Just came across this little tidbit of information: men’s basketball forward Jin Soo Kim has changed his name to Jin Soo Choi.
Read all about it: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/terrapins-insider/2009/07/another_terrapin_basketball_pl.html
ajosephdbk@gmail.com
I spoke with Kevin Lempa this afternoon for a brief story I am working on for this week’s print edition, and because it’s July and neither of us seemed like we had much to do, I asked the Terrapin football team’s safeties coach some extra questions that didn’t really have much to do with anything just because I was curious.
I’ve been enamored by sophomore Kenny Tate’s rare combination of size and athleticism since he became a Terp, so I decided to ask Coach Lempa how Kenny is doing, and what people should expect from him this season.
What people should expect is even more than I expected.
“Kenny Tate is like the wild card. He can do a lot of things because he’s such a superior athlete,” Lempa said. “Kenny Tate’s going to play a lot. He’ll play safety, some linebacker, and even a defensive end-type position. [Defensive coordinator] Coach [Don] Brown said a couple of times he could even play corner.”
“He’s another intelligent football player, and he can just make plays.”
So while the converted wide receiver might be stuck behind accomplished upperclassmen in the secondary, the Terps’ coaching staff thinks highly enough of his potential as a defensive player to find a spot for him among the linebackers or even as a defensive end.
Maybe it’s just me, but I find this very exciting.
Fall practice starts four weeks from yesterday.
Greg Schimmel is The Diamondback’s Terrapin football beat writer. He can be reached at schimmeldbk@gmail.com
As one might expect during a summer in which there is a coaching change, there are still loose ends that need to be tied within the Terrapin baseball program.
New head coach Erik Bakich has his work cut out for him as he simultaneously tries to find two new assistant coaches (pitching and volunteer), fill a few roster spots with contributors in the 11th hour, and lay the groundwork for recruiting next off-season.
I got the chance to speak to Bakich yesterday on a myriad of different issues pertaining the coaching search, the recruiting class, and some of the roster changes that have already happened.
Read on to find out what he said.
It’s safe to say Kristi Toliver wasn’t having the rookie season she had hoped for when she was drafted by the WNBA’s Chicago Sky in April — perhaps until Sunday’s game in Seattle.
When she was drafted, Toliver said Chicago was the perfect fit for her up-and-down style of play and that she expected big minutes early on. That didn’t happen as Toliver struggled from the three-point line and got limited minutes for a college star of her caliber.
It’s been a little while since there has been any Terp news of note, so when baseball SID Joey Flyntz e-mailed me this I figured, heck why not?
Some of you may remember I had somewhat of an unhealthy blogging obsession earlier this year with Cecil, chronicling all of his starts (see: here, and here, oh and also here). Well, after early success, he hasn’t been as good.
Prior to last night’s game at Camden Yards, Cecil had given up a total of 12 runs in two starts and had watched his ERA balloon up to 6.23.
He had really struggled with his location, and not just with walks (he had eight in those two starts) but also with leaving his pitches up in the zone. In those two starts, against the Yankees and the Reds, he gave up two home runs and four doubles.
But last night, pitching in front of friends and family, Cecil was great, scattering four hits over six innings while striking out five and walking just two. He ran into trouble in the second thanks to a Luke Scott single and back-to-back walks, but got Cesar Izturis to ground into a fielder’s choice and cruised from there.
Read on as I take a look at what Cecil’s chances are of staying in the rotation.
University of Maryland announced today that reigning Mid-American Conference Coach of Year, Howard Joffe, will take over coaching responsibilities for the women’s tennis team.
Joffe is the former-coach of Miami (Oh.). He led the team to a MAC Conference title and an NCAA berth this past season. The athletics department has been looking for a coach since May 21, when former-head coach Martin Novak resigned to take a post at a tennis club in Washington D.C.
For more on Joffe, check out the press release here.
Hopefully I will be in contact with Joffe within the next few days to get a more in-depth look at his plans for the future of Terrapin women’s tennis.
Another college football writer pegs the Terps last in the Atlantic Division, season three of ‘Terrapins Rising’ debuts Tuesday and this from Gary Williams on Greivis Vasquez’s quasi-double-guarantee, per Dan Steinberg:
But you can see where some coaches might not want their star players predicting ACC regular season and tourney titles in early July, so when I saw Gary Williams during his Comcast SportsNet work at the Tiger Tourney, I asked him if he heard Greivis’s latest.
“I’m afraid,” he said. “Go ahead.” (More after the jump)
I’m sure a lot of you have heard Gary Williams on Comcast SportsNet’s coverage of the AT&T National golf tournament this weekend – if you haven’t, you still have a couple days of action to see the Terp men’s basketball coach talk about the other sport he loves.
In addition, Dan Steinberg of The Washington Post’s D.C. Sports Bog got an interview with Williams about Tiger Woods, who leads the field at Congressional, and the fist pump right here.
Adi Joseph covered the Terrapin men’s basketball team for The Diamondback as a columnist last season. He can be reached at ajosephdbk@gmail.com
My story on the newly hired Terrapin baseball coach Erik Bakich is set to run in tomorrow’s edition of The Diamondback, but Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt has beaten me to the punch, having already checked in with Bakich.
The piece is short but solid. A lot of what Bakich told Fitt is very similar to what he said to me when I spoke to him on Sunday night, especially in regards to recruiting strategy and his description of new recruiting coordinator Dan Burton.
Burton, formerly of Austin Peay, is about as “fresh” as a coach can be having graduated from Louisville in 2008. Burton spent a season as a student assistant with the Cardinals before moving to Austin Peay to become volunteer assistant there. His hiring shows that Bakich is serious about recruiting and thinks it will be a top priority in order to rebuild the program.
“I’m going to go with that we’re going to win the ACC regular-season title and the league tournament,” Vasquez said. “The league is so open and I have a good feeling about it.”
- Greivis Vasquez on the Terps’ 2009-2010 ACC chances in this Jeff Goodman story on FoxSports.com today
So yeah, the statement falls short of a guarantee. But pardon me for getting excited whenever I hear or read something like this from the “vivacious Venezuelan.” Plus, it’s the middle of summer. We need something like this to at least hold us over until October.
Goodman’s story goes on to detail how the Terps — with a solid cast of returning veterans — should be an improved squad this season.
Every now and then, you’ll see them pop up in some pundits’ preseason top 25 rankings or as an offseason “winner” for keeping Vasquez. ESPN’s Andy Katz put the Terps at No. 17 in his preseason poll.
This could be the most heavily anticpated basketball season since 2004-2005, when the reigning ACC Tournament Champions, led by John Gilchrist and Nik Caner-Medley, fell flat on their faces on the way to the NIT.
And while most won’t give the Terps a legitimate shot at the ACC title, even if Vasquez thinks it’s possible, I see no problem with adding a little fuel to the fire in July.
Aaron Kraut is The Diamondback’s sports editor. He can be reached at akrautdbk@gmail.com.