Airline baseball coach Toby Todd has an unused base sitting in the corner of his office. That might not seem to be all that unusual except for one thing: The base is green.
Yep, you knew it was coming because when the 2027 high school baseball season rolls around, the players and coaches will be dealing with the same thing that you see in an ever-growing number of playing levels.
The “extra” first base.
College baseball has it. Softball has it. Almost every level from T-ball on up has it. If you held out hope that high school baseball might break that trend, then you probably also thought they’d never switch from wood bats to aluminum. (And that was 50 years ago.)
But speaking of bats, that’s been the biggest point of discussion in the recent rule changes/suggestions implemented by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS). Three ounces might not seem to be a lot to you, but that’s what everyone is talking about.
In the recent past, non-wood bats had to conform to a “Drop 3” rule, which means that the difference in the bat’s length (let’s say 33 inches) could only “drop” to a maximum of three ounces (30).
As bat technology began to take off, all sorts of different combinations were being used before a standardization – at least in college and high school – settled on Drop 3.
There didn’t seem to be much of an outcry to get that changed, but the NFHS did it anyway. Now, it can be up to a Drop 6, meaning a batter could have a 33/27 bat.
“I just I don’t know about it,” Todd said. “We are going to have to see what these new bats look like with these guidelines. There’s got to be some type of deadening mechanism or design to go along with these new dimensions because that’s very, very lightweight.”
The negatives are pretty obvious. Exit velocities will go up and with infielders – particularly pitchers – being so close, there’s a potential recipe for disaster. It seems strange that “double first base” is being implemented for safety reasons, but a pitcher’s reaction time will be lessened on a line drive right back at him.
Local coaches are taking a wait-and-see on how it plays out, but there are some positives. Forget about the senior who is busting out of his uniform and consider the 125-pound incoming freshman who is having to step up to a bigger field after playing U14 all summer.
“There are those kids who haven’t grown up yet and don’t have that strength,” Loyola coach Morgan Brian said. “It’ll make it easier for them to transition into high school baseball. But you worry about a pitcher going against a fully grown senior holding a 32/26 taking one off the face.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m for it because I don’t understand why they did it,” new Northwood coach Cole Downey said. “But I can see where it would make it easier for an eighth grader to make the adjustment. I know it’s not everyone’s goal to play college baseball, but if they are, they are going to have use a Drop 3 anyway.”
Fear not, says Louisiana Tech coach Lane Burroughs (who, by the way, has a son playing high school baseball). He says it won’t make much difference for college evaluators.
“At the end of the day when you are out evaluating and recruiting, you are looking at more than just the ability to hit,” he said “Will the power numbers and exit velocity go up? Yes, but you are looking at more than just to see if a guy can hit a ball hard. Defense, running and the intangibles. Honestly, I don’t think it will matter than much in evaluating talent.”
There’s no doubt that home run numbers in high school baseball – which are much lower than 20 years ago – will go up.
“We haven’t hit a home run in two years,” Airline’s Todd said. “So we will be excited to test them out.”
From Monday through Wednesday this week, I was a guest on four sports talk shows.
Naturally, the topic was the annual SEC Football Media Days, which started on Monday in Tampa and ended on Thursday. Sixteen head coaches, 48 players and around 1,000 media members mostly wearing their latest free swag golf shirts.
On each show, the first question to me was “How do you think Lane Kiffin is going to be when he speaks on Thursday?”
I had a different answer for every show.
Show 1: “As I understand it, he’s going to wear a purple suit with gold pinstripes, a glittering gold fedora and walk to the main media room lectern at slow pimp’s pace.”
Show 2: “Supposedly, his entry music is `Disco Inferno’ and his opening remark will be “Media homies, let’s burn this mutha down.”
Show 3: “He plans to wear an Ole Miss coaching outfit but will strip it all off revealing his LSU threads by the time he reaches the lectern.”
Show 4: “Rumor has it that Ed Orgeron, another former Ole Miss and LSU head coach, will carry Kiffin to the lectern via piggyback. Then, in a revised Ole Miss cheer, they’ll scream “Hotty Pooty, rooty tooty, Ti-gahs gonna beat your booty booty.”
The continued fascination about LSU’s new head football coach is truly entertaining. His social media prowess – verbal jabs, pictures from clandestine locations, etc. – have made him almost a mythical figure.
But he isn’t. He’s a 51-year-old guy, now paid $13 million annually, who has two conference titles (in Conference USA) in 14 years as NCAA FBS field boss and yet he lives rent-free in so many people’s heads.
Like the butthurt Ole Miss fanbase, which has had only two head football coaches successful enough to be swiped by other schools – Tommy Tuberville to Auburn and Kiffin to LSU.
They raised Kiffin ahead of Tuberville in the Oxford Public Enemy No. 1 standings, and won’t let go. There’s this one highly-annoyed gray-haired cousin of Colonel Reb on social media who has latched onto Kiffin like a junkyard dog to a T-bone.
The national sports media, whose whole job is to right every wrong, continuously ripped Kiffin enough to awake Republican Senator Ted Cruz from a slumber. He made sure there was a rule in the proposed Protest College Sports act to prohibit schools from hiring head coaches until after the end of their seasons.
All because Kiffin exited Ole Miss last year for LSU before the College Football Playoffs. Brian Kelly did the same thing when he left Notre Dame for LSU in December 2021. Other coaches have done it for decades.
The screwed-up college football calendar, with an early December signing period and early January transfer portal opening makes it impossible for any school to wait and hire a coach.
Yet, it’s Kiffin’s fault. Just a cold, heartless narcissistic orb 24 hours/365 days a year.
“What happened with Lane Kiffin was really unfair to student-athletes,” Cruz said. “I just think that was bad for the system.”
What I really told the sports talk radio hosts was that Kiffin will deliver a Gettysburg Address-length opening statement in the main media room to leave less time for questions.
Maybe Kiffin thought maybe with fewer questions that reporters would have just enough time to ask about his team, or his quarterback situation.
Nope.
Kiffin was the only head coach in the four-day event to not field questions about his players in the 30-minute main media room appearance. Nobody asked him.
He had time to answer four questions, which produced two revelations.
The first is he doesn’t plan to change his transfer portal-heavy recruiting philosophy anytime soon.
“High school (recruits) can leave after year one when they don’t play as much as they like,” Kiffin said. “Or they want more money, or they do play and then they want more money. That’s why we built and will continue so much until they balance out the system, and they balance out how players’ contracts work.”
The second is developing a Teflon-coating to ignore his haters.
“I made a challenging decision in change (to move to LSU),” he said. “I thought I could find a way for everybody to understand. Now as I look back later on, that was never going to happen.
“As I get older and I go through things and losing both parents . . . some of the things that we put importance on, we worry about . . . I can’t be so concerned about little things and what people say and this. You got to make decisions; you got to go with them. You do things, and you make really good decisions, and you make poor decisions.”
That’s some Zen vibes flowing. Maybe Cuz of Colonel Reb might take that advice before he strokes out mid-rant.
RELENTLESS RED RAIDER: Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (making tackle) led Texas Tech to a 2023 Independence Bowl victory over California and was the defensive player of the game. (Photo courtesy Independence Bowl)
JOURNAL SPORTS
Four future All-Pro players and an NFL rookie make up the latest five standouts named to the Independence Bowl’s 50th Anniversary All-Time team.
Players ranked 25 through 21 on the list of the 50 most remarkable players in I-Bowl history were revealed Thursday, as selected by a local media panel. The list was compiled considering a combination of their performances in the local bowl, during their college careers and in the NFL.
The top 50 has been released in six groups of five. Beginning next week, the final 20 selections will be announced individually every Monday and Thursday, said bowl officials.
The latest quintet includes a pair of star wide receivers from Nick Saban’s 1995 Michigan State team, two College Football Hall of Famers and one of the youngest members of the All-Time Team:
No. 25 – Muhsin Muhammad (WR, Michigan State, 1995) Muhammad was one of three great wideouts to play in the 1995 Independence Bowl – alongside teammate Derrick Mason and LSU’s Eddie Kennison. Muhammad lit up LSU’s defense with nine catches for 171 yards and one touchdown. The 1995 season was the best of his career in East Lansing, as he hauled in 50 catches for 867 yards for the Nick Saban-led Spartans. Muhammad was selected in the second round of the 1996 NFL Draft after that breakout season, and he established himself as a star for the Carolina Panthers. He was named to two Pro Bowls (1999 and 2004) and earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2004. He was the NFL’s receptions leader in 2000, grabbing 102 passes for 1,183 yards. The premier season of his career was 2004, when he led the NFL in receiving yards (1,405) and 16 receiving TDs (16). Muhammad was also a force in the Panthers’ run to the Super Bowl in 2003. He had 352 yards receiving in four playoff games, including the longest TD reception in Super Bowl history against the eventual Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. Muhammad was inducted into the Carolina Panthers Hall of Honor in 2003.
No. 24 – Tim Krumrie (NG, Wisconsin, 1982) Krumrie is one of the many College Football Hall of Famers to make this list. He played in the Independence Bowl – before defensive statistics were recorded – and was named the 1982 Defensive Player of the Game, as he led a Wisconsin defense that held Kansas State to 192 total yards and just three points. From the day he stepped on campus in Madison, Krumrie was a star at nose tackle for the Badgers, leading Wisconsin in tackles all four seasons he played. He was a three-time All-Big Ten selection, a 1981 consensus All-American and 1982 first-team All-American. Krumrie still holds the Wisconsin record for solo tackles in a career (276). A 10th-round selection in the 1983 NFL Draft, Krumrie’s success did not stop after college. Racking up over 1,000 tackles in 12 seasons for the Cincinnati Bengals, he made two Pro Bowl appearances in 1987 and 1988, and he was named first-team All-Pro in 1988 and second-team All-Pro in 1987. Krumrie is a member of the Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor.
No. 23 – Jacob Rodriguez (LB, Texas Tech, 2023) Rodriguez is one of the most decorated linebackers to play in the Independence Bowl, despite being one of the youngest players on the All-Time Team. After beginning his college career at Virginia in 2021 as a quarterback, Rodriguez transferred to Texas Tech in 2022 and switched to linebacker. The 2023 Independence Bowl was one of the launching points of his career. Against future Heisman Trophy-winner Fernando Mendoza and California, Rodriguez stuffed the stat sheet – recording eight total tackles, one forced fumble, one interception and one pass breakup on his way to being named 2023 Defensive Player of the Game. In 2024, he was named first-team All-Big 12, and it all came together in 2025 with one of the best seasons by a college linebacker in recent memory. Leading one of the country’s best defenses, Rodriguez compiled 63 solo tackles (leading the Big 12), 128 combined tackles, four interceptions, 11 tackles-for-loss, six PBU, two fumble recoveries and seven forced fumbles – leading the FBS in that stat. He won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Butkus Award, Lombardi Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, and he was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year/ A unanimous All-American, he finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Rodriguez was drafted in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins.
No. 22 – Garrison Hearst (RB, Georgia, 1991) Hearst, the Independence Bowl’s newest member of the College Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026, carried the ball nine times for 21 yards in the 1991 Independence Bowl against Arkansas. He also added two catches for 24 yards in the Bulldogs’ 24-15 victory over the Razorbacks. He rushed for 968 yards that 1991 season, earning second-team All-SEC honors, before a breakout year the following season. Racking up an SEC-leading 1,547 rushing yards and an FBS-leading 19 TDs, Hearst won the Doak Walker Award as the best running back in the nation, and he was also named a unanimous All-American, first-team All-SEC and SEC Player of the Year. He finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting. Drafted with the third-overall pick in the first round of the 1993 NFL Draft, Hearst topped 1,000 yards rushing four times as a pro. His best season was in 1998 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers, when he compiled 1,570 rushing yards and 535 receiving yards – earning his first Pro Bowl nod and first-team All-Pro. After missing two full seasons in 1999 and 2000, Hearst returned in 2001 and had the second-best season of his career. On his way to being named to his second Pro Bowl team and earning the 2001 Comeback Player of the Year Award, Hearst rushed for 1,206 yards and collected 41 passes for 347 yards receiving.
No. 21 – Derrick Mason (WR, Michigan State, 1995) The second Michigan State wide receiver in this group, Mason, alongside teammate Muhammad, went toe-to-toe with LSU’s Kennison in 1995. Mason hauled in six passes for 74 yards, but the most memorable moments of that game came in the second quarter. After Kennison returned a kickoff for a TD to tie the game at 14 at the 14:30 mark of the second frame, Mason returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for a TD to put the Spartans back on top. In two seasons under Saban in 1995 and 1996, Mason compiled 1,652 yards receiving. He also set the Michigan State school record for kickoff return yards (2,384). He was named second-team All-Big Ten in 1996. A fourth-round pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, Mason became one of the NFL’s constants over the next 15 seasons. Spending most of his career with the Tennessee Oilers/Titans and Baltimore Ravens, he earned two Pro Bowl appearances (2000 and 2003) and was named first-team All-Pro in 2000 after leading the NFL in punt return yards that season. Mason is the only player in NFL history to record over 10,000 yards receiving and 5,000 return yards.
The first 25 players on the Independence Bowl’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, as previously announced:
No. 47 – Tremaine Edmunds (LB, Virginia Tech, 2015)
No. 48 – Bill Musgrave (QB, Oregon, 1989)
No. 49 – Larry Anderson (DB, Louisiana Tech, 1977)
No. 50 – Lorenza Baker (LB, Louisiana Tech, 1990)
The team has been selected to commemorate the half-century of local bowl history. The 50th edition of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl is Dec. 22.
Man most recently walked on the moon December 14, 1972, the Apollo 17 mission.
Early 2028 is the current target for the mission of Artemis IV, NASA’s first crewed landing since the Apollo era ended.
In case you missed it, Monday marked the 57 years since Apollo 11 and man’s first steps on the moon, July 20, 1969. It was such a magnificent event that’s it difficult to believe we take it for granted now.
Probably because it’s been 57 years, and probably because we’ve all seen Apollo 13 a few dozen times.
To anyone younger than 60, Apollo 11 must seem like just another old movie you’ve intended forever to watch but haven’t … “Yeah, seems I heard something about that …”
The column below was written on the 25th anniversary of those first lunar steps, a humongous, larger-than-large deal at the time. Do you remember where you were in 1969 — or in 1994?
Late on the night of the 25th anniversary of Americans first walking on the moon, I walked into my back yard and looked at the moon, bright and nearly full in a clear sky, and I wondered:
If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t I drive from here to the Tyler zoo without having to stop and ask for directions?
The man in the moon would not answer this, and the stars were quiet.
But still I looked at the moon, alive, beaming, almost beating, the majesty of it all, and wondered:
Why am I so hungry all of a sudden? And why this craving for Tang?
Then I remembered I hadn’t eaten supper so I went inside and made some Frosted Flakes and ate them.
It’s hard to look at the moon and think on an empty stomach. I wondered if they ate Frosted Flakes on the moon while they drank Tang.
Relapsing into a serious space addiction came unexpectedly this week. I watched all the documentaries, all the specials, from Moon Shot to The Right Stuff, some two and three times.
Didn’t meant to; one came on early in the week, and I accidentally watched some of it and then was in orbit, a willing projectile into an atmosphere of wonder and nostalgia.
I am just now re-entering Earth’s gravitational pull.
It all started happening when I was 8 or 9. I had all the models: the command module, the lunar module, the service module, the Saturn 5 rocket.
The command and lunar modules would even hook to each other with a push and a twist.
I was a human Mission Control.
The model thing has been mentioned to other guys my age, but none have admitted owning them. I was ahead of my time — or weird. Probably just weird.
We watched the moon walk live that night in South Carolina: me, my parents, my two sisters. We watched on a black-and-white Sylvania, and the picture was more grainy than usual. The reception was always a gamble from the Florence TV station 44 miles west; made sense to my small, still developing brain that Tranquility Base was going to be a bigger challenge.
Was thrilled we could see anything at all.
I was sitting on the edge of a brown oval rug, my feet on the hardwood floor, six feet from the willing but outmatched 20-inch screen, and looked at the moonwalk, a man really and truly walking around up there in what looked like a form-fitting balloon, and wondered:
If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we get our Impala two-door with us in it to Six Flags Over Georgia?
Such memories flooded back as I stood in my yard and looked at the night sky and at the same moon I’d looked at 25 years ago. Of the two of us, the moon was the one that hadn’t changed.
This magical moment was broken only when I turned to walk inside … then smelled something. My dog, a loyal former stray named Mr. Elfie Smith, looked at me.
That smell … My shoe.
The dog smiled. A satisfied, relieved smile.
That’s one giant leap backward for mankind.
The astronauts never had to worry about stepping in The Wrong Stuff. Did they?
IN THE LUNAR MODULE …
Aldrin: “Nice walk, Neil.”
Armstrong: “Thanks, Buzz. You too.”
Aldrin, (sniffing): “Hey, you smell something?”
Armstrong: “It smells like …” (checking the bottom of his astronaut moon boot) “AWWW, MANNN! Doggoneit! I’m sorry. Gee whiz …”
Aldrin, (fanning): “Uh, Mission Control, we’ve got a little problem here. Anybody got a paper towel? … Did we pack Lysol? Air freshener? … Gonna have an interesting sample for you …”
BATON ROUGE – You could hear him long before he walked in the Crowne Plaza Hotel ballroom just after lunchtime on Tuesday.
And then, there he was.
“How ya’ doin? Been lifting weights? You’re looking good.”
That sandpaper voice.
“Hey podnah, guess we’ll see you in the playoffs this season.”
The thick Cajun accent.
“Great to see you, man.”
Ed Orgeron, surrounded at the Louisiana High School Coaches’ Association’s annual clinic as he entered the room to lecture about LSU’s pass rush techniques, was back among his people doing what he does best.
Working the room with his infectious personality. Making everyone feel like they were his long-lost friend. Nobody was a stranger, as noted by Orgeron’s post-speech receiving line of at least 50 coaches who wanted a word with him or a selfie.
It took the former LSU head football coach – hired in December 2016, feted in 2019 as the national Coach of the Year after the 16-0 Tigers won the national championship and fired in 2021 – 10 minutes to navigate 140 feet from the ballroom door to the front of the room so he could start his animated demonstration.
Every few feet, there was a handshake. A hand on a shoulder. Always ending with a smile and a laugh.
Anybody with a shred of sanity or pride wonders why a man who was paid almost a $17 million buyout two years after arguably coaching the greatest team in college football history would want to return to the place that dumped him?
Because you can take the boy out of the bayou, but you can’t take the bayou out of the boy. Ed Orgeron loves football, LSU, his home state and its people.
And he respects new Tigers’ head coach Lane Kiffin enough to work for him a third time.
It was no surprise that former Ole Miss head coach Kiffin, who coached as an assistant with Orgeron on Southern Cal’s staff from 2001 to 2004, and then as head coach hired him at Tennessee in 2009 and again at Southern Cal from 2010 to 2013, created a position for him.
“It just took awhile to find the right role,” said Orgeron, who’s starting his third month as the Tigers’ special assistant to recruiting and defense.
The job is tailor-made for Orgeron, who turns 65 on Monday. Few human beings ever have been a better college football recruiter than him. And as a pupil of Pete Jenkins, the Obi Wan Kenobi of defensive line coaches for 6½ decades, Orgeron remains one of the finest defensive line technicians nationally.
His salary of $100,000 on an eight-month contract is tip money compared to his past LSU head coaching haul of $9 million annually. Surely, his new office is basically a broom closet compared to the expansive head coaching digs he enjoyed.
Unpretentious Coach O doesn’t care about the perception. He’s returned to his roots – recruiting teenagers, going to the practice field and getting in the trenches with them and developing them into young adults with viable futures.
One of them – former LSU linebacker Andre Anthony — was in the clinic audience. Signed by Orgeron in 2017, he fought through injuries in a five-year career good enough to get chosen by Tampa Bay in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft.
Though he never played in a regular season game that season – the Bucs quickly waived him, and he spent the year on the Chicago Bears practice squad — Anthony turned to coaching.
Last season in his first year as a high school head coach for Kenner-based Bonnabel, his squad overcame a 1-3 start to capture the program’s first winning season since 2012, first district championship since 1998, and first playoff win since 1997.
Anthony was clearly thrilled to see Orgeron again in LSU coaching paraphernalia.
“You can see his passion,” said Anthony after Orgeron’s enthusiastic 50-minute clinic. “It’s why I went to LSU. After he left, I thought he’d be back in coaching after five months. He loves it.”
Orgeron and his new wife Brandy spent most of his four seasons away from the game living on Miami Beach in a 37th-floor condo overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
It seemed like paradise.
Collecting buyout checks. Working out all day. Tanning at the beach. Drinks at beach bars. Visits to two of his sons who were analysts for Miami’s program, and to another son who’s a Tulane analyst.
Yes, maybe a June 2025 Louisiana Supreme Court ruling awarding Orgeron’s previous wife Kelly $8.13 million of his LSU buyout pushed his return to coaching.
But more than anything, he was bored. And in a predominantly Cuban population, he felt like he had docked his pirogue in Havana.
“My name could have been Raoul Ortega down there. . .they didn’t give a sh–,” he told the clinic crowd, which roared with laughter. “I’m not complaining. But after a while, the beach is the beach, right?
“And I really missed Louisiana.”
So, he and the new missus moved back into his University Club digs at the start of this year. It wasn’t long after social media pictures of Orgeron tutoring five-star LSU freshman defensive line signee Richard Anderson that Kiffin called with a job offer.
“I’ll be there in five minutes,” Orgeron said.
Orgeron will tell you he wasn’t a great head coach. But he knew how to recruit. He understood how to motivate.
And when he pushed the right buttons – persuading future 2019 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Joe Burrow to transfer to LSU from Ohio State in the summer of 2018 and adding playcalling whiz Joe Brady the next season – he understood his role on the Tigers’ ride to the national title.
“My job in 2019 was if the (team) bus left at 2:30, I got on the bus, and I looked for Joe (Burrow),” he said. “If Joe was on the bus, the bus would leave. If Joe wasn’t on the bus, the bus wasn’t leaving.
“When I got to the stadium, I said, `Hey Joe, throw the ball to Ja’Marr (Chase). If you ain’t, throw it to Justin (Jefferson). That’d be great, baby.’ ”
When Orgeron was Ole Miss’ head coach from 2005 to 2007, his biggest downfall was micromanaging. At LSU, the magic disappeared in 2020 and 2021 (when the Tigers were a combined 11-11 overall, 8-10) because he made a string of bad coordinator hires and trusted them too much.
Thanks to NIL and the transfer portal, the role of college football head coach has changed drastically while Orgeron was away from the game.
When LSU opens preseason camp in about two weeks, the Tigers will have 59 new players (43 transfer portal buys and 16 high school signees).
“It’s a new day and age,” Orgeron said. “How are we going to get all these (portal) guys together?
“Believe me, Coach Kiffin is an expert on it. He’s got this thing figured out. He’s built a phenomenal culture within six months he’s been here.
“Everything is ‘Yessir.’ Every day is `I’m gonna practice like a Tiger.’ Nobody misses a workout. Nobody’s late. Everybody works extra.”
Orgeron isn’t exactly clear on what his on-field duties will entail this fall. But he knows where he’ll be on Sept. 19 when Tigers play at Ole Miss following nine months of sniping between the schools and the fan bases after LSU’s money-whipped heist of Kiffin and his entire offensive staff.
“Getting off that bus at Ole Miss. . .wooo, that’s gonna be funnn bay-bee,” he said with a huge laugh.
STRIKING A POSE: Northwestern running back Myion Hicks (left), head football coach Blaine McCorkle (center) and linebacker Danny Sears pose on stage at the Southland Conference Opening Drive event Tuesday in Houston. (NSU photo by JASON PUGH)
By JASON PUGH, Northwestern State Associate AD for Media Relations
HOUSTON – As Northwestern State’s contingent went through the paces at Tuesday’s Southland Conference Opening Drive football media event, it was clear the trio representing the Demons were comfortable.
That itself is fitting as the program enters its third season under head coach Blaine McCorkle.
“We’ve had a lot of birthdays since we last played,” McCorkle said. “We are a year older. The majority of our team is back. One of the things I’m the most proud of in our program in the first three years – two years in a row – we’ve had the fewest and second-fewest players going into the (transfer) portal from the Southland Conference. We had the fewest in our first year, and we were second last year. Southeastern had 11, and we had 13.”
McCorkle was joined by graduate running back Myion Hicks and graduate linebacker Danny Sears during the two-day event at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.
Both Sears and Hicks were voted team captains by their teammates with Sears earning the honor for the second straight year.
“It means everything,” said Sears, who started all 12 games a season ago and ranked fourth on the team with 52 tackles. “I have my teammates’ trust, and I know I can’t let them down being captain, and I won’t. Whether that comes from holding them accountable or them holding me accountable, I’ll put my hand up and say, ‘That’s on me.’”
Hicks enters his second season with the Demons after his first full offseason with the program.
A graduate transfer from Furman a season ago, Hicks led Northwestern in rushing with 311 yards a season ago. In addition to focusing on becoming a more well-rounded back, Hicks reiterated the importance of being named a team captain.
“It’s an honor, but being a captain is not just a title, it’s a responsibility,” Hicks said. “It comes with the way you carry yourself, hold yourself to a standard, hold the guys and the rest of the team to a standard. It’s not just something to take lightly. Danny and I are really honored to be captains, and we’re going to hold our guys to the accountability we feel they should have.”
While Tuesday’s event was a chance for the pair to step a little bit out of their comfort zone, it also brought a little more realism to the 2026 season, which begins Aug. 27 with a home matchup against Louisiana Christian.
“It’s always a fun thing to come to, to see the other players and coaches from the other schools,” McCorkle said. “You know it’s getting close. When the (Southland) commissioner (Chris Grant) got up a little while ago to kick it off, he said, ‘Happy New Year.’ That’s what it is in our world – this is when the year starts. It’s an exciting time, and it will be here before you know it.”
FAMILIAR TERRITORY: After taking over as Centenary basketball coach almost exactly a year ago, Shreveport native J.A. Anglin now has a firm grasp on the program and a lot of players back from last season. (Photo courtesy Centenary Athletics)
By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Assistant AD for Strategic Communications
As the Centenary sports year approaches, I sat down with second-year Gents’ head basketball coach J.A. Anglin this week to discuss a variety of summer topics.
It was just over a year ago that Anglin moved across the Red River from Bossier Parish Community College to take over Gents’ basketball.
Who can we expect to see on your roster for this upcoming season?
“With 12 members of our team returning, we were able to retain most of our roster from last season. Although our group went through quite a bit of bumps and bruises throughout the season, we believe they all gained valuable experience. Ryan Spears and Me’Khai Taylor got healthy after the Christmas break. Ashton Savoie gave us great minutes after he finished the football season. They provided us more depth going into the final stages of the season.
“Jaden Braden, Kane Broussard, and Bryce Evans were thrown into the fire as true first-year players. They had to learn on the fly and by the end of the season they were playing like sophomores. Nick Addison and Dee (Dontarius) Coleman gave our team some production. They all learned what the SCAC is really about. We will be looking for all of them to provide more consistency and leadership for our incoming class.
“Donnie Haney and Jordan Williams will be joining us this season after gaining experience at the junior college level. Our staff has put together our first recruiting class and we are excited about our talented first-year players from Louisiana and Texas. We feel the recruiting class addresses our issues of depth and rebounding from last season.”
How has this summer/preseason been different than the last one?
“It has been nice to have a summer at Centenary! I am now a year and a week into the job. My assistants and I have been able to get on the road and recruit this summer in Louisiana and Texas. In terms of recruiting, we will be working ahead instead of playing catch-up.
“The day-to-day operations have been a lot smoother as well. We are not scrambling to put together games for next season. The gear for next season has been ordered. We are much more organized than we were at this point last summer.”
With time to be strategic about building your schedule, what will it do to prepare the Gents for Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference competition?
“We have put together a competitive non-conference schedule, one that we think will prepare us for conference play in the SCAC. Home and home games with Belhaven, Millsaps, and ETBU will give us a good gage of where we are as a team going into SCAC play. Belhaven is coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance last season. Millsaps was very competitive after their coach’s first season there. ETBU gave us two tough games last season and we expect the same this season. The two NCAA Division I exhibition opponents, ULM and Lamar, will be great experiences for our program.”
Another summer activity is hosting camps. You’ve gotten to do that more this summer; how did it go?
“We had a great camp season on campus with the local youth. A lot of our players were able to come back to campus and work the camps. It is something we are looking forward to growing in the future.”
LOOKING AHEAD: The 2026-27 Centenary Athletics year officially begins on Tuesday, Sept. 1 as the women’s soccer team faces Belhaven in a non-conference match at Atkins Field at 6 o’clock.
Two days later, the Gents take the pitch at home to face Schreiner University at 7 o’clock. On Saturday, Sept. 5, Ladies soccer plays Louisiana Christian University at 11 a.m. at Atkins Field, and that evening the football team faces Westgate Christian University at 6 p.m. to begin its season.
For local high school soccer coaches, having the World Cup being such a prominent summer event is more than just something to watch.
It’s also a useful teaching tool.
Whether it’s being in attendance at the game or having team watch parties, there’s no doubt that local coaches – those of both boys and girls – are paying close attention.
There’s a lot to learn and not all of it involves strategy and technique.
“I want them to see how Argentina never gave up (in the semifinal win over England),” said Loyola boys coach Wes Kyle. “Argentina is down 1-0 and the resolve of the players to wanting to do it. I want the kids to see that when they’re down and it’s late in the game that you can still rally together and score two goals in a matter of minutes.”
“Our team got together for the USA games a couple of times and there’s so many lessons you can learn from watching it,” Byrd girls coach Lisa Levermann said. “Obviously, the passion. Hopefully they can see that. It’s just amazing.”
Adam Hester has coached both boys and girls teams at two schools (Calvary and Providence) and said seeing things on the biggest stage can translate down to high school soccer.
“Just the fact that they’re watching more than they would during the year helps,” he said. “Our guys have been locked into this deal for over a month. They’re actually watching and seeing things that we have talked about ad nauseum. Now they see it and realize that’s what we (the coaches) have been talking about. That kind of stuff is huge.
“You can explain to them the differences between a team that’s trying to go and play up tempo and bring the game to the opponent, versus the teams who sit back because they understand there’s kind of a skill level difference,” Hester added. “So just them seeing those kind of things has been huge and it’s great to see.”
But these coaches are doing more than just taking it in from the La-Z-Boy. Levermann, who did the OrangeWalk (a famous street parade) with the Netherlands fans in Dallas, said she definitely “has World Cup fever,” even as she coaches one of her summer teams in Nashville this week.
Hester saw England vs. Croatia in Dallas and two days later was in Seattle for the USA vs. Australia, when 70,000 people were singing John Denver’s “Country Roads.”
“I’ve been to a lot of sporting events,” he said, “and nothing comes close to that kind of atmosphere. The closest thing we have to that is college football.”
When asked which team they’d like their players to simulate, if they could, Kyle and Hester chose the two that will be in Sunday’s Cup finals.
“Spain,” Hester said. “We were all watching the game against France, who was the favorite and I said, ‘Spain is going to win.’ And sure enough, they did because they play such a style that just sucks the confidence out of you almost. They’re never in the wrong spot. It’s funny, they play this defensive style, but it’s with possession of the ball. They make those slight moves to where they’re always open. And where they always can lay off that next pass to where you don’t have a body there. They are not trying to go score five goals. But they’re going to get two and they’re going to do it in such a fashion that they’re going to demoralize you.”
“I’d choose Argentina,” Kyle said. “They’re the defending champions, and this summer they’ve once again shown incredible resilience and clutch performances, especially in knockout stages with Messi still leading the way at an amazing level.
“Our high school team prides itself on grit, quick counter-attacks, and playing as a unit rather than relying on one or two stars,” Kyle added. “And it’s hard for a high school team to have that kind of touch and ability on the ball, so it’s hard to go play like that. But it is it is really inspiring to watch, especially if you’re one of these kids who is trying to figure out how they can get better.”
Even though it’s the men’s World Cup, that doesn’t stop Levermann from finding what can be learned and applied to the girls’ game.
“When I used to watch it, I would think, ‘that’s the men’s game,’ so I didn’t think the women could ever do that,” Levermann said. “But now I don’t see it that way. Now, it’s ‘heck yeah, we could do that kind of stuff.’ And there are things to learn because you see the mistakes that are made, and that’s another lesson to teach them. Even these seasoned pros make mistakes and I’m able to show that to my players.”
GUARDS’ MR. VERSATILITY: American League 2024 All-Star David Fry awaits a pitch while in right field during a June 19 game in Houston. (Photo by ERIK WILLIAMS, Imagn Images, courtesy NSU Athletics)
By JASON PUGH, Northwestern State Associate AD for Media Relations
HOUSTON – As the Cleveland Guardians prepare to open the second half of the Major League Baseball season, they do so in what has become a familiar position -– chasing an American League Central Division title while holding one of the three American League wild card positions.
In the middle of yet another postseason push is former Northwestern State star David Fry. Now in his third full season at the MLB level, the 2024 American League All-Star has found himself as an integral part of the Guardians’ culture, mirroring the type of impact he had during his four-year Demon career.
Despite being among the top five current Guardians in terms of service time and tenure with the team, Fry waffles on exactly how to describe where he stands on the newcomer-to-veteran scale.
“Not that I’ve been in the big leagues that long, because I really haven’t, but in our clubhouse, I feel like we have a bunch of young guys to where yes (I feel like a veteran),” Fry said ahead of a June series opener against the Houston Astros. “Even our older guys like Rhys (Hoskins), (Shawn) Armstrong -– he’s been here before, but it’s his first year back. So, yeah, I feel like one of the older guys but maybe not a veteran.”
Fry appeared in 46 games in the first half of the season, homering six times in 128 at-bats while providing the same versatility he first flashed across his four-year Demon career from 2015-18. While at Northwestern, Fry started games at first base, second base, third base and catcher.
Through the Guardians’ first 97 games, Fry has been deployed in right field (18), left field (16), catcher (9), third base (2) and first base (1). Fry’s ability -– and willingness -– to play multiple positions have made him an excellent fit for a Cleveland franchise that has succeeded by working the margins of player development and positional flexibility.
“The guy is an absolute freak athlete,” Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges told MLB.com following a July 1 win against Texas. “It’s fun to watch a guy like David that can just be like, ‘Give me a role, throw me in there.’
“It’s inspiring for a lot of the young guys on our team to be a yes man, like, ‘Yes, I’m ready for any situation,’ because that’s what he does.”
Fry and Hedges have built a kinship across their two-plus seasons as teammates in Cleveland. Their shared leadership has been even more important for the Guardians, who lost longtime team leader Jose Ramirez to a broken wrist on June 13.
Fry’s position within the Cleveland clubhouse is as solid as it is with the Cleveland fans.
“He’s been an unbelievable teammate, an unbelievable person and player,” said catcher Patrick Bailey, a two-time Gold Glover who joined the Guardians in a May trade from San Francisco.
“We’ve gotten along pretty great. It’s made me feel right at home and welcome with open arms. I feel like that’s been the biggest thing that I’ve noticed is the culture they create.”
That culture has pushed the Guardians into another season of contention as they enter Friday’s game against Pittsburgh in a virtual tie for the AL Central lead.
Fry likened the clubhouse atmosphere in Cleveland to that of the one he helped create alongside his classmates Kwan Adkins, Dan Hlad and Kelsey Richard in Natchitoches.
“I don’t know that you ever get comfortable in the big leagues, but you get familiar with the group, the coaches, the trainers and everybody,” Fry said. “It’s cool when you’re the person, when guys come up, you can say, ‘Let me help you out. This is what helped me when I first came up.’ You have those experiences where guys can lean on you. It’s fun to be that guy who helps. When you’ve been here four years, you have those guys – just like at NSU – that you know like the back of your hand. You know when to push a guy, when to mess around, and it just makes it a really fun clubhouse.”
Fry’s standing in the clubhouse has been solidified by his relative longevity in the organization while his place in the hearts of Cleveland fans was burnished by a memorable 2024 season in which his incredible first half of the season earned an All-Star berth and he made massive impact in postseason, when he delivered two clutch home runs, including a walk-off, two-run blast against the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
Fry missed the Guardians’ 2025 playoff run after taking a 99 mph fastball from Detroit’s Tarik Skubal on Sept. 28. The resulting facial fractures cost Fry the end of the season and the playoff run.
Whether he has been a postseason hero or recovering from a late-season injury, Fry has had one constant in his corner –- his family, which includes his wife, Rebekah, an NSU alumna and former university recruiter, and daughters Evelyn and Harper. Their support has allowed Fry to roll with the punches and celebrate the biggest moments in his career.
“Rebekah, I don’t know how she does it,” Fry said. “Two-on-one flights with the girls, and a lot of times where she’s herding the girls, she works her butt off, but she loves it, and she’s really good at being a mom. The easiest way to flush a game – whether it was good or bad – you see your two girls and it’s like, “All right, it’s time to play dress up with the Barbies,’ and completely forget about what just happened 20 minutes ago.
“It’s huge. I wouldn’t trade any of it. We’re blessed enough that they get to be with me full time, which is so amazing. One hundred and sixty-two (games), how do you get from game to game? In the moment, whether it’s good or bad, you’re going to have emotions. You’re going to be super excited if it’s good. You’re going to be bummed if it’s not going well, but how do you get to the next night? When you have two girls, you don’t have time to overthink your swing or what could I have done differently on this play? You’re having to be Dad. That makes it a lot easier to get to the next day.”
AIR FORCE LEGEND: Defensive tackle Chad Hennings (95) won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and made the College Football Hall of Fame for his Air Force Academy career, which included a win at the 1984 Independence Bowl. (Photo courtesy Dallas Cowboys)
JOURNAL SPORTS
As the countdown continues on the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl’s All-Time Team, the stars are getting brighter.
The top 50 players in the bowl’s history have been chosen by a local media panel as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Shreveport’s annual bowl game. The list is being unveiled gradually, beginning this month with four groups of five standouts.
The next five (Nos. 26-30) will be announced Monday.
The latest quintet is headlined by two former Air Force stars who are College Football Hall of Famers alongside three Southeastern Conference players, including an Auburn quarterback who put on one of the I-Bowl’s greatest offensive performances.
Numbers 35-31 on the Independence Bowl’s All-Time Team:
No. 35 – Geno Atkins (DT, Georgia, 2009) Atkins was one of the many great players in the 2009 Independence Bowl between Georgia and Texas A&M, turning in a strong performance with three total tackles, one sack, one tackle-for-loss (TFL), and one field goal block – earning the 2009 Defensive Player of the Game Award. Atkins was a disruptive force throughout his college career, collecting 33.5 TFL and 11 sacks. He was named 2007 First-Team All-SEC in his sophomore season after compiling 15 TFL and 7.5 sacks. He also earned second-team All-SEC honors in 2009, when he recorded 10.5 TFL and three sacks. After being drafted in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Atkins played all 11 seasons of his NFL career for the Cincinnati Bengals. A first-team All-Pro honors five times, Atkins made the Pro Bowl seven times – racking up 75.5 sacks and 100 TFL in his career. Atkins was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team.
No. 34 – Dameyune Craig (QB, Auburn, 1996) One of the most electric performances in Independence Bowl history came from Craig in 1996 against Army West Point. He completed 24 of 40 passes for 372 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also rushed 13 times for 75 yards and a touchdown. The performance earned him the 1996 Offensive Player of the Game award, and his name remains littered throughout the Independence Bowl record book today. His 372 passing yards are the fourth-most in a game, and he still holds the record for individual total offense with 447 yards. Craig’s best collegiate season came in 1997 when he was named second-team All-SEC. He was named the 1998 Peach Bowl MVP and the 1998 Senior Bowl MVP.
No. 33 – Chad Hennings (DT, Air Force, 1984) Hennings, one of the 29 College Football Hall of Famers to play or coach in the Independence Bowl, played for the Falcolns in their second straight Independence Bowl appearance. Defensive statistics were not kept for the 1984 game, but Hennings was part of an Air Force defense that limited Virginia Tech to just one touchdown in a 23-7 victory. At Air Force, he was a two-time first-team All-WAC honoree in 1986 and 1987. As a senior, he was named the Outland Trophy winner, WAC Defensive Player of the Year, UPI Lineman of the Year and a unanimous All-American. Hennings was not drafted until the 11th round of the 1988 NFL Draft due to his military commitment, and after leaving the United States Air Force, he joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1992. Hennings was a leader of the Cowboys’ defense that won three Super Bowls (XXVII, XXVIII and XXX) under College and Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Jimmy Johnson, who coached Oklahoma State in the 1981 Independence Bowl.
No. 32 – Scott Thomas (S, Air Force, 1983 & 1984) Another former Air Force player and College Football Hall of Famer, Thomas starred in back-to-back Independence Bowls. Thomas led the Air Force defenses that allowed 10 total points – three points against Ole Miss in 1983 and seven against Virginia Tech in 1984. He was named the 1984 Independence Bowl Defensive Player of the Game – capping off a great season in which he collected 125 total tackles, four interceptions and two tackles for loss. Thomas was the captain of the 1985 Air Force team and had his best collegiate season, earning consensus All-American honors. He finished as the MVP of the 1985 Bluebonnet Bowl. Following his graduation and football career at Air Force, Thomas flew F-16 combat missions during Desert Storm and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
No. 31 – Willie Blade (DT, Mississippi State, 2000) Blade created possibly the most memorable play in Independence Bowl history, blocking the Texas A&M extra-point attempt in overtime of the 2000 Snow Bowl. Julius Griffith returned the blocked extra point for two points, and those points turned out to be the difference in the most-memorable game in the bowl’s history, which also happened to be the 25th anniversary game. Blade tallied eight solo tackles, 16 total tackles and four TFL on his way to being named the 2000 Defensive Player of the Game. His four TFL are tied for the second-most TFL in a game in Independence Bowl history. That season, his senior year, Blade was named second-team All-SEC and was an Outland Trophy semifinalist. He was drafted in the third round of the 2001 NFL Draft and spent parts of five seasons in the NFL.
The first 15 players announced on the Independence Bowl’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team:
BIGGEST WIN: Bossier Parish Community College basketball player Yoav Botzer (right) earned his degree this spring as the Cavaliers were compiling credentials off the court that have brought national recognition for the team’s academic performance. (Photo courtesy BPCC Athletics)
JOURNAL SPORTS
Bossier Parish Community College’s basketball team has earned the National Association of Basketball Coaches 2025-26 Team Academic Excellence Award in recognition of its outstanding achievement in the classroom.
The award honors men’s basketball programs at all levels of collegiate competition that finished the 2025-26 academic year with a cumulative team grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
The NABC presents its academic awards annually to recognize outstanding achievement in the classroom by college basketball programs and student-athletes nationwide, with more than 400 programs earning Team Academic Excellence Awards for the 2025-26 academic year.
“College basketball student-athletes do incredible things on the court, but their achievements in the classroom are equally worthy of celebration,” said NABC Executive Director Craig Robinson. “Education is one of the NABC’s core values, and the hundreds of programs and thousands of athletes represented on these awards reinforce the commitment to academic success that exists across all levels of our sport.”
BPCC coach Jeff Moore said the recognition reflects the program’s commitment to developing well-rounded student-athletes who excel both academically and athletically.
“This award speaks to the character and discipline of our student-athletes,” Moore said. “I’m incredibly proud of the work they’ve put into the classroom, and this recognition reflects the culture we’ve built at BPCC. Our goal is to prepare these young men for success in whatever comes next, whether that’s continuing their education, advancing their basketball careers or entering the workforce.”
By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Assistant AD for Communications
Centenary fans will have a familiar platform to use when they’re looking for streaming video content including the Ladies and Gents.
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference and FloSports have agreed to a two-year exclusive media rights contract extension. The extension ensures SCAC sports, including Centenary teams, will stream on the FloCollege platform through 2031.
As part of the extension agreement, SCAC member institutions will have full access to the FloSports Production Suite, a comprehensive collection of hardware and software tools developed exclusively for FloSports partners.
Designed specifically for Division II and Division III athletics, the platform enhances live broadcasts through improved production capabilities, graphics packages, and overall stream quality. FloSports is investing more than $1 million to deploy the Production Suite across its partner institutions, helping them deliver an enhanced viewing experience for fans.
The extension follows a record-breaking year of viewership during the league’s second year of the initial partnership:
78 percent Year over Year increase in total live viewership;
7.1 million minutes of live athletics action streamed;
304 percent YoY surge in social media impressions;
338 percent YoY increase in social video views.
Additionally, FloSports will launch a nationwide, free streaming option – the FloSports Channel – this gall, giving fans more ways to watch select matchups.
FloSports is a leading digital platform for underserved sports combining live and on-demand streaming, original programming, data, and technology to help sports grow their audiences and build sustainable businesses — from youth to professional levels.
FloSports streams more than 55,000 live events annually across sports including motorsports, wrestling, hockey, track and field, cheer, jiu-jitsu, NCAA athletics, and more. It holds more than 600 rights agreements with organizations including NASCAR, USA Wrestling, Varsity Spirit, the American Hockey League (AHL), High Limit Racing, the Tour de France, the Wanda Diamond League, and 20 NCAA conferences, to bring world-class competition to fans around the world.
“Jason Richards Martin, 52, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes at his home on July 4, 2026. While his passing came far too soon, the impact he made on the lives of so many will be remembered for years to come.”
So began the obituary this week for our friend Jason “Big Jim” Martin, a husky, big-hearted, “Aw, shucks” kind of guy who was quick to laugh and slug-slow to seek a spotlight. The “Big Jim,” with all sorts of variations, was a sort of inside joke between him and his buddies, of which he had tons.
He had other nicknames too. “Gentle Giant” was the one most tossed around during several short and from-the-heart eulogies Monday morning at his service in Ruston. “Servant Leader” was another.
Other handles were son, brother, uncle, golf partner — solid player who could hit it a country mile — dependable sidekick, adopted family member.
As “famous” is generally understood, Jason was not famous. Unless you were us. “Us” being people who saw him all the time, people who really knew him. So when the holiday weekend news came of his passing, the immediate feeling was of loss, not just for ourselves but for everybody. The world had lost a friend it didn’t know it had, a friend the world didn’t know it needed.
He was that kind of famous, made that kind of in-the-shadows impact. “A life of quiet service,” his obituary read.
Amen to that.
Jason didn’t want to be a groomsman in one of his best friend’s wedding. Even being an usher was too much spotlight for Jason. But to help out with the honeymoon by being the long-distance airport cabbie for the couple? Bingo. Big Jim was your guy.
He didn’t want to be a distraction beyond that hole in the wall in the sanctuary when he ran the sound system for Sunday morning services. Instead, a blind was hung so he could be the opposite of seen but not heard: you could hear the preacher and you couldn’t see him.
We call that “serving The Big Jim Way.”
He was an equipment manager as a Louisiana Tech student after he graduated from Ruston High in 1991, then on the payroll as head of all athletic equipment years later. There are few jobs more invisible to the masses and more important to a coaching staff than that one. Being invisible is one of the job requirements. Be efficient, tie every loose end, be invisible. Be an ear and a shoulder for teammates who need it. Serve and let the big dogs eat.
Right down Big Jim’s alley.
In the service Monday were several peers like Dan Takata along with “kids” he’d worked with, now young men, students he’d managed while they’d literally managed together down West Alabama Avenue at Joe Aillet Stadium and in each of America’s time zones. Ethan Porta. Cam Ayers. Russ Hillhouse. Dempsey Flannery. Brayden Wilkinson. Like most everyone else, they were in Tech gear, as the family had, for Jason’s service, requested. Unlike everyone else, they’d been with Jason at literally every hour of the day, working side by side, learning how it’s done, how to be loyal, how to be selfless, how to be kind in chaos.
He evolved last year out of Athletics and into the University’s residential life department. In a way, his job hadn’t changed: he was still making students feel at home away from home.
“You raised an amazing man,” one of his golf buddies, fellow managers, and “adopted” brothers Marty Stokley said Monday to Jason’s family in a short testimony to his friend. “I was lucky to be his friend. It was an honor to know him.”
WINNING SMILE: Griffin Sibley scored the decisive run in the 11th inning Tuesday night as the Bossier Phillies put away Crowley and reached their third straight American Legion state tournament championship game. (Photo by ROBERT SUMMERLIN, robertsummerlin@yahoo.com, robertpics.com)
JOURNAL SPORTS
LAFAYETTE – The Bossier Phillies play for their third straight Louisiana American Legion Baseball Tournament championship today after outlasting Crowley 8-7 in a 11-inning semifinal Tuesday night.
Bossier (17-2) meets Gauthier-Amedee Legion Post 557 today at 4 and can capture the tourney title with a win in that contest, or an “if necessary” game that would follow. The Phillies are 4-0 in the state tournament, including a 5-1 victory over Gauthier-Amedee Monday night.
The Gonzales-based team rebounded Tuesday afternoon in the loser’nwice today to survive and advance to the regional championship tournament.
The Phillies never trailed Tuesday night but escaped Crowley chances to win in the bottom of the seventh and eighth. Bossier’s winning margin came when Griffin Sibley led off the 11th with a double to right field, moved to third on a ground out, and scored on a two-out wild pitch.
The Millers put back-to-back batters on base with two out in the bottom half, but a grounder to second base ended the contest.
Cooper Holmes collected four RBI for the Phillies with a first-inning, bases-loaded clearing double, followed by a solo homer in the third inning on his next at-bat that put Bossier back on top 4-3. Crowley had answered Holmes’ first-inning burst with three in the home half.
The teams swapped scores in the fourth inning, with Nate Cervantes providing the Phillies’ run on a sacrifice fly that brought in Greer, who led off with a walk.
Bossier carried a 6-4 lead to the bottom of the seventh after Jackson Waller homered to right field opening the inning. Crowley loaded the bases with one out and closed within one on a passed ball. After a popup for the second out, with the go-ahead runner at second, the Millers tied it on Peyton Daigle’s sharp single to center field that moved the winning run to third. A fly out halted the rally and sent the game to extra innings.
The Phillies bounced back immediately. Kannon Greer led off reaching on an error, then Cole Snell was hit by a pitch and after a sacrifice bunt by Case Jorden, Cervantes was intentionally walked to fill the bases.
Waller again delivered, with a sacrifice fly to center for a 7-6 edge, but a ground out stranded Bossier’s two baserunners.
Crowley tied it by starting the bottom of the eighth with a double and a Hudson Daigle single, and with two outs, loaded the bases before Landon Devillier lined out to Snell in center field.
Bossier had runners at the corners with two out in the 10th but couldn’t convert. The Phillies cashed in an inning later when Sibley doubled and scored the decisive run.
It was the longest game of the summer for Bossier.
Crowley finished 14-6 with four losses unfolding in the final inning.
The Phillies are trying to win not only a third straight state title, but also make it three consecutive regional crowns and a third World Series appearance in a row.
RUSTON — Four former Louisiana Tech standouts whose careers span nearly five decades will become the newest members of the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame this fall.
Football standouts Johnny Robinson and Wenford Wilborn, baseball star Fred McGaha and softball great Morgan Turkoly make up the Hall of Fame’s 22nd induction class, and will be enshrined during Hall of Fame Weekend on Oct. 9-10. The university’s athletic department announced the group Tuesday.
McGaha is a Shreveport native and Fair Park High School graduate. He played for legendary Indians’ coaches James Farrar and Jimmy Orton.
The Class of 2026 will be inducted during a ticketed ceremony Friday, Oct. 9, on the Club Level of the Davison Athletics Complex before being recognized as part of Hall of Fame Weekend festivities.
The weekend will be capped that Saturday when the Bulldogs host UL-Lafayette in Tech’s inaugural home Sun Belt Conference football game at Joe Aillet Stadium.
“Louisiana Tech has a long history of athletic success, and this class is a great microcosm of that tradition,” said Vice President and Director of Athletics Ryan Ivey. “These four very deserving individuals led their respective teams to great heights on the diamond and the gridiron, and we are so excited about enshrining them into the Athletics Hall of Fame.”
Established in 1984 with an inaugural class of seven inductees, the Louisiana Tech Athletics Hall of Fame represents the university’s highest athletic honor. Before this year’s induction, 128 former student-athletes, coaches and contributors had earned a place in the Hall, representing generations of excellence across Bulldog and Lady Techster athletics.
This year’s class recognizes standout performers whose accomplishments helped define their respective eras at Louisiana Tech.
McGaha was a catalyst in the rise of Louisiana Tech baseball during his career from 1969-72, at the outset of Pat Patterson’s 23-year tenure as the Bulldogs’ coach. A two-time all-conference selection, McGaha was named the Gulf States Conference Most Valuable Player in 1971 after leading the Bulldogs to the NCAA Mid-East Regional, where he also earned All-Regional honors.
He followed that by receiving the George Kell Hitting Award as the Southland Conference’s Hitter of the Year in 1972. When his career ended, McGaha owned Louisiana Tech’s career and single-season records for hits, runs scored, total bases and stolen bases.
Robinson starred for the Bulldogs from 1977-80, becoming one of the most accomplished defensive players in program history. A three-time All-Southland Conference selection, he was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year in 1979 after recording 138 tackles.
He helped lead Louisiana Tech to consecutive Southland Conference championships in 1977 and 1978, including the 1977 Independence Bowl championship. He finished his career ranked 10th in school history with 340 tackles and fifth with 16 career sacks and later earned a place on Louisiana Tech’s Football 100-Year Anniversary Team.
Robinson played in three NFL seasons for the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders from 1981-83 after being chosen in the fourth round of the 1981 NFL Draft.
Wilborn established himself as one of the Bulldogs’ premier defensive backs and return specialists from 1971-74. A two-time All-Southland Conference selection, he remains tied for second in program history with 15 career interceptions.
He also still owns the school record with 91 career punt returns and ranks second with 742 punt return yards. His 91-yard punt return against Eastern Michigan in 1971 set a Division II record at the time and remains the second-longest punt return in Louisiana Tech history.
Turkoly rounds out the class after putting together one of the most decorated careers in Louisiana Tech softball history from 2016-19. She remains the only player in program history to earn All-Conference USA honors in all four seasons, including first-team recognition in each of her final three years. Turkoly was named Conference USA Player of the Year in 2018 before earning Senior CLASS Award First Team All-America honors in 2019.
She helped lead the Bulldogs to Conference USA Tournament championships in 2017 and 2019, the 2019 regular-season title and NCAA Regional appearances in both 2017 and 2019. She still ranks first in program history in career walks, runs scored and on-base percentage while ranking second in career batting average and hits.
Additional details about Hall of Fame Weekend, including ticket information for the induction ceremony, will be announced by Louisiana Tech Athletics on social media and the LaTechSports.com website in the coming weeks.
Our BOM Bank sponsored team had a great time participating in the Dream Hunt Golf Tournament! We are proud to support the Dream Hunt Foundation and its incredible mission of giving children and teens with disabilities, terminal illnesses, or disadvantaged circumstances the opportunity to experience guided hunting and fishing trips they may never otherwise have. Through partnerships with hospitals and organizations across the South, Dream Hunt Foundation creates unforgettable memories and life-changing experiences for youth ages 8–18. Pictured left to right: BOM’s Jonathan Wall, Drew Baker, Clint Oliver, and Sam Marvin.
(Editor’s Note – The following column is written by someone who, by his own self admission, knows very little about soccer but has watched more of it in the last two weeks than he had in the previous two decades. And if he tries to use the word “futbol” at any point below, you have permission to kick him in the shins.)
Play enough athletics for long enough and you’ll discover – and believe – that the “sports gods” do exist. More importantly, you quickly find out that the last thing you want to do is anger them.
The basic premise is this – play the sport the way it is supposed to be played. Don’t cut corners. It may not be considered outright cheating, but just because you can do it, that doesn’t mean you should do it.
It doesn’t matter the sport is: there are baseball gods, golf gods (the two I am most familiar with), hockey gods and basketball gods.
And, as we found out earlier this week, there are soccer gods.
As soon as it was discovered that the red-card suspension of Folarin Balogun had been overturned, I knew the U.S. men’s national team was in deep doo-doo against Belgium in the round of 16.
Sure, we got one of our best players back and, at least in theory, that gave us a better chance to advance to the quarterfinals.
But we were never going to sneak that one past the soccer gods. That it only ended up as a 4-1 loss was a sign that the soccer gods threw us an ecumenical bone because it could have been much worse.
Now we can all get back to not paying attention to things that keep getting shoved down our throats like a Joey Chestnut hotdog during the summer sports lull: Aaron Rodgers drama (you know it’s coming), college football Media Days, NBA Rookie Summer League, where Lebron James is headed next, who will be the next WNBA player to cheap-shot Caitlin Clark and, of course, the ESPYs.
Oh, the World Cup will continue but we are no longer obligated to have watch parties to sweat out a bunch of one-name Spaniards faking an injury. The average Soccer IQ of the viewership for the remainder of the World Cup is bound to be significantly higher than it was while the USA was running roughshod through Group Whatever.
I will admit it was fun while it lasted. Sometimes it was nap-inducing and sometimes it was pretty amazing to watch. But if you’ll allow me to be golly-gee for a moment, the best part of it all was having all of these foreign visitors invade our country and watch the co-mingling of cultures.
The Norwegians doing their rowing thing at Fenway Park and cheering on their guy Viktor Hovland at the Travelers Championship … the Dutch “Oranjebus” (Orange Bus) making its way through Texas … English fans adopting Atlanta centerfielder Michael Harris as one of their own from the bleachers at Truist Field (they made a song about him) … these fan takeovers were pretty cool to see.
It does remind you how great the world’s human beings can be when politics aren’t involved.
Having the World Cup in this country was a great event, but let’s not make too much of it. We had one of these babies in 1994 and it didn’t exactly revolutionize the American sporting landscape.
To the soccerphiles out there, it’s been a magical existence as they get a chance to bask in the glow of the most-watched sporting event in the world.
To the rest of us, we are left with one question: How many days is it until football season starts?
TIGER ANCHOR: Todd McClure (72) was the cornerstone of LSU’s offensive line in two Independence Bowl appearances as Tigers running backs Kevin Faulk and Rondell Mealey piled up yards in the 1995 and 1997 games. (Photo courtesy LSU Athletics/Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame)
JOURNAL SPORTS
Current Los Angeles Rams All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua and recent Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame inductee Todd McClure, an LSU standout, are part of the latest five players announced as members of the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
The bowl had a local media panel select and rank the top 50 players in the half-century history of the local game. Criteria included performance in the I-Bowl, other collegiate achievements, and pro accomplishments. The 50th edition kicks off on Dec. 23 at Independence Stadium.
Five different decades are represented in this group, with players from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2020s. Numbers 45 through 41 announced Thursday on the Independence Bowl’s All-Time Team include:
No. 45 – Gary Anderson (K – Syracuse, 1979) Anderson, a native of South Africa, is regarded as one of the greatest kickers of all time – spending 23 seasons in the NFL. Kicking in the 1979 Independence Bowl during Syracuse’s 31-7 victory over McNeese State, Anderson had a perfect day – converting his lone field goal attempt from 40 yards and making all four of his extra point attempts. He was named first-team All-American in 1981 before being drafted in the seventh round of the 1982 NFL Draft. In his 23 seasons in the NFL, Anderson was named first-team All-Pro in 1983, made four Pro Bowl appearances and was the NFL’s scoring leader in 1998. For his career accomplishments, he was a member of both the 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Team and is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers All-Time Team. Anderson is third in NFL history for points scored (2,434), field goals made (538) and games played (353), and he is also fourth in NFL history for extra points made (820).
No. 44 – Todd McClure (C – LSU, 1995 & 1997) McClure, who was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in late June, started in two Independence Bowls for LSU – helping pave the way for two of the best rushing performances in the game’s history by Kevin Faulk in 1995 and Rondell Mealey in 1997. The Baton Rouge native was named first-team All-SEC twice (1997 and 1998) and All-American once (1998) before being drafted in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. McClure spent all 14 seasons of his professional career with the Falcons, starting for 195 of 198 regular-season games in Atlanta, and was called for only 17 penalties in that span due to his command of the technical aspects of offensive line play. He took over as the starting center his second season in the league and missed only one game over the next 13 seasons of his career. McClure was inducted into the Falcons Ring of Honor in 2022.
No. 43 – Seneca Wallace (QB – Iowa State, 2001) One of the many great quarterbacks to play in Independence Stadium, Wallace earned 2001 Offensive Player of the Game honors after passing for 284 yards and rushing for 28 yards in a 14-13 loss to Alabama. That season, Wallace was named Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year after passing for 2044 yards and 11 touchdowns (TDs), while also rushing for 475 yards and seven TDs. The next season, in 2002, Wallace upped his passing yardage to 3,245 yards and 15 TDs, and also rushed for 437 yards and 8 TDs on his way to earning second-team All-Big 12 honors. The Sacramento, Ca. native was drafted in the fourth round of the 2003 NFL Draft and spent 10 years in the NFL. For his NFL career, Wallace played 64 games, starting 22, compiling 4974 passing yards, 31 passing TDs and 19 interceptions.
No. 42 – Gary Kubiak (QB – Texas A&M, 1981) A second consecutive quarterback on the list who was named Independence Bowl Offensive Player of the Game, Kubiak led his Aggies team to a 33-16 victory over Jimmy Johnson’s 1981 Oklahoma State team – going 15-for-20 for 225 yards, two TDs and rushing for 34 yards. His best college season came the next year, 1982, when he was named to the All-Southwest Conference team after leading the conference in passing yards and TDs. Kubiak was drafted in the eighth round of the 1983 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and spent his entire nine-year career as John Elway’s backup quarterback in Denver. After his playing career, Kubiak earned a reputation as one of the best offensive coaching minds in football, working his way into two head coaching gigs – Houston Texans from 2006-2013 and Denver Broncos from 2015-2016. As a head coach, he led the Broncos to Super Bowl 50 victory in 2015, and he is the Texans’ career wins leader. He also won three Super Bowls as an assistant coach – one as the San Francisco 49ers’ quarterbacks coach in 1994 and two as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
No. 41 – Puka Nacua (WR – BYU, 2021) One of the younger members of the Independence Bowl’s All-Time Team, Nacua may be one of the biggest current-day names on the list. Nacua only caught one pass for nine yards on a cold and rainy day in the 2021 Independence Bowl, capping off his best college season in which he caught 43 balls for 805 yards and six TDs. After 625 yards and five TDs in his senior season in Provo, Nacua was selected in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and his career has been on a rocket ship ever since. He quickly became one of the best players in the NFL – becoming the first rookie to lead the NFL in receiving yards (1,486) and breaking the record for most receptions in a game by a rookie (15). He was named to the 2023 PFWA All-Rookie Team, named second-team All-Pro and made his first Pro Bowl. After posting 990 yards in just 11 games in 2024, Nacua posted the best season of his young career in 2025. He led the NFL in receptions (129), first downs (80) and receiving yards per game (107.2). In total, Nacua racked up 1,715 receiving yards and a career-high 10 TDs in 16 games. He earned his second Pro Bowl nod and was named first-team All-Pro for the first time. His 95.3 receiving yards per game in his career are the highest mark of all players – active or retired.
Previously announced members of the bowl’s all-time team: No. 46 – Booger McFarland (LB – LSU, 1995 & 1997); No. 47 – Tremaine Edmunds (LB – Virginia Tech, 2015); No. 48 – Bill Musgrave (QB – Oregon, 1989); No. 49 – Larry Anderson (DB – Louisiana Tech, 1977); No. 50 – Lorenza Baker (LB – Louisiana Tech, 1990).
The next five (Nos. 36-40) will be announced Monday afternoon.
PRIME TIME EXPOSURE: Tony Montgomery is measuring his game against many of the nation’s best junior college players this week. (Photo by AMANDA CRANE, BPCC Communications)
JOURNAL SPORTS
Named the state’s junior college player of the year earlier this summer, Bossier Parish Community College basketball point guard Tony Montgomery is lining up with the nation’s best these days.
Thursday and today, Montgomery is playing in the JA 48 event in Richmond, Va., and this weekend he goes south to Atlanta for the All-American JUCO Showcase Invitational event. They are designed to provide four-year college coaches, and even professional scouts, a chance to assess the top junior college sophomores-to-be playing against each other.
Montgomery was one of 11 freshmen on coach Jeff Moore’s first Cavaliers team last season and he had sparkling numbers and credentials.
The Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches named Montgomery the state’s JUCO player of the year and he received the honor May 5 at the annual LABC Awards Dinner in Baton Rouge.
The award is selected annually by men’s college basketball coaches across the state of Louisiana and recognizes the top junior college player for performance, impact, and leadership.
A 6-foot-1 point guard from Columbus, Georgia, Montgomery delivered a dominant freshman campaign for the Cavaliers. He earned first team All-Region XIV honors — one of only two freshmen named to the first team — while leading the region in both scoring (19.5 points per game) and assists (4.9 per game).
Montgomery was productive across the board for BPCC with averages of 3.9 rebounds, and 1.9 steals per game, while shooting 42 percent from the field (202-of-477), 32 percent from three-point range (58-of-182), and 77 percent from the free throw line (139-of-181).
Moore said Montgomery drew the full focus of opposing defenses — double teams, full-court pressure, traps, and box-and-one looks — but never wavered. He continued to produce at an elite level while dictating tempo and commanding the game from the point guard position, said Moore.
“As a freshman in the top junior college league in the country, Tony proved to be one of the top players by leading Region 14 in scoring and assists despite being each team’s focal point defensively, facing every defensive scheme to try to slow him down,” said Moore. “I am most proud of his growth this season as a leader at the point guard position.”
I’m typing this the week of the birthdate of my Grandmomma Inez, who passed away in the ’80s (1989) and in her ’80s (88). She was only 4-10 but all by herself (not counting God), she raised four boys and one girl; the girl was gratefully and gracefully in the middle, divinely placed to help raise the two younger guys, who eventually became my dad and “the baby,” my Uncle Artie.
Since grandmomma passed away — she lived two weeks after a summertime stroke — the family has had a reunion each year around her birthday in early July. The only year we were shut out was 2020 (and yes, we wish we could forget that too). I’m missing the one coming up this weekend, back in Carolina where most all of the riff-raff I am related to hang out, work honestly, cheat on their golf scores, and punch each other in the arm.
I will miss the “golf tournament,” the tea drinking, the storytelling, the remembering. Sadly, we have lost some of the irreplaceable crew who were there for the first reunion. So now, when we talk about grandmomma, we talk about them too.
We listen to the same old stories — always a treat — and some new ones. You know how it goes: my family’s stories, you wouldn’t “get” and I wouldn’t understand yours, but somehow, we are all tied together and they’d make some kind of sense.
It’d be fun to be a fly on the potato salad at your family reunion this summer, just to listen in. “Oh yeah,” I’d think to myself. “That story reminds me of my crazy family…”
Sometimes people say a deceased loved one is “looking down on you from heaven and smiling” after you’ve done something they’d be proud of, and maybe that’s true but it’s probably not. I’m not sure how that precisely works but if they could see the good stuff, they’d see you do not-so-good stuff too and that might make them sad and that wouldn’t be heaven.
But … if you believe Paul in his letter to the church at Thessalonica — (“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope…)— andif you believe Jesus, who says in John’s Gospel that he’s going to prepare a place that we can be with him, and if you believe Revelation 21 and the promise of a redeemed world and a defeated Satan, then how reassuring it is to know that you will see your God-loving grandmother again, or whoever it is you miss terribly. No more tears and worries. A family reunion forever, one where no one’s feelings are hurt, one where the chicken is fried just right and there are no flies and the temperature is less than 95, even in ‘heavenly’ July.
Inez stayed close to her Bible and to the Lord, and everyone in her little town knew it, and she walked to church until she couldn’t anymore and she loved fiercely and protected her own and doled out the righteous punishment when it was needed. She was a pistol, as divine a judge as you can be and still be human.
It’ll be a glorious day to see her again, and so many others. It’ll be … it’ll be heaven.
STEERING THE CAVALIERS: Jeff Moore put together a very competitive Bossier Parish Community College basketball team despite getting hired last August just before classes began. (Photo courtesy BPCC Athletics)
JOURNAL SPORTS
Bossier Parish Community College basketball coach Jeff Moore is nicknamed “Cajun” in reference to his south Louisiana roots and his far-reaching Bayou State ties.
That makes him an especially appropriate featured speaker for the upcoming Louisiana High School Coaches Association Summer Clinic in Baton Rouge. Moore, approaching the first anniversary of his hiring at BPCC early next month, will speak in the Tuesday, July 21 session of the event in Baton Rouge.
Moore will be the first speaker of the two-day clinic at 9:30 a.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Hundreds of high school coaches around the state annually attend the event.
In his first season with the Cavaliers, Moore built a roster assembled just before the start of the fall semester with 11 of his players being true freshmen, including Louisiana Association of Basketball Coaches Junior College Player of the Year Tony Montgomery.
A native of Lake Arthur, the 54-year-old Moore spent 16 seasons at Northwestern State on Mike McConathy’s coaching staff, and came to BPCC as head coach after three seasons as recruiting coordinator at LSU. He helped the Tigers sign three 2024-25 recruits ranked in the country’s top 65. LSU’s 2025 recruiting class was ranked as highly as fourth nationally by Rivals.com.
Moore was associate head coach at NSU. He helped the Demons make two straight postseason appearances, the 2013 NCAA Tournament followed by the College Insiders Tournament a year later.
Ninety percent of Demons basketball players graduated during Moore’s tenure and NSU’s APR continued to improve, including 1000 marks in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016. In 2014, the program received NCAA national recognition for ranking in the top 10 percent in Division I.
Moore has coached more than 90 players in his career from his home state of Louisiana and has signed over 110 players from the state. Among the local products he helped develop into stars at Northwestern are William Mosley, Shamir Davis, James Hulbin and Jalan West.
He was an assistant at BPCC’s Region XIV rival Tyler JC from 2002-05, then spent a year on the Cavaliers’ staff in 2005-06 before joining McConathy’s staff in Natchitoches. Moore was a junior college head coach for five seasons (1997-2002) at John Wood CC in Illinois. His 2001 team reached the NJCAA regional semifinals.
By PATRICK MEEHAN, Centenary Assistant AD for Communications
Schedules for basketball and soccer teams and the hiring of a new volleyball coach are top Centenary sports headlines this week.
Second-year men’s coach J.A. Anglin will lead the Gents into a 25-game regular-season slate and a pair of exhibition contests.
The Gents will begin their regular season on Friday, Nov. 6 against Belhaven in a non-conference contest in Jackson, Miss.
Centenary will prep for the regular season with an exhibition against ULM on Wednesday, Oct. 28 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe. The Gents’ other exhibition game will be against the Lamar Cardinals on Wednesday, Nov. 11 in Beaumont, Texas. Centenary then faces Millsaps College on the road on Friday, Nov. 13 in Jackson, Miss.
The Gents’ first home game is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 17 against East Texas Baptist and their first SCAC contest is set for Friday, Dec. 11 against LeTourneau in the Gold Dome. The Gents are 53-27 at the Gold Dome over the last seven seasons with a pair of double-digit win seasons.
The Gents are scheduled to play 13 home games, 12 road games, and 18 conference contests – nine on the road and nine at home. Centenary’s first league game on the road is set for Friday, Dec. 18 against the University of St. Thomas in Houston.
The Centenary women’s program will play 24 regular-season games under the leadership of second-year head coach Rennie Bailey.
The Ladies will begin their regular season on Monday, Nov. 9 against Jarvis Christian College at home in a non-conference contest inside the Gold Dome.
VOLLEYBALL: Claire Hiler has been named head coach of the Ladies’ program, Director of Athletics and Recreation David Orr announced.
Hiler, a native of Wills Point, Texas, graduated from Texas A&M with a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in sports management. Hiler comes to Centenary from Coastal Bend College in Beeville, Texas where she served as head coach for two seasons. Prior to her season at Coastal Bend, she was an assistant coach at Dallas College-Richland.
Hiler has been the head coach for a club team, RIVAL Volleyball, since 2023 and previously coached RISE Rockwall Volleyball Club (2020), Brazos Valley Juniors (2020-21), and Incredible Crush Volleyball (2021-23).
MEN’S SOCCER: The men’s soccer program will play 16 regular-season matches and two exhibition contests under the leadership of first-year head coach Joe O’Sullivan.
The Gents’ season opener is set for Sept. 3 against Schreiner at Atkins Field. Centenary will prep for the opener with an exhibition contest at home against LSU-Alexandria on Aug. 17 at Atkins Field and a second exhibition on Aug. 26 against East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: The women’s soccer program is set to play 15 regular-season matches and a pair of exhibition contests under the leadership of first-year head coach Merlinn Campagna. The Ladies will open their season on Sept. 1 against Belhaven University at Atkins Field and then face Louisiana Christian University on Sept. 5 at home.
The 2026 SCAC Men’s and Women’s Tournaments will be held Nov. 5-8 in Round Rock, Texas.
SCAC EXPANDING AGAIN: The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Presidents Council has unanimously approved the return of Southwestern University as a full member of the conference, with the institution set to begin competition during the 2027-28 academic year.
Southwestern was among the conference’s longstanding members before departing in 2025. Its return reunites the institution with longtime conference rivals while reinforcing the SCAC’s commitment to regional competition, academic excellence, and an exceptional NCAA Division III student-athlete experience.
Southwestern first joined the conference in 1994 and competed as a member until 2025, capturing 31 conference championships while establishing itself as one of the league’s most successful and academically distinguished members.
Founded in 1840 and located in Georgetown, Texas, Southwestern is the oldest university in Texas and is nationally recognized for its commitment to liberal arts education.
BOM Bank is proud to support the Doyline High School Athletic Awards Banquet! Congratulations to all of the student-athletes who were recognized for their hard work, dedication, and achievements throughout the year.
Doyline High School is committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and student-centered environment where every student from Pre-K through 12th grade is empowered to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally. We are honored to help celebrate these outstanding students and their accomplishments. Pictured left to right: Walt Richie and BOM’s Melinda Williams.
When you think of bigtime celebrating in Louisiana, most people automatically think “New Orleans.”
I get it.
A town with few rivals. Internationally appreciated. A culture all its own. Can’t walk down its streets without overhearing several different languages.
I love it.
But if you want to celebrate without the traffic, the potholes, and a less likelihood of your car getting jacked, you getting mugged, or your toilet getting backed up, I’ll take Natchitoches any day of the week.
(I’d take Ruston, Minden, and Farmerville too, and we haven’t even gotten out of northwest Louisiana yet.)
Louisiana is blessed with small-town goodness.
But today, for a special reason, the salute goes to charming, quaint, welcoming Natchitoches.
Of course there are the annual Christmas lights. (I might be the only person in a five-state area who’s never been.) Eeeeeeeverybody loves the Christmas lights.
But Natty lights up each summer too.
The annual Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame class is inducted each June, usually on the fourth weekend. The welcome mat, the red carpet, the good times are rolled out and one of the South’s finest small towns says, “Come on and getcha some!”
Last weekend was no exception, and my encouraging word would be to consider going next summer or the next or as soon as you can to a Hall of Fame weekend. All the deets — plus a replay of the ceremony and video intros of each inductee, all produced by the team of all-stars at Louisiana Public Broadcasting — are at lasportshall.com.
The weekend never disappoints.
If you haven’t studied just how the actual LASHOF works, the induction side of it, please be encouraged to read this effort by Doug Ireland, the chairman of the Hall. The road to the sports hall of fame in your state is significantly steeper than the road to the sports halls of fame in most any other state. Most states are trying to scrape together a couple of inductees each year. Louisiana’s selection committee has year-long knock-down drag-outs to figure out which eight stars should be inducted that year.
And each year, some deserving candidates are left knocking on the door. It’s fascinating that in Louisiana, you can’t swing a cat without it hitting a Super Bowl winner, All-American, Pro-Bowler, Olympic medalist, national champ, All Star … and the list goes on.
And on and on.
And each year, more stars and studs become eligible.
The setting is always a no-doubter. Natchitoches. The actual Hall of Fame on Front Street. (Don’t forget to go upstairs! It’s a state history museum, not just sports.) The Cane River Right There, even though it’s not a river. The awnings. The bricked street. The food.
The flowers. The hospitality.
It’s a movie set.
And then the Events Center, decorated more beautifully each year. (One member of this year’s induction class didn’t “get it” until Saturday night when he saw the joint. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I thought … I didn’t know it was going to be like this.”
Oh, it’s a big deal. Done right.
And if you walk downtown a couple of hours after the Saturday night induction, all is calm again. Like walking in a painting.
Because of the pandemic in 2020, two ceremonies were held in 2021. In the same summer. Both were full throttled. Natty didn’t skimp. Sponsors, volunteers, organizers: everyone showed up with their A-games. The whole town is like a living Statue of Liberty.
And this year’s inductees? Humble. Authentic. Seldom does an inductee disappoint. They get what ball means to Louisiana, and maybe through the ceremony and the weekend, they begin to get how they each fit into the state’s Phenomenal, Stunning Sports Story.
The Hall’s a place where legends live, and Natchitoches keeps the lights on and the fire burning so you can meet them any time.
