31 May
May ’09 Blog Notes
* May 31st 10:45 p.m.
- As first reported by Scout.com, Tipton H.S. (IN) 2010 center Ethan Jacobs (6-11.5, 210) gave Ohio basketball coach John Groce a verbal commitment Sunday after taking an unofficial visit to Athens earlier this month.
- Immediate reaction: ‘Cats fans should hope this near seven-footer from Indiana is half as good as the last big man Groce recruited from the Hoosier state while with the Buckeyes (See: Oden, Greg).
- This is an upside recruit if there has ever been one. Case in point, Jacobs does not even have a Rivals.com page. Jacobs will need to be defensive minded early on–Ohio’s newest big man will be responsible for slowing down 2009 super-recruit Zeke Marshall at Akron for three seasons.
* May 31st
- Bowling Green has added Michigan to its non-conference football slate in 2010.
- As first discussed several months ago on “The Jim Schaus Show on The Sears Sports Fan”, Ohio athletics will debut the Bobcat Student Park this fall for Ohio football games. According to a student-wide e-mail sent out Friday morning by the athletics department, the practice fields next to Peden Stadium “will feature inflatable games, free food, and a DJ. Tailgating tents will be available to reserve and will allow you to grill out in a social, festive atmosphere prior to home Ohio Football games.”
- The Columbus Dispatch reports 2010 PG prospect Aaron Craft from Liberty-Benton H.S. (OH) will commit to Ohio State after recently de-committing from Tennessee.
- Oklahoma University A.D. Joe Castiglione was recently named the Athletic Director of the Years by the Sports Business Awards. Former Ohio University A.D. Kirby Hocutt learned from the best.
- More to come.
* May 26th
- Congratulations to Ohio men’s hoops Director of Basketball Operations Aaron Fuss, who married the former Jill Samples this weekend.
- Trimble High School has hired Curt Moore as its new varsity boys basketball coach. Moore is a science teacher at the middle school who was the varsity girls coach last year.
- Federal Hocking High School A.D. John Murphy tells me the school is currently putting in new bleachers, lighting, and backboards at the basketball gym.
- The guest list so far this week on “The Sears Sports Fan”: Ohio State closer Jake Hale from Alexander High School joined us tonight, Coach Moore (Wednesday), Tom Hodson in-studio (Thursday).
- The podcasts are now up from the last several shows, including the final installment of the year for “The Jim Schaus Show”.
- Liberty-Benton High (Ohio) 2010 PG Aaron Craft (6-1) de-committed from Tennessee. FoxSports.com reports the four-star recruit likely will stay closer to home. Don’t expect Ohio to go after Craft with the one 2010 scholarship available right now and D.J. Cooper, James Kinney and Armon Bassett set to still be on the roster for 10-11. But Craft (Miami, BG) could still ending up playing in the MAC.
* May 24th
- Greetings from St. Louis where I just watched the Royals upend the Cardinals to avoid a Busch Stadium Sunday afternoon sweep. The starting pitchers drove in two of the five total runs scored between the two teams.
- The Post reported Friday Ohio Athletics and the Marching 110 will each get much-needed funding thanks to a budget surplus.
- Bobcat athletics will receive $100,000. The Marching 110 will get $120,000, making band Director Richard Suk extremely happy. “Good news indeed,” Suk wrote via e-mail Friday. “I am excited about it! It was unrequested and given from the student body, namely Student Senate.”
- Suk said the money will be used in a variety of areas: “[T]hree new tubas, six new trombones, some new uniforms (as many as we can afford), money for the MAC Basketball (tournament), money for taking the band to Knoxville for the Tennessee (football) game, money for getting the kids here early for the Sept. 5 (football) game, equipment for the new band setup in Peden, and some for the Rose Parade.”
- FootballScoop.com reports Ohio football graduate assistant Brian Haines accepted the same role with West Virginia. He has been replaced by student-assistant Nick Saum.
- Ohio’s big three of football, men’s basketball and baseball finished with a combined record of 48-49 in 2008-2009.
- More to come. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend.
* May 19th
- Brett Dawson of the Louisville Courier-Journal will be a guest on “The Sears Sports Fan” tonight at 6:15. He is the University of Kentucky basketball beat writer. The Wildcats received a committment from the nation’s top player, John Wall, Tuesday.
- Tomorrow Brian Boesch will call in from Chillicothe to recap Ohio’s 12:30 p.m. MAC Tournament tilt with Toledo on the show. We’ll have complete coverage from the tournament all week long, including player interviews and much, much more. All the games can be heard on WATH 970-AM in Athens.
- New MAC Commissioner Dr. Jon A. Steinbrecher is set to be a guest on “The Jim Schaus Show on The Sears Sports Fan” Thursday evening.
- More to come.
* May 17th
- Congrats to fellow J-School student Bryan Levin, who will intern at 97.1 The Fan WBNS-FM in Columbus this summer.
- Soon-to-be Ohio grad Bryan Wiegel, who served as the Volleyball Bobcats’ team manager last season, will be the new Assistant Director of Marketing at High Point University.
- Did you know? Chicago Bulls radio voice Chuck Swirsky and Chicago Cubs television analyst Bob Brenly attended Ohio together for four years in the 1970s. Each graduated in 1976.
- I’m told Ohio hoops coach John Groce has been raving at the work ethic of Kenneth van Kempen. KVK has lost 21 pounds to date this offseason.
- Ohio baseball should be pleased with its third seed for the MAC Tournament, which begins Wednesday. The ‘Cats won’t have to face top-seeded Bowling Green or league favorite Kent State until the championship. A potential second round match-up with the fastest team in the league, Ball State, looms for Thursday. The Cardinals have stolen a Carl Crawford-esque 112 bases in 47 games at an 83% success rate.
- The stunning sports news in Southeast Ohio this week? Nelsonville-York football coach Dave Boston Jr. was fired after six fantastic seasons with the Buckeyes. He lost just one league game and led N-Y to five playoff appearances. As The Athens Messenger first reported, it wasn’t about wins, though that was as far as the school superintendent would go.
- The spectacular field turf surface in Buchtel is named after Dave Boston Sr., who led N-Y to their lone state championship in 1981. There have been just 3 coaches to ever take reigns of that football program.
- Very interesting move for one of the best football programs in the area. There is a board meeting Monday at 5 p.m. This story probably is not going away.
- A major league baseball tidbit: The N.L. Central is the only division in baseball with four teams who have won at least 20 games. Only one other division (A.L. East) has two 20-win teams and the A.L. Central has no 20-game winners.
- Ohio State closer Jake Hale (Alexander H.S.) set a new single-season record with his 15th save in a Buckeyes’ win over Iowa Saturday.
- More to come.
* May 9th
- Congrats to the Ohio Volleyball program for a perfect Academic Progress Rate grade. Lost in the credit for this beyond the student-athletes and head coach Ryan Theis is former Bobcats leader Geoff Carlston. Keep in mind who recruited these fine young women and who coached them for three of the four years represented in the latest APR.
- Speaking on “The Jim Schaus Show on The Sears Sports Fan,” Lady ‘Cats hoops coach Semeka Randall said there were three coaches she went to for advice during her first year as head coach: Tennessee’s Pat Summit, Duke Lady Blue Devils assistant Al Brown, and West Virginia men’s assistant Larry Harrison.
- With the departures of Lauren Hmiel, Chandra Myers, Kyla Rollins, Allie LaForce and Tracey Snider, Randall will return 68% of the points scored last season for 2009-10.
- Ohio A.D. Jim Schaus is one of 13 members on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee. Other notables on the committee include Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon, Notre Dame coach Mike Brey and Texas Tech A.D. Gerald L. Myers. Schaus’ term expires September 2011. The group met earlier this week and discussed an assortment of ideas.
- More to come.
* May 4th
- Some bad news out of Marshall football: Click Here for more
- And more about the fuzzy A.D. situation for the Thundering Herd
- Ohio University E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Director Tom Hodson is hosting a new four-episode show on WOUB-TV this month. Click Here to learn more.
- The San Mateo Daily Journal reports the Bobcats have picked up a commitment from The College of San Mateo defensive tackle Jamie Fehoko (6-2, 280). Fehoko’s Scout.com profile
- Interesting to note former Kent State QB Julian Edelman is a CSMCC product. Edelman was a 7th round pick to the Patriots a few weeks ago.
- This obviously would provide the ‘Cats with some much needed help on the interior defensive line, arguably the weakest position group in terms of depth. A bit of an unheard of from a pretty established JUCO, we’ll see if Fehoko ends up on the gridiron for Ohio this fall.