Assistants Suddenly Get The Call
With the sudden and apparently lengthy absences of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and UNLV’s Tim Grgurich from the sidelines, interim coach has become a well-used phrase.
Pete Gaudet, who had taken over for Krzyzewski while the coach rests at home after trying to come back too soon from back surgery, and Howie Landa, who replaced Grgurich when the Rebels coach was hospitalized for symptons of exhaustion, were faces and names known to most people who follow college basketball closely.
They are not the only interims working right now, as five others have that tag as part of their title.
Doug Durham has been running the Georgia Southern program since Frank Kerns resigned one game into the season amid allegations of improper help to a recruit. Judas Prada took over at South Alabama four games into the seasons when Ronnie Arrow suddenly resigned following consecutive blowout losses.
Lynn Ramage has been the interim head coach at Morgan State since being promoted to the post in September when Michael Holmes stepped down. Harry Miller took over at Baylor just before the season began after Darrel Johnson was fired amid allegations of illegal help to recruits that eventually brought about federal wire fraud charges.
Charlie Parker was promoted to the interim position at Southern Cal just before the season began when George Raveling announced his retirement to concentrate on his rehabilitation from serious injuries sustained in an auto accident.
The interim seven have something else in common besides their transient titles: a decided lack of success in the won-loss department. Their combined record through Thursday night’s games stood at 29-53, with Landa’s 2-2 mark with the Runnin’ Rebels the only one at .500 or better.
Feathered enemies
The NCAA’s fighting rule is clear: a second ejection for fighting and a player is suspended for the rest of the season. There will have to be some close scrutiny of the rule to see if it involves mascots as well.
Temple’s Owl and St. Joseph’s Hawk, two winged species which have seemed to thrive well alongside each other in forests and on mountains, just couldn’t get through 40 minutes on a basketball court.
The Owl and the Hawk, the latter known for flapping his wings non-stop througout every St. Joe’s game, started throwing phony punches at each other last Sunday at Temple’s McGonigle Hall. One of the Owl’s punches was a little too real and knocked the Hawk’s head off. That set off a real fight that needed security guards and cheerleaders to be broken up.
Both mascots were ejected and Temple went on to win the game 76-64. Both Philadelphia fliers should be on their best behavior when the teams meet again Feb. 28.
Off the Cuff
Ryan Cuff has announced he was transferring from the Arizona State program because of a lack of playing time. That’s the second time in three seasons the shooting guard has made that move.
He played as a freshman at Brigham Young and then decided to leave the program. He sat out a season at Arizona State and began playing this season, averaging 3.0 points and 0.9 rebounds in 7.5 minutes over the first 13 games. Should the 23-year-old Utah native transfer to another Division I program, he would have to sit out another season and then have 1 seasons of eligibility remaining.
Gender milestone
History of sorts was made at the recent NCAA convention when Monmouth College was represented by president Dr. Rebecca Stafford, athletic director Dr. Marilyn McNeil, associate athletic director Joan Martin and faculty representative Dr. Marilyn Parker. According to the NCAA, that was the first all-female Division I voting delegation at a convention.
Ship shape
How about that freshman in the Patriot League being named the conference’s rookie of the week three consecutive times? It’s not Adonal Foyle of Colgate, but Navy’s Michael Heary.
Heary averaged 22.7 points and 4.0 boards in three wins last week.