south end zone. Renovations will cost about $23 million, according to documents, includes the school's long-talked about nutrition center. The nutrition center, a glorified dining hall, will hold about 200 people, according to the documents. |
| LSU's Ed Orgeron shows Aggieland his hand | |
| When LSU head football coach Ed Orgeron was asked Wednesday if he was surprised about Jimbo Fisher's move from the Florida State to Texas A&M, Orgeron's countenance soured. "Has nothing to do with me," the Tiger head coach said, quickly looking for the next media question during his appearance at a Houston Touchdown Club luncheon in the J.W. Marriott Hotel. In one regard, he has a point. Over the last six seasons, LSU hasn't had much of a reason to care about A&M. The Aggies have dropped all six conference matchups with the Tigers since joining the SEC in 2012. LSU holds a plus-86 point differential in the contests. In December, A&M made a $75 million bet on one of the nation's most successful coaching staffs in terms of recruiting. For that reason alone, Fisher's arrival in Texas has everything to do with Orgeron and the Tigers, and the third-year LSU coach fired a passive-aggressive shot Wednesday in a battle waged heavily on the very ground he stood in Houston. |
| Gene Chizik on chicken fingers, why he never left Auburn, when he might return to coaching | |
 | Like a lot of former Auburn football coaches, Gene Chizik continues to make his home in east Alabama. But unlike predecessors such as Tommy Tuberville, Bill Oliver and Pat Dye, Chizik isn't considered past his prime by coaching standards. At 56 years old, Chizik probably has a good decade or more of football coaching in him. In the first installment of AL.com's "What Drives You," Chizik explains his love for the Auburn area, his passion for business that now includes owning three Louie's Chicken Fingers restaurants, why he loves being an SEC Network analyst and when he might return to coaching. He also shares some memories of Auburn's 2010 national championship season. |
| AD Greg McGarity expects Georgia-Clemson to resume football rivalry 'in the not too distant future' | |
 | Dabo Swinney got some hearts racing this offseason in the football fan bases of Georgia and Clemson last week when the Tigers coach said he'd like to see the school's border rivalry resumed on an annual basis. An every year game between two programs that reached the College Football Playoff last season isn't likely an option, Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Wednesday, but the schools could play either home and home or in a neutral site game as early as 2021. "I do think down the road you will see Clemson and Georgia playing each other," McGarity said. "I'm not sure about the frequency of it, but I do think you'll see us play each other in the not too distant future." Notre Dame plays a return game in Athens in 2019 and Georgia opens the 2020 season against Virginia in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia has a home-and-home series scheduled with UCLA in 2025 and 2026. |
| Jeremy Pruitt: Don't you want me to be honest? Vols coach will keep telling it how it is | |
| Jeremy Pruitt plans to keep telling it like it is. Pruitt raised a few eyebrows when he expressed dismay at his team's performance in the April 21 spring game, saying that some players "flat-out quit." The first-year Tennessee coach was asked during a radio appearance Wednesday on 104.5 The Zone's "The Midday 180" about his blunt critique. "I'm trying to figure out what y'all want me to be. You don't want me to be honest?" Pruitt told the Nashville radio station. Pruitt hasn't spared Vols fans from his critiques, either. He has frequently stated that it will take everyone -- from administrators to players to support staff to fans -- to get Tennessee's program back to where he thinks it belongs. |
| College football bowl schedule for 2018-19 season includes playoff semifinals on Dec. 29 | |
| ESPN on Wednesday released its bowl schedule for 2018-19, which features 35 games beginning on Dec. 15 and College Football Playoff semifinals on Dec. 29. This year's semifinals are the Orange and Cotton Bowls, which take place Dec. 29, a Saturday. The College Football Playoff National Championship Game is Jan. 7 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. The schedule does not include the Arizona Bowl, which has not yet released its 2018 game date or TV information. |
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