|
|
Post by SixtiesAggie on Sept 9, 2010 14:57:07 GMT -5
News Email Print Yahoo! Buzz
Rams are generating some buzz
Winston-Salem State will try to improve to 3-0 on Saturday when it travels to rival N.C. Central
ADVERTISEMENT
By John Dell
JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: September 9, 2010
The bandwagon is filling up fast at Winston-Salem State.
But that's what happens when a team that was 1-10 last season is 2-0, with a victory over rival N.C. A&T to its credit. The Rams and Coach Connell Maynor, it seems, can do no wrong.
"Everybody is getting on our bus now," fifth-year senior Jared Mitchell said.
About the only bad luck that Maynor has had is losing the use of his cell phone after Saturday night's 21-14 win at A&T. Players doused him with water to celebrate, and his cell phone was a casualty.
"I haven't had a cell phone since," Maynor said yesterday at his weekly news conference, which drew several television camera crews, a rarity. "You win the game and get drenched in water. I don't know how many text messages and phone messages were there, so I guess I'll find out once I get a new phone."
The Rams are 2-0 for the first time since 2000, but getting to 3-0 won't be easy. They'll play at N.C. Central on Saturday in another rivalry game that should attract a large crowd to O'Kelly-Riddick Stadium in Durham.
"I think the community is behind us, and I don't know if you want to call it a bandwagon or what," Maynor said. "I just think people have been waiting for years for this team to get back to what they expected in winning football games. You start winning, and people come out."
Kameron Smith, who replaced Octavious Hawkins at quarterback in the second half, will start against Central after using his speed and arm to ignite last week's comeback.
WSSU had four turnovers against A&T, but A&T failed to score off any of them, a credit to the defense, Maynor said. If the Rams can defeat the Eagles, they'll be 3-0 for the first time since 1991.
Coach Alonzo Lee of A&T said last week that he had the better team, but Maynor said that after looking at game film from Saturday, he didn't understand the statement.
"Coach Lee said they were the better football team," Maynor said. "I don't know what film he watched or what game he saw, but we turned the ball over (four) times and they scored from the 20 one time and then ran a kick back. So I don't know how he thought they were still the better team, because if we don't turn the ball over we beat them 35-3."
Maynor doesn't mind talking freely about his passion for winning, but some have characterized him as someone who likes to talk too much.
"People say they love it, and some people say I'm cocky," Maynor said. "But I guess it depends on who you ask. I've always said that if you talk junk and you back it up, then you are confident. I believe in the power of the tongue, and if you believe you are going to win, you can.
"I'm not going to go out there and say I just want to just compete -- I want to win. I think it does rub off to the players, and that makes a big difference."
jdell@wsjournal
|
|
|
|
Post by Bornthrilla on Sept 9, 2010 15:00:09 GMT -5
He who laughs last ....
|
|
|
|
Post by SixtiesAggie on Sept 9, 2010 15:11:19 GMT -5
Connell is a mirror image (arrogant or confident?) of his former coach and mentor. I watched him on TV with his Philadelphia team. He's tough.
I hope we can get the last laugh. I don't know if we are scheduled to play them again. Remember we want them to come to Greensboro. Anybody know??
|
|
|
|
Post by Bornthrilla on Sept 9, 2010 15:14:39 GMT -5
I personally would love to play them every year, even home and home.
It's a great rivalry and that's what college football is all about.
|
|
|
|
Post by ohsixrain on Sept 9, 2010 16:51:15 GMT -5
Well...the man's telling the truth. His defense shut us down. They will be better next year...so they won't stay the same. Keep that in mind.
|
|
|
|
Post by noexcuses on Sept 15, 2010 7:56:45 GMT -5
(UNFORTUNATELY) you are RIGHT!!! They will be better next year;their recruiting will be SUPER
LEE should have NEVER made that we had the better team" statement...just something like- WE HAD ALOT OF NEW PEOPLE PLAYING SIGNIFICANT ROLES,WE HAD SOME FOOLISH 15 YD PENALITIES AT CRITICAL TIMES, AND WWSSU DID WHAT THEY HAD TO DO TO WIN A HARD FOUGHT CLOSE FOOTBALL GAME...blah/blah/blah
|
|
|
|
Post by ohsixrain on Sept 15, 2010 8:12:04 GMT -5
Unfortunately, we don't understand that you don't talk trash until you have a victory.
|
|
|
|
Post by DOOMS on Sept 15, 2010 9:50:47 GMT -5
Real winners don't talk trash even then.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bornthrilla on Sept 15, 2010 9:57:13 GMT -5
I think Maynor gets a pass this year because he is just trying to reignite the WSSU fanbase and instill some pride - just like Lee was trying to do last year when he was selling all those press conference wolf tickets.
|
|
|
|
Post by captaggie on Sept 15, 2010 10:10:35 GMT -5
Real winners don't talk trash even then. Like that! |
|
|
|
Post by Bornthrilla on Oct 7, 2010 11:47:29 GMT -5
WSSU rivals point to scholarships
They say the Rams have an advantage with 30 players getting help
jdell@wsjournal.com
727-4081
Winston-Salem State has made quite an impact in its first football season back in the CIAA — compiling records of 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the league.
Some opposing coaches say that some of that success can be tied to scholarship numbers.
Last season, in what was supposed to be the final year of transition to Division I, WSSU had 51 scholarship players and was on target to reach the Football Championship Subdivision limit of 63 this season. But school officials decided to change course, stopping the move and keeping WSSU in Division II.
That forced a reduction in the number of scholarships WSSU could offer, leaving the program with 30 for this season. That’s six fewer than the NCAA maximum for Division II but still more than any other CIAA team.
“They do have an advantage coming back down from Division I, because those kids that they kept are all on scholarship,” said Coach Willard Bailey of Saint Paul’s, a 35-year veteran whose school ranks last in the CIAA in football scholarships (eight).
“It gives them a hell of an advantage. They can switch gears with personnel at any time with that much depth. They are kind of like the New York Yankees with all that money, only this money is in the form of scholarships.”
Coach Kenny Phillips of Fayetteville State also said he thinks WSSU has an advantage because it has more scholarship players.
Bailey said that he, like many Division II coaches, has to offer partial scholarships to attract quality players, splitting the amount of a full scholarship two or three ways. “If I didn’t do that,” he said, “we couldn’t field a team.”
Under NCAA rules, Division I scholarships in football are one scholarship per player, meaning all are full scholarships. In Division II, coaches can split the amount, creating bigger pools of recruits getting financial help.
Coach Connell Maynor of WSSU doesn’t apologize for the number of scholarships he has and points out that most coaches and fans around the CIAA assume that WSSU is at the limit.
“Our budget was cut, or rather we cut our budget for scholarships,” he said. “Everybody thinks we are working with 36, but we’re not.”
Maynor estimates that he has about 45 players technically on scholarship but didn’t know how many were on full scholarship.
Maynor does have some advantages. Starting fullback Tyrone Goldston, a 22-year-old freshman, is a walk-on, and punter Landen Thayer, who graduated from West Forsyth, lives at home and doesn’t cost as much because he doesn’t need housing.
Maynor also points out that the Rams lost more than 30 players from last year’s team after a coaching change and the decision to remain Division II.
“The (other coaches) picked us to finish sixth in the CIAA in the preseason, and now that we are (6-0) everybody wants to bring up how many scholarships we have,” he said. “We lost 30 players from last year’s football team, so we don’t have 60 or 70 Division I players. When we started recruiting, we were recruiting Division II players.”
Money to pay for athletics scholarships comes from various sources, Athletics Director Bill Hayes of WSSU said, including alumni donations.
Hayes said he would like to have the full complement of 36 scholarships, because that would give Maynor a better chance to compete for the national championship.
“You have to do that if you want to go far in the playoffs,” Hayes said.
For now, WSSU has one of the CIAA’s deepest rosters, and several Division I transfers. However, at least six of the CIAA’s other 12 teams also have Division I transfers, including one program with as many as 12.
Maynor said he has heard criticism that WSSU shouldn’t have been eligible for an immediate return to Division II. Bailey and one other CIAA coach said that with the transition to Division I taking five years, a move down should also take that long.
“That’s what losers do, they complain,” Maynor said. “They make excuses, and we don’t make excuses — we take what we have and we keep going.”
Marcus Clark, the interim athletics director at Shaw, said that his school once had 36 scholarships but has cut back to 26 this season because of financial constraints.
“With our budget and the other sports, we had to reduce the scholarships in football, but we would like to one day be at a full 36, but that will probably take some time,” Clark said.
Still, it remains to be seen if leading the CIAA in scholarships will help if WSSU makes the Division II playoffs. Since the playoffs started in 1973, no CIAA team has advanced past the quarterfinals.
|
|
|
|
Post by krazykev on Oct 7, 2010 12:26:31 GMT -5
Maynor knows how to spin things just like Hayes.. he was recruiting D-I kids and not D-II kids. The only reason that he got some of those kids because, they did not have the grades to get into the bigger schools. Tehvyn Brantley was looked by all the big schools (offer from UNC and CAL) but, he went to MT. Zion in Durham and their academic program is suspect. That is why the big schools backed off from him. northcarolina.scout.com/a.z?s=78&p=8&c=1&nid=3743535We was suppose to headed to Hargrave for this season |
|
