We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Author: Dave Riggert

Jayhawks add two more to football coaching staff

Posted on

Adam Sitter and Scott Vestal have joined the Kansas Football staff Jayhawk head coach Charlie Weis announced Monday afternoon. Sitter will serve as KU’s director of high school relations, while Vestal will work at Kansas in the role of assistant director of football operations.

Sitter comes to Kansas after spending the past three football seasons on the staff at the University of Florida. Sitter was the quality control coach for Gator offense during the 2009-10 seasons and then was a graduate assistant for the UF offense under Weis during the 2011 campaign.

Prior to his time in Gainesville, Sitter spent several years in the Florida high school ranks coaching at three Orlando area high schools. He coached the offensive line at Edgewater High School (2003-04) and Hagerty High School (2005-07). He then was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Jones High School (2008).

An Orlando, native, Sitter is a 2007 graduate of the University of Central Florida. He played center at Dr. Phillips High School, earning an appointment to attend West Point and play collegiately for Army. He suffered a career-ending injury early in his time at Army and later transferred to UCF to complete his degree and begin his career in coaching.

Vestal also joins the Kansas program from Florida. He was the quality control coach for defense for the Gators in 2011 and served in the same role at Texas during the 2010 season.

Prior to his work with the Longhorns, Vestal was a graduate assistant at Louisiana Tech, North Texas and SMU. Overall, Vestal spent four years at SMU, including a year as an assistant to the Director of Football Operations in 2003 before becoming the video graduate assistant in 2004. He also spent one year coaching in the Texas high school ranks, serving as an assistant coach at Berkner High School in Richardson, Texas.

The Dallas, Texas native played safety at Arlington Lamar High School. Vestal earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and a minor in history from Texas A&M in 2003 and a master’s degree in liberal arts at SMU.

— KU Sports Information —

Royals announce Minor League coaching staffs for 2012

Posted on

The Kansas City Royals have announced the minor league coaching staffs for the 2012 season.  The Royals also named their minor league coordinators for next season.

Affiliate staffs:

The leader of the defending Pacific Coast League champion Omaha Storm Chasers remains intact, as 2011 Mike Coolbaugh award winner Mike Jirschele returns to his managerial post for a 10th-consecutive season.  The Wisconsin native also managed the club from 1995-1997 and is a four-time winner of the Dick Howser Award (1992, 1994, 2005 and 2011).  Doug Henry will tutor the pitchers at Omaha for the third straight season while Tommy Gregg will serve his fourth season as the hitting coach.  Dave Iannicca and Joey Greany will serve as the trainer and strength and conditioning coach, respectively.

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals return Brian Poldberg at the helm for the fifth straight season.  Poldberg has led the Naturals to the playoffs in each of his four seasons and was named an All-Star in 2010 and 2011.  Poldberg’s staff will include 2011 All-Star pitching coach Larry Carter, who enters his 15th season in the Royals organization and 11th at the Double-A level, and 2010-11 Texas League All-Star Terry Bradshaw, who will tutor the hitters at Double-A for the third consecutive year.  Masa Koyanagi and George Timke will work as the trainer and strength and conditioning coach, respectively.

Vance Wilson will jump a level and serve as the manager of the Class-A Advanced Wilmington Blue Rocks in 2012 after leading the Kane County Cougars to the playoffs last season in his debut season as a skipper.  Steve Luebber will remain as the pitching coach while former big league outfielder Damon Hollins will be the hitting coach.  Trainer James Stone and strength and conditioning coach Adam Vish round out Wilson’s staff.

The Royals will begin their second season with the Kane County (Ill.) Cougars as the club’s Midwest League (A) affiliate.  Kane County will be managed by Brian Buchanan, who skippered Idaho Falls in 2010 and 2011.  Jim Brower returns as the Cougars pitching coach. Julio Bruno, the hitting coach for Surprise in 2011, will serve in that same capacity on Buchanan’s staff.  Mark Keiser and David Kathmann will serve as the trainer and strength and conditioning coach, respectively.

Omar Ramirez, who was the hitting coach for Idaho Falls in 2011, will be on the bench as the manager of the Chukars in 2012.  Jerry Nyman will serve as the Chukars pitching coach for the second straight campaign.  Justin Gemoll will tutor the hitters at Idaho Falls after filling the same role in 2011 at Wilmington (A-Advanced).  Nathan Dine joins the Royals organization as the strength and conditioning coach.  The Chukars trainer has yet to be announced.

Tommy Shields joins the Kansas City system as the manager with Burlington (R) in the Appalachian League.  Shields spent the last seven seasons as the Atlanta Braves minor league infield coordinator.  Carlos Martinez will be the pitching coach after working in the same position for Surprise in 2011.  Jon Williams will work with the hitters.  Trainer Adrian Ramon and strength and conditioning coach Richard White both join the Royals organization and round out Shields’ staff.  Ramon comes to the Royals from Florida Gulf Coast University.

The Royals rookie league squad in Surprise, Ariz., will be managed by Darryl Kennedy for the third straight season.  Kennedy’s staff will include Mark Davis, who returns as a pitching coach for Surprise after a season as the minor league pitching coordinator; pitching coach/rehab coach Carlos Reyes, who joined the Royals in 2008; hitting coaches Andre David and Nelson Liriano; coach and former Royals postseason hero Willie Aikens; trainer Saburo Hagihara; and strength and conditioning coach Luis Perez, who also serves the club as the Latin American strength and conditioning coordinator.

Victor Baez will work his fifth year as the Dominican Academy field coordinator.  Under the direction of manager Jose Mejia, the remainder of the staff includes Rafael Roque (pitching); Abraham Nunez (hitting); Ramon Martinez (infield); Onil Joseph (outfield); Sergio de Luna (coach); Martin Berroa (trainer); Raymundo Sido (trainer); and Jose Rosario (strength and conditioning coach).

Coordinators and Roving positions:

Tony Tijerina enters his sixth year with KC and his second as minor league field coordinator.

Bill Fischer, a former Major League Pitching Coach with the Reds, Red Sox and Rays, will work his 65th year in professional baseball in 2012 as Senior Pitching Advisor.   Fischer, who re-joined the organization in 2007, also worked with the club from 1975-1978 and in 1984.

2012 will be Jack Maloof’s fifth season with the Royals as a special assistant to player development and minor league hitting coordinator.

Rusty Kuntz, after serving in 2008-2009 and for the final four months of 2010 on the Royals Major League staff as first base coach, will work his second season as special assistant to general manager/player development.

Rick Knapp, who served as the Major League pitching coach of the Detroit Tigers the last three seasons, joins the Royals as the minor league pitching coordinator.

Glenn Hubbard, a 10-year Major League veteran and a coach for the Atlanta Braves for 21 seasons, returns for his second year as the club’s infield coordinator.

John Wathan returns for his 40th season in baseball, his 36th with the Royals, as a special assistant to player development/scouting.

Chris DeLucia will serve his third season as the minor league medical coordinator in 2012.

Sean McQueeney joins the Royals organization as minor league rehab coordinator and physical therapist.  He was most recently with the Seattle Mariners organization.

Tony Medina is the Latin America medical coordinator after working the last eight years as a trainer at various levels.

Garrett Sherrill returns to the Royals after two seasons with the San Francisco Giants and will serve as the minor league strength and conditioning coordinator, taking over for Ryan Stoneberg who was promoted to the Major League position.

Luis Perez, as mentioned above, will serve as the Latin America strength and conditioning coordinator in addition to working for Surprise.

Nick Leto and Will Simon return as the manager of Arizona operations and minor league equipment manager, respectively.

Alvin Cuevas returns for his fifth season as manager of Dominican operations.

— Royals Media Relations —

Griffon lose heartbreaker to Lincoln Saturday

Posted on

The Griffons men scored just 28 points in the second half falling 66-63 against the Lincoln Blue Tigers on Saturday afternoon. TJ Johnson led the Griffons with 23 points as Western falls to 6-7 overall and 1-6 in MIAA play.

The first half started slow for the Griffons getting down 7-0 and 15-8 in the first eight minutes of action. Western got going the three minutes of play tying the score at 15 after a layup by TJ Johnson with 9:19 to play. Western kept up the pressure closing the half on a 20-9 run claiming the 35-24 lead at the break.

The Griffons dominated the points in the paint outscoring Lincoln 26-to-12. They also scored 15 points on 10 Lincoln turnovers. Johnson led all scorers with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Western made 15-of-36 shots for 41.7-percent.
The Blue Tigers shot just 38.5-percent (10-26) from the floor with Terrell Williams and Jimmy Payton each scoring seven points. Five other Blue Tigers scored two points.

Things looked good for the Griffons early in the second half as they took a ten point lead at 46-36 with 14:44 to play in the game. The rest of the half would be a struggle offensively as they scored just 17 points.

The Blue Tigers took their first lead at 51-50 of the second half after a Terrell Williams layup with 9:42 to play. Western was able to take a four point lead at 58-54 with 5:56 to play after a good free throw from Johnson.

The rest of the way the Blue Tigers outscored the Griffons 12-5 with James Edmond hitting a three point basket with four seconds to play giving Lincoln their second road victory of the season. The Blue Tigers improve to 2-10 overall and 2-5 in MIAA play.

The Griffons finished shooting just 39.1-percent (25-64) from the field but did outscore the Blue Tigers in the paint 38-to-30.

The Blue Tigers shot 46.4-percent (26-56) from the field with Cedric Ridle and Terrell Williams scoring 16 and 14 points respectively. Ridle also snared eight rebounds.

The Griffons return home on Wednesday, January 11 to take on the Truman State Bulldogs in MIAA action. Game time is set for 7:30 pm from the MWSU Fieldhouse. This will mark the third game of a three game home stand for the Griffons. If you can make the game listen to all the action on 680 AM KFEQ.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Bearcats cruise past Truman State to stay atop MIAA

Posted on

For the third time this season Northwest Missouri State held its opponent under 50 points as the Bearcats scratched out a 65-47 victory Saturday afternoon in MIAA action at Bearcat Arena.

Northwest led almost start to finish as they improve to 12-1 on the year and 6-1 in league play to stay atop the MIAA standings. Truman struggled to find offense dropping its fourth straight to fall to 4-10 and 2-5 in conference action.

Senior Kyle Haake again provided a big spark for the Bearcats as both teams struggled to find offense. After Truman had cut the Bearcat lead to only seven points DeAngelo Hailey found Haake on the wing who buried the trey and put Northwest back up by double digits.

With 5:03 left in the game Haake would again nail his fourth three-pointer of the game. The senior also recorded a season-high seven rebounds in the game to accompany his game-high 14 points.

Both teams struggled to find points shooting below 40 percent from the field in the game, however Northwest converted on 11-of-13 from the free throw line to help propel the Bearcats as the Bulldogs only shot 52 percent from the line.

DeShaun Cooper did not have his normal shooting night, but still managed to finish with 12 points; however, it was Cooper’s six assists that helped Northwest to its 12th victory on Saturday.

Dillon Starzl also added 11 points for the Bearcats to finish in double figures.

Truman guards Seth Jackson and Seth Carlson finished with 11 points each to lead the Bulldogs.

Northwest returns to the road on Wednesday night in a pivotal MIAA matchup with Central Missouri. Tip from the Multipurpose Building is set for 7:30 p.m.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Mizzou gets blown out at K-State for first loss

Posted on

Kansas State’s Will Spradling knew that undefeated Missouri was going to have its hands full with the Wildcats.

Rodney McGruder scored 20 points to lead Kansas State (No. 22 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP) past Missouri (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 AP) 75-59 Saturday, and the Wildcats shut down the Tigers’ high-scoring offense.

“I felt like Missouri hadn’t seen a team like us,” Spradling said, “a team that can really get up and pressure you on defense.”

Missouri (14-1, 1-1 Big 12) entered the day as one of the nation’s four remaining unbeaten teams but never threatened in the final 30 minutes. Marcus Denmon led the Tigers with 17 points while Michael Dixon added 16.

Missouri entered the day leading the Big 12 in scoring by a wide margin, averaging 86.2 points.

“We weren’t able to make our cuts freely,” Denmon said, “so we couldn’t get guys open.”

Spradling had 14 points for the Wildcats, (12-2, 1-1) who led by at least a dozen points the entire second half.

“Missouri really likes to move the ball, but when we got in their passing lanes, they settled for pick and roll,” Spradling said. “And then we had (Henriquez) back there guarding the rim.”

And the Tigers’ hopes of making a comeback took a hit when Ricardo Ratliffe, the lone big man in the starting lineup, was called for a technical in the opening minutes of the second half. Ratliffe played just 14 minutes because of foul trouble.

“We don’t have a lot of physicality in the post already,” Haith said. “We need Ricardo’s energy.”

K-State held Missouri without a field goal for more than eight minutes in the first half, taking its lead from 16-10 to 38-19. The Wildcats led 44-25 at halftime, helped by the Tigers going 5 of 22 from the free throw line in the half.

The Tigers had a 7-0 run midway through the second half to make it 52-39 with 11:47 left.

But McGruder answered for K-State, hitting two free throws and converting a driving floater. After Henriquez coaxed in a left-handed hook, Spradling made a steal and hit McGruder for an alley-oop slam.

“I needed to have a different mindset in this game,” McGruder said, “not settle for 3-pointers.”

Just like that, the Wildcats led 60-39 with 8:51 remaining, and Missouri coach Frank Haith called timeout.

Both teams were emptying their benches with two minutes remaining, and Martin — who can go beyond gruff — was thrilled. Afterward, he kept referencing K-State’s 18-point loss Wednesday at Kansas.

“After you get embarrassed, your team can go one of two ways,” he said. “You can come apart at the seams or the seams get tighter. I was proud of these guys tonight.”

— Associated Press —

Western women knock off Blue Tigers for second straight win

Posted on

The Missouri Western women closed the game on an 18-10 run claiming their second straight MIAA victory by a score of 74-66 over the Lincoln Blue Tigers. Western is 2-0 to open the 2012 season and have won 24 straight against Lincoln. Western improves to 4-8 overall and 2-5 overall.

Western dominated the points in the paint if the first frame outscoring Lincoln 26-14 in the lane helping the Griffons to a 36-30 half time lead. The game was tied eight times in the first frame with Western trialing by no more than five points at 17-12 with 10:56 to play.

Western used an 8-0 run claiming their first lead of the game with 9:25 to play after an Alex Saxen long range shot. The game was tied three more times before the end of the half but a lay-up by Koch at the buzzer gave the Griffons their largest lead of the half at six. Western finished shooting a sizzling 55.2-percent (16-29) form the field with Jessica Koch dumping in 10 points. She has scored in double figures in 22 straight games.

The Blue Tigers shot just 31.4-percent (11-35) from the field with Vivian Essuon leading the charge with 11 points and 16 rebounds. Essuon made 5-of-7 field goal attempts. Lincoln had 14 second chance points to the Griffons zero, outrebounding the Griffons 26-17 in the first period.

In a half that saw eight lead changes the Griffons were able to hold off the Blue Tiger comeback. Two Freddie Sims long range shots in the first two minutes of the second half helped the Blue Tigers tie the score at 36 with 18:09 to play. Western retook the lead by as many as five twice in the next eight minutes by scores of 52-47 and 54-49.

The Blue Tigers went on an 8-2 run taking a one point lead with 6:47 to play after a Jackeya Mitchell free throw, but Koch nailed a three pointer with 6:37 to play sparking the Griffons run to victory. Koch finished with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting. She collected eight rebounds and dished out seven assists in the game.

Lincoln outrebounded the Griffons 48-to-33 with Essuon finishing with 23 boards and 20 points making 8-of-10 shots. Sims finished with 20 points on 8-of-16 shooting making four long range shots. The Blue Tigers fall to 9-3 overall and 4-3 in MIAA play.

Western outscored the Blue Tigers 44-to-30 in the paint and 21-to-15 off the bench. They also scored 23 points off 26 Lincoln turnovers.

The Griffons return home on Wednesday, January 11 to take on the Truman State Bulldogs in MIAA action. Game time is set for 5:30 pm from the MWSU Fieldhouse. This will mark the third game of a three game home stand for the Griffons. If you can make the game listen to all the action on 680 AM KFEQ.

— MWSU Sports Information —

KU controls second half to pound Oklahoma

Posted on

Travis Releford has saved his best basketball for Big 12 play.

After opening conference play with his first double-double in college, Releford scored 28 points to set a career best for the second straight game and Kansas (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) used a big surge just after halftime to beat Oklahoma 72-61 Saturday.

Releford had career-highs with 16 points and 11 rebounds in his previous game against Kansas State and continued his strong start to Big 12 play.

“I’d like to say it’s coaching but I can’t say that,” coach Bill Self said. “He was terrific against K-State and then today, the light came on. … Certainly he’s in a comfort zone right now.”

Releford had 16 points by halftime and kept going in the second half, when the Jayhawks broke it open with a 29-6 surge just after halftime.

“I come into the games just trying to stop the opponent’s offensive scorer, their best player on the team,” Releford said. “I don’t really look to score but coach Self lately has just been telling me to continue to stay aggressive and take what the defense gives me.”

The Jayhawks (12-3, 2-0 Big 12) scored the first seven points of the second half to take the lead, then never gave it back. Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson and Thomas Robinson all had two-handed slams during the decisive run that turned a one-point deficit into a commanding lead for Kansas.

Tyshawn Taylor drove the left baseline for a three-point play and Johnson drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to finish it off and make it 62-40 with 8:37 remaining.

The Sooners missed eight of their first 10 shots and committed five turnovers in the first 8 minutes of the second half to allow Kansas to get out and run.

“We’re pretty good when we get out in transition and we did actually an above-average job of that, and they missed some shots,” Self said. “But that’s the best stretch we’ve played (all season).”

Robinson added 18 points and nine rebounds for Kansas, which made half of its 58 shots.

Steven Pledger scored 14 points and Andrew Fitzgerald had 11 for the Sooners (10-4, 0-2) but the team’s two leading scorers went a combined 9-for-28 from the field.

Oklahoma shot 30 percent in the second half while Kansas got easy buckets to convert at a 60 percent clip.

“I thought the first half we battled them pretty good. The second half, we opened up pretty careless with the ball right there, which gave them a little margin,” Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said.

“Not only did we turn it over but we turned it over with them shooting layups, which is the worst of both worlds.”

It was the second straight game that the Sooners gave up a huge run to open the second half. Missouri outscored Oklahoma 37-13 right after halftime Tuesday night to salt away an 87-49 victory that was already a blowout.

This time, neither team led by more than five points in a first half that featured eight lead changes.

Releford matched his previous career-high for a game with 16 points before halftime, but Oklahoma took a 34-33 lead at the break after Romero Osby hit a right-handed hook shot to answer Robinson’s reverse layup. It was the last time Oklahoma would be ahead.

“(Releford) just kept us in the game,” Self said. “I thought a couple of guys were still in Lawrence, the way that our heads weren’t into it. The second half, for whatever reason, the light came on and guys really seemed focused and intense and did a much better job.”

Osby practically handed the ball to Robinson on Oklahoma’s first possession after the break, and Robinson raced to the opposite end for a layup.

The Jayhawks got eight of their first 11 second-half points on the fast break, and then took turns setting each other up for dunks. Releford fed Withey for his dunk, Taylor lobbed to Johnson for a throwdown and then Johnson tossed an alley-oop for Robinson.

Kansas won its eighth straight in the series and started conference play with two wins in a row for the sixth straight year and the 16th time in 17 seasons.

“A win like this adds up to winning a conference championship,” Robinson said. “Coach told us that we have to go undefeated at home and be able to scrape up some wins on the road.”

— Associated Press —

Northwest women defeat Truman for first league win

Posted on

Abby Henry hit a running jumper with four seconds to push the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats past the Truman State University Bulldogs (8-4, 3-4 MIAA) 58-57 Saturday afternoon in Bearcat Arena.

In its first action on their home court in a month, Northwest (3-11, 1-6 MIAA) snapped an eight-game losing streak.

Henry would nail a jump shot off of a missed free throw by Ashleigh Nelson with 1:04 left to play to put the Bearcats down by one.

Two missed free throws by Truman’s Becka McHenry would prove to be fatal for the Bulldogs as Henry would nail a running jumper with four seconds remaining to push the Bearcats past the Bulldogs.

Northwest battled back from a cold shooting in the first half in which they shot a little over 19 percent from the field compared to Truman’s start of 36 percent.  The Bearcats would go on to shoot a hot 51 percent in the second half; their highest shooting percentage for a half this season.

As a team, Northwest would hit 17-of-27 free throws while Truman would go 18-of-25 from the line.

Ashleigh Nelson led the Bearcats offensively as she finished with 11 points while adding four rebounds.

Henry and Shelly Martin would chip in nine points each while Henry also added six rebounds.

Up Next:  Northwest will continue MIAA action this week as they head to Warrensburg, Mo. Wednesday to take on the Central Missouri Jennies.  Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.

— NWMSU Sports Information —

Downing leads Missouri State past Indiana State

Posted on

Anthony Downing scored 17 points and Missouri State rallied in the second half to beat Indiana State 69-63 on Saturday.

Kyle Weems added 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Bears (10-6, 3-1 Missouri Valley). Jarmar Gulley scored 13 and Michael Bizoukas 12 for Missouri State, which converted 24 of 47 shots (51 percent).

Dwayne Lathan scored 17 and Carl Richard 16 for the Sycamores (10-5, 1-3), who lost their second in a row.

Indiana State enjoyed a 31-20 lead late in the first half, was up 33-26 at intermission and was still ahead 43-34 when Lathan scored with 13:40 to play.

But the Bears went on an 11-1 run over the next 3 minutes and took a 45-44 lead on Gulley’s layup with 10:39 left. They never trailed after that.

Indiana State was limited to 37.5 percent shooting (21 of 56).

— Associated Press —

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File