| Friday, May 4, 2018 |
| Famous Maroon Band breaks ground on turf field | |
 | Members of Mississippi State University's Famous Maroon Band will soon be rehearsing on more solid ground with the groundbreaking of a new artificial turf practice field. Ground was broken Monday in a ceremony with several MSU dignitaries present. Construction is scheduled for the summer, with plans for completion by the 2018 fall semester. The project is funded by a gift from retired ExxonMobil Vice President and MSU alumnus Jim Rouse and his wife, Julia. Other donations came from Maroon Band alumni, parents, friends and even students. "The reputation of the Famous Maroon Band will continue at a very high caliber with the addition of this synthetic practice field," said MSU President Mark E. Keenum. "Our band features students studying in every MSU college, and we want them to be able to maximize their practice time and best showcase their talents while performing on behalf of our university." |
| The Perks Of Distance Learning | |
 | It's graduation day for Mississippi State University. For most of us, when we think about going to school, a physical campus comes to mind. For some students making it to an actual classroom is no easy task. "I've been attending here now for two full years and been in Gulfport the whole time," said MSU distance learning student Ashley Jensen. "Distance education at Mississippi State is really designed for adult learners, mostly, because we have so many students that have families, that have jobs, and as much as they would love to come to this beautiful campus sometimes you just can't do that," said Distance Education Director Dr. Susan Seal. Seal says the program reaches Mississippi students and beyond. |
| MSU-Meridian commencement held Thursday | |
 | The commencement ceremony for MSU-Meridian was held Thursday morning at the MSU Riley Center. Students told Newscenter 11 they were nervous, but confident about their future plans. "I kind of am nervous because I don't have work experience yet and I will have a lot of responsibilities," says Mariam Khmaladze, an outstanding business undergraduate student who was chosen for MSU's Spirit of State Award, given to only 14 graduating students across the university. "It's a little bit scary but I think I'm ready and MSU gave me all I needed to work well." Meridian Community College president, Dr. Scott Elliott, delivered the commencement address. |
| Cold, Wet Spring Leaves Farmers Scrambling to Make Insurance Deadline | |
| We've finally seen warm weather and clear skies, and it's a sight for sore eyes for our farmers and the corn crop. Corn has one of the longest growing seasons, and the weather we've had in March and April has prevented much of that corn from being planted. Now that it's warmed up, farmers are taking to the fields to get their corn planted as fast as possible. If they don't get it planted in time, they might miss the deadline for their crop insurance. "Farmers have a deadline associated with insurance, crop insurance, for planting different crops that they grow," said MSU Extension Corn Specialist, Dr. Erick Larson. "This year we've had extremely wet, rainy, and cool growing conditions since March when we like to begin planting corn and extending through the month of April," said Larson. |
| Unmanned Systems Industry Leaders Selected as AUVSI Board Directors | |
 | The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) has announced new and returning members of its board at XPONENTIAL 2018, its annual tradeshow and conference, which is being held this week in Denver. Members of the board's executive committee, who will continue to serve for another year, are Board Chairman Dallas Brooks, Mississippi State University; Executive Vice Chairman Mark Gordon, Stratom; First Vice Chairman Suzy Young, University of Alabama, Huntsville; Treasurer Bill Irby, Textron Systems; and Immediate Past Chairman John Burke, Deloitte. "We appreciate the leadership and service these accomplished professionals from the unmanned systems community provide to AUVSI and its membership," said Brian Wynne, AUVSI's president and CEO. |
| Oktibbeha County Humane Society wins Restaurant Week | |
 | With more than 4,000 votes received from restaurant-goers over the past week, the Oktibbeha County Humane Society was named the grand prize winner for The Partnership's 2018 Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week is an annual charity event where customers at participating restaurants can vote for their choice of three charities to win up a $5,000 award from Cadence Bank. This year, The Partnership selected the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, Christian World Missions and United Way of North Central Mississippi as charities after receiving hundreds of nominations. OCHS received 4,192, of the more than 7,800 total ballots cast in Restaurant Week from April 22-29. Partnership CEO Scott Maynard said he was pleased with the participation in this year's Restaurant Week. |
| NAACP raises questions, concerns about proposed development | |
| President of the Oktibbeha County NAACP Chapter Chris Taylor voiced concerns of a potential new housing development during the Starkville Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night. Attorney Johnny Moore proposed a plan to the aldermen in April where a 70,000-square-foot replica of Pecan Acres could be built in an area approved by the Fair Housing Administration. Due to a confidentiality agreement, Moore said he could not provide where the new location would be. However, Moore said the new location would continue to reside in Ward 7, which would not dilute the voting districts. Moore said the plan would be to take Pecan Acres' previous location and put approximately $150 million worth of infrastructure and development on the property. Taylor said one of his concerns was how Pecan Acres is currently in a central location, which is in close proximity to a grocery store, drugstore and other businesses. |
| Two counties sue state, claim governor can't close bridges | |
| Two Mississippi counties are suing Gov. Phil Bryant and several agencies over Bryant's recent emergency declaration that led to more than 100 bridges being closed around the state. Smith and Jasper counties, which filed the lawsuit in Hinds County Chancery Court Tuesday, said the governor's proclamation exceeds the powers he is granted under the emergency management law. The state departments of Transportation and Public Safety and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency are also named as defendants. The complaints in the suit mirror those of local residents and county officials who recently spoke with Mississippi Today. In addition to the extra time it takes to go around detours, they expressed concerns about emergency-services personnel. |
| Counties suing governor claim bridge closures politically motivated, endanger citizens | |
 | Jasper and Smith counties are suing Gov. Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and others over the recent emergency closure of county bridges, saying it was politically motivated and endangers residents. Attorney J.D. Sanford of Marc E. Brand and Associates filed the lawsuit Thursday in Hinds County Chancery Court on behalf of the boards of supervisors for both counties. In a statement, Sanford said the counties believe Bryant's emergency declaration and state closure of more than 100 county bridges was "motivated by politics, not by the concern for the traveling public's safety." The counties claim the action was state overreach into counties' state constitutional jurisdiction and that Bryant exceeded his authority under emergency declaration law. They claim it has caused hardships for residents and businesses and endangered them by limiting or slowing access for emergency responders. |
| Republican Petal Mayor Hal Marx plans to run for governor in 2019 | |
 | Petal Mayor Hal Marx confirmed Thursday he plans to run for governor in 2019. "I think the governor's office is really where I need to be as far as being able to accomplish what I would like to see accomplished for the state," he said. One of things most important to Marx is giving a voice to the voters. "I would rather have the support of the people than the support if the elite groups that sort of control Jackson right now," he said. "The most important thing is to give a voice to the people that aren't well connected. It seems a lot of the decisions made in Jackson benefit a handful of people that are well connected and the average Mississippian gets overlooked." Before being elected mayor, he taught social studies at Petal High School from 1998-2009. The 50-year-old earned a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1991 and a master's degree in education from William Carey University in 2002. |
| Petal Mayor Hal Marx running for governor | |
 | A Republican mayor from south Mississippi said Thursday that he is running for governor next year, even though he expects to be widely outspent by other candidates. Hal Marx has been mayor of Petal since 2009, and has advocated limiting the scope of government programs. Marx said he doesn't expect to attract big campaign contributions from lobbyists. "I know I'm going to be the underdog, but I think people like the underdog, they root for the underdog," Marx told The Associated Press. "I'm OK with being underestimated." Marx said Thursday that critics use "tea party" as a pejorative label, but he believes in the original goal of keeping taxes low. "I consider myself a conservative, first and foremost.... I would gladly be called a tea party candidate," Marx said. Marx supported state Sen. Chris McDaniel during a contentious Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2014. |
| Ex-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove backing Jay Hughes for lt. governor | |
| Former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove says he's supporting fellow Democrat Jay Hughes for lieutenant governor in 2019. Hughes is an attorney, developer and first-term state representative from Oxford. He announced Thursday that he is running for the second-highest office in state government. The job will be open because Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves is limited to two terms. Musgrove says Hughes has been among the most vocal supporters of public education in the Legislature. |
| Mississippi Senator Confirms He Lost Money in Fraud Scheme | |
| U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker said Thursday that he is among the victims of a Mississippi-based fraud that officials say involved more than $100 million. Wicker, a Republican from Tupelo, told The Associated Press he had invested in what was supposed to be the rights to cut timber. Federal prosecutors charge it was a Ponzi scheme, though, with a Jackson man named Arthur Lamar Adams using cash from later investors to pay off high-interest loans he received from earlier ones. "My wife and I are victims of this apparent fraud," Wicker said in a statement Thursday. The AP discovered Wicker's investment listed in U.S. Senate disclosures while researching Adams' dealings. Wicker is far from alone. Prosecutors say more than 250 investors in 14 states invested with Adams from as early as 2004. |
| Analysts: Giuliani's media blitz gives investigators new leads, new evidence | |
 | Rudolph W. Giuliani's media blitz to convince the public that neither Donald Trump nor his lawyer had violated the law by paying a porn star to keep quiet about an alleged affair might have backfired, giving investigators new leads to chase and new evidence of potential crimes, legal analysts said. Giuliani made statements that speak to Trump and lawyer Michael Cohen's intent -- an important aspect of some crimes -- and he made assertions that investigators can now check against what they have already learned from documents and witnesses, legal analysts said. His comments to media outlets underscore a growing tension for the White House: The FBI investigation of Cohen presents a legal problem for the president that his own lawyer might have exacerbated. |
| Trump's Lawyer Went to the Worst Law School in America | |
 | The roster of the school's graduates includes federal and state judges, two members of Congress and several high-profile courtroom lawyers and business leaders. But whatever the accomplishments of its most distinguished alumni, the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, once the largest law school in the U.S., does not have a reputation to match. And it never has. Cooley may be, by some measurements, the worst law school in America. And its standing has not been enhanced by a flood of publicity about the quality of the legal work of its best known and, increasingly, most notorious alum: Michael D. Cohen, class of 1991, President Trump's longtime personal lawyer and the target of a federal criminal investigation in New York that has clearly rattled Trump. The school's reputation has long been battered back home in Michigan in the face of plunging enrollment, as well as those court fights with the ABA. But thanks to Cohen, it is now being ridiculed before a national audience. |
| MUW professor earns Fulbright Award to research cystic fibrosis in India | |
| Ghanshyam Heda was hoping to visit his mother in India this year. In fact, when the biology professor at Mississippi University for Women applied for the Fulbright-Nehru Academic Excellence Award in 2017, he even began discussing with his mother the possibility of the program bringing him to his native country. Heda's mother, though, passed away in January, less than a month before Heda learned he had indeed won the award. "First, I was thinking of my mother. She was a big force for what I do, and she was looking forward to me coming there," Heda said. What Heda has done for the past 20 years is research cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease where a mutated protein does not reach the cell membrane, causing issues with the lungs, pancreas and other organs. With the Fulbright Award, he will spend six months teaching courses in physiology and protein biochemistry at the University of Hyderabad. |
| Ole Miss student kickstarting stationery, daily planner company | |
| Meeting at 12. Check. Pick up dry cleaning tomorrow. Check. Call Mom. Check. It was another productive day for Bella Gonzalez. Reciting her to-do list in her head, she began to write each of her endeavors down on paper. Working as a marketing intern for Discovery Channel in Silver Spring, Maryland in the summer of 2017, Gonzalez had a full plate. She was in charge of handling all graphic design, marketing and brand management. Using a daily planner was a must, but the one she was using at the time just wasn't fitting the bill. Enough was enough. Where was this planner to assist her in conquering the world one task at a time? A double major in business and art from the University of Mississippi, Gonzalez naturally has tendencies to have entrepreneurial ideas with a creative twist. The idea for the stationery line began to sprout when Gonzalez realized she needed a project for her B.F.A. thesis for the art department and for the honors college to graduate at Ole Miss. |
| Alpha Phi Alpha chapter at UM disbanded due to hazing | |
 | The University of Mississippi's chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., a National Pan-Hellenic Council fraternity, has been disbanded until 2021 due to the findings of a hazing investigation, according to a statement released by the Student Affairs office Thursday morning. "This outcome is a result of disappointing and troubling activities that were revealed through a hazing investigation conducted earlier this year and significant concerns for student health and safety," Melinda Sutton Noss, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and dean of students wrote. Alpha Phi Alpha is the second campus Greek organization to be suspended this year. The university's chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, an Interfraternity Council fraternity, was suspended this year as a result of a similar hazing investigation. |
| East Mississippi Community College recognizes businesses at annual luncheon | |
| For the 29th year, East Mississippi Community College recognized partners in the industry, government, education and other communities with its annual Industry Appreciation Luncheon. The event was held on the EMCC Mayhew campus, and drew close to 300 attendees representing entities in the Golden Triangle and beyond. Several dignitaries spoke including Three Rivers Planning and Development District Executive Director Randy Kelley, EMCC Vice president of Community and Workforce Services Raj Shaunak and Mississippi State University and University of Alabama President Emeritus Malcolm Portera,who gave an update on the Communiversity, or Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence (CMTE) 2.0 project currently under construction near the campus. |
| Malcolm Portera talks Communiversity at East Mississippi Community College luncheon | |
| Attendees of East Mississippi Community College's 29th annual Industry Appreciation Luncheon Wednesday got to hear an update on the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence (CMTE) 2.0 or Communiversity from one of its biggest proponents. Malcolm Portera, President Emeritus of Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama, and one of the people behind the Communiversity, shared his vision for what the approximately $42 million facility will be upon completion in early 2019. Approximately 300 industry, government, educational and other leaders were in attendance at the luncheon. "Some of you know it as the Communiversity," Portera said. "My intention is that it would be the next generation of the Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence on steroids." Portera also discussed some more strategies for bringing industry to the area, including providing customized training for companies. He also emphasized the importance of qualified workforce to manufacturing growth. |
| Suspect charged with attacking jogger and stealing women's underwear near U. of Alabama campus | |
 | Police say a University of Alabama student arrested Tuesday pulled down a woman's pants while she was jogging near campus and later broke into a nearby home and stole women's underwear. Suspect John Everett Threadgill, 19, could be responsible for attacking several other women, Tuscaloosa Police Capt. Brad Mason said Tuesday. He believes Threadgill has approached women who were alone and either walking or jogging and attempted to pull down their pants and remove their underwear. Threadgill has been banned from the UA campus, and "interim sanctions have been put in place," said Monica Watts, the university's associate vice president for communications. |
| Chancellor announces launch of 'all things Missouri' mission for MU Extension | |
 | The University of Missouri launched an "all things Missouri" mission and the creation of an engagement council on Thursday as a new vision for MU Extension and Engagement, Chancellor Alexander Cartwright announced. Cartwright and Vice Chancellor for Extension and Engagement Marshall Stewart presented several new initiatives for MU Extension at a panel discussion at the Greene County Extension Office in Springfield. The focus was on MU's role in engagement throughout the state. The MU Engagement Council was created by Stewart for MU faculty members and campus leaders to meet regularly to discuss ways to share information and valuable resources to citizens of Missouri, according to the "all things Missouri" overview. Cartwright announced three technology-based initiatives as part of this new mission to expand MU Extension's reach and impact. |
| After Spending Millions on Provocative Speakers, Here's How Berkeley Is Trying to Avoid a Repeat | |
 | If a student group wants to provoke a frenzy with an event at the University of California at Berkeley, it soon may have to tell the administration why, and provide volunteer monitors to deal with any resulting unruliness. Those are two of the recommendations presented in a 25-page report on free speech commissioned by the university's chancellor, Carol Christ. It follows a year of repeated chaos at the university over conservative speakers -- unrest that often spilled into the national spotlight. One recommendation would alter the process for booking speakers, effectively making it more difficult. At "potentially disruptive" talks, student groups would have to provide one volunteer monitor for every 50 people expected to attend the event. The volunteers would not have to be students. |
| The Citadel Fought the Admission of Women; Now a Female Cadet Will Lead the Corps | |
 | When Sarah Zorn applied for admission to the Citadel four years ago, she had not heard the story of Shannon Faulkner, the first woman to gain full admission to the famed Southern military college. Ms. Zorn did not know about the two-and-a-half-year legal battle that had forced the college to accept her, or the death threats, or the sexist epithets spray-painted on her parents' house, or the federal marshals who escorted Ms. Faulkner to campus on her first day as a cadet in 1995, or that she had dropped out a week later. She knows now. But the 21-year-old college junior believes that the 175-year-old South Carolina institution that once fought admitting women as if they were an invading army has made its peace with the idea. And her accession on Friday as the Citadel's first female regimental commander -- the top cadet -- is her proof. |
| Three black teens are finalists in a NASA competition; hackers spewing racism tried to ruin their odds | |
| The three D.C. students couldn't believe the news. They'd developed a method to purify lead-contaminated water in school drinking fountains, and NASA announced last month that they were finalists in the agency's prestigious high school competition -- the only all-black, female team to make it that far. "Hidden figures in the making," one of the teens wrote in a celebratory text message to her teammates and coaches, a reference to the 2016 movie about the true story of three African American women who worked for NASA in the 1960s. The next stage of the science competition included public voting, and the Banneker High School students -- Mikayla Sharrieff, India Skinner and Bria Snell, all 17-year-old high school juniors -- turned to social media to promote their project. But while the teens were gaining traction on social media and racking up votes, users on 4chan -- an anonymous Internet forum where users are known to push hoaxes and spew racist and homophobic comments -- were trying to ensure the students wouldn't win. |
| When a nation loses itself | |
| Mississippi newspaper publisher and columnist Ray Mosby writes: "So just exactly what would it take for his acolytes to fall out of love with the 45th President of the United States? That's a question that arose last week as I rode in a car with three excellent journalists, on the way back home from a meeting of the Mississippi Press Association board in what seemed from time to time might have been in east Georgia, but actually had been just this side of there, in Waynesboro -- a town which might have the finest library in America that's located in an abandoned Walmart. 'I really wonder sometimes, what it would take,' one on my fellow sojourners asked, a positively pregnant rhetorical question, that, any answer to which is not readily evident. After all, we clearly know what's not enough." |
SPORTS
| Bulldogs have 'important' series at Alabama | |
 | Mississippi State heads into the weekend holding onto the last qualifying spot to the Southeastern Conference Tournament with three weeks remaining in the regular season. Because the Bulldogs close things out at No. 14 Kentucky and against top-ranked Florida, they need to take full advantage of their weekend series against conference cellar dweller Alabama. "It's as important as it could be," said MSU interim head coach Gary Henderson. "Every (SEC) weekend is the same and they're all important but sometimes there's a different feel depending on where you're at. It's important and we've got to go over, play well and win the series." The series gets underway at 6 p.m. today and Saturday and will conclude Sunday with a 3 p.m. tilt on ESPNU. |
| Bulldogs play Crimson Tide in key baseball series | |
| There is still a few weeks left before the NCAA baseball postseason kicks into high gear. As far as Mississippi State and Alabama are concerned though, this weekend's series in Tuscaloosa between the two schools will likely have a playoff-like feel. The Bulldogs (24-21, 9-12) and the Crimson Tide (23-23, 5-16) open a three-game set Friday night at 6 p.m. The weekend is scheduled to continue with a 6 p.m. game on Saturday and 3 p.m. encounter on Sunday The matchups will go a long way towards determining the fates of MSU and Alabama as both squads fight to make it to the Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament and possibly more. "It's as important as it could be," State interim head coach Gary Henderson said of this weekend's series. "Every (SEC game) is important. You have 30 of them. There is a different feel depending on the week you've had, but they're all important. We need to play well and win the series." |
| How Wisconsin native Marshall Gilbert became Mississippi State's catcher | |
| The nearly 800-mile drive from Tenor, Wisconsin, to Mississippi State University takes about 13 hours. Tenor is the small town where Mississippi State catcher Marshall Gilbert is from and where his parents live. Gilbert's 21st birthday was Feb. 21, and the way Gilbert's mother, Denise, tells it, there was no way his parents weren't going to see him. So, they drove halfway before spending the night in Marion, Illinois, on Feb. 19. They finished the trip the next day, arriving in Starkville on Feb. 20, where they spent the night. Mississippi State played a game -- its first after Andy Cannizaro's resignation -- on Feb. 21 at Jackson State, and the Gilberts drove the additional two hours to Jackson to see their son play. Except, he didn't. Before Gilbert --- a north-central newcomer on a team mostly made up of guys from Mississippi, Alabama and other southern states -- became a mainstay in Mississippi State's lineup, he first struggled to adapt. |
| Mississippi State, Ole Miss have three players selected for NCAA tennis tournament | |
| Three Mississippi State and Ole Miss men's tennis players, two Alabama men's players, and two Ole Miss women's players were selected Wednesday to participate in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships on May 23-28. MSU juniors Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic received the nation's No. 1 overall seed in doubles, the highest NCAA Championships seeding in doubles in program history. Borges also received his second automatic singles bid in as many seasons as the No. 3 overall seed in the singles draw, while sophomore Giovanni Oradini earned an at-large singles bid, the first of his career. "I'm extremely excited for all three guys to have this excellent opportunity to play in the NCAA Championship," MSU fourth-year coach Matt Roberts said. "They all work so hard every time they step on the court and they are very deserving of this. For Nuno and Strahinja to enter the tournament as the number one doubles seed is a testament to their hard work and dedication. All three have been a huge part of our success this season and we are so excited for them." |
| Mississippi State, Ole Miss men's golf teams earn NCAA invites | |
| The Mississippi State and Ole Miss men's golf teams earned berths Wednesday in NCAA Championships. MSU and Ole Miss will be paired in the College Station Regional at Traditions Club on May 14-16 in Bryan, Texas. It is MSU's first NCAA appearance since 2014. "Our guys showed toughness and resiliency all year and it's nice to see them rewarded for it," MSU coach Dusty Smith said. "I am just so happy for the guys." The Bryan Regional also features Baylor, Clemson, Kentucky, UCLA, South Carolina, San Francisco, Georgia, UNC-Wilmington, Northern Colorado, Bradley, and Texas A&M. MSU is the 10th seed in the regional. The field for the NCAA Championships was revealed during a live selection show on Golf Channel, which will broadcast the national championship at the end of the month. |
| Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead Excited For One-Two Punch In Backfield | |
| Mississippi State head coach Joe Moorhead made the trip down US-82 East to visit the Columbus Exchange Club, Thursday, to talk about the upcoming season. This past week has been exciting for Moorhead, as the head coach was able to watch his former player, Penn State running back Saquon Barkley, be drafted number two overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. Moorhead said he spoke to Barkley on Wednesday. The new man in charge of Mississippi State football said it may be "unfair" to compare anyone to a possible generational talent like Barkley, but he's excited to have Aeris Williams and Kylin Hill in the backfield. "They give you a different skill set," Moorhead said. |
| The W hands out inaugural athletic awards | |
| The Mississippi University for Women W Athletics Department recognized the contributions of its student-athletes, coaches, and staff Tuesday with the inaugural Owls Awards Ceremony. The most coveted awards of the night, Male Athlete of the Year and Female Athlete of the Year, were given to Will Peters, a freshman baseball player, and Katlyn Duke, a junior softball player. The Owls Heart and Soul Award, an honor given to the student-athlete who stands out and goes beyond the game while exemplifying school spirit and sportsmanship on and off the field, was awarded to John McGee, a member of the baseball and men's soccer teams. McGee was key in his team's success and portrayed a great attitude and can-do approach. He upheld the Owls four core values of academics, athletics, community, and life. |
| Baseball team members share connection to Alabama with parents, siblings | |
| Thousands of families grow together around Alabama games year after year. Weekend trips to Bryant-Denny Stadium, Coleman Coliseum, Sewell-Thomas Stadium or other games become tradition. Crimson and White become heirlooms. Others have an even deeper connection to Alabama athletics. Three players on this year's Alabama baseball team have immediate family members who were varsity athletes for the Crimson Tide. Senior infielder Connor Short is the son of former Alabama pitcher Ben Short (1990-91). Junior outfielder Keith Holcombe's father was Danny Holcombe, who played football from 1980-82. Sophomore outfielder Walker McCleney's sister is Haylie McCleney, a four-time softball All-American from 2013-16. Other players, like starting pitcher Jake Walters, had a family member who played sports at another school. His father was a pitcher at Mississippi State. |
| For LSU baseball, a wholly unfamiliar feeling: Fighting simply to make postseason | |
 | After an emotionally draining loss in last Saturday's series finale at Ole Miss, but before LSU boarded a bus and headed home, coach Paul Mainieri candidly expressed the reality of the situation facing his team. "I'm always very honest with the players," Mainieri said. "They know. I met with them ... the other day before we got on the bus to come home. I explained to them where it was." The loss dropped LSU to 26-19 overall and 10-11 in Southeastern Conference play with three weeks to go in the regular season. Reality went something like this: Forget a seventh straight national seed. The fight is on simply to make the postseason. On Friday night, LSU begins a three-game series against a tough Arkansas team, and it does so in that wholly unfamiliar feeling of being on the NCAA tournament bubble. |
| Georgia rewards Kirby Smart with $49 million deal over seven years | |
 | Kirby Smart is cashing in on one of the most successful seasons in Georgia football history. The Bulldogs head coach will make an average of $7 million per year after leading Georgia last season to the national championship game and its first trip to the College Football Playoff during a 13-2 season. Smart will enter his third season with a new contract that now runs through 2024 after receiving a three-year extension. His previous contract went through the 2021 season. The executive committee of Georgia's athletic board, meeting by conference call, approved the reworked deal worth $49 million for Smart Thursday afternoon. They met in executive session for six minutes to approve the changes. |
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