| Monday, February 11, 2019 |
| C Spire, Mississippi State join forces to create unique software job training program | |
 | Former Mississippi Gov. William Winter, a lifelong advocate of advancing educational and jobs training opportunities, has often repeated this simple but cogent observation: "The only road out of poverty and economic dependency runs past the schoolhouse door." Winter understood the important role that the educational system plays in the jobs pipeline. In recent years, our state has witnessed substantive change as technological advancements and economic globalization have placed increased importance on innovation, creativity and new educational approaches at all levels in our state. The path to economic growth and enhanced opportunity in Mississippi's private sector must begin in elementary and secondary education and continue seamlessly through the workforce training capabilities of our stellar community college system and on to the research and development expertise of our higher education system. Seizing on this opportunity, C Spire, a Mississippi-based diversified telecommunications and technology services company, and the Mississippi State University Research and Curriculum Unit's (RCU) new Center for Cyber Education have formed a public-private partnership called the C Spire Software Development Pathway. |
| Up and away: Starkville Academy students learn about, participate in weather balloon launch | |
 | Mary Holland Nicholas thought the weather balloon might carry her away. Nicholas, along with fellow fifth-grader Blake Casano, held a weather balloon against buffeting late-morning winds as their peers -- led by Mississippi State University meteorology professor and State Climatologist Mike Brown -- loudly counted down from five. The balloon, which was about as large as each of the fifth graders, zipped off to the skies after the countdown reached "one." "I thought it was going to blow me over," Nicholas said. "And if she (Casano) had it, it might have blown her completely away." Casano said she was surprised to see how large the balloon got as the launch team inflated it with helium. Starkville Academy fifth grade students gathered in front of the school on Thursday to watch -- and in Nicholas' and Casano's case, participate in -- a weather balloon launch. Brown, with three of his students, used the launch to help teach the kids how weather scientists collect data. |
| West Point supports Mississippi State student veterans | |
 | The G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery Center for America's Veterans at Nusz Hall received a gift to help continue its mission of serving student veterans at the Mississippi State University. In a ceremony Thursday morning, the city of West Point presented the center with a check for $3,500 raised by citizens of West Point in conjunction with the city's Veteran's Day parade and golf tournament held in November 2018. West Point Chief Administrative Officer Randy Jones, himself a U.S. Army veteran and other veterans from West Point presented the check to Center for America's Veterans Director Brian Locke. Several cadets from the West Point High School Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps also took part in the ceremony. "Back in November, the city of West Point put on a Veteran's Day Parade, its first in many, many years," Locke said. "As part of that, they did some fundraising for veterans, so they decided to donate the proceeds from donations to the Center for America's Veterans here at Mississippi State." |
| Mississippi State Hosting Science Night at the Museum | |
 | Mississippi State University's Museums and Galleries Committee will host its third annual "Science Night at the Museum" on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The event includes demonstrations, activities and tours where visitors can learn about MSU's academic programs in fields such as anthropology, archaeology, geology, paleontology, astronomy, meteorology and more. Events will take place in Hilbun Hall and the Cobb Institute of Archaeology from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Visitors will be able to see an International Space Station flyover at 5:57 p.m., weather permitting. At 6:30 p.m., MSU will hold a public reception in Hilbun Hall for the unveiling of "Mississippi Cretaceous Panorama." For more information on events and collections at MSU's museums and galleries, visit museums.msstate.edu. |
| Wonder awaits at Mississippi State's 'Science Night at the Museum' | |
| For the third consecutive year, Mississippi State's Museums and Galleries Committee is presenting "Science Night at the Museum" on the Starkville campus. Free to all, the 5:30-8 p.m. program takes place Wednesday, Feb. 13 at various locations in Hilbun Hall and nearby Cobb Institute of Archaeology, both administered by the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geosciences. Amy Moe Hoffman, geology instructor and committee chair, said "Science Night at the Museum" is growing in popularity each year. "This program involves people from multiple colleges and galleries across campus, and our goal is to appeal to a broad audience, from scientists and researchers to artists and members of the general public," said Hoffman, who also serves as collections manager for the geosciences department's Dunn-Seiler Museum. |
| Russian National Ballet's 'Cinderella' closes MSU Lyceum Series | |
| The Russian National Ballet is concluding Mississippi State's 2018-19 Lyceum Series in Lee Hall's Bettersworth Auditorium on Feb. 19 with a 7 p.m. production of the classic tale "Cinderella." Featuring Sergia Prokofiev's symphonic score, the ballet features familiar characters -- the wicked stepsisters and fairy godmother -- along with the chiming midnight bells and the lost slipper in a full-length evening of music and dancing sure to enchant audiences of all ages. MSU students with valid student ID will be admitted free. All other ticket purchases may be made online at http://events.msstate.edu. Tickets are $30; $12 for children. If available, individual tickets may be purchased at the door before the show. If more information is needed, contact the Center for Student Activities, 662-325-2930. |
| Starkville/MSU Symphony Association to host Golden Follies fundraiser Saturday | |
| The Starkville/MSU Symphony Association will host its annual fundraising gala on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at The Storehouse at Christian World Missions, located at 1437 Fire Station Road in Starkville. Tickets for the 1920s-themed "Golden Follies Affair" are available for $60 in advance, or $70 at the door. In celebration of the Starkville/MSU Symphony's 50th season, the fundraiser commemorates the organization's golden anniversary with a theme recalling the "golden days" of the 1920s and the iconic Ziegfeld Follies. The Gatsby-esque theme and decorations will set the scene for dining, dancing and a silent auction featuring local artwork, antiques, event experiences and gift certificates from area merchants. Ticket holders will enjoy hors d'oeuvres, dinner and complimentary wine and beverages, along with entertainment and a dancing set provided by a five-piece band of local musicians including Doug Thomas, Jeffrey Rupp and Drew Dieckmann. |
| Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District to host second job fair | |
| Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District is looking for candidates to fill 20 classroom teacher openings expected for the upcoming school year. Superintendent Eddie Peasant will host the district's second job fair at Sudduth Elementary gymnasium from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. In general, Peasant said, he is primarily looking to introduce the public to SOCSD, but he hopes to create relationships with subject-area teacher candidates. "There's always a demand for math and science teachers," Peasant said. "There's a shortage there. We're always looking for good science teachers. There will be some other elementary teachers we are looking to fill but those math and science ones are always the ones that are the hardest to find. We'll be on the look out for those candidates." During last year's job fair, Peasant said the crowd was diverse, ranging from soon-to-be college graduates to seasoned teachers from surrounding counties interested in making a job change. |
| Guns in the courthouse? A bill could provide clarity | |
| The state Supreme Court ruled last year that judges can't prohibit a person with an enhanced carry permit from bringing a gun into a courthouse under current law. But the state's high court ruled judges could ban weapons from their courtrooms. Firearms instructor and gun-rights advocate Rick Ward filed the appeal to the Supreme Court after he said he was denied the right to carry his gun into courthouses in the 14th Chancery District despite having an enhanced permit. Now, House Bill 158, filed by House Judiciary B Chairwoman Angela Cockerham, D-Magnolia, seeks to clarify that a courtroom also includes the judge's chamber, jury room and witness room. Chancery judges in the 14th Chancery District, which includes Lowndes, Clay, Chickasaw, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties, filed an administrative order banning firearms within 200 feet of a courtroom door. The question was whether judges can impose their own orders banning guns in courthouses in the wake of the state law. The state Supreme Court said no. |
| Bill wants to add text messages to do not call list | |
| A Senate bill would add text messages and solicitations for charitable contributions to violations of the state's no-call list. A person or business could face a $7,500 civil fine for each violation under Senate Bill 2821. "I know this is a difficult area to police," said Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, author of the "Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act." But Doty said it could help the Public Service Commission in its effort to reduce such calls. PSC Chairman Brandon Presley said Friday the changes are needed. "Mississippians are sick and tired of these callers," Presley said. "They are predators." There are also bills in the House and Senate to allow civil action against caller ID spoofing, where fake numbers show up on caller ID. |
| Analysis: Tort reform is back at the Mississippi Capitol | |
 | Tort reform is back at the Mississippi Capitol. That term is the shorthand for a yearslong, multistate campaign by business groups to reduce lawsuit verdicts. In Mississippi, it climaxed in a 2004 special legislative session in which lawmakers limited pain-and-suffering damage awards to $1 million in most lawsuits and limited such damages to $500,000 in medical malpractice cases. In recent years, the titanic political battle had grown quiet. Republican dominance guaranteed no rollback of Mississippi's previous changes, but there seemed to be little left on the agenda. But business groups have something they still want -- to make it harder for people to collect damages for injuries caused by a third party on business property. |
| Eviction bill advances that shortens time for delinquent tenants to vacate | |
| Tenants could be forced to leave their home immediately after a court rules they are behind on their rent under legislation the Mississippi Senate approved Friday. The bill, which now goes to the House, would allow a judge to provide a three day "grace period" if it is determined the delay "would serve the best interests of justice and equity." Under current law, the renter would have up to 10 days to evacuate the property before the landlord could formally request a warrant of removal from the court. The new law would allow for a warrant to be issued immediately upon an eviction judgement. Sen. Jenifer Branning, R-Philadelphia, said the renter would have "due process" before being evacuated, including a court hearing. Mississippi law allows a landlord to begin the evacuation process if a tenant is three days late on rent. Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, who opposed the legislation, said Mississippi already had one of the most restrictive laws in terms of providing rights for tenants. |
| Representatives, school leader support bill | |
 | Both of Lincoln County's lawmakers in the House of Representatives voted this week to approve a bill designed to make schools safer from mass shootings. But Brookhaven's Rep. Becky Currie had reservations about the bill that would require safety inspections and active shooter drills at public schools. "I have many concerns with that bill. The amount of work that will be required is more than I want to put on our school officials now and on our students," Currie said. "I struggled with that bill terribly, but if I had voted 'no' and something happened to our students I wouldn't be able to live with myself." Currie said teachers should focus on education not preparing for potential disasters, but she recognized preparation for the unthinkable is necessary today. |
| Hernando Alderman at Large Doc Harris seeks District 28 House seat | |
 | A second Republican candidate has entered his name in the running for state House District 28 representative. Hernando Alderman at Large Doc Harris has qualified his candidacy for the August party primary election. DeSoto County Schools administrator Jerry Darnell earlier announced his candidacy for the party's nomination. Harris believes his current and past experience lends itself to represent the Hernando district. After his retirement in 2016, Harris was elected to the Board of Aldermen where he now serves. The Hernando native, who gradated from Hernando High School, later went to Northwest Mississippi Community College and Mississippi State University, where he received his business degree. Education is an important issue which he wants to sees continue to support. But Harris added he supports teachers' salaries being increased above what is now offered. |
| Sexual abuse investigation: Southern Baptist leader promises reforms | |
 | The ethics leader of the Southern Baptist Convention has promised to encourage reforms that protect children after a sweeping investigation published Sunday found more than 700 victims of sexual misconduct by church leaders or volunteers. In total, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News compiled more than 380 cases over the last 20 years of church leaders and volunteers who have been charged with sex crimes. Most are now in prison or are registered sex offenders, according to the report. And the investigation found over 700 victims. Russell Moore, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president of the Southern Baptist Convention, commended the work by the publications. "The report is alarming and scandalous, the courage and grace of these survivors is contrasted with the horrific depravity of those who would use the name of Jesus to prey on them," Moore said in a Sunday blog post. |
| Spring Forum Series offers diverse slate of events at MUW | |
| Mississippi University for Women's spring Forum Series hosted by the Gordy Honors College will feature creative readings, talks by scholars and a film screening. All presentations are free and open to the community and begin at 6 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium. The Series kicks off Thursday, Feb. 14 with a screening of the documentary "Death by Design: The Dirty Secret of Our Digital Addiction." By 2020, five billion people will own a mobile phone and four billion will own a personal computer. But this revolution has a dark side most consumers don't see. On Thursday, March 21, as part of The W's observation of Women's History Month, Rachel Allison, assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State University and author of "Kicking Center: Gender and the Selling of Women's Professional Soccer," will discuss the complexities of breaking into male-dominated U.S. professional sport and the challenges and opportunities in sustaining women's soccer leagues. |
| USM hosts BCBS 'Get Ready to Run' event | |
 | Hundreds of children ran across the Southern Miss campus Saturday morning to celebrate their participation in a statewide exercise program. 600 Pine Belt-area kids, ages K-5th grade, took part in the 2nd annual One-Mile Fun Run, which is part of the "Get Ready to Run" program. That's sponsored by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi. The program provides a free curriculum of fitness and nutrition tips for schools to use in P.E. programs. "The kids love it, they know it's a program for them, it's just for kids," said Karin Harvison, P.E. teacher for Purvis Lower Elementary School. "It definitely promotes healthy lifestyle habits," said Donovan Tate, P.E. teacher for Woodley Elementary School in Hattiesburg. "We definitely want to invest those foundations into the children." |
| U. of Alabama names residence hall after trustee, judge John England Jr. | |
 | The University of Alabama has named its newest residence hall after UA System Trustee John England Jr. in recognition of his service to the state, campus and community. "Judge, your impact on the system and the state is profound. Thank you for your service and leading with such integrity," said UA System board President pro tempore Ron Gray. The board unanimously approved UA's plans to name the new dorm beside Lakeside Dining as John England Jr. Hall in honor of the trustee. The board suspended the rules to vote on the resolution and Trustee Joe Espy introduced the proposal to name the new dorm. The recognition was a surprise for England, who did not know about the plans beforehand. "I'm at a loss for words," England said. "I am stunned." |
| From parking to dining, Auburn University trustees have a full agenda Friday | |
 | Campus parking and various stages of project approvals are on the agenda for Auburn University's trustees when the board gathers on the AUM campus this week. The meeting is scheduled for Friday morning at the Taylor Center on the campus of Auburn University at Montgomery. The board is expected to vote on project initiation and engineer selection for phase 1 of a campus parking expansion. The first phase of the plan would increase surface parking spaces by the start of the 2019-2020 academic year, according to a memorandum from Dan King, assistant vice president for facilities, to President Steven Leath. "The demand for proximate parking on the Auburn University campus by faculty, staff, students and visitors has exceeded the supply for many years," the memo reads. "Since 2010, the university has worked to improve this situation by constructing or acquiring 2,700 spaces in parking garages and 1,110 surface parking spaces." Despite these increases, however, demand continues to exceed the spaces available due to the growth of the overall campus population, loss of parking areas due to the construction of new facilities and the loss of leased space adjacent to campus because of development in downtown Auburn. |
| UGA has strong showing at Georgia Bio Awards | |
 | The University of Georgia fared well at the Georgia Bio Awards, with three awards recognizing people and programs either at or affiliated with the university. The awards were presented by Georgia Bio, the association for Georgia's life sciences industry, at its 2019 annual awards dinner held Friday in Atlanta. Georgia Bio members include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies; medical centers; universities and research institutes; government groups; and other business organizations involved in the development of life sciences-related products and services. This year, awards were presented to the International Biomedical Regulatory Sciences Program at the UGA College of Pharmacy and Benjamin Boward, a Ph.D. student in biochemistry and molecular biology at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Another winner, Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc., is a longtime industry partner of UGA. |
| Next threat is 'deep fakes', says officer who found Russian meddling at U. of Missouri | |
 | The Air Force officer who found that Russian trolls pushed fake narratives into the 2015 protests at the University of Missouri warned Friday that the next wave of insidious attempts to influence public opinion will be "deep fakes" that use individual targeting and doctored video. "I think that is going to be a game changer," Lt. Col. Jarred Prier said during a lecture for the Center for the Digital Globe presented at the Reynolds Journalism Institute. The tactics for spreading fake narratives developed by the Russian military's Internet Research Agency and the Islamic State through Twitter by hijacking trending hashtags, used for highlighting thoughts or topics, will be copied by others, Prier said. The social media companies are working to counter those threats, he said. But the boundaries of what he calls the new form of cyber warfare will be found in the use of artificial intelligence, both for individual targeting and to evade detection, and fabricated material that seems hard to deny. |
| Giving to colleges is up 7.2 percent | |
 | Charitable giving to colleges reached $46,730,000,000 in 2017-18, a one-year increase of 7.2 percent, or 4.6 percent when adjusted for inflation. The data are from the annual Voluntary Support of Education report, now run by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. While Michael Bloomberg's mega-gift of $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins University came after the last academic year and so will influence next year's totals, their report covers a year of numerous large gifts. Seven institutions reported gifts of at least $100 million during the year studied, more gifts of that size than in any previous year. More than half of the funds raised went to doctoral/research universities -- public and private -- which are raising billions of dollars in campaigns. The report cautions that the favorable trends in raising money could be threatened by an uncertain economy. |
| Scandals over Virginia politicians have come to involve academics, institutions beyond state | |
| The scandals involving Virginia's political leaders are attracting the involvement and attention of academics nationwide and setting off new debates over racist histories, sexual assault and more. The furor started over the admission by Virginia governor Ralph Northam that he had worn blackface in the past. But as more reports of blackface and racist photographs linked to politicians' college days surface, so have allegations that Virginia's lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax, committed sexual assault. Meanwhile, more colleges are confronting images of blackface and other forms of bigotry in yearbooks, many of them after colleges theoretically started to welcome black students. |
| Blackface, Confederate reverence a decades old tradition at Mississippi universities and colleges | |
| Mississippi Today reviewed publicly available yearbooks of several colleges and universities dating back to 1960. The analysis reveals decades of racism and other forms of insensitivity members of white Greek organizations proudly displayed at Mississippi colleges and universities, which are now preserved in digitized form. Photos of Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's medical school yearbook page featuring images of a man in blackface and another in full Klan regalia touched off a political storm in that state. The scandal eventually sent a wave of reporters and political opposition researchers across the country digging through college yearbooks of their own officials. |
| Defining color blindness in class | |
 | Angela Farmer, an assistant professor of educational leadership at Mississippi State, writes: While the majority of the individuals find color definition easy to distinguish -- whether it's a flashing yellow caution light from a flashing red, a bright green sweater compared to a purple one, or even the subtle nuances of distinguishing between navy and grey -- there is a notable subset of the population who do not find such tasks easy, or in many cases, even possible. An estimated 8 percent of males and less than 1 percent of females have at least some color vision deficiency according to the latest data from Gretchyn Bailey in "All About Vision." There are a variety of free, on-line tests to pre-test for color blindness. However, opticians can provide more comprehensive diagnostic evaluations to determine the type and range of a patient's color blindness. |
| Constructive conservatism needed to thwart rise of socialism | |
 | Syndicated columnist Bill Crawford of Meridian writes: What would Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, think of capitalism in America today? You see, it was Smith's notion that despite natural greed, individuals in a free, capitalistic society would be led by "reason, principle, conscience" to act morally and compassionately. Capitalism would be the economic mechanism by which wage earners and the middle class would accumulate wealth. While certainly true historically in the United States, and much of the free world, that no longer seems to be the case here, especially since the Great Recession. |
| State spending $260 million less now than 2008 when factoring in inflation | |
| Mississippi Today's Bobby Harrison writes: The amount of money appropriated to pay for state government for the last fiscal year -- 2018 -- is $260 million less than what was spent in fiscal year 2008 in inflationary dollars. State leaders, Gov. Phil Bryant, Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and Speaker Philip Gunn, would argue the reduction in spending was needed to "right-size government." "You will also be encouraged to know we have dramatically cut the cost of government by reducing the number of state employees in the last seven years by nearly 5,000," the governor said in his State of the State speech in January. "This effort has resulted in a savings of more than $64 million for the taxpayers of Mississippi." That most likely will be a large issue in state elections later this year. In other words, were the cuts in state government and accompanying tax cuts what were needed for the well being of the state or was more funding needed in areas like education, health care and transportation? |
SPORTS
| No. 6 Mississippi State hands Lady Vols historic loss | |
| No. 6 Mississippi State went into the final quarter leading Tennessee by a dozen on Sunday. But what coach Vic Schaefer watched his Bulldogs do over the next 10 minutes was "special." MSU outscored the Lady Vols by 16 in the fourth quarter to finish off a 91-63 victory in front of 10,021 at Humphrey Coliseum. It was the most lopsided SEC loss in the history of Tennessee women's basketball. "We talked going into the fourth quarter that we really wanted to punch those first five minutes -- and man, did they punch," Schaefer said. "I don't know that I've seen us play that well defensively, get out in transition and execute on the half-court. That fourth quarter was really good." The Bulldogs shot 12 of 18 (66.7 percent) from the field in the final quarter and 52.2 percent for the game and earned their fourth win over the Lady Vols in the last five meetings. Mississippi State continues its homestand on Thursday -- Valentine's Day -- hosting Missouri at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network. |
| Mississippi State routs Tennessee for 10-0 start in SEC play | |
| Bre'Amber Scott was just trying to make a play. Little did the Mississippi State sophomore know her layup from what appeared to be from behind the backboard trigged a deluge of unprecedented proportions. Scott's basket provided the spark that she helped flame in the fourth quarter as the No. 6 MSU women's basketball team pulled away for a 91-63 victory against Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference game before a crowd of 10,021 at Humphrey Coliseum. "I just feel like I can do multiple things," said Scott, who had 13 points and was one of five Bulldogs in double figures. "It opens up the floor for my teammates. I can either drive or shoot it, so with that it is they don't know whether to guard me or not." Scott made the most of her 15 minutes off the bench by going 5-for-8 from the field and 2-for-3 from the free-throw line. She also showed she was back to 100 percent after she missed the game against Alabama last Sunday and was cleared Monday after suffering from concussion symptoms. |
| Mississippi State throttles Tennessee with offensive outburst in fourth quarter | |
| Vic Schaefer snapped his fingers inside the post-game press conference room at Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. "It just happened like that," Mississippi State's head coach said. It sure did. The No. 6 Bulldogs beat the visiting Tennessee Lady Volunteers in dominating fashion, 91-63, but the final score was a bit misleading. Mississippi State didn't stretch its advantage to 20-plus points until the 7:41 mark of the fourth quarter. Schaefer said he doesn't know how the game got so out of hand, but Tennessee (15-8, 4-6 SEC) head coach Holly Warlick had a few ideas. Her biggest issue was that her team didn't have an answer for Mississippi State (22-1, 10-0 SEC) sophomore guard Jordan Danberry, who scored 20 points on 10-of-15 shooting. "She's always been an outstanding player," Warlick said. "She was great for them today. She helped run their team." "I just love her attack mode right now," Schaefer added. "She was really locked in today." |
| Notebook: Jordan Danberry spearheads defensive effort against Tennessee | |
| Jordan Danberry in attack mode is a scary thought for defenses. Whether it's in tight spaces or in the open floor, there are few players in the country who are faster and more athletic than the Mississippi State senior guard. Danberry offered another chapter to a first-team All-Southeastern Conference season Sunday with a 20-point, four-assist effort in the No. 6 MSU women's basketball team's 91-63 victory against Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference game before a crowd of 10,021 at Humphrey Coliseum. "I have been in treatment all week, and the trainer has been real good helping me get it back right, and it showed tonight," said Danberry, who missed nearly all of the second half against Alabama last Sunday after tweaking an ankle. Danberry might have to credit teammate Anriel Howard for an assist. She said Howard was responsible a new braided hairstyle that came to be after she decided she "needed to do something" with her hair. There was no change in Danberry's game plan to get to the rim. |
| UK toughs out road win: 'We held onto the rope, but our hands are bleeding' | |
 | Maybe not with such wild swings of momentum, but Kentucky Coach John Calipari expected a challenge at Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon. That's why he took an usual, if not unprecedented step in preparing his team at dawn. "We came over at 7:30, and we did a shootaround," Calipari said. "I never do that. I knew how tough this game was going to be. We may have run out of gas because I did that." Calipari cited the reason he broke from custom. "We had two other games at noon," he said of matchups with Seton Hall and Alabama. "We lost both." UK defeated Mississippi State 71-67, but it took resilience, resolve and how Hemingway defined courage: grace under pressure. "We held onto the rope, but our hands are bleeding," Calipari said of the competitive spirit required to win the game. "Let me tell you, we just held on." |
| There's no 'give up' in State, but Bulldogs must learn how to finish a game | |
| Mississippi sports columnist Rick Cleveland writes: An obviously relieved John Calipari was talking after his fifth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats fought off a furious Mississippi State second half rally to beat the Bulldogs 71-67 Saturday. "We held on to the rope, but our hands are bleeding right now," is the way Calipari metaphorically described his team after it led by 15 at halftime and by 18 early in the second half and then by only one with eight minutes left to play. "They're a Top 20 team," Calipari said of the Bulldogs. "They are a team that will advance in the (NCAA) tournament. They're physically tough. They've got great guard play..." Perhaps, but State, ranked as high as No. 14 earlier in the season, is not ranked now. More importantly, Saturday's loss dropped the Bulldogs to 4-6 in the SEC and 16-7 overall. The Bulldogs have fallen solidly into the SEC's second division, which is not where you want to be heading into the middle of February. |
| David Williams, former Vanderbilt athletics director, dies at 71 | |
 | Former Vanderbilt athletics director David Williams has died at age 71, the university confirmed through a news release Friday. Williams, the son of a member of the Tuskegee Airmen and a Detroit public school teacher, was the first black athletics director hired by an SEC school. He spent his 16-year tenure as athletics director and vice chancellor over student affairs trying to push social change on campus and balance Vanderbilt's dual task of competing in academics and athletics. Williams' last day as athletics director was Jan. 31, and his retirement party was set for Friday night on campus. He leaves behind wife Gail, four children, six grandchildren and one great-grandson. Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos called Williams "an incomparable leader, role model and dear friend to me and so many others." Williams collapsed at Pancake Pantry restaurant near Vanderbilt campus around 10:30 a.m. Friday, owner Crosby Keltner confirmed. |
| Florida breaks ground on $65M baseball stadium | |
 | On a picture-perfect day for baseball -- sunny, breezy and warm -- the University of Florida broke ground on a new $65-million baseball stadium Friday. The ceremony drew several hundred, including some financial donors, UF president Kent Fuchs and dozens of former Gator players, including Matt LaPorta, Darren O'Day and Allen Trammell. "It's a great day for Florida baseball, for Florida athletics and for the University of Florida," Fuchs said. "This is a huge step forward as we set the standard for the SEC and the NCAA." The stadium, scheduled for completion in June of 2020, is going to be located on former IFAS land on the southwest corner of campus, just off Hull Road and adjacent to the softball and lacrosse stadiums/facilities. "Coach (Steve) Spurrier has the saying, 'When God smiles on the Gators,'" UF athletic director Scott Stricklin said. "This day is a great example of that. It's a beautiful day, a beautiful day for baseball. Monumental day for Florida baseball." |
| Aggie baseball players shave heads for cancer research | |
 | Texas A&M graduate transfer Jonathan Ducoff dusted the last few hair clippings off his freshly shaved head and made a beeline for one person. "You still want to marry me?" he asked his fiancee, Rynne Gipson, with a smile while motioning to his tightly buzzed scalp. Saturday, Ducoff chose his new hairstyle while participating in the annual Aggie Leadoff event at Blue Bell Park. In a partnership with the Vs. Cancer Foundation. a childhood cancer research nonprofit, Aggie baseball players and coaches shaved their heads to raise awareness for the cause. However, slightly more than a year ago, Ducoff was faced with the sudden reality that a change in hair could be out of his control while receiving treatment for follicular lymphoma. At A&M, the baseball program has partnered with Vs. Cancer for the past five years, reaching the $100,000 plateau in donations this year, thanks to a $20,000 campaign this season. With $21,248 raised as of Saturday evening, the Aggies lead all participating teams by $14,207. |
| With baby due soon, UGA coach Joni Taylor continues coaching | |
| Georgia coach Joni Taylor and her husband Darius are expecting their second child any day now. Taylor joked at a recent media availability that the couple's second daughter is due at the end of February, but there's no way she's going to wait that long to make an appearance. But Taylor, now in her fourth year of coaching the Lady Bulldogs, said she didn't plan an extended maternity leave, not with the SEC Tournament set to begin March 6 in Greenville, S.C. While Taylor is away, coaching duties fall to assistant Karen Lange, who filled in for Taylor after she gave birth to Jacie Elise Taylor, leading the Lady Bulldogs to a 4-2 record during the first six games of the 2016-17 season. During Tuesday's media availability, Taylor spoke briefly about her pregnancy, pointing out that in addition to her busy work-and-home schedule, she's able to find time to get to the gym for some exercise. |
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