ISU Spring Practice - Day One

Above is a link to an article talking about the first day of spring practice for the Bengals. Guiterrez wasn't as impressive as many had hoped, but it takes time to learn a new system and gel with new receivers. Not sure how I missed this article, thanks to Ralph and his blog.

NAU To Begin Spring Practice Next Week

The Jacks will begin their spring practice on Tuesday, April 4th. They will hold their annual spring game on April 29th.

NAU Names New Offensive Coordinator

Keeth Matheny has been named the new offensive coordinator for the Lumberjacks, while Andy Thompson was promoted to running backs coach. Both bring an impressive resume to the table - Matheny has spend the previous eight years as a offensive coordinator, including the prior two at DII Missouri Southern State, where the offense broke all kinds of school records.

Griz fans may remember Thompson, who played four years with the Grizzlies, including the 2001 national championship team.

McBride Pleased With Progress

Head coach Ron McBride likes what he sees this spring. The Wildcats, coming off a nice turnaround (1-10 in '04, 6-5 in '06), started their spring practice last Saturday. McBride is getting his players to buy into his system, and a lot of talk in the article mentions kool-aid. Apparently, WSU is a cult. A cult that has a chance to make some serious noise in the Big Sky this year.

Site note: if anyone has a subscription to the Standard, that would be willing to let me post some stories, contact me. They have more stories about Weber than probably all the other papers combined, but I'm too poor for the 7 bucks a month fee.

MSU To Begin Spring Drills

Weather permitting, the Bobcats will begin spring practice today at 4 PM. Of course the biggest question has to be who will take over for the MSU legend Travis Lulay. There are three candidates in the running at this point - Hawaii transfer Jack Rolovich, 3rd year junior Cory Carpenter, and freshman Colin Beeson. Should be interesting to see who wins that job, as just being able to throw a good ball doesn't cut it at MSU.

More Spring Practice Info - Weber Style

Weber will also begin their spring practice on Saturday, March 25th. Weber returns 31 letterman and 12 starters from last years squad, including QB Ian Pizzaro, RBs Zach Hall and Adrian Conway, and WR Terry Larsen. The Wildcats were impressive in their first year under head coach Ron McBride, and many feel they will be even stronger than they were last year after finishing with an impressive 6-5 season, following a disastrous 1-10 outing.

UNC Spring Football Begins Saturday

Northern Colorado will begin their spring practice on Saturday, under first year head coach Scott Downing. That's about all I have to say about that.

ISU Spring Practice Information

ISU Spring Prospectus

Quarterback Matt Hagler has left Idaho State. I still think ISU could be very tough next year, they had a solid group of RBs and with Gutierrez (QB transfer from Michigan), the Bengals could have a pretty explosive offense.

QnA With Don Baily

Don Bailey, the fifth year offensive coordinator for Montana State, did a little interview with www.msubobcats.com. He talks about the quarterback position and dealing with the departure of Travis Lulay.

CSUS Adds Two To Coaching Staff

Jim House comes to Sacramento State after spending the past four years at San Diego State. With the Aztecs, he had the same responsibilities he will have with the Hornets. A veteran football coach, House began his career in 1974 at Wyoming. In his 11 years with the Cowboys, he coached the offensive line and linebackers. In 1986, House moved to Montana State where he was the assistant head coach and offensive line coach. The next season he travelled to San Jose State to lead the linebackers and special teams for three years. From 1990-2001, he was the assistant head coach at Nevada.

Michael Orthmann most recently served as a graduate assistant at Baylor where he worked with the tight ends in 2005. Prior to arriving at Baylor, Orthmann was an assistant coach at Southern Oregon, where he was the running backs and tight ends coach. From 2002-03, he was the associate head coach at Northern Arizona, where he helped lead the Lumberjacks to a share of the 2003 Big Sky Conference title and a berth into the 2003 Div. I-AA playoffs.

Sounds like a couple quality pickups for the Hornets.

NAU Tight End Dismissed From Team

(03/15/2006) FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Junior tight end Jason Zarate has been dismissed from the team for a violation of team policy. He saw action in all 11 games in 2005 with five starts. He had eight catches for 70 yards with one touchdown.

Viking Senior Dies In Automobile Accident

Ed Macon, who wouldv'e been a senior wideout this year, died in a one-car accident Saturday morning in Portland. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Montana Holds First Spring Practice

Montana fans and coaches got a first look at the 06-07 model of their Grizzlies today. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2006/03/13/sports/sports03.txt

How To Induce Interest In Sacramento

Sacramento State sports programs would benefit from more interest. Here are some suggestions:

1. Change the nickname from Hornets to something with the letter "X." The letter "X" exudes edginess.

2. Green and gold? Enough already. Time to ramp up the intimidation factor; go black and gold.

3. Cachet is everything. The Big Sky Conference is cachet-free. Forget the recreation/wellness center. Use that money to buy entry into the Pacific-10.

4. Play home basketball games at an even bigger venue, like Sacramento High School's pavilion.

5. Exit Herky the Hornet. Enter Spike.

And that is the reason you have no support. You'll find this attitude all over IAA, and it is the reason IAA has the stigma of small time - media portray it that way. Going IA is always the answer to fan support problems! I mean who wouldn't want to end up like IA powers such as Troy, Buffalo, Temple, and Idaho?

Anyway, the rest of the list gave me a small chuckle, except his jab at the Big Sky and IAA in general.

MSU Replaces Secondary Coach

With the departure of Jimmy Lake a few days ago, MSU wasted no time in finding a suitable replacement, Steve Perry. Coach Mike Kramer on Perry:

"Steve brings a wealth of experience on both the East Coast and West Coast to our staff," said Bobcat coach Mike Kramer. "We are familiar with the quality of work Tim Landis' staff produces on the defensive side of the ball, and it doesn't hurt to have a guy with an option background. Steve can coach corners and safeties, man and zone, he can do it all. He will be a great addition to our staff."

Also, former MSU standout Kane Ioane will aide Perry with defensive backs.

PSU Adds Third I-A Game

Portland State recently added Oregon to its' 2006 schedule, virtually eliminating themselves from any chance at a at-large bid. Is fan support that dismal in Portland that 3 I-As is the only way to break even? If that is the case, other changes besides scheduling as many I-As a year as you can should be implemented. A new marketing strategy or something along those lines. I've heard rumblings from fans in Portland that PSU may even be considering dropping football, which I hope is not true.

ISU Gets Fresno State Coach

Will Plemons, a defensive graduate assistant for Fresno State last season, has been signed to coach the defensive line at Idaho State. Has a fairly impressive resume at Fresno and should be a nice addition for the Bengals:

Coaching Career
Is in his second season as a graduate assistant coach with Fresno State ... will work primarily with the defense and will assist with the defensive line and film breakdown ... worked with the WAC's top defensive unit, and helped develop Fresno State's defensive linemen, including All-WAC performer Garrett McIntyre ... the Bulldog defense led the WAC in scoring defense, total defense, turnover margin, pass efficiency defense and pass defense ... two Bulldog linemen, Brian Morris and Claude Sanders, were selected honorable mention All-WAC ... comes to Fresno State from Cal Lutheran University, where he served in three different capacities from 1998-04 ... his coaching career began in 1998 as an assistant offensive line and tight end coach at CLU ... in 2000, he was elevated to the defensive line coach and strength and conditioning coordinator ... from 2003-04, he was also Cal Lutheran's recruiting coordinator ...while at CLU, Plemons helped guide seven all-conference players, one of whom ended up earning second-team All-America honors.

Sac State To Get Huge Facilities Upgrade

This is huge news for Sac fans. A long, long, long overdue major upgrade to facilities has been approved by the board of regents. This could be the recruitment boost the Hornets needed. The total cost of the upgrade is an astounding $68,772,000. They raised the intial $25 million through donations and the like, and now have the approval to move forward. The project is slated to begin this October. Here is a blurb from the huge PDF file this was taken from:

2. California State University, Sacramento
Recreation Wellness Center, Phases I and II PWCE $68,772,000
California State University, Sacramento, wishes to proceed with the design and construction of Phases I and II of the Recreation Wellness Center. The project will provide facilities to promote a well-rounded educational experience linking sports education, health/wellness, athletics, and
campus activities.

The planned Event Center Arena and Stadium Improvement projects will
complete the future build-out of the sports complex.
As part of the first phase of the Recreation Wellness Center, the existing undersized field house must be relocated to free up adequate space closer to the campus core for the student health center functions, and the student life sports activities. The existing field house (along with three
trailers) no longer meets the programmatic and space needs of the university. The new facility will be two-stories, approximately 27,000 GSF, built on the south end of the existing Hornet Stadium and integrated into the current and future expansion of the stadium and track and field
venue. The new athletic training facility will provide space for strength and conditioning weight room, coaches’ offices, meeting rooms, sports medicine, and locker rooms for the football and track and field programs.

The project is currently designed to finish the first floor spaces
completely and leave approximately 9,000 GSF of shell space on the second floor that will be completed using donor funds. The initial phase is estimated to cost $8,943,000 for design and construction.

Phase II of the Recreation Wellness Center, approximately 140,000 GSF, will construct basketball/volleyball courts, racquetball courts, a fitness center, fitness classrooms, equipment room and checkout, recreational sports offices, an indoor running track, and locker and shower
rooms on the northern end of the stadium. The Center will also replace the existing Student Health Center (#33) and provide students with a traditional health center and emergency care services. Medical care programs will be balanced with mental health, nutrition, fitness, and
exercise. New programs and services provided through this facility will enrich the quality of student life and promote on-campus activities. This second phase is estimated to cost $59,829,000 for design, construction, and equipment.

In spring 2004, the students voted and passed an increase in the university union fee to fund the Recreation Wellness Center project. Language in the fee increase referendum required that the
university raise $25,000,000 of donor funds prior to the fee implementation, which the campus has recently achieved.

An additional one million dollars in funding will be provided from
Student Health Center Reserves. The funding for the initial phase of the Recreation Wellness Center, relocating the field house, will be financed through the CSU Systemwide Revenue Bond program based on anticipated revenues from the auxiliary lease payments and future donations for the completion of the second floor.

RESOLVED, By the Board of Trustees of the California State University, that the 2005/06 Nonstate Funded Capital Outlay Program be amended to include:
1) $68,772,000 for preliminary plans, working drawings,
construction and equipment for the California State University, Sacramento, Recreation Wellness Center, Phase I ($8,943,000) and Phase II ($59,829,000) project.

MSU/CSUS To Lose Scholarships

The latest APR (Academic Performance Program) rankings have been released, and Montana State along with Sacramento State will both lose several football scholarships, with CSUS losing several other scholarships in various other sports as well. I believe these penalties go into affect today, but am not sure if you have to cut players with scholarships, or if you have to wait until a player leaves and you are simply not allowed to use that scholarship until the penalty timeframe is up. If someone could clarify that for me, it would be appreciated.

Montana State - Loses 3 football scholarships.
Sacramento State - Loses 4 football scholarships, 1 basketball, 1 baseball, and 2 in each of women's indoor track, women's outdoor track, and women's cross country.
Portland State - Loses 1 men's track scholarship.