| Thursday, July 19, 2018 |
| Hardin Foundation grant helps MSU-Meridian and Meridian schools partner to add teachers | |
 | Mississippi State University-Meridian and Meridian Public School District are teaming up to address teacher shortages, thanks to a grant from the Phil Hardin Foundation. The foundation's board of directors recently announced plans to fully fund alternate route certification courses for 15 students who already hold bachelor's degrees in areas other than education. "Mississippi State University-Meridian is doing an outstanding job of matching MSU's resources with the community's needs, and there is no greater educational need in Meridian in this era of teacher shortages than well-prepared, high-quality teachers in the classroom," said Lloyd Gray, Hardin Foundation executive director. MSU is the leading provider of educators in this region of the state, having more than half of the prestigious 2017-2018 Golden Apple recipients as alumni, including the current Golden Apple Award Teacher of the Year. |
| President Trump nominates Mississippi State alum for USDA position | |
 | President Donald Trump announced earlier this week he intends to nominate Mississippi State University alumnus Scott Hutchins for the position of undersecretary of agriculture for research, education and economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The university says Hutchins is currently the global leader of integrated field services for Corteva Agriscience and is an adjunct professor at the University of Nebraska. President Trump's nomination now awaits confirmation by the Senate Agriculture Committee and the full U.S. Senate. |
| SOCSD board approves 5-year strategic plan | |
 | Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District has a new five-year strategic plan. The district's board of trustees on Tuesday approved the plan after a lengthy presentation from school administrators. The new plan offers five overarching goals for district improvement, as well as strategies and ways to measure success in accomplishing each goal. The plan's five goals include student achievement, school culture, human resources, community collaboration and operational effectiveness. Each goal details four sub-strategies and explains measurables. One technological implementation on the horizon is SOCSD intends to purchase about 2,000 iPads, which would cost $400 per iPad for a four-year lease, for Armstrong Middle School and Starkville High School. |
| Aldermen tap Gerry Logan for Starkville parks director | |
| Gerry Logan could hardly contain his emotions when the board of aldermen completed its vote to name him the city's new Parks and Recreation Department director. Logan sat, head in hands and on the verge of tears, before exiting the municipal courtroom to collect himself. He got a hug and congratulations from Starkville Police Chief Frank Nichols on the way out. Aldermen voted 6-1, with Ward 3 Alderman David Little opposed, to name Logan the parks director. Logan has served as the department's interim director since December when aldermen suspended former director Herman Peters, who was later fired in January and then arrested for allegedly embezzling more than $21,000 in his capacity as parks director. Three other parks department employees were fired for embezzling in the same time period. |
| AG Jim Hood investigates road project near Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' subdivision | |
 | The Mississippi attorney general said Wednesday he's investigating a $2 million road that was planned to connect a suburban Jackson shopping center to two gated neighborhoods, including one where the lieutenant governor lives. The investigation creates a potential clash between Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves. Both men are expected to run for governor in 2019. The Mississippi Department of Transportation put the road on hold after the Clarion Ledger reported last week that the project had been planned. "The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether there exist any violations of law," Hood wrote to Reeves, lawmakers and elected transportation commissioners. "One of the many potential outcomes of the ongoing investigation could be civil litigation or other legal proceedings arising under state law." |
| AG Jim Hood investigating $2M frontage road project in Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves neighborhood | |
 | Attorney General Jim Hood is investigating a planned state funded road -- now halted -- running from Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' gated neighborhood off Lakeland Drive to a nearby shopping hub. Reeves on Wednesday accused Hood of "grandstanding" and said a Clarion Ledger article that helped stop work on the road has been "discredited." Hood sent letters to numerous state and legislative officials, including Reeves, an AG's spokeswoman said Wednesday. Hood declined comment through the spokeswoman. MDOT spokesman Jason Scott issued a brief statement on Monday: "MDOT maintains all its records as an agency. MDOT does not delete any communications regarding official business." He declined further comment. The state has so far spent more than $300,000 purchasing rights of way for the road, plus other planning, engineering and legal work. |
| Jim Hood launches investigation into frontage road; sends letter to Tate Reeves, top officials | |
 | The office of Attorney General Jim Hood has sent letters to more than 50 state officials asking them to preserve any records they might have related to a planned frontage road off Lakeland Drive from Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves' neighborhood to a nearby traffic light at a shopping center. The letter, which Mississippi Today obtained, went to Reeves' office, members of the state Senate and leaders at the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which oversaw the project. "As Attorney General of the State of Mississippi, our office is investigating and evaluating all potential claims the state may have arising out of the recently-reported $2 million 'frontage road' project that would connect the Oakridge and Dogwood subdivisions with Dogwood Festival Boulevard and its shopping center," the letter states. |
| Columbus vies for share of online sales tax revenue | |
| If the Mississippi Legislature decides to force out-of-state online retailers to charge sales tax, Columbus wants a portion of that revenue. The city council unanimously on Tuesday made Columbus one of the first cities in the state to approve a resolution asking the Legislature not only to force online retailers to charge state sales tax but that it also begin distributing a portion of those collections to municipalities. Jeff Turnage, the city's attorney and recently appointed president of the Mississippi Municipal Attorneys Association, drafted the resolution and plans to distribute it to city attorneys all over the state in hopes other cities will pass it and provide it to their local legislators. Turnage said Tuesday a groundswell of advocacy from the state's municipalities, via city approved resolutions, could help them get their fair share of those collections. |
| New law still hurts cities depending on sales taxes; state gets money | |
| After a landmark 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, states will have online retailers collect sales tax to be diverted back to the state's general fund. However, many cities are seeing the effects of the growing e-commerce industry and the lack of sales tax revenue being returned to the cities where the purchases were made. Sales tax revenue impacts cities in Madison County greatly. Because of the Supreme Court decision, sellers are required to collect tax on items purchased online, which will bring $100 to $200 million into the state due to online purchases. However, state leaders are saying it could be too complicated to determine what cities those purchases came from within Mississippi. |
| Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith gavels Democrat Chuck Schumer | |
 | Just two weeks into her role as a United State Senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith found herself presiding over the Senate and gaveling down the Democrat minority leader during a quorum call. "To me, I am just thinking procedure and it does not matter who it is," Hyde-Smith said. "I am just trying to run the Senate the way it is supposed to run and not make a mistake." Hyde-Smith was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant in April to replace retiring Sen. Thad Cochran. She has hit the ground running in D.C., most notably working on passage of a new Farm Bill. Joining the Senate midway through the year, Hyde-Smith said she didn't receive the orientation that first-time senators receive. She said it was her 12 years of experience in Mississippi Senate that made the transition smooth and presiding natural. |
| Outrage erupts over Trump-Putin 'conversation' about letting Russia interrogate ex-U.S. diplomat | |
 | At this week's summit in Helsinki, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed what President Trump described as an "incredible offer" -- the Kremlin would give special counsel Robert S. Mueller III access to interviews with Russians indicted after allegedly hacking Democrats in 2016. In return, Russia would be allowed to question certain U.S. officials it suspects of interfering in Russian affairs. One of those U.S. officials is a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, a nemesis of the Kremlin because of his criticisms of Russia's human rights record. The willingness of the White House to contemplate handing over a former U.S. ambassador for interrogation by the Kremlin drew ire and astonishment from current and former U.S. officials. Such a proposition is unheard of. So is the notion that the president may think he has the legal authority to turn anyone over to a foreign power on his own. |
| New tactic by politicians: Set up fake news websites as a campaign gambit | |
 | Despite complaints from Congress about the Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign that included "fake news" sites designed to sway voters, at least three members of Congress seeking re-election have posted similar sites designed to help them win re-election. Three sitting senators fighting tough re-election campaigns as well as at least one House member, have created sites that masquerade as internet news pages. Watchdog groups for transparent elections say they are troubled by the trend among political campaigns to present campaign messaging as if it were credible unbiased news reporting, even as more legitimate news sites sprinkle their pages with "sponsored content," ads that look like news stories with a disclaimer in visible writing at the top. |
| Trump Threatens Auto Tariffs Despite Widespread Opposition | |
 | President Donald Trump stood by his threats to levy sweeping tariffs on automobile imports as a way to extract concessions from trading partners, despite opposition from the industry and discontent in Congress with the White House's proposal. Resistance to the tariffs is strong and growing. A coalition of foreign and domestic auto companies, along with auto dealers and auto-parts makers, released a letter on Wednesday urging Mr. Trump to refrain from the tariffs. A bipartisan group of 149 House members also urged the president not to move forward with the tariffs. Auto unions were among the few industry players offering qualified support for the tariffs. There has been growing discontent in the Senate, too. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) said Wednesday: "These tariffs are dangerous. They are going to cost us jobs and lower our family incomes." |
| Tariffs Imperil a Hometown Business in South Carolina: BMW | |
 | In the middle of David Britt's campaign to get BMW to put a car factory, a man grabbed him by the tie while he was in a restaurant. "Don't give that land to the Germans," the man hissed to Mr. Britt, a county official. Two decades later, the automaker has become the most important local job creator, earning the affection of a deep-red county where one in 10 people earns a living making vehicles or their parts. The Spartanburg plant is BMW's biggest in the world. It has helped draw more than 200 companies from two dozen countries to Spartanburg County. And the German company -- not an American icon like Ford or General Motors -- is now the largest exporter of cars made in the United States, turning the port of Charleston, S.C., into a hub for global trade. But by setting off a global trade battle, President Trump is threatening the town's livelihood. People aren't happy. |
| Why Are More Young Adults Dying Of Alcohol-Related Liver Disease? | |
 | Dr. Elliot Tapper has treated a lot of patients, but this one stood out. "His whole body was yellow," Tapper remembers. "He could hardly move. It was difficult for him to breathe, and he wasn't eating anything." The patient was suffering from chronic liver disease. After years of alcohol use, his liver had stopped filtering his blood. Bilirubin, a yellowish waste compound, was building up in his body and changing his skin color. Disturbing to Tapper, the man was only in his mid-30s -- much younger than most liver disease patients. Tapper, a liver specialist and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School, tried to get the patient to stop drinking. It's patient stories like this one that led Tapper to research liver disease in young people. According to a study published Wednesday in BMJ by Tapper and a colleague, fatal liver disease has risen, and young people have been hit the hardest. |
| New higher ed chief aims to improve all aspects of Mississippi | |
 | When he was president of Alcorn State University, Alfred Rankins wanted to increase both the school's enrollment and the quality of its students. First, he crunched data to find which high schools were sending fewer students than years past and which ones had never sent many students to Alcorn. Then he hit the road. In 17 days, Rankins visited 58 high schools to promote his university. That fall, Alcorn State saw its largest freshman class ever. Now that he is the state's Commissioner of Higher Education, Rankins is driven by that same personal connection to students as he tries to uplift all aspects of life in Mississippi. Rankins, who started his new role on July 1, is in the middle of a tour of Mississippi's eight universities and their satellite campuses. |
| Commissioner of Higher Education Alfred Rankins launches IHL listening tour in Oxford | |
| Dr. Alfred Rankins, newly appointed Commissioner of Higher Education for the State Institutions of Higher Learning, began his statewide listening tour at the Ole Miss campus on Tuesday. Rankins, who began his day in Oxford at the Lyceum and went on to speak with the Oxford Rotary Club, said he hoped to set a precedent for open, honest communication about the needs of Mississippi's universities. In particular, a recurring concern Rankins said he planned to address is the need for more state funding for higher education. "Certainly, myself as commissioner and the university presidents, we work very hard during the legislative session to garner support for our universities. Unfortunately, in recent years, because state revenues have been on a downward trend, that has forced us to make some tough decisions," he said. |
| Education Commissioner touring Mississippi colleges | |
 | The new Commissioner of Higher Education is spending his first 100 days in office touring college campuses. Dr. Alfred Rankins Jr., met with faculty, staff, elected officials and other community leaders at the University of Mississippi-Tupelo. "I think it's important to hear from the people that are here in the trenches, that work everyday with the students and do the good work of educating our young people here in the state and get their perspective," said Dr. Rankins. Tuesday he spent the day touring the University of Mississippi in Oxford. |
| JSU to Analyze Gun, Gang Crimes in Jackson | |
| The Jackson City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday, July 17, to approve a memorandum of understanding between Jackson State University and the Jackson Police Department so JSU can do research and analysis on crime data with the intention of reducing gun-related crimes. "The purpose of this MOU is to facilitate mutually beneficial research and analysis and potentially education and training programs to meet the missions of JPD and JSU and to reduce substantially the negative impact of gun-created crime on the quality of life in the Jackson community," the city council's order reads. Both graduate and undergraduate students will do the research. The city council order also says student analysts will "provide analytical assistance for strategic and tactical intelligence related to gun and gang violence." As of July 11, Jackson has seen 54 homicides this year alone---just 10 shy of the total homicide count in 2017 with almost half a year left. |
| William Carey opens Coast's first pharmacy school | |
 | South Mississippi students looking to get into pharmacology will no longer have to travel miles away to do so. The Gulf Coast's first pharmacy school is now open at William Carey University's Tradition campus. While the 33,000-square foot facility is not expected to open for a few more months, the school's first pharmacy students were at the university Thursday morning to begin a two-day orientation. They will attend classes temporarily in another building until the construction on the pharmacy school is complete. Sitting right on Highway 67, just north of D'Iberville, the college is the first of its kind for South Mississippi. William Carey began interviewing students last fall for the program's coveted spots, accepting 60 students for the pharmacy school's first year. |
| State commission advises takeover of Noxubee County school district | |
| With leaders of an eastern Mississippi school district themselves admitting they won't be able to pay their bills by August, the state took the first step Wednesday toward taking the schools over. The state Commission on School Accreditation voted unanimously to recommend that the state declare an emergency in the Noxubee County school district, although district leaders asked for more time fix problems. State officials say they began examining the 1,600-student district when Noxubee officials called to seek a loan, citing cash flow problems. The resulting state report found lots of other problems, with a Mississippi Department of Education report finding Noxubee schools violate 26 of 32 state accrediting standards. The district asked to have until March 2019 to fix those problems, but it's unclear how the school system would survive financially in coming months if it received more time. |
| Passage cleared on Middle Oconee River as UGA-owned dam is removed | |
 | Workers with an elite federal team are removing most of a century-old dam across the Middle Oconee River this week. The University of Georgia-owned White Dam is just above the confluence of the Middle and North Oconee Rivers. It is managed by UGA's Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. The dam at one time contained electricity-generating turbines that sent power to a Whitehall textile mill. The old powerhouse sits on a bank nearby, and will remain for historic purposes along with short sections of the dam jutting out from each bank. But it's an historic project in another way, said Jay Shelton, a fisheries professor in the Warnell School and one of the drivers behind the dam removal -- years in the planning. UGA is recording the process, even using a drone to document the work. Because it's the first project of its kind in the state, it can serve as a model --- already a model for interagency cooperation, Shelton said. |
| Man rescued after trying to climb to top of U. of Florida's O'Connell Center | |
 | The Gainesville Fire Rescue Technical Rescue Team rescued a man early Thursday morning after he tried to climb to the roof of the Stephen C. O'Connell Center at the University of Florida. A GFR news release says the agency received a call at about 2:58 a.m. with reports of a man who was injured and trapped on top of the center, at 250 Gale Lemerand Drive, about 20 feet off the ground. The man's identity has not yet been released. He was unable to get down because of his injuries, the release says. The rescue team was able to use a fire truck ladder to get the man down from the O'Connell Center within 16 minutes. The release says the incident is under investigation by the UF Police Department. |
| Texas A&M police investigate reports of sexual assault, harassment | |
 | Texas A&M University authorities are investigating after four people reported being sexually harassed or assaulted by an employee. The investigation began July 6 when a Texas A&M employee filed a report with campus human resource officials of sexual harassment and assault by a supervisor, according to a crime alert on the University Police Department website. The employees worked at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, and the supervisor had been making remarks about sexual acts, according to the report. When the employee confronted the supervisor, he threatened her job, according to police. During the investigation, two other employees reported similar experiences with the supervisor, including sexual comments and inappropriate touching, police said. |
| China may overtake U.S. in research impact of scholars, analysis finds | |
 | U.S. may be overtaken on research impact by mid-2020s, study finds. China could overtake the United States on a key measure of research quality by the mid-2020s, with potentially major implications for worldwide academic collaboration, a new analysis suggests. The analysis of trends in the Scopus database of scholarly research indicates that China's rapidly improving performance on overall citation impact might see it match the U.S. in as little as seven or eight years. Across almost a dozen subject areas, including computer science and engineering, China already produces more papers indexed in Scopus than the U.S. and is set to bypass its rival world power on overall research output by 2022 if today's growth rate continues. Questions have also been raised in the past about whether citation rates adequately reflect China's rate of improvement on quality given fears that the country is plagued by academic fraud. |
| Study shows good journalism reduces waste | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Wyatt Emmerich writes: Thomas Jefferson said, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." A recent study conducted by the Columbia University Journalism Review underscores Jefferson's sentiment. The study shows that when a newspaper closes, local government waste skyrockets. ...Sweetheart financial deals with local governments have always been a notorious cesspool of graft. Millions of dollars in fees and financing costs are associated with various bonds issued by local governments. Without the watchful eye of the press, sweetheart deals go undetected and government financing costs skyrocket. That's what the study found. |
SPORTS
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead has opportunity for early success | |
| Three years ago as the head coach at Fordham, Joe Moorhead addressed a small smattering of reporters during Patriot League Media Days at the Green Pond County Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Wednesday, however, was a much different story as the new head coach for Mississippi State stood on stage at the College Football Hall of Fame in front of hundreds of media personalities and millions watching live on television at SEC Media Days. "Certainly this is a little larger in scope and significance," Moorhead said. Moorhead, who is the son of a steel mill worker from Pittsburgh, intends to bring that same blue-collar work ethic and integrity he was raised with and instill it into his program with the ultimate goal of returning to Atlanta at the end of the regular season to play for the SEC Championship. |
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead sounds confident at SEC Media Days | |
| Joe Moorhead had never experienced anything like SEC Media Days before. But his 'welcome to the SEC' moment came long before he took the stage at the College Football Hall of Fame on Wednesday. At a coaches meeting earlier this year in Birmingham, Moorhead sat down with Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who Moorhead describes as the conference's "standard bearer." Andrew Breiner, Moorhead's quarterbacks coach, must've heard that his boss was meeting with Saban. "I bet you won't ask him to sign this book for me," Moorhead recalled Breiner telling him. Moorhead doesn't remember the name of the book -- it must've been one of the many written about Saban's illustrious coaching career. But Moorhead does remember the six-time national champion's reaction when he asked for his autograph. "He was taken aback, a little shocked," Moorhead said. Saban signed it anyway, and Moorhead eventually passed it back to Breiner. |
| New MSU coach Joe Moorhead 'excited' to work with QB Nick Fitzgerald | |
| When Dan Mullen decided to bolt from Mississippi State to Florida at the end of last season, the most nervous person in the Bulldogs locker room was quarterback Nick Fitzgerald. Mullen took with him a high-energy offense known for its run-pass option, something Fitzgerald had nearly mastered the past two seasons as Mississippi State's starter. But the senior's nerves were calmed two days after Mullen's departure, when the Bulldogs hired Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, a coach known for a high-powered offense. Shortly after his hire, he instilled his confidence in Fitzgerald with a simple text message. "He said, 'I want you to clear off a spot on your mantel piece for the Heisman Trophy,'" Fitzgerald said Wednesday during SEC Media Days, "'and I want you to learn what your ring size is because you're going to need it.'" |
| Mississippi State spent the offseason getting Nick Fitzgerald ready to throw it deep | |
| The Sunday mornings were the hardest. Nick Fitzgerald did what he had to do to win football games for Mississippi State, which meant running Dan Mullen's run-first, run-second offense where the leading receiver in 2017 caught only 27 passes and his quarterback was top 10 in the league in rushing attempts for the second year in a row. It wasn't just the read-option plays where Fitzgerald could run it himself, hand it off to back Aeris Williams or throw it. Or the scrambles, where Fitzgerald naturally avoided the 300-pound linemen charging at him. It was the quarterback power and quarterback draw plays where Fitzgerald's assignment, in his words, was to "pound my head against the wall." "There were many Sunday mornings where I couldn't move," Fitzgerald said. That's going to change this fall. |
| Mississippi State, Texas A&M QBs spent time together at California summer camp | |
| As roommates this summer at a Steve Clarkson quarterback camp, Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald and Texas A&M's Nick Starkel seemingly made an odd couple. At Wednesday's Southeastern Conference Media Days, Fitzgerald sat in front of members of the press dressed as the consummate Southern gentleman complete with bow tie and side-swooped hair. The Bulldogs' fifth-year senior said Starkel, a North Texas native, may belong in the home state of the camp where they met: California. "Come and hang out in California --- you could tell he'd kind of fit in out there," Fitzgerald said. "He kind of had that Cali swag to him." But Fitzgerald said they shared a commonality -- the talent to be an SEC starter. "He's a fantastic quarterback," Fitzgerald said. "I think he has the skill set to win the job over there and play well." |
| MSU Notebook: Nick Fitzgerald anxious to return to the field | |
| Most football players are keen to get back on the field when this time of year rolls around. Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald is especially eager. Fitzgerald suffered a gruesome ankle injury during the opening quarter of the Egg Bowl last November and was held out of contact drills during spring practice. He spent the entire offseason working to regain the strength and balance in his right ankle and is ready to go when the Bulldogs open camp on Aug. 3. "I just need to get back into the swing of football," Fitzgerald said. "I need to get into fall camp, running around, throwing and making plays with my feet. Those are things I really didn't get to do in the spring. All I got to do was sit in the pocket and throw." |
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead says Joey Jones 'a natural fit' | |
 | Experience in coaching and recruiting in the state of Alabama are attractive qualities when it comes to landing a job at Mississippi State under Joe Moorhead. While at the podium Wednesday during the SEC Media Days, the first-year coach in Starkville was asked about the addition of special teams coordinator and former South Alabama coach Joey Jones. Jones, 55, resigned in December after nine seasons as the South Alabama head coach. He went 52-50 at USA, including 4-8 in 2017. A Mobile native, Jones played wide receiver at Alabama under Paul "Bear" Bryant and Ray Perkins from 1980-83. He later played with the USFL's Birmingham Stallions and NFL's Atlanta Falcons before going into coaching. |
| Mississippi State players don't have game vs. Dan Mullen, UF circled | |
| No matter how much Mississippi State and new coach Joe Moorhead try, there's seemingly no ducking and dodging questions regarding Dan Mullen and his approaching return to Starkville this season. But Wednesday's appearance at SEC Media Days was intended to highlight the team coming back and Moorhead's new regime rather than dwell on the past and Mullen's departure for Florida after nine seasons at the helm of MSU. Moorhead didn't mention his predecessor's name in his appearance on the main floor at the College Football Hall of Fame, despite being asked about the group Mullen left behind and the job he did, and the Bulldogs players downplayed the importance of the showdown with the Gators on Sept. 29. "It was great to play for Mullen," senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald said, "but I'm really excited to play for coach Moorhead." |
| SEC media days: Mississippi State not looking ahead to Dan Mullen's return | |
| If the Dan Mullen's return to Starkville on Sept. 29 is going to be one of the biggest games in Mississippi history, his former Mississippi State players aren't ready to talk about it. "We know it's a big-time SEC game," safety Mark McLaurin said Wednesday during SEC media days. "We're just going to have to wait until that day comes." When it comes, the atmosphere should be intense. SEC head coaches rarely jump from one team to another; if you know the last time that happened, and a coach's new team visited his old team in Year 1, let me know. In the meantime, the Bulldogs are following the cliche of taking things day by day. But how might Mullen be received when he returns to Starkville as the Gators' head coach? "I don't know," defensive end Gerri Green said. "He was a great coach. He did a lot of great things for Mississippi State University. I think the fans will probably cheer him on." |
| Egg Bowl: Ole Miss, Mississippi State rivalry game is still important | |
| D.K. Metcalf's touchdown celebration in the third quarter of last year's Egg Bowl was emblematic of the game itself. He dropped to all fours and lifted his right leg like a dog peeing on the edge of the end zone at Davis Wade Stadium. "We took it very personal," Mississippi State safety Mark McLaurin recalled at SEC Media Days Wednesday. "Just had to come back in and find a way to stop them and make sure they couldn't get back in the end zone to do it again." That motivation wouldn't be enough to reverse the upset. So now, even with no NCAA investigation, Hugh Freeze long gone and Dan Mullen now in Florida, the rivalry will continue to be personal thanks in part to a chippy matchup in November. Mississippi State has the sting of that 31-28 loss as motivation, and Ole Miss will likely have to embrace the rivalry game as the closest thing to a real bowl as they'll get for the second consecutive season. |
| MSU's journey from 'good to great' will require removing Bama thorn from side | |
 | The Advocate's Rod Walker writes: First-year Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead has already had his "welcome to the South" moment. It happens every time he steps out of his door and is smacked in the face by the Mississippi humidity. But on Wednesday, Moorhead experienced his first "welcome to the Southeastern Conference moment" as he and his Bulldogs took their turn at SEC media days. It's very different from the Patriot League media day he used to attend at the Green Pond Country Club during his head coaching days at Fordham University. That was obvious from the throng of crimson-clad fans who lined the lobby of the College Football Hall of Fame to greet Alabama coach Nick Saban, who -- much to Moorhead's delight -- took his turn at the podium after the first-year Mississippi State coach. ...Being ahead of Alabama on Wednesday was a good thing for Moorhead. But if he really wants to make sure folks are paying attention, he'll need to find a way for his team to be ahead of the Crimson Tide on Nov. 10 in Tuscaloosa. |
| SEC Network's Paul Finebaum calls former Vols coach Butch Jones 'pathetic carny barker' | |
 | Jeremy Pruitt made his first national media appearance on Wednesday, taking the podium in Atlanta at SEC Media Days. He gave a long opening statement, confidently answered a handful of questions and didn't say "aight" once. SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum was impressed, calling the press conference "a line of demarcation between what was, what is and what is going to be." He even labeled it "refreshing" before blasting former Tennessee coach Butch Jones. "A year ago, Butch Jones was disingenuous, thin-skinned -- he was a pathetic carny barker," Finebaum said. "He is now gone and Tennessee fans want to see a real coach. They have a real coach." Finebaum also was a fan of the Fulmer hire, saying the Vols now "have a real athletic director." |
| Four Kentucky coaches get big raises | |
 | The University of Kentucky handed out pay raises and extensions for four of its head coaches in new contracts announced Wednesday with hefty bumps, especially, for softball's Rachel Lawson and volleyball's Craig Skinner and big incentives to keep them in the UK fold. The new deals extended the contracts of Lawson, Skinner, swimming and diving's Lars Jorgensen and rifle's Harry Mullins each by a year. Lawson's, Skinner's and Jorgensen's new deals run through 2023 and Mullins' contract runs through 2022. All of them had just had their contracts redone last year. "I continue to believe that our group of head coaches is the best in America," UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart said in a release announcing the contracts. Lawson's new contract is the most lucrative, lifting her base salary to $300,000 per year. |
| Former U. of Missouri tutor fails to unveil 'list' | |
 | Missouri's academic fraud investigation, which began in November 2016, jumped back into the news this week when former tutor Yolanda Kumar took back to Twitter. On Monday, Kumar, at the end of a long thread of tweets recapping the investigation, said she planned to release a list of students, classes, and former coaches involved in the allegations. Her plan, according to the tweet, was to release the information on Twitter, Wednesday at "18:39" which converts to 6:39 p.m. central time. The University of Missouri was founded in 1839. Instead, Kumar, who originally claimed allegations of academic fraud against the Missouri athletic department, stayed silent on Twitter. On Monday night, in response to Kumar's initial tweets, which also said she refused to sign a confidentiality agreement and that the notice of allegations omitted information, Missouri released a statement. |
The Office of Public Affairs provides the Daily News Digest as a general information resource for Mississippi State University stakeholders.
Web links are subject to change. Submit news, questions or comments to Jim Laird.
