CoachHal.com

Dareus may have attended agent's party

By Ivan Maisel and Mark Schlabach
ESPN.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- University of Alabama officials are investigating whether junior defensive lineman Marcel Dareus broke NCAA rules by attending an agent's party in Miami's South Beach earlier this summer, multiple sources told ESPN.com.

Dareus, ranked as the No. 7 prospect for the 2011 NFL draft by ESPN analyst Mel Kiper, is the latest prominent college football player to be entangled in an evolving NCAA investigation into illegal contact and conduct by sports agents.

"Our [university] compliance people are looking into it," Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

Sources told ESPN last week that NCAA investigators have interviewed North Carolina players, including defensive end Marvin Austin, about attending the party. South Carolina tight end Weslye Saunders also confirmed to ESPN on Sunday that he recently spoke with NCAA investigators about the same party.

The NCAA is trying to determine who paid for the players' transportation to Miami and lodging, food and entertainment while they were there.

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A look at the latest proposed college football rule changes ...
By Gentry Estes, Mobile Press-Register
February 12, 2010, 10:25AM

The NCAA Football Rules Committee got together and started the process Wednesday on a few rule tweaks that could be in place during the next two seasons.

Among its proposals was one to tougher up rules against taunting.

The committee is asking that penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct be considered live-ball fouls beginning in 2011.

What does that mean?

It means that if a player is deemed to have taunted an opponent during the process of a scoring a touchdown, the penalty would nullify the score. Note that excessive celebration is not included and would still be viewed as a dead-ball miscounduct foul, assessed after the score is counted.

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The part about his wife is very sad, and also sad that his kids are out of state. What a love for Alabama this man has. RT Mal... Coach

Mal Moore succeeds as athletics director in tough times for Alabama
Posted by Don Kausler Jr. -- The Birmingham News September 17, 2009 5:30 AM
Categories: Breaking News, Football

TUSCALOOSA -- On a campus where the name "Bear" is everywhere, he goes to work every day in a building that bears his name. And that name is not Bryant.

It's Mal Moore. In the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility -- known before March 28, 2007, simply as the Football Building -- he works in a corner office that overlooks the football practice facilities.

But he isn't a football coach now, as he once was. He hoped to succeed Paul Bryant as Alabama's head football coach, but when the legend retired in 1982, university President Joab Thomas had other plans. Ray Perkins was hired, and suddenly Moore not only didn't have the job he wanted, he didn't have a job at all.

He wept a little on that emotional day -- "It was so sad to see it end," he said -- but cry no more for Moore. As the 10th anniversary of his appointment as Alabama's athletics director approaches, he has built a legacy that continues to grow, and at age 69, he has no plans to go.

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Derrick Thomas

Five questions about Virginia Tech's football program
By Kyle Tucker
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 6, 2009

BLACKSBURG

Today, the sweat will roll, the pads will pop, the cleats will begin to dig in. Virginia Tech opens preseason football camp with one very large, unavoidable question:

Exactly 10 years after the Hokies' only national championship-game appearance, is this the season Tech gets back to the big game?

Plenty of prognosticators think the Hokies have a decent chance. Tech will likely begin the season ranked in the top 10 nationally, and the chance to prove it's not simply a paper contender will come early.

But in the month between now and the highly anticipated Sept. 5 opener against Alabama, which spent much of last season ranked No. 1, there are lots of little questions to be answered. All of which will help Tech answer the biggie.

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Anthony Grant: 'We have agreed in principle'

By Tommy Deas and Cecil Hurt

TUSCALOOSA | Anthony Grant confirmed that he plans to be the next head basketball coach at the University of Alabama, telling The Tuscaloosa News, "We have agreed in principle," in a text message Friday.

Grant told The Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch he expects to be introduced in a Sunday press conference.

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Posted by Ian R. Rapoport -- Birmingham News January 26, 2009 1:31 PM
Categories: Basketball

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried in meeting about his future...Head over to the Birmingham News' breaking news page... There are some basketball issues to discuss. At least one major one:
TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried was scheduled to meet with athletics director Mal Moore at 1:30 p.m. today to come to a resolution on his job future, two sources close to the situation told The Birmingham News.

It was not clear what the result will be. Gottfried is in his 11th year with the Crimson Tide, which has a 12-7, 2-3 Southeastern Conference record.

It is not clear what other UA officials are in the meeting.

Though he led Alabama to five consecutive NCAA appearances, the team has missed the tournament the last two seasons. He has come under fire this season, particularly after the controversial departure of All-American point guard Ronald Steele.

Ian R. Rapoport

CECIL HURT: You have to wonder what might have been

Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 1:05 a.m.

The Ronald Steele story at the University of Alabama has finally reached closure — but not a happy ending.

For better or worse, there will be no more speculation about whether Steele will regain the form that made him one of America’s best college basketball players as a sophomore. There will be no more attempts to calculate just how much of a contribution Steele at half-speed, or three-quarters speed, can make.

There will be no more waiting for Steele to return and carry this team to whatever its ultimate destination might be.

It’s hard to remember any story concerning an Alabama athlete following such a tortured path, ascending to the heights of optimism before ending in a desert of disappointment and bruised feelings. Other players, even other star players, have had injury-haunted careers, of course. Sometimes, fate was so cruel that the player never really had the chance to return to the sport he loved. See Tyrone Prothro or Marvin Constant for football examples.

Kerry Goode, who was on the verge of carrying the 1983 team, was hurt in the first game of that year. He came back and played football but was never the same. The 2004 football season would have been different with Brodie Croyle, hurt after three games, but he did manage to return in 2005 and have at least some version of a happy ending.

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Posted by Ian R. Rapoport - The Birmingham News January 20, 2009 8:07 PM
Categories: SEC, Sports
TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama senior guard Ronald Steele has elected to forgo the remainder of his senior season, head coach Mark Gottfried announced tonight.

Senior point guard Ronald Steele will forgo his final season at Alabama following his latest injury, coach Mark Gottfried announced tonight.

Steele, who has not played since Jan. 11 due to a heel injury, averaged 12.9 points and 3.7 assists per game this season. The 6-2, 191-pound point guard from John Carroll Catholic High School returned to action this season after missing the 2007-08 campaign following surgeries to both knees.

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