Mansa El Selected For WBCA’s “So You Want To Be A Coach” Program At Final Four
With the NCAA Basketball Tournament getting close to the end, a University of South Alabama women’s basketball player will be making an appearance at this weekend’s Final Four being held in New Orleans.
Senior Mansa El was one of just 50 student-athletes from around the country who was chosen last month to participate in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association’s 11th Annual “So You Want To Be A Coach” program. It’s a three day workshop that is scheduled to begin on Friday in conjunction with the WBCA National Convention in New Orleans.
This program’s mission is to assist female collegiate basketball players who are interested in pursuing a coaching career in women’s basketball. It gives them professional development and career advancement through education, skills enhancement, networking and opportunities for exposure. It also helps to increase awareness regarding the availability of talented female basketball players who want to become a coach.
There are six criteria an applicant must meet in order to be selected. They must have exhausted their final year of basketball eligibility at a four-year institution or graduated in the past year, they want to pursue a career in coaching, be a credit to the sport of women’s basketball both on and off the court, been nominated by their head coach, have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 and be able to attend all three days of the program.
They also have to write an essay, submit her resume and have a letter of recommendation sent in for her.
El had to wait for over a month while all of the applications were evaluated and, just before the Sun Belt Tournament, she received the notice that she received an invitation.
El has been a member of the Lady Jaguar basketball team for the last three seasons, starting at point guard for the last two seasons. She is set to earn her degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in May and is looking to pursue a coaching position.
During the three day clinic, the selected participants will see several 45-minute on-court demonstrations that will be presented by some of the leading coaches in the game. They will also attend seminars on a variety of topics such as how to balance a coaching career and live, recruiting, how to hire a staff and preparing for interviews. They will also participate in mock interview sessions on Sunday to use what they ahve learned during the seminar. On Saturday morning, they will assist the WBCA coaches with the NCAA Youth Clinics.
Rubit Earns Honorable Mention All-America Honors From AP
Rubit added another honors to his shelf on Monday. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
Augustine Rubit has garnered yet another national honor this off season. This time he was named Honorable Mention All-America by The Associated Press on Monday.
Rubit is the first Jaguar since Terry Catledge in 1984 to receive an All-America status from the Associated Press.
He led the Sun Belt in rebounding with 10.5 per game and was second in scoring with 19.4 points per game and also second in the conference in double-doubles with 16. He is also the first player in Sun Belt history to lead the conference in rebounding for three consecutive years.
Rubit set a new school record for free throws in a season with 198 while ranking third school history for rebounds with 315 and seventh in points with 582 in one season. He also became the first Jaguar to be named to the All-Sun Belt First Team in consecutive seasons since 2008 and is only the sixth to earn all-conference recognition three times.
Congratulations Aug!
Augustine Rubit Adds To His Season Honors
Rubit adds more honors to his shelf on Wednesday. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
The Jaguars basketball season may be over but Augustine Rubit continues to collect more honors. Rubit has already been named the 2012-2013 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year by the coach and media of the Sun Belt and Sun Belt Player of the year from four different organizations including CollegeInsider.com.
Rubit has also been named to the Lou Henson All-America Team by CollegeInsider.com and All-District 24 First Team by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He was also named to the fourth team All-Mid Major by College Sports Madness.
Rubit is the only representative from the Sun Belt to be named to the Henson All-America team which consists of 25 players from mid-major Division I conferences.
Aug was the leading rebounder in the conference with 10.5 per game and finished second in the conference in scoring with 19.4 points per game, both ranking in the top 10 in the nation. He also earned 16 double-doubles during the season.
Jags Hire Butler Associate Head Coach Matthew Graves
USA announced the hiring of Matthew Graves as the programs 10th head basketball coach on Monday. Photo by butler.edu.
The University of South Alabama announced the hiring of a coach to take over the Men’s basketball program on Monday. Dr. Joel Erdmann, Athletics Director at South Alabama announced the hiring of Butler associate head coach Matthew Graves as the Jags 10th head basketball coach.
Graves hopes to duplicate some of the NCAA tournament success Butler has enjoyed over the recent years. And Graves does not think that winning will take long for the Jags in the Sun Belt conference. That was his message tot he team prior to Monday’s new conference as well.
“We’re here next year to compete for a championship,” Graves said. “This is not a rebuilding process. This is not a reloading process. This is a process that we’re going to have sustained success starting next year. That is the goal from Day one. We’re going to put a team out there that everyone’s going to be proud of on and off the court.”
He replaces Ronnie Arrow who retired 10 games into the season as the programs winningest coach and the winningest coach in the Sun Belt after surpassing Gene Bartow earlier in the season. Arrow has since been overtaken by Kermit Davis of Middle Tennessee for the conference’s winningest coach.
Associate head coach Jeff Price filled in as interim head coach the rest of the season and led the Jags to a 12-8 record during his tenure and a #3 seed in the Sun Belt Tournament but fell to eventual champion Western Kentucky in the quarterfinals. The Jags then fell to Tulane in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
Graves has been an assistant coach at Butler for nine seasons and was promoted to associate head coach in 2010. During both the 2010 and 2011 seasons Butler made it to the NCAA championship game. However they lost to Marquette in the second round of the NCAA tournament this season.
Graves played for Butler from 1993-1998 and was a member of the program’s first NCAA tournament team in 35 years. He was voted the teams Most Valuable Player as a senior by leading the team to a second consecutive tournament appearance. He still ranks in the top 10 in career 3-pointers and three throw shooting.
Graves did not know much about South Alabama until he got the first email from Dr. Erdmann about the opening. But he came away impressed with the peoplee and the facilities. “I didn’t know a lot about South Alabama except for that moment before I looked into it,” Graves told ESPN.com. “People ask why South Alabama? Why would a Midwest guy want to go to South Alabama. When I came down to look at campus, I was sold right away. I understood there was some history here, good tradition. The Mitchell Center is a phenomenal facility to recruit to.”
Dr. Erdmann was sold on Graves after the interview. “If you look at coach Graves’ background and the world that he has lived in over the past decade-plus, what they have been able to accomplish at an institution that is not too dissimilar from one of ours is nothing short of spectacular,” Erdmann said to ESPN.com. “The resume got him an interview. The resume and the accomplishments got him involved in the search, but the interview landed the job.”
“He is a man that when you get to know him, you will understand and appreciate why this decision was made. He is a tremendous basketball person. He lives the game. He understands the game. He knows how to teach the game. He knows how to recruit and he knows how to create a program that will have a sustained level of success.”
Brad Stevens, Butler’s head coach and Graves’ former mentor, is happy for him. “I could not be more thrilled for both Matthew and South Alabama. He is a terrific person and coach, who will undoubtedly bring great credit to the university,” Stevens said. “He’s an excellent communicator who understands what it takes to win at the highest level. We thank him for the 17 total years he spent at Butler as a player and staff member. He had a tremendous impact on Butler basketball.”
The news also excited the Jaguars fan base. Many were thinking that Price might get the position after what he was able to do with the program after Arrow’s retirement. However they believe Erdmann hit it out of the park with the hiring of Graves. Price has already been mentioned for other positions.
Price stepped into a difficult situation and did a good job despite losing probably the programs best shooter in Xavier Roberson to off-the-court problems and Freddie Goldstein to a broken collarbone. But the Jags managed to grind out wins but with their thin ranks and opponent’s attention on Augustine Rubit, the Jags could not get wins the conference tournament nor could they get a win in the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Jags Season Ends With 84-73 Loss To Tulane In CollegeInsider.com Tournament
The South Alabama Jaguars men’s basketball team had their season end Wednesday night as they fell 84-73 in New Orleans to the Tulane Green Wave.
Over the final five minutes of the game Tulane used a 9-0 run to clinch the win over the Jags in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Jags end the season with a 17-13 overall record while the Green Wave improve to 20-14 and advance in the tournament.
The difference in the game was from the free throw line as Tulane went 27-of-37 from the charity stripe.
Junior Augustine Rubit was the games top scorer with 31 points with 25 of them coming after halftime including 15 consecutive late in the game. He was 12-of-18 shooting from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Mychal Ammons scored 11 points while Javier Carter just missed a double-double with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Freddie Goldstein would add four points in his final game of his career at USA and his first returning from a broken collarbone.
Josh Davis of Tulane earned his 19th double-double of the season with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Kendall Timmons and Ricky Tarrant both added 13 points each.
The Jags trailed all of the final 38:55 of the game but would not allow themselves to be put away. Barrington Stevens III would pull the Jags within two points with 12:37 left but that would be as close as they could get, the closest they would get the rest of the way out would be four points.
“I thought our guys fought extremely hard in some tough situations,” interim head coach Jeff Price said after the game. “It was hard to get a flow of the game. Because of the free throws, you couldn’t get a rhythm or a flow going. We got in to foul trouble, particularly with Aug in the first half. I thought our guys were resilient like they always have been, it just caught up with us in the end.”
“It was another unbelievable effort by him [Augustine Rubit],” Price said. “Again, those numbers came with him being double and triple teamed. He did a nice job kicking it out and just played extremely well.”
“I’m proud of our guys,” said Price. “They’ve been tremendous all year. They like each other, they play hard and they play together. As a coach, that’s all you can ask for.”
Now the focus will turn towards the coaching search, which Jeff Price is a candidate for, to see who will be the next men’s head basketball coach at South Alabama.
Goldstein Cleared To Play Just In Time For CollegeInsider.com Basketball Tournament
Freddie Goldstein medically cleared to play after missing seven weeks with a broken collarbone. Photo by John Adams | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Freddie Goldstein was cleared to play for the Jaguars in the CollegeInsider.com Basketball Tournament.
Goldstein suffered a broken collarbone against Western Kentucky on January 24 at the Mitchell Center. At first the injury looked to have ended his senior season but after seven weeks of watching from the sidelines, he was cleared by team doctors on Monday. The Jags will travel to play Tulane in New Orleans on Wednesday in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Goldstein started 17 of 18 games prior to his injury while averaging 8.1 points and 2.3 rebounds per game with 45 assists. Interim head coach Jeff Price is happy to have Goldstein back, as are fans. it is unknown how much time he may see in the game against Tulane after finally hitting the court with the team on Monday. But if the Jaguars advance, it is expected with more practice time he could see more playing time.
But that depends on the Jaguars advancing in the tournament.
The Jags and the Green Wave are set to tip-off at 7pm.
South Alabama Sports Weekend Update
Baseball
The South Alabama Jaguars clinched the series against Troy with an 11-10 win on Friday night and a 7-5 win on Saturday but fell in the third game 7-8 as they were unable to complete the sweep in the conference opener.
USA scored seven unanswered runs in the final two innings which included a game-winning home run by Nick Zaharion to bring home the 11-10 win.
On Saturday, Dylan Stamey tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief while Kyle Bartsch pitched a perfect ninth inning as the Jags won 7-5 and clinch the series against Troy on Saturday. Stamey allowed one hit and one walk while striking out a career-high five batters he faced to earn his fourth win of the season. Bartsch struck out one in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.
The Jags gave up five runs in the seventh inning as they fell to Troy 7-8 in the Sunday finale against the Trojans. The Jags held a 5-3 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning but an error allowed the Trojans to cut the lead to 5-4. Then a two-run double would put the Trojans in the lead 5-6. Then one batter later a three-run home run would put the Jags up 8-5.
USA would score two more runs in the game but could not manufacture another run to tie the game up. The Jags improve to 17-4 overall over the weekend and 2-1 in Sun Belt play while Troy falls to 12-6 overall and 1-2 in Sun Belt play.
USA will travel to Hammond, Louisiana to take on Southeastern Louisiana University on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6pm.
Softball
The South Alabama softball team won two out the three games over the weekend against #22 ranked Louisiana-Lafayette at Jaguar Field by scores of 7-3 and 8-4.
Senior Brittany Fowler batted .833 with three home runs, four runs scored and seven RBI on Saturday alone. She went 5-for-6 with a slugging percentage of 2.333.
Hannah Campbell and Farish Beard each pitched complete games on Saturday. Hannah struck out two to improve to 10-4 on the season while Beard struck out three and only allowed four hits to improve to 10-0 on the season.
The Jags fell 1-2 in the third game of the series on Sunday as Kaitlyn Griffith hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to give the Jags an early lead. ULL took the lead for good with a two-run fourth inning.
Ragin’ Cajun pitcher Jordan Wallace struck out 15 Jaguars on the way to the win.
The Jags improve to 23-5 overall over the weekend and 2-1 in Sun Belt play. ULL comes out of the weekend with a 19-11 record overall and 2-4 in conference play.
The Lady Jaguars will host UAB on Wednesday with a first pitch set for 4pm at Jaguar Field. They previously defeated the Blazers 8-2 on March 2 in the Magic City Classic.
Men’s Basketball
The season isn’t quite over just yet. The Jags will participate in the postseason for the first time in five years after accepting a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.
The Jags will face the Green Wave of Tulane on Wednesday at Devlin Fieldhouse in Louisiana. Tipoff is set for 7pm.
This is the fifth year for the CIT and it’s 32 team tournament. Previous winners of the tournament are Old Dominion (2009), Missouri State (2010), Santa Clara (2011) and Mercer (2012).
Interim head coach Jeff Price’s tenure on the court with be extended at least one more game. The Jags are in the midst of a coaching search for the head coaching position, which Price is also vying for.
The Jags are 17-12 on the season and went 14-6 in Sun Belt play. Tulane has a 19-14 record overall, it’s best since the 1999-2000 season.
Women’s Basketball
In a bit of a surprise on Friday, Athletics Director Joel Erdmann announced that he had relieved head coach Rick Pietri of his duties after 13 seasons at the helm of the women’s program.
“We will begin a national search immediately and look far and wide and near and far for who the next coach will be,” Erdmann said to AL.com. “It will be very similar to other searches that we have conducted. Obviously, we are looking for someone who has ties to competitive success and winning, while at the same time maintaining their eye on excellence in the classroom and managing a tremendous overall program.”
Pietri, in a phone interview with AL.com was very grateful of former AD Joe Gottfried for hiring a boys’ high school coach in 2000 to take over a women’s program that had struggled for several years. He also indicated that only one of his seasons was not better than the 10 season’s previous to his.
Pietri leaves as the school’s all-time winningest coach with a record of 220-167 and 111-104 record against Sun Belt Conference opponents. He had three 20-win seasons, the most recent in the 2008-09 season.
Erdmann indicated that he hopes to have a new coach hired as soon as possible. Possibly as soon as April.
The Lady Jags went 17-13 overall this season and fell in the first round of the SBC Tournament.
Football
The Jaguar football team will pick up where they left off prior to Spring Break. They will hit the practice fields at the Jaguar Practice Facility around 6am on Tuesday morning.
Pietri Not Being Retained
Reports are surfacing that Women’s basketball coach Rick Pietri will not be retained by the University of South Alabama.
This news comes as a bit of a shock to fans of the program. We will have more as more information comes out.
Jags Basketball Is Waiting To See If Season May Be Extended
The South Alabama’s basketball team’s season may not be over just yet. There is a chance the Jags could play in one of the other postseason tournaments that are held.
The NCAA Tournament is the tournament that all the teams want to invited to, but the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and CollegeInsider.com Tournaments will invite a total of 80 teams to participate in their tournaments.
Also, if the school is invited to participate in one of the tournaments, the school could turn down the opportunity. Some tournaments are on a ‘buy in’ basis so Athletics Director Joel Erdmann said that the decision to participate in one would be made “in the best interest of the program” on several occasions when asked.
Meanwhile, the school is preparing to conduction an national search for the head coaching position that is currently held by interim head coach Jeff Price after Ronnie Arrow announced his retirement back in December.
Price is on the list to be considered for the position and hopes to get a chance to extend the season a little longer. “I think anytime your program has the opportunity to play int he postseason, regardless of what tournament that might be in, it’s something you want to do,” Price said to AL.com. “It’s good for the players and the experience, it’s good for recruiting and I think it’s good for the program. I’m definitely hopeful we’ll get a chance to play again.”
The Sun Belt tournament continues to be a tough conference for high-seeded teams. The Jags, a #3 seed in the tournament, fell to #6 seeded Western Kentucky who then defeated #2 seeded Arkansas State to get into the Sun Belt Championship Game.
The #1 seeded Middle Tennessee State was upset by #4 seeded Florida International in the quarterfinals to earn the right to face Western Kentucky.
Last night, in the championship game, the Hilltoppers held on in a close game all night to earn their second consecutive Sun Belt Championship and their second consecutive NCAA Tournament trip. This leaves Middle Tennessee State ‘On the bubble’ for the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Raiders are hoping for an at-large invitation to the tournament.
USA Weekend Update
Baseball
The University of South Alabama baseball team rebounded from a 15-2 loss on Saturday to the University of North Florida to win the series with a 9-8 win on Sunday at Eddie Stanky Field.
Jaguar pitcher Dylan Stamey tied a career high with four strikeouts and allowed four hits and one earned run in 4 1/3 innings of relief to earn his third win of the season. Kyle Bartsch earned his fourth save of the year after pitching a perfect ninth inning while striking out one batter.
The Jags struck early by taking a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Then North Florida responded with five runs in the top of the third inning to take the 5-3 lead over the Jags. South Alabama reponded in the bottom half of the inning after Nolan Early hit a three-run homer to put the Jags back on top 6-5. USA would put two more runs over the plate in the inning to lead 8-5 at the end of the inning.
UNF would add two more runs in the top of the fifth inning to get within one of the Jags 8-7. Jags would add another run in the bottom of the 6th and UNF would cut the lead to one run again in the top of the eighth, but would not be able score again after that.
The Jags improve to 14-3 on the season while UNF falls to 11-5.
The Jags will travel to Montgomery to take on Alabama State on Tuesday with first pitch set for 6pm. Then the Jags will travel to Troy to take on the Trojans in a weekend Sun Belt series.
Softball
South Alabama battles hard against #9 UCLA on Saturday, but fell short by losing 2-1. UCLA improved to 20-4 on the season.
The Lady Jags then turned around and split the final day of games in California. The Jags fell to Utah 2-1 in the early game on Sunday before rebounding for a 4-1 win over host Long Beach State in the late game.
Hannah Campbell’s record fell to 9-4 on the season but earned her team-leading third save of the season. Farish Beard improved her record to 9-0 on the season with nine strikeouts in six innings while only allowing three hits and one earned run against LBSU.
The jags will return to action when they open Sun Belt play at Jaguar Field on Saturday against Louisiana-Lafayette.
Men’s Basketball
South Alabama had the lead with 25 seconds left in the game against Western Kentucky, but a turnover allowed the Hilltoppers to take the lead and hold on for the 62-59 win.
The Jags had an opportunity with 9.2 seconds left in the game, but a three-point attempt by Barrington Stevens III missed but the Jags kept possession with 0.5 seconds left. A final desperate heave by Augustine Rubit hit the rim twice but would not fall for the Junior.
Rubit finished with a team-high 22 points and eight rebounds. Senior Javier Carter added 11 points, six rebounds and one block. Stevens, Wright and Ammons both added six points.
Sun Belt Tournament
Western Kentucky defeated #2 seed Arkansas State 58-56 on Sunday. Then #1 seed Middle Tennessee fell to #4 seed Florida International 61-57 to fall short of getting to the Sun Belt Championship game for the second season in a row.
The Conference Championship Game will tip off Monday evening at 6pm with #4 FIU squaring off against #6 Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers are looking for back-to-back Sun Belt Championships and NCAA Tournament berths.