Coach Bill Lewis

Budget Council recommends athletics budget cut of over $1.3 million link: http://wkuherald.com/news/budget_cuts_2018/budget-council-recommends-athletics-budget-cut-of-over-million/article_73c0886c-18bb-11e8-a2ef-b3534f1b49c3.html

Old Dominion joined Conference USA in 2012 for what, at the time, appeared to be all the right seasons. C-USA offered ODU a chance to play in the Football Bowl Subdivision and to begin hosting games against schools such as Virginia Tech, Virginia and North Carolina. C-USA basketball also had a pretty good reputation, and the TV contracts were lucrative. Each school received more than $1.1 million yearly in revenue, along with a ton of national TV exposure. But things have changed dramatically since, which is why it's time for ODU to begin looking elsewhere for a conference home. Journalists who cover C-USA agree that Florida International, North Texas and Charlotte, and at times ODU, are stating attendance figures far above the number of people actually at the games. Link to article: http://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist/...8d137.html

AFTER C.J. BURKS seized two victories last weekend and was named Conference USA Player of the week on Monday, I am having a difficult time picturing the Player of the Year not wearing a Marshall jersey. Jon Elmore, leading the league in scoring and assists for the second year in a row, is the obvious choice after 14 of 18 games. Or is he? In some ways, this discussion feels weird. I am writing about not one but two Player of the Year candidates from what will likely be a fourth-place team. But at the very least, Elmore and Burks belong on the all-conference first team. To illustrate how big that would be for the Thundering Herd, a reminder of how C-USA does it: five on the first team, five on the second, five on the third and no stinkin’ honorable mention. One may be added to a unit, but that’s about it. So I’m talking about the Herd having two of the top five players. And if the nation’s leading shot-blocker, Ajdin Penava, is left out of the top 15, that’s criminal. There is a smidgeon of precedent on Marshall’s side. read more: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/sports/mar...2d68d.html

It looks like this is going to be a expensive ticket for what we are getting...unless you really care about women's tourney and watching all of those games. the “Institutional Use” section is for the schools and ticket cost is $180 and as far as I can tell there will not be any single game tickets sold in this area The GA Premium section $180 all session there are 850 seats in this section. There will be single game tickets sold in this area. I;m waiting on a email from the UNT ticket office to clarify cost on this. Talking to them was confusing because the way I understood it ticket cost goes up each round. But I believe the person said $45, then $55 and then another price for the championship. Had a bad connection so I'm not 100% sure on that. GA Green section is $125 and I believe they said $35 for single game ticket The all session passes are usually a good deal if you want to watch all of the tourney. But that's not really the case this year. As you can see from the below schedule, 2 mens game will be played basically at the same time. One starting 30 minutes after the other. So you are missing almost half of the games....you will get a peak because of the 30 minute start times different. But that's it. So if your team goes to the finials you are paying $45 a game seed 5 & below and $60 a game for the top 4 seeds. Of course you can watch half of the womens tourney because they are scheduled the same....2 games going on at once. Why they decided this was a great ideal...I don't know. Common sense says play a mens game on court A and a womans game on court B. That way you at least get the choice of watch the whole mens tourney...with a $180 ticket Once I get the email I will confirm ticket cost for single game ticket. One other thing...each section will have ushers .."can I see your ticket, please" so no moving down from the green ga even if those side court seats are 90% empty Wednesday, March 7 - First Round 11 am Women's First Round Game 1 (Court A) 11:30 am Women's First Round Game 2 (Court B) 1:30 pm Women's First Round Game 3 (Court A) 2 pm Women's First Round Game 4 (Court B) 6 pm Men's First Round Game 1 (Court A) 6:30 pm Men's First Round Game 2 (Court B) 8:30 pm Men's First Round Game 3 (Court A) 9 pm Men's First Round Game 4 (Court B) Thursday, March 8 - Quarterfinals 11 am Women's Quarterfinal Game 5 (Court A) 11:30 am Women's Quarterfinal Game 6 (Court B) 1:30 pm Women's Quarterfinal Game 7 (Court A) 2 pm Women's Quarterfinal Game 8 (Court B) 6 pm Men's Quarterfinal Game 5 (Court A) 6:30 pm Men's Quarterfinal Game 6 (Court B) 8:30 pm Men's Quarterfinal Game 7 (Court A) 9 pm Men's Quarterfinal Game 8 (Court B) Friday, March 9 - Semifinals 12:30 pm Men's Semifinal Game 9 (Court A) 3:00 pm Men's Semifinal Game 10 (Court A) 5:30 pm Women's Semifinal Game 9 (Court A) 8 pm Women's Semifinal Game 10 (Court A) Saturday, March 10 - Championship Game 4:30 pm Women's Championship Game (Court A)

Really proud of these guys. Class of the conference along with Western Kentucky.

UNT ranked #86 Link to SBC Nation

This is just based on how things stand today: 1st Round - March 7 Quarterfinal - March 8 Semifinal - March 9 Championship - March 10 #8 La Tech vs #9 USM Winner plays #1 MUTS #5 UNT vs #12 Texas El Paso Winner plays 4 Herd #7 UAB vs #10 FIU Winner plays 2 ODU #6 UTSA vs FAU Winner plays 3 WKU Out - Rice & Charlotte I’ll be honest, i can’t see anyone hanging with Middle. They will win it all but you hope the higher seed teams can hang so we get some additional spots in Big Dance and NIT.

Very disappointing news today. Athletics Fee Voting Results For – 1,439 or 23.3% Against – 4,734 or 76.7% Transportation Fee Voting Results For – 1,857 or 30.1% Against – 4,316 or 69.9% "The fee increase was requested to enhance the students’ experience at UTSA sporting events, support recruiting student-athletes, maintain and upgrade athletic facilities, upgrade video equipment and expand staff to televise programs at Conference USA standards, and hire and retain athletic managers and trainers to support student well-being." Some are holding our faculty partly to blame, as some faculty had "Vote No" signs in their departments. Convenient that students don't get to vote on tuition hikes, salaries, lab fees, etc. http://www.utsa.edu/today/2018/02/story/FeeVote.html

https://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal...experience

C-USA (Frisco, TX) July 18 -19 Big12 (Frisco, TX) July 16-17

http://m.espn.com/ncb/bracketology?itera...&year=2018 MUTS and WKU making us look good!

Conference USA and opendorse, the leading athlete marketing platform that helps the biggest brands in sports share content on social, today announced a groundbreaking partnership that makes C-USA the first conference to invest in building the brands of its players and partner universities on social media. “We fully realize the power of the social space for all involved, and the high engagement opportunities presented by our coaches, administrators, student-athletes and alumni,” said C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod. “opendorse is at the forefront of social space mobilization, and we are proud to create this landmark partnership with them for our member schools.” Read more: http://collegead.com/conference-usa-54/

C-USA is #12 as a conference. Last season it was #21. That’s a decent move up eh? #50 Western #54 Middle #74 ODU #81 UAB #147 La Tech #155 Marshall #192 UNT #200 UTSA #218 USM #235 FAU #243 UTEP #252 FIU #269 Charlotte #306 Rice

TCU sophomore WR Isaiah Graham transferred to Louisiana Tech. Stud 4-star out of high school. Tech really does a good job landing impact transfers. https://twitter.com/isaiahgraham/status/...8860423168

Congratulations to CUSA for having 3 Freshmen football players named to the Football Sports Writers of America Freshman "All-America" Football team for 2017. LA Tech's Amik Robertson (DB), UAB's Spencer Brown (RB) and USM's Racheem Boothe (LB) were all named to the prestigious group after outstanding seasons. 2017 FWAA FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA TEAM OFFENSE (13) Pos. Player, School Ht. Wt. Hometown QB • Jake Fromm, Georgia 6-2 225 Warner Robins, Ga. RB • Spencer Brown, UAB 6-0 235 Kimberly, Ala. RB • AJ Dillon, Boston College 6-0 240 New London, Conn. RB • Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin 5-11 214 Salem, N.J. WR • Justin Hall, Ball State 5-9 160 Douglasville, Ga. WR • McLane Mannix, Nevada 5-10 175 Midland, Texas WR JD Spielman, Nebraska 5-9 180 Eden Prairie, Minn. TE • Matt Bushman, BYU 6-5 230 Tucson, Ariz. OT Alaric Jackson, Iowa 6-7 320 Detroit, Mich. OT • Andrew Thomas, Georgia 6-5 320 Lithonia, Ga. G • Navaughn Donaldson, Miami 6-6 350 Miami, Fla. G • Trey Smith, Tennessee 6-6 320 Jackson, Tenn. C Tyler Biadasz, Wisconsin 6-3 316 Amherst, Wis. DEFENSE (13) Pos. Player, School Ht. Wt. Hometown DE Curtis Weaver, Boise State 6-3 252 Long Beach, Calif. DE • Kylan Wilborn, Arizona 6-2 245 Northridge, Calif. DT Ross Blacklock, TCU 6-4 326 Missouri City, Texas DT • Jordon Scott, Oregon 6-1 333 Largo, Fla. LB Racheem Boothe, Southern Miss 6-0 210 Bassfield, Miss. LB Paddy Fisher, Northwestern 6-4 245 Katy, Texas LB • Kenneth Murray, Oklahoma 6-2 242 Missouri City, Texas LB • Colin Schooler, Arizona 6-0 226 Dana Point, Calif. DB • T.J. Carter, Memphis 5-11 180 Nashville, Tenn. DB Chase Lucas, Arizona State 6-0 156 Chandler, Ariz. DB • Amik Robertson, Louisiana Tech 5-9 172 Thibodaux, La. DB • Tariq Thompson, San Diego State 6-0 190 San Diego, Calif. DB Andraez "Greedy" Williams, LSU 6-2 181 Shreveport, La. SPECIALISTS (4) Pos. Player, School Ht. Wt. Hometown P • Pressley Harvin III, Georgia Tech 6-0 240 Alcolu, S.C. K Jace Christmann, Mississippi State 6-0 195 Houston, Texas KR • Marcus Jones, Troy 5-9 170 Enterprise, Ala. PR • Donovan Peoples-Jones, Michigan 6-2 199 Southfield, Mich. HEAD COACH Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma • Denotes true freshman Founded in 1941, the Football Writers Association of America consists of 1,400 men and women who cover college football. The membership includes journalists, broadcasters and publicists, as well as key executives in all the areas that involve the game. The FWAA works to govern areas that include game-day operations, major awards and its annual All-America team. For more information about the FWAA and its award programs, contact Steve Richardson at tiger@fwaa.com.

Conference slate starts up Thursday night: Thursday: USM at Marshall La Tech at WKU Rice at UTSA UNT at UTEP Saturday: USM at WKU MT at UAB Charlotte at ODU La Tech at Marshall FAU at FIU UNT at UTSA Rice at UTEP

Perhaps the greatest sportscaster of all time. Enburg was 82. Enburg Passes Away Story

Here are my picks for 1st team all conference in case anyone is curious. I was going to do 2nd team as well but the deliberation took way too long. The official list should be out this week: Offensive POTY: Devin Singletary (SO) - Running Back (FAU) Defensive POTY: Marcus Davenport (SR) - Defensive End (UTSA) ST POTY: Trevor Moore (SR) – Kicker (UNT) Offense QB: Mason Fine - UNT RB: Devin Singletary - FAU RB: Jeffery Wilson - UNT WR: Thomas Owens - FIU WR: Korey Robertson - USM TE: Deon Yelder - WKU OL: Will Hernandez - UTEP OL: O'Shea Dugas - LT OL: Michael Montero - FIU OL: Trey Martin - Rice OL: Antonyo Woods - FAU Defense DE: Marcus Davenport - UTSA DE: Brian Womac - Rice DT: Anthony Rush - UAB DT: Kevin Strong Jr - UTSA LB: Tevin Crews - UAB LB: Azeez Al-Shaair - FAU LB: Chase Hancock - Marshall CB: Darious Williams - UAB CB: Brad Muhammad - FIU S: Ben DeLuca - Charlotte S: Nate Gaines - UTSA Special Teams K: Trevor Moore - UNT P: Kaare Vedvik - Marshall KR: Isaiah Harper - ODU PR: Darrell Brown - ODU View Full Article

Wilson fires Frank Scelfo tonight.

They know the USM fans will travel in good number.

Jim Senter from The Citadel. Solid hire. LINK TO STORY

“You are not going to get Coach Speak here," Kiffin said. "When I say I'm happy here, that's what every coach says. But I really am. It's a very unique situation: A) we have a great team, B) a ton of them come back, almost the whole team comes back. And we love living here. There's a family element that's awesome. My dad's here. My brother's a coordinator. Mom's here. My brother's four kids. We've got a president that wants football to win, came from Clemson and envisions this place being like Clemson some day." https://www.cbssports.com/college-footba...17-season/