* February 28th (12:15 pm)
- The 2008 football schedule for the Ohio Bobcats will be released in a few hours.
- Don't forget we will have Kirby Hocutt on the show tonight from 6-6:30. Send us your questions for Mr. Hocutt.
- Concordia head volleyball coach Brady Starkey said he did not apply for the head volleyball coach opening at Ohio University. Word is that at least two names from two major conferences have applied for the position.
- ESPN.com writer and mid-major expert Kyle Whelliston will be in attendance at The Convo next week when Akron comes to town. Check out Whelliston's website by visiting www.midmajority.com.
* February 25th Part II
- Bobcats guard Mike Allen will now be the one live in-studio on "The SportsFan" tonight with Jimmy and I from roughly 6:40-7:15. Shoot us your questions for Mike or call-in and ask him yourself (740-592-6646 or toll free 888-592-6646). Leon is a bit busy with his studies, which obviously are more important than rambling sports talk shows.
* February 25th
- Bobcats forward and MAC Player of the Year candidate Leon Williams will be live, in-studio on "The SportsFan" with Jimmy and I tonight around 6:40 after The Sylvia Crawley Coaches Show on 970 WATH-AM in Athens. You can listen to the show on Athensi.com. If you miss it live, the podcast will be available afterwards. Shoot us your questions for Leon (sports@970WATH.com) or call-in and ask him yourself (740-592-6646 or toll free 888-592-6646).
* February 24th
- Ohio Bobcats 2008 football recruit Bakari Bussey has not qualified for college yet. He can take the tests again in April and May. Maybe the Brendton Williams signing is based on the fact that Bussey has yet to qualify.
- I will be filling in for Tom Hodson and handling the play-by-play duties for the women’s OBSN broadcast on Wednesday night against Bowling Green.
- Kirby Hocutt will be on the phone during for the first half hour of “The SportsFan” this Thursday. Just like last time, e-mail us your questions for Hocutt and we will read as many of them as we can on the air.
* February 23rd
- A couple of notes and quotes from the ‘Cats win over George Mason on Saturday:
- Bubba Walther: “I know that we take a lot of pride in our home court. I think we put on a good show for the rest of the country to see what Ohio Basketball is all about.”
- O’Shea on women’s coach Sylvia Crawley’s routine with the dance team during a time out in the first half: “How was she?...There’s no possibility of me performing here. Maybe we could get Bakari (Alexander) out there. Bakari’s got some rhythm, and he’s a real showman, but not me. That would never happen. Never happen.”
- “I hope I can see a tape of it. She’ll do anything for a little recruiting exposure,” joked O’Shea.
- Here’s the question of the year. Will Ohio now show up and play on the road at Miami next Saturday? I’m not convinced that they will, but I sure hope so. I’ve been let down before. Because of that, I think there should be no expectations for the contest against the Redhawks.
- Ohio has scored 97 points combined in the second halves the last two games.
- Without a doubt, Justin Orr is the biggest disappointment of the year for this hoops team. He is just lost. Here’s a suggestion. Instead of letting Orr give 15-20 worthless minutes every night, why don’t we let DeVaughn Washington and Allen Hester pick up some more of that time. Both are better defenders. It’s not like Orr has been giving you any offense, anyway.
- I understand the win was big over George Mason, but I don’t know if it merited a storming of the floor. The fact that the O-Zone stands just inches away from the sideline increases the likelihood of these occurrences.
- Speaking of the crowd, it sure looked like more than 7,439.
- Jim Larranaga did not speak with the media following the game.
- While on Larranaga, was the constant whistling after one of his players made a three pointer really necessary?
- You have to feel good for Leon Williams—first to go home and win at Maryland, and then to shut up his former high school rival, Will Thomas. After the game, Williams told reporters he outplayed Thomas, but seemingly did not want to say much more. It is clear the two are not big fans of one another.
- More to come about the game in my Monday column in The Athens NEWS.
* February 22nd Part II
- I just spoke with Steve Becvar, a former basketball player and graduate of Ohio University. After speaking with Becvar I came away impressed by his personable attitude, but again, I don’t know the likelihood that he would leave a great situation at the University of San Diego. Becvar has been the Associate Director of Athletics for Marketing & Sponsorship for just two weeks. He acknowledged he would at least listen if Ohio University contacted him. “I would certainly listen,” said Becvar. “But I have been very committed with my work at hand as far as USD.”
- One of the biggest reasons I am pessimistic about Becvar’s chances to become the new A.D. at Ohio traces back to his family. Becvar has three children—two boys ages 12 and 10, including a daughter who is a standout sophomore volleyball player in high school. Becvar did admit the possibility of having to ask his daughter to move across country two years before college would be hard to do.
- Stay tuned for more updates.
* February 22nd
- I spoke with Jon McBride, the Athletics Director at Division II Nebraska-Kearney. McBride acknowledged he has heard his name floating around regarding the opening Director of Athletics spot at Ohio University. “I do know quite a few folks in town, and have received some calls about the situation so I am aware of it and cognizant of it,” McBride said.
- McBride is an alumnus of Ohio University, and applied for the Director of Athletics opening in the 90’s that was eventually given to Tom Boeh. “It’s no secret that I interviewed for the job before,” said McBride adding, “I’m very happy at the Division II level. Whether I would look at that or not is a really good question. I don’t think you ever say never to things in life, so I don’t really know.”
- McBride is on a year-to-year contract at Nebraska-Kearney. “I’ve got a great, exciting situation here. It is an excellent division II program.”
- In completely unrelated news, if you are attending the George Mason game tomorrow, you might want to stay in your seat during media timeouts and/or halftime. Just for a tease, I will leave it at that.
* February 21st
- I spoke with Mark Wilson, the Director of Athletics at Tennessee Tech University. Wilson, who signed an extension through 2012 at TTU this past summer, served as an associate A.D. a few years ago at Ohio University.
- Wilson downplayed any talk about the opening Director of Athletics position at OU. “I’m in a great situation here,” said the 38-year-old Wilson. “We had a great experience at Ohio but we are doing great things at Tennessee Tech and we are very happy here as well.”
- Wilson did admit that he heard his name was being floated around as a possible candidate. “I had heard that,” he noted. “Nobody from the university has officially contacted me regarding their opening or anything of that nature.”
- I don’t know if OU will be after Wilson or not, but I can tell you this after speaking with him shortly this morning—if Ohio does decide to go after Wilson I can see why. He was extremely personable and easy to talk to. I have a feeling, however, that it might be hard to sway Wilson away from a good situation at TTU. Just a hunch.
* February 20th Part II
- Many probably noticed Leon Williams went scoreless in the first half against Bowling Green last night. It was the third time this season that has occurred (New Mexico State and the first Kent State game). It was just the ninth time Williams had failed to score a bucket in the first half his entire career. It happened four times as a freshman and twice as a sophomore (Northern Illinois on January 17th and Buffalo on January 20th). It did not happen once his junior season. So in 120 career games, Leon has been scoreless for the first 20 minutes just nine times. Incredible.
- Jon Sciambi and Mark Adams will have the call of the ESPN2 broadcast of the Bracketbusters contest on Saturday at The Convo.
* February 20th
- Kirby Hocutt’s last day of work at Ohio University will reportedly be April 15th. There is a possibility that a new Athletic Director could be selected by then.
- Speaking of athletic directors, tonight on “The SportsFan” Jimmy and I talked about the possibility of Tom Hodson becoming the A.D. We have joked about the subject the last two weeks, but I think it deserves a serious conversation, one we hope to have tomorrow with Hodson. Clearly, Hodson is qualified.
- Thanks to all of those who have submitted their votes for the 1st Annual TroopSports.com Fan Poll. I’m going to wait until March 1st to release the results. I can say, however, there are several surprises in the voting, already. Stay tuned, and keep on voting.
- Last night’s win over Bowling Green was a good one. My only concern is with Allen Hester taking 11 shots, second most to Jerome Tillman (12) on the night. I don’t know if I want Hester to be shooting that much. I don’t mind him starting, and I love his defensive tenacity, but he seemed to force a few shots last night.
- That said, he can’t be much worse than Justin Orr. He has been a disappointment of talent thus far.
- The worst part about the announced crowd of 3,486 last night? According to one of the callers on our radio show, the season ticket holder’s seats are counted, even if they are not filled with bodies. I sure hope the Bobcats’ next mid-week home game will have a better turnout.
- Want to know the single biggest difference between Tim O’Shea’s squad and the women’s basketball team? The Lady ‘Cats get the job done on the road for games they should win. Need evidence? Crawley’s squad has had no bad road losses. They lost at Michigan, Bowling Green, Pitt and Butler this season.
- More to come as I dig further and further in to this sex tape scandal.
* February 17th
- Make sure you check out The 1st Annual TroopSports.com Fan Poll. If there is anyone I left out of the voting ballot please let me know as soon as possible.
- I know the Fan Poll is coming out during the middle of the sports season, but with all that has happened the last few months, there is plenty to debate about. I'm interested to see the voter response to several of these categories. It should be a lot of fun.
* February 15th
- Ohio University Women's Basketball play-by-play broadcaster and director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Tom Hodson will be in-studio with Jimmy and I for the "The SportsFan" tonight.