News and Notes from East Carolina, Conference USA and Beyond

PREVIOUS NUGGETS

06.30.06: NCAA gives new life to Houston bowl game ... Memphis duo makes school history in NBA draft ... LSU selects Mainieri to direct baseball program ... Marshall backpedals back to Winthrop

06.29.06: BCS to tweak timing of weekly poll ... Louisville to push two players for Heisman ... Redick fares well in draft despite impediments

06.28.06: Postgraduate scholarship goes to ECU's Davenport ... UCF center foregoes final year of eligibility ... Sinclair named women's athlete of the year

06.27.06: Beavers beat Heels to win College World Series ... Irish baseball coach to interview for LSU job ... Cal quarterback suspended after assault charge

06.26.06: Mustangs lead
C-USA teams in Director's Cup ... Tulane AD receives prestigious service award ... Calipari racking up some broadcast work

06.25.06: Coal industry to sponsor Marshall-WVU series ... Mountaineers extend Rodriguez deal to 2012 ... Vols add non-league challenges

06.24.06: Del Conte takes reins as AD at Rice ... Contact at combine means fine for Emory ... UNCW aligns with adidas for shoes, uniforms

06.23.06: Witter starts professional ball with a flourish ... Big Ben's little sister commits to Sooners ... Wake Forest football recruit faces felony charges

06.22.06: Big Ten scores momentous television deals ... Former ECU diver Derr to coach at JMU ... Grizzlies turn to Tinkle on hardwood

06.21.06: Troth returns to the fold as ECU assistant ... College of Charleston, Herrion settle on buyout ... Another national award for Houston's Lincoln

06.20.06: ECU announces long-term pact with Nike ... Pirates release women's soccer schedule ... Three C-USA linemen on Outland Trophy list

06.19.06: USM-Memphis game shifts to Sunday for ESPN ... Tar Heels AD Baddour gets contract extension ... U.S. Women's open to have distinct Duke flavor

06.18.06: Rice rallies in its College World Series opener ... Houston's Lincoln gets 2006 Howser Trophy ... C-USA's top scorer backs away from NBA draft

06.17.06: ECU grad Millican wins N.C. women's amateur ... College World Series: Tigers win in comeback ... LSU's Carter sweeps national track honors

06.16.06: Ex-ECU assistant named Campbell grid coach ... Pirate softball ace Keli Harrell named All-State .. Report: Back woes nix Redick draft workouts

06.15.06: Camels expected to name football coach ... Rice leads C-USA contingent on A-A team ... K-State, UCLA announce football dates

06.14.06: ECU's Smith among 7 C-USA All-Americans ... Duke star Redick charged with drunk driving ... UAB selects Shoop to guide baseball program

06.13.06: Owls carrying C-USA banner to Omaha ... ECU's Ray shares Coastal Plain League honor ... Terms of Huggins' K-State contract reported

06.12.06: ECU ticket office temporarily relocates ... Irish safety's ring debut: Bell rung quickly ... Miners seventh in NCAA men's track

06.11.06: Miami loses Berry- recruited QB to baseball ... Clemens award finalists have C-USA flavor ... Buckeyes announce series with Toledo

06.10.06: ECU network announces blowtorch flagships ... "The Buzz" remains in Pirate broadcast lineup ... Former LSU athlete turned pro wrestler dies

06.09.06: ECU's "Voice" revving up for benefit "Ride" ... Pirates bow out at NCAA track & field meet ... ODU makes plans to add I-AA football

06.08.06: MLB Draft: Smith selected by A's, Mathews by Giants ... ECU's Hunt, Krug take Scholar Athlete honors ... NCAA nixes course credits from 'diploma mills'

06.07.06: ECU's track elite at NCAA meet in Sacramento ... Super region pairings pit Rice against Sooners ... Cleared USC quarterback says he's rejoined team

06.06.06: NCAA change on grad transfers gets reaction ... Duke reinstates men's lacrosse with conditions ... Cardieri resigns as baseball coach at USF

06.05.06: Owls carry C-USA banner against Bears ... Laval steps down as LSU baseball coach ... Date of "Civil War" changed for TV

06.04.06: C-USA players reap All-America honors ... "Flesh- eating" germ claims Tulsa gridder ... Blazers baseball coach hangs up cleats

06.03.06: ECU's Jake Smith named 2nd-team All-America ... Pirates get first signee in McPhaul golfing era ... Duke men's lacrosse program to be reinstated

06.02.06: Bucs' new pitching coach has LeClair pedigree ... Three gridders depart WVU program ... ECU announces blue chip tennis signees

06.01.06: Pirates announce kickoff times, TV games ... ECU excels among C-USA's academic elite ... Rice's Degerman makes Academic All-America

Sports Illustrated's website, SI.com, has named Central Florida head coach George O'Leary one of the nation's top-10 college football coaches. O'Leary, who enters his third season as the UCF head coach, was the 2005 Conference USA Coach of the Year after guiding the Golden Knights to an 8-5 record and the C-USA East Division championship.

Stewart Mandel of SI.com wrote this about O'Leary: "He never really got proper due for his tenure at Georgia Tech, where his .612 winning percentage was the school's highest since Bobby Dodd, but his most remarkable achievement came last year, when he orchestrated the Golden Knights' incredible turnaround from 0-11 to 8-5 and a Conference USA division title."

The 2005 campaign for UCF was tied for the fourth-biggest turnaround in NCAA history. The Golden Knights made their first bowl appearance in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl.

UCF returns 19 starters from last season's division championship squad and has been picked by five national college football preseason magazines as the favorite to win the East Division of C-USA.

The Golden Knights open the 2006 campaign at home on Saturday, Sept. 2 vs. Villanova.

Texas-El Paso senior Mircea Bogdan and Houston junior Ebonie Floyd were named the 2006 Conference USA outdoor track and field male and female athletes of the year, following a vote of the league's head coaches.

An announcement on the league website noted that Bogdan and Floyd both helped lead their respective teams to C-USA outdoor track and field championship team titles in May and earned All-America honors at the NCAA outdoor championships earlier this month.

Bogdan raced to a second-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA meet in Sacramento. His eight points helped lead the Miners to a seventh-place team finish overall. The Romania native scored 26 crucial points at the C-USA outdoor championships, helping UTEP claim both the men's indoor and outdoor league titles this season. Bogdan won the 5,000-meter race and finished runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 1,500-meter runs on his home track at Kidd Field in El Paso and also was victorious at the NCAA Midwest Region in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Floyd returned from a two-year absence to dominate the sprints at the C-USA outdoor championships, winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. She was the high-point scorer for the meet, also anchoring the 4x100-meter relay team to a title. The Houston native earned All-America honors in the 200-meter dash in Sacramento, clocking a 23.04 and also competed in the 100-meter dash and 4x100-meter relay at the NCAAs. Floyd secured a runner-up finish in the 100-meter dash at the NCAA Midwest region and took third in the 200-meter dash at the regional meet.

Last week, Floyd registered a fourth-place finish in the 200 meters at the USA championships with a time of 22.77 seconds. Earlier in the meet, she set a UH school record for the 200 meters in the semifinals, clocking a time of 22.63 seconds. The former record of 22.68 seconds was set by former USA Olympian Jackie Washington in 1986. It was the second school record Floyd set in her comeback season. She also broke UH's school record in the 400 meters that was held by former USA Olympian Michelle Collins with a time of 51.66 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational. That was her only 400 meter race during the 2006 outdoor campaign.

Northwestern University Head Football Coach Randy Walker died suddenly Thursday night of an apparent heart attack. He was 52 years old, according to NUsports.com.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to his wife, Tammy, and his two children, Abbey and Jamie," said NU Director of Athletics Mark Murphy. "This is a devastating loss, not only for our athletic program, but for the entire Northwestern community. Randy truly embraced Northwestern and its mission, and cared deeply for his student-athletes, both on and off the field."

Walker, who led the Wildcats to a share of the 2000 Big Ten title and a trip to the Alamo Bowl, directed Northwestern to a 14-10 combined Big Ten record the past three years. NU also played in the 2003 Motor City Bowl and the 2005 Sun Bowl, making him the first coach in school history to guide NU to three bowl games.

Walker, who joined the Wildcats in 1999 after a successful nine-year tenure at Miami (OH) University, his alma mater, guided Northwestern to a seven-year record of 37-46 (second most wins in school history) and was ranked 27th on the NCAA's all-time wins list (96-81-5) for active Division I-A football coaches who have at least five years of I-A coaching experience.

Walker spent 10 seasons (1978-87) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. In 1985, he was named offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Tar Heels after spending the previous seven campaigns as the running backs (1978-81) and quarterbacks (1982-87) coach. Walker coached in six postseason games at UNC-CH, and the Tar Heels went 4-2 in those games, beating Michigan in the Gator Bowl (1979), Texas in the Bluebonnet Bowl (1980), Arkansas in the Gator Bowl (1981), and Texas in the Sun Bowl (1982). The two losses came at the hands of Florida State in the Peach Bowl (1983) and Arizona in the Aloha Bowl (1986).

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.