ASU says Price will coordinate athletics

[Blacknbengal]

ASU says Price will coordinate athletics



By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser


Alabama State named an interim coordinator to its athletic department Thursday and may have lost one of its starting football players.

Defensive back Richard Rowe was held out of practice Thursday while the school checks to see if he has completed his eligibility.

Sonia Price, the school's senior women's administrator, will coordinate the work of the athletic director's office until the university names an athletic director, school spokeswoman Julie Debardelaben said.

Price, who is also ASU's volleyball coach, declined comment.

"Anything you need to get from me needs to be coordinated through Julie Debardelaben," Price said.

Price declined to say how long she had been at Alabama State or how long she has been volleyball coach. Debardelaben said Price came to ASU in 1991 as an assistant volleyball and women's basketball coach. Price became head volleyball coach in 1996.

Price, whose volleyball team was 3-16 last year, will handle the work of the departed Richard Cosby. Cosby was named the athletic director at Stillman College last week, refused to say whether Stillman's announcement was true and resigned Wednesday citing health reasons.

Rowe said he blamed Cosby for the confusion over his eligibility. The Selma native is listed as a fifth-year senior on the Alabama State roster.

"This is my last year, so we've got to get it handled," Rowe said. "There's a little mix-up in my paperwork. They say I played in 1999, but I didn't."

Rowe said ousted coach L.C. Cole -- who was suspended last week pending his firing -- told him early this offseason of the potential problem. Rowe said the problem surrounded whether he played in ASU's 1999 game with Tennessee State, where Cole was then head coach. Cole said Rowe should be eligible.

"Coach Cole told me about it and we thought it was handled," Rowe said. "Cosby told me I was fine two days after my birthday, June 28. I bugged him all summer until he said I was fine."

Cosby was unable to be reached Thursday.

Rowe made 35 tackles and four sacks last season and is a projected starter this fall. ASU starts the season in Detroit on Aug. 30 against Florida AM.

"Anybody in doubt will not practice," said Charlie Coe, who was named Alabama State's interim coach Monday in place of Cole.

"He won't go through any drills until we find out what's what. We're going to make sure to dot every 'I' and cross every 'T'."

If Rowe is ruled to have completed his eligibility, he will be the second Alabama State player pulled off the team this offseason because of questions about whether he played in 1999 under former coach Ron Dickerson.

Defensive end Earl Cochran learned in May he couldn't play for the Hornets this fall. A potential NFL draft pick, Cochran instead was forced to enter the NFL's supplemental draft. Cochran went unpicked and signed a free-agent contract with the Green Bay Packers.

"You go to your authority people. They say one thing and just before the season, it's something totally different," said Cole, whom the school alleges used ineligible players.

"That's how easily you can put a kid in a game and someone can come two years later and say you played someone ineligible."

 

[Get Ready]

When will this ever end. Im so sick of this stuff.

 

[Blacknbengal]

Injuries highlight ASU's first two-a-day practice

Injuries highlight ASU's first two-a-day practice



By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser



Alabama State offensive lineman Derrick Warford was carried to Jackson Hospital on Monday with back cramps.

Warford's injury was the most attention-grabbing item Monday for the Hornets, who had their first day of two-a-day practices.

"We couldn't get him to stop cramping with ice, so we called the ambulance," Alabama State coach Charlie Coe said. "The early prognosis is that it's just tightness in his back."

Warford, a junior who is expected to battle for a starting position, fell to the ground with the cramps after a one-on-one drill during the last hour of ASU's second practice at Hornet Stadium.

The Hornets practiced for almost a combined 4? hours. In the first practice, ASU worked out in full pads for almost 2? hours. In the second practice, the Hornets wore shoulder pads and shorts for a two-hour workout.

"We had a great practice this morning and ran around pretty good," Coe said. "This afternoon was kind of sluggish."

Sophomore running back Keldrick Williams didn't participate in either practice.

The transfer from the University of Tennessee, who is a Montgomery native, is listed as a first-stringer, but also is suffering from a hip pointer.

"I personally held him out," Coe said. "I want to make sure he heals up."

Freshman defensive lineman Mario Lane of Montgomery missed the last half of Monday's second practice after suffering a cut on his nose. He's expected to return today.

Jarod Alford, a junior quarterback from Valdosta, Ga., missed Monday to attend a family funeral.

Coe said Tarvaris Jackson is listed as the first-string quarterback, but Coe isn't settled on a starter for the Aug. 30 season opener in Detroit against Florida AM.

Jackson is a Montgomery native who transferred to Alabama State from the University of Arkansas.

 

[Blacknbengal]

Coles join in players' lawsuit

Coles join in players' lawsuit



By A. Stacy Long
Montgomery Advertiser



Ousted Alabama State University football coaches L.C. and Johnnie Cole have joined in a lawsuit filed by a group of players against the school asking for that the Coles be reinstated.

The Coles and their attorney, Julian McPhillips, had a news conference Tuesday to attack the school over its handling of the Coles, who were suspended Aug. 1.

The suit, which asks for an injunction to reinstate the Coles, is set for a hearing at 9 a.m. Saturday in Montgomery County Circuit Court in front of Judge Johnny Hardwick.

"If the judge rules in our favor, I'm running from the courthouse to Hornet Stadium and my office to get ready for practice," L.C. Cole said.

The Coles will be fired Friday if the school follows its policy for nonacademic employees, which calls for a two-week suspension before termination.

The Coles said they have not been told by ASU or school President Joe Lee what the school alleges in its report to the NCAA. Lee said two weeks ago he based his decision to remove the Coles from their coaching duties on the report's findings.

McPhillips, who also is representing the players free, said the Coles had a right to a hearing and a right to hear the charges against them.

"Not only has there not been a hearing, but there have also been no charges," McPhillips said. "This kind of thing used to go on in the old Soviet Union, or a central Africa republic or a South America banana republic.

"It's not something that should go on in this country."

McPhillips also accused Charlie Coe, ASU interim coach, of harassing the plaintiffs, who are practicing with the team as it prepares for an Aug. 30 season opener in Detroit against Florida AM.

But Coe and one of the plaintiffs disputed McPhillips. Senior tight end Chris Coleman said Coe told him to make sure McPhillips was either working for free or that Coleman or his parents were paying for McPhillips' services.

If someone other than the player or his parents were paying, it would be considered an outside benefit by the NCAA and could jeopardize the plaintiffs' eligibility.

"He (Coe) was just trying to cover our butts," Coleman said. "There was no harassment. It's just a sticky situation. With everything going on and the way we're being watched, we want to make sure everything is proper."

Lee said two weeks ago that he would have no comment on pending litigation. He was unable to be reached Tuesday.

Last month, Alabama State University sent a report to the NCAA and the Southwestern Athletic Conference that the school has refused to release. Lee said the report's findings were "an embarrassment to the university."

Lee said the Hornets had played ineligible athletes, live strip shows were provided for recruits, and the Coles had made improper contact with potential recruits.

McPhillips said he and his clients have not been formally told of the charges -- "Those are the suggestions" -- and have not been given a chance to defend themselves against them.

"You're not supposed to be removed from anything unless you have a hearing first. It's fundamental due process," McPhillips said.

"We have not been informed of the nature of the charges, nor have we had a hearing. It's a jungle-istic lack of due process."

Based on the report's findings, ASU officials suspended head coach L.C. Cole, offensive coordinator Johnnie Cole and linebackers coach Richard Freeman on Aug. 1, 11 days after sending the report to the NCAA.

On Aug. 4, after Lee named Coe as ASU's interim coach in place of L.C. Cole, 16 players filed suit against the school, Lee and then-athletic director Richard Cosby asking for an injunction reinstating the Coles.

One of the players, receiver Chad Lucas, has since been dropped as a plaintiff.

The plaintiffs include Coleman, Keldrick Williams, Richard Rowe, Everett Rosette, Cary Nagel, Hector Ruiz, Lorenzo Hoffman, Ronald Dillon, Jamol Johnson, Victor Revill, Greg Jones, Niven Hinkle, Nick Forston, Kerry Frazier and Martravis Gary.

The suit alleges there was a breach of an implied contract between the players and the school that L.C. Cole would be the head coach. Lucas signed with ASU when Ron Dickerson, Cole's predecessor, was the coach.

The letter of intent that each player signed has a specific provision that reads, "I understand that I have signed this (letter) with the institution and not for a particular sport or individual. For example, if the coach leaves the institution or the sports program, I remain bound by the provisions of this (letter)."

"The players say they recognize there are a lot of legitimate reasons for removing a coach," McPhillips said. "None of those reasons exist here."

The suit also alleges civil fraud because the players were not informed of a rivalry between ASU trustee Joe Reed and former trustee Donald Watkins, and how that rivalry might ensnare the Coles.

Watkins supported Dickerson's firing and L.C. Cole's hiring, while Reed supported Dickerson and criticized Cole's hiring.

The suit also accuses Cosby of knowing as early as January that the Coles would be removed, but Cosby said nothing and allowed the Coles to sign a recruiting class and keep current players at ASU to play for the Coles.

"This is about our careers, our good names and something we've been doing all our lives, so we'll go all the way," L.C. Cole said.