R-E-S-P-E-C-T

We're now exactly a month away from the kickoff of the 2006 season, as Tennessee Tech prepares to host Chattanooga on Aug. 31, and Samford hosts Miles College. At the media day last week in Nashville, the OVC coaches made many comments on the improving level of play in the league. It's obvious they want to raise the league's standing nationally. Of course, talk can't accomplish that - only W's can.

The first four weeks of the season will be key if the OVC wants to make a case for multiple playoff bids this November. In that time, OVC teams play eight games against teams from the Gateway Football Conference and the Southern Conference, the two leagues represented in the national title game last year.

What do you think are the OVC's chances in these games? How will Tech fare against a UTC team on the rise? Can Jax State finally beat Furman? Can Eastern Illinois, Murray State and Eastern Kentucky finally get the league more wins against Gateway teams than losses? Will EKU at long last level the Hilltoppers?

Click below to comment and add your predictions.

(By the way, the check of today's morning papers showed no OVC news.)

Morning papers

Here's a look at OVC items at online newspaper sites this morning.

The Anniston (Ala.) Star (subscription only) examines Jacksonville State's "road warrior" schedule for 2006. The Gamecocks play just four home games this season. Coach Jack Crowe says the trips to two Southern Conference opponents and Mississippi State, plus the league schedule, make for a tough row to hoe.

“If anybody thinks that schedule is designed to win with … It's designed to challenge somebody and generate different aspects of the program. But it's not designed to win.”

The (Charleston, Ill.) Jornal Gazette/Times-Courier reported in Friday's edition that four Eastern Illinois players were named to the all-American team at Don Hansen's Football Gazette. The Panthers picked are: Clint Sellers (first team defense), Tristan Burge (first team defense), Jon Reuter (third team offense) and Lucius Seymour (seond team defense).

A quick look at the full team list from the Gazette shows a few more OVC players honored. Of course, it looks like just about every player in I-AA was; the list includes first, second and third team, plus an honorable mention category that tales more than a page to list by itself. Id' scan the list for all the oVC names and type them in here, but it just seems easier to point you to the Gazette's PDF file.

The Cookeville (Tenn.) Herald-Citizen says Tennessee Tech has scheduled its annual "Gathering of Eagles" football fan day and picnic for Aug. 9 at Tucker stadium. The team's photo day starts at 9 a.m.; the picnic begins at 11:30. Admission is free.

Poll? What poll?

The Southeast Missourian on Saturday had a roundup of the OVC's new coaches, presumably leftover material from Tuesday's media day in Nashville. SEMO coach Tony Samuel is again quoted as saying he isn't bothered being picked last.

"I don't pay much attention to that," said Samuel, a former head coach at Division I-A New Mexico State and a former longtime assistant at Nebraska who inherited a team that went 2-9 last year. "The key to the whole thing is at this point it's all speculation."

2006 OVC Football Blog Games of the Year

The results are in, and our readers obviously are looking forward to seeing the pre-season conference favorite play. Eastern Kentucky is featured in all three of the games chosen by our readers in the 2006 OVC Games of the Year polls. Here are the winners and the results of voting.

OVC Game of the Year

Eastern Illinois at Eastern Kentucky, Oct. 14

The Eastern Kentucky Colonels, the pre-season pick of conference coaches and sports information directors to win the league, play host to the defending champions, the Eastern Illinois Panthers.

Jacksonville State @ Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 30: 34%, 21 votes
Eastern Illinois @ Eastern Kentucky, Oct. 14: 48%, 29 votes
UT-Martin @ Murray State, Nov. 18:16% 10 votes
Jacksonville State @ Eastern Illinois, Nov. 18: 2%, 1 vote

OVC vs. I-AA Game of the Year

Western Kentucky at Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 9

The Colonels host their hated arch-rivals from cross-state, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of the Gateway Football Conference, in the Battle of the Bluegrass. An EKU win in this game could be a shot in the arm for the entire conference.

Jacksonville State @ Furman, Sept. 2: 29%, 9 votes
Western Kentucky @ Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 9: 52%, 16 votes

Eastern Illinois @ Illinois State, Sept.: 16: 19%, 6 votes

OVC vs. I-A Game of the Year

Eastern Kentucky at Cincinnati, Sept. 2

The Colonels make a short trip up Interstate 75 to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big East Conference. Some are calling this game one of I-AA's best shots at an upset against a I-A team.

Eastern Illinois @ Illinois, Sept. 2: 20%, 7 votes
Eastern Kentucky @ Cincinnati, Sept. 2: 46%, 16 votes
Tennessee Tech @ Middle Tennesse, Sept. 14: 6%, 2 votes
Tennessee State @ Vanderbilt, Sept. 23: 29%, 10 votes

So, what's all this mean? Here at the blog, we'll feature each of these games in our covereage the week they're played. I won't be able to make it to the games myself, but I'll recruit some of our regular readers to act as correspondents for the day, giving us first-hand accounts, photos, and perhaps even up-to-the minute score reports.

Thanks to all who voted for and nominated games, and of course, thanks for reading.

Morning roundup

Here's a quick roundup of what's on the Web in the O-Valley this morning:

The Meter, Tennessee State's student newspaper, has a preview of the Tigers' season-opening game against Alabama A&M in the John Merritt Classic. The story says A&M can expect to take home at least $140,000, and a portion of the ticket revenue, expected to be around $300,000. The game has lined up $150,000 in corporate sponsorships.

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle says Austin Peay coach Carroll McCray is hoping the Tennessee Titans use of his school's facility for training camp will raise the Govs' profile as they return to scholarship ball and give them a recruiting boost.

Media daze

If there was any doubt as to whether the OVC media day was worth the time, I've forgotten it. The press was full of news from the O-Valley Wednesday and Thursday, even from at least one paper that didn't attend the event in Nashville. (Note to the folks at the Huntsville Times & Decatur Daily: You were closer to the event than the only Alabama paper that went. Why make JSU head coach Jack Crowe stop by your place on the way home?)

Heck, I haven't seen this much ink since that tattoo parlor explosion.

Here's the highlight's of what showed up on the Web today from newspapers covering the OVC:

Mark McCarter's column from The Huntsville (Ala.) Times: So, Mark didn't make the trip, but he gets extra credit for giving I-AA its props:

"Despite the ambition in (JSU's) move to Division I-AA, there remains a perception that it is still rinky-dinky. To that, check the scores on TV and in the paper. Each weekend, some I-AA team rises up to swat down a Division I-A team from a major conference."

The Brimingham (Ala.) News: The News led with JSU QB coach Montressa's Kirby's departure from the team. He joins former JSU OC Willie Slater, now head coach at Tuskegee, as the receivers coach. The nut of this one: Kirby's getting a raise to go to TU -a D-II school. Crowe comments on that extensively in The News' story.

The Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Leads with EKU's status as the OVC's top pick. The juicy part: In the section on Murray State, new HC Matt Griffin said he feels much better in his new position, since "There isn't talk of cutting scholarships or dropping scholarship football. Those things scare you as a head coach." One presumes that his $125,000 salary is a significant raise over what UT-Martin was paying him.

The Southeast Missourian: A solid story, with this optimistic quote from new HC Tony Samuel, whose team was picked to finish last: "Oh yeah, we should be able to compete with these guys. This is a very competitive league, but we can compete in this league."

The Decatur (Ala.) Daily: Sports Editor Mark Edwards spends about three-quarters of his column talking about Crowe's memories of a local kid he coached at Auburn 21 years ago. At the end, he finally mentions that current JSU starting quarterback Matt Hardin reminds Crowe of that player, Randy Campbell. Had Mark attended the media day event, perhaps he'd have learned something about the current season to share with readers.

The Anniston (Ala.) Star: The Star had a roundup of news from the event which led with the OVC decision to keep its coin-flip/blind draw tiebreaker for football, for now. The conference was a touchdown away from a three-way tie for the title in 2005. League ADs apparently nixed a proposal by coaches to move to a stats-based tiebreaker. Commisioner Jon Steinbrecher said the issue could be revisited. The Star also had a story on Hardin, and how the Gamecock offense might change with him under center. Interestingly, the story mentioned Kirby's departure for Tuskegee only as a possibility. A Thursday story on Slater didn't mention Kirby. Was JSU's hometown paper scooped by The B'ham News?

The Richmond (Ky.) Register: The Register details Danny Hope's pleasure in EKU starting the season with junior QB Josh Greco leading the offense. Thursday they had a story about the league's new webcasting partnership with XOS Technologies. Steinbrecher is quoted as saying all the league's football games will be available through the service.

The (Nashville) Tennessean: The Tennessean offers a story focusing on the low expectations surrounding Tennessee State in this year's OVC race, then a couple of bulleted items on the rest of the league. That's it. I remind you, by the way, the event was held in Nashville. The paper apparently sent a team to Birmingham for the SEC media days. If you want to know about Mark Richt's wife's lymph nodes, you'll find it here. What to expect from OVC teams visiting the Tigers? Nada.

The Charleston (Ill.) Journal Gazzette/Times-Courier: EIU coach Bob Spoo tells the JGTC he's not bothered his defending champs were picked behind EKU. TSU coach James Webster says he's cool with that too. He picked EIU third, after EKU and Jax State.

The Murray Ledger & Times: New MSU coach Matt Griffin said he didn't even vote in the pre-season poll. He gave his ballot to his assistants. The paper also had a column Thursday about league coaches' thoughts on Griffin's job-hop.

The Cookeville Herald-Citizen: Tennessee Tech's hometown paper had three stories from the meida day Wednesday: one on acting head coach Doug Malone, one on the all-OVC team, and another on the OVC's playoff hopes, with a roundup of other items.

The (Clarksville, Tenn.) Leaf-Chronicle: Three stories from this paper, the hoetown rag for Austin Peay State, which isn't even an OVC member yet. One on Govs coach Carroll McCray's experience at the event with some bulleted items, a Q&A with McCray, and a story on the Govs potential to play paday games with I-A teams (sports editor Jimmy Trodglen calls them "Division I programs").

The Jacksonville News: This weekly paper in JSU's hometown didn't cover the media day event, but got details from Monday's JSU trustees meeting on the possibility of a major stadium expansion. A feasibility study on the proposal called the expansion within the Gamecocks' reach, but said the school would need to hire a full-time athletics fund-raiser.

Crowe apparently headed a committee that made a lot of reccomendations for the football program, and set some goals. One of those goals was a home-and-home series with either UAB or old archrival Troy by 2011. That would require a I-A move, or a serious change in thinking by the folks who run those two programs.

Full pre-season all-OVC roster

Here's the full pre-season all-OVC team, copied from the PDF at Murray State's official Web site:

Player/School Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown
Josh Greco, Eastern Kentucky* QB 6-1 208 Jr. Naples, FL
Don Chapman, UT Martin* RB 5-10 215 Jr. Marietta, GA
Vincent Webb, Eastern Illinois# RB 5-10 206 Sr. St. Louis, MO
Larry Shipp, Tennessee Tech* WR 5-9 183 Jr. Memphis, TN
Taurean Stephens, UT Martin# WR 6-1 185 Sr. Cincinnati, OH
Patrick Bugg, Eastern Kentucky* TE 6-5 215 Sr. Harrodsburg, KY
Alex Atkins, UT Martin# OL 6-2 310 Sr. Memphis, TN
Sean Dumford, Eastern Kentucky* OL 6-5 297 Jr. Washington Courthouse, OH
Eric Johnson, Eastern Illinois* OL 6-4 295 Sr. Bloomington, IL
Jon Rueter, Eastern Illinois* OL 6-5 281 Sr. Springfield, IL
Anthony Rubican, Eastern Illinois# OL 6-6 300 Jr. Schaumburg, IL
Colin Schermann, Southeast Missouri*% K 6-0 160 So. Cape Girardeau, MO
Clay Green, Jacksonville State* RB/RS 6-0 205 Sr. Birmingham, AL

DEFENSE
Player/School Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown
Mark Cristiani, Eastern Kentucky* DL 5-11 272 Sr. Venice, FL
Cardius Dowell, Eastern Kentucky# DL 6-0 269 Jr. LaGrange, GA
John Jackson, Tennessee Tech# DL 5-11 273 Jr. Knoxville, TN
Edgar Jones, Southeast Missouri# DL 6-5 250 Jr. Rayville, LA
David Gilmore, UT Martin# LB 6-3 225 Sr. Cordova, TN
Brandon Rosser, Eastern Kentucky* LB 6-0 246 Sr. Marietta, GA
Clint Sellers, Eastern Illinois* LB 6-1 220 Sr. Chariton, IA
Kenny Brown, Jacksonville State* DB 6-0 185 Sr. Cartersville, GA
Tristan Burge, Eastern Illinois* DB 6-0 200 Sr. Romeoville, IL
Anthony James, Tennessee Tech DB 6-0 195 Sr. Lewisburg, TN
Aaron Strong, Tennessee State DB 5-11 185 Sr. Atlanta, GA
David Simonhoff, Southeast Missouri* P 6-2 200 Sr. Coral Gables, FL

EDIT (1:27 p.m.): By the way, I'm still waiting on Blogger to re-allow comments. I've e-mail them and got no response so far. Until it's fixed, I guess we can't discuss the news out of media day here. I suggest anygivensaturday.org as an alternative.

EKU #1, Colonels, Panthers dominate all-OVC team

Eastern Kentucky is the pick of coaches and sports information directors to finish first in the OVC, according to a release from Eastern Illinois. EIU comes in at second, with Jacksonville State third.

EIU and EKU dominated the pre-season all conference team, with six playuers from each team picked to the squad.

Eastern Illinois got the news out quicker than the conference itself. This release is up over at the EIU site. Nothing up yet at OVC.

Here's the entire predicted order of finish for the conference, with first-place votes in parantheses:

1. Eastern Kentucky (11)
2. Eastern Illinois (7)
3. Jacksonville State
4. Samford
5. Murray State
6. UT-Martin
7. (tie) Tennesse State and Tennessee Tech
8. Southeast Missouri

Panthers on the all-conference team include OL Eric Johnson, OL Jon Rueter, OL Anthony Rubican, RB Vincent Webb, LB Clint Sellers, and DB Tristan Burge.

According to the EIU release, EKU also had six players on the list. UT-Martin had four TTU and SEMO each had three, JSU had two and TSU one. I'll get the full roster as it comes out from the conference or the other schools.

Edit (1 p.m.): JSU has a release out about the pre-season picks. The Gamecocks' all-OVC picks are RB Clay Green and S Kenny Brown. Murray's got something out too. It includes a link to a PDF with the entire all-conference team and order-of-finish results.

Early leak ... EIU not the #1 pick

The conference has begun posting video of one-on-one interviews with the OVC head coaches. So far, Eastern Illinois' Bob Spoo and UT-Martin's Jason Simpson are up. The site had said the interviews would be available around 5 p.m.

One surprise from the Spoo video: the coach says his team has been picked second in the pre-season poll. Assuming he's talking about the conference's pre-season predictions, that's not been released yet. I'd assume the #1 pick is Eastern Kentucky.

Asked by the moderator who the panthers have to go through, Spoo lists EKU, Tennessee State, Murray State, Jacksonville State, Samford and Tennessee Tech, in that order (he doesn't say the order means anything, though).

Jason Simpson says the culture is changing at UT-Martin. "It's OK to come to work now ... and talk about winning the OVC championship ... because that's realistic now."

Simpson says one of his biggest challenge is get running back Donald Chapman some support from the rest of the team to take some pressure off him. On picking from among six QBs on the roster, Simpson says there are three who could be picked to replace departed star Brady Wahlberg. He doesn't say which three.

Soaring, and then a dive

While OVCSports.tv's debut started out good, I don't think the live broadcast from the conference's media day can be called a success.

At the beginning, audio and video quality were excellent. Then, about 30 minutes into the program, the stream started to break down. To this inexperienced eye, it looked like there was too much demand on XOS Technology's server. If that's the case it could be a silver lining, meaning there was a lot of interest in the OVC this morning.

The conference and XOS have a lot of work to do to sell fans on subscription broadcasts of games, however. I hope they get the bugs worked out.

Of course, we had our own technical difficulty here at the OVC Football Blog. Blogger, our host site, disabled the comment feature after 38 comments on the post where we were following the video feed. We'll have to figure out a way around that if we want this to be a place for fans to discuss OVC games in progress this fall.

Thanks to those who followed along with us today. Stay tuned for more news out of the OVC media day in Nashville.

Thanks, Blogger (grrrrrrrr ... )

Now it looks like Blogger has disabled comments on any post I make. I think it's an automatic feature designed to prevent spammers from jamming up my blog.

Unfortunately, it's also prevented us from discussing OVC football today. Looks like the OVC and XOS Tech. aren't the only ones having problems.

OVC Media Day Feed, Take 2

Blogger seems to have automatically disabled comments on the last post. Sorry for anyone who's been trying to comment. Looks like I was talking too much.

Please feel free to comment here now (not that there's any video feed to discuss).

OVC Media Day Live Stream

Got a hot cup of coffee handy, and I'm ready for the live stream of the OVC Media Day from Nashville. Here's a link to the Web cast page at the OVC Web site:

I'll be posting updates throughout the 45-minute session, on the comment page for this post. Click here to follow along, and to post your own thoughts.

Loggin' on

I'll be following online Tuesday as the OVC webcasts the 2006 football media day. They'll be trying out the new streaming video application from XOS Technologies. The media day is free, but there's been talk of providing live game video for a price. I'm very curious to see how that works out.

Anyway, I'll be blogging live as the media day stuff happens, so be sure to follow along with me here. They're getting started around 8:30 Central Time, and webcasting until about 9:15. Later that day, taped interviews with each coach will be available. Cool.

Tug o' war

The hottest topic of discussion at the Southern Conference's athletic directors' meeting in Greenville, S.C., this week apparently isn't on the agenda, according to a story in today's Chattanooga Times-Free Press. The SoCon's talked a lot lately about expanding, but hasn't done anything. Then, last month, UT-Chattanooga said it had talked with OVC officials about becoming the league's newest member.

SoCon membership may not be on the agenda, but I bet it'll be in the air. From the TFP story:

"I know that at some time we’ll probably talk about expansion issues, and I’m ready to talk about those issues," (UTC AD Rick) Hart said. "But as far as the OVC overtures, I don’t think this would be the appropriate time to talk about it. I don’t see how that fits with the other 10 (SoCon) schools at this point. I feel like those discussions need to start at a different level."

SoCon commissioner John Iamarino, in the TFP story:

"But will we talk about it? It’s very possible," he said. "We usually talk about things that aren’t on the agenda. We want to hear what all our members have to say. If it’s something they want to discuss, I’m sure we’ll discuss it."

Many watchers believe UTC wants a school on the SoCon's western edge added to the league. OVC members Samford and Jax State have been mentioned as possibly fitting that bill, but Big South member Costal Carolina has lobbied heavily to join the Carolinas-dominated conference. It looks like the OVC made up its mind more quickly than the SoCon has.

SoCon school presidents (the folks who actually will make any decision) next get together in November, the TFP said.

Griffin tops in Tenn.

Matt Griffin's work at UT-Martin in 2005 didn't go unnoticed, not by the folks at Murray State (his new employer), nor by sportswriters around Tennessee, apparently. The Tennessee Sports Writers Association named Griffin its 2005 Tennessee Football Coach of the Year during a banquet Wednesday night, according to a release from Murray State.

In his third year at Martin, Griffin took the Skyhawks to a 6-5 record overall, 4-4 in the OVC. That's a big deal for a team whose football history can only gently be described as dismal. It was the school's first winning season in 12 years.

While I heartily approve of the TSWA's selection of Griffin, I throw these questions out to the state's sportswriters as a challenge: How many of you had heard of Griffin before you got your ballots? How many wrote any stories about UT-Martin in 2005, or ever, for that matter? The good sports stories aren't all in Knoxville (or Memphis or Murfreesboro, for that matter). The award is great, but an even better way to reward great performances is to cover them while they're happening. That goes for sportswriters everywhere, by the way, not just those in the Volunteer State.

We'll now see if Griffin can pull another turnaround job at Murray. The Racers went 2-9 in 2005, 0-7 in OVC play, including a 49-20 season-ending loss to Griffin's Skyhawks. Kentucky sportwriters, are you paying attention?

Colonels get a QB transfer

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that Wake Forest third-string quarterback Allan Holland, a sophomore, has transferred to Eastern Kenticky.

Holland redshirted in 2004, and played in just one game in 2005, against Duke, throwing one incomplete pass.

He'll likely back up veteran junior starter Josh Greco, the 2005 OVC offensive player of the year, along with sophomore Steven Sizemore.

Tiger looking to change his stripes?

Word is Auburn senior cornerback Montavis Pitts is looking to transfer. The Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer and The Anniston Star are reporting Pitts has received his release from the Tigers, and that he's looking to land at Jax State.

Pitts apparently has a checkered past. Most recently, the Columbus story says, he was arrested in Tuskegee June 24 on a DUI charge. He also missed a game in 2004 for violating team rules, and briefly left the team in 2003 to pursue a rap career (he was gone less than a week). After loosing his status as a starter in 2005, it looks like he wants more playing time.

From the university's release at auburntigers.com:

"I made a mistake and have decided that I need to get a fresh start and begin somewhere else," Pitts said. "I've enjoyed my career at Auburn and apologize to my teammates, coaches and the Auburn fans for the mistake I've made, but this is a decision that is in my best interest for my football career, both now and the future."

JSU Head Coach Jack Crowe apparently isn't taking Pitts' arrival or his acceptance for granted. From The Star's story:

“There's no way we can take a guy with a legal situation at hand,” Crowe said. “I sort have to deal with one before I deal with the other one, and I just have to deal with what Tommy (Tuberville, Auburn's head coach) knows about it and make sure that this is a young man who's looking for an opportunity to play and then deal with the reality of what this thing is.”

Catching up

I tell ya, go on a week's vacation and everything breaks loose. I'd hoped to have better Internet availability while I was on the road, but it didn't work out like that. Next time I'm away, I'll be sure to have a guest blogger keep up with things for all our loyal readers.

So, while I was gone ...

... Mike Hennigan rescinded his resignation as Tennessee Tech's head coach, but then took a medical leave of absence (medical insurance move?). Tech OC Mike Malone was named acting head coach.

... the TTU-Eastern Kentucky game was moved to Thursday, Sept. 21, to be picked up for national broadcast by ESPNU. Jacksonville State's game at Tech, meanwhile, was moved from a Thursday to Saturday, Oct. 28, after it didn't get picked up for TV. JSU needn't feel left out, though. All four of the Gamecocks' 2006 home games will be broadcast on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast.

... JSU named a new radio broadcast team, replacing longtime "Voice of the Gamecocks" Mike Parris. Parris now will focus solely on his duties as athletic marketing director, but told The Anniston Star he's "hurt" by the move by AD Jim Fuller. Simply put, a lot of JSU fans are really pissed off.

... Another Razorback headed for Samford. Arkansas defensive end Matt Hall, a redshirt freshman, apparently will join former UA quarterback Alex Mortenson as a Bulldog.

Anything else?

Rank and file

You know the season's getting close when Matt Dougherty, the resident I-AA guru over at The Sports Network, releases his top-to-bottom rankings for the division. That's right, he ranks every team in I-AA, all 122 of 'em. Better him than me.

Matt picks EKU first among OVC teams this year, at #12. Here's how he rates everyone in the conference:

12. Eastern Kentucky
16. Eastern Illinois
35. Jacksonville State
55. Samford
68. UT-Martin
78. Tennessee Tech
81. Tennessee State
83. Murray State
89. Southeast Missouri

Austin Peay, who rejoin the OVC in 2007, come in at #100.

Also, on Thursday, TSN announced its 2006 I-AA All-Americans. Six OVC players were honored. They are:

• EKU's Pattrick Bugg, a senior tight end, first team
• EIU's Clint Sellers, a senior linebacker, first team
• SEMO's David Simonhoff, a senior punter, first team
• EIU's Jon Reuter, a senior guard, second team
• EIU's Tristan Burge, a senior safety, second team
• EKU's Mark Cristiani, a senior defensive tackle, honorable mention

Did they leave anyone out? What do you think of Matt's pre-season rankings of the OVC teams? Click below to comment and discuss.

Tech coach resigns

Tennessee Tech head coach Mike Hennigan, 54, resigned Thursday, citing helath reasons. The school announced his departure Friday. From the TTU release:

"I have some concerns for my health," Hennigan said, "and I don't feel like I can get through the hours required and the physical drain from camp and the season."

The release said Hennigan, a 1973 TTU grad, received a contract extension after the 2005 season that would have carried him through 2009.

A story in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen quotes Hennigan as saying the health issues are related to lower chronic back pain that doctors have been unable to find a source for. But that's not the only reason Hennigan is leaving after 10 years at the helm (and 10 as DC) of the Golden Eagles. From the CHC story:

"You know the frustrations we have at Tennessee Tech. What I hoped for in December was that the team for the upcoming season could see a commitment in football from the university. The number one thing was to get a weight coach in here before the summer. We are still searching for a weight coach and the summer is up," Hennigan quipped.

"It got to the point where it's not a job that I'm not excited about being a part of it. My health is the number one issue, but it's also not an attractive position right now."

The move leaves Tech with a little under two months to find a new head coach before the 2006 season begins. The team arrives for camp in a little over a month. Henningan said in the story he'd like to see a member of his staff considered to replace him. Neither the release nor the story mention a search for a new coach.

Thanks to FL_Connection for bringing this news to my attention.

Getting back in position ...

I owe Redhawks fans an apology. In my post below about the preseason positional rankings over at The Sports Network, I neglected to mention that SEMO's David Simonhoff is #1 on the list of punters.

Not only that, I neglected to notice (for six days!) that semo_boomerang had pointed this out in a comment. I read the stuff you post folks, I really do. Sometimes, it seems, I just can't see.

Early returns

We're about a week into the nominating period for the OVC Football Blog Games of the Year, with about a week left to go. As a reminder, the concept is posted here, and the entire OVC 2006 schedule (minus D-II games) is posted here. Don't forget to e-mail your nominations to ovc@cableone.net by July 11.

The nominees so far for OVC matchup:

• UT-Martin @ Murray State, Nov. 18 - Matt Griffin's old team visits Matt Griffin's new team.
• Eastern Illinois @ Eastern Kentucky, Oct. 14 - The 2005 champs take on the runners-up. Could be the OVC title game.
• Jacksonville State @ Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 30 - A battle of OVC heavyweights, old and new.
• Jacksonville State @ Eastern Illinois, Nov. 18 - These two schools can lay claim to the last five OVC titles between them. This game could decide who wins it in '06.

For I-AA out-of-conference game:

• Jacksonville State @ Furman, Sept. 2 - JSU now is looking to avenge a lopsided 2004 playoff loss and a last-second defeat in the thrilling 2005 season opener.
• Eastern Illinois @ Illinois State, Sept. 16 - An in-state matchup between the OVC and the Gateway Football Conference.
• Western Kentucky @ Eastern Kentucky, Sept. 9 - Another in-state OVC-Gateway game, but this, ladies and gentlemen, is the Battle of the Bluegrass.

For OVC vs. I-A game:

• Tennessee Tech @ MTSU, Sept. 14 - The renewal of an old OVC rivalry.
• Eastern Kentucky @ Cincinatti, Sept. 2 - Not many miles separate these two schools. How far apart are their football teams?
• Eastern Illinois @ Illinois, Sept. 2 - The OVC champ Panthers "play up" in-state, against Illinois, who went 2-9 in 2005.
• Tennessee State @ Vanderbilt, Sept. 23 - A cross-town matchup between the OVC and the SEC. The big question is, who will really get the home-field advantage?

See anything missing? Get your nominations into ovc@cableone.net!

A site to see

The OVC has overhauled the conference Web site, at www.ovcsports.com. Among the improvements are larger photos for the top stories on each page, and a more prominent schedule of upcoming games.

Perhaps the most intriguing change is ovcsports.tv, which may give the league a way to reach fans without having to line up sponsors for TV games. Details are a bit scketchy for the moment. From the Web site:

The Ohio Valley Conference plans to videostream a number of football and men's and women's basketball games during the 2006-07 season, as well as selected events, such as Football Media Day. Subscription packages will be available on an annual, seasonal and per event basis. More details will be available soon.

The first event scheduled to be broadcast is the football media day July 25. We'll see how it works then. Clicking on one link at the site now says an annual subscription is $1.95. I'm betting that's an error, and will likely change. But hey, I could be wrong.

EDIT (1:30 p.m.) : Looks like this site is built off a template for the vendor's ( XOS Technologies) university clients. You think they could have cleaned it up a bit for the OVC. Here's the intro from the site's FAQ list:

ovcsports.com is the official web site of the Ohio Valley Conference Athletics Department. ovcsports.com is available to everyone who can access the Internet and contains articles, press releases, statistical information and other important content provided by the Sports Information Department within the Ohio Valley Conference

Athletic Department? SID? Does the OVC have any other departments? English, perhaps? Comparative literature?