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.