Three MBB Players Enter Portal

The Portal opened yesterday, and it has pretty much gone as expected.  Marcus Johnson, Javonte Campbell, and Jamai Felt have all entered the portal.  Assuming they do actually move on, we thank them for their time at BG.  Each of them was part of a plucky, undermanned team and played under circumstances we would not have expected at the start of the year.  Campbell playing with a broken hand. Johnson and Felt logging way more minutes than you would expect.

This is how it is going to be, until...I don't know.  But essentially, we will have to find new guys who excel every year or figure out a way to pay them at least comparable to our peer schools.

Best of luck to them all.  Meanwhile, no non-P4 schools qualified for the Sweet Sixteen and this is the primary reason why.

Coaching Staff Finalized

The coaching staff has been finalized.  It's four guys from the old staff, one new guy and the remainder from the staff at Tennessee State.  Not too far from what I would expect.

Josh Crawford is the RB Coach, a position he held at TSU. He has a degree in medicine from Vanderbilt and was a graduate assistant at TSU and then at Utah for one year before moving to TSU.

And then there's WR Coach Bruce Johnson.  He has coached since 1998 and in college since 2000, including Indiana, Mississippi and Liberty.  He was at Central Connecticut and moved to TSU just a few days before all this went down.

Partridge, QB

Nosal, OL

Crawford, RB

Johnson, WR

Bayer, ST

Alexander, TE, AHC

Fisher, DC

McNutt, DB

Jackson, DB

Simmons, DL

Bowden, OL

New Football Assistant

There are reports in The Tennessean of another football assistant being named to the BG staff.  This one is Dewayne Alexander, who will be assistant head coach and TE coach. Alexander was the head coach at Tennessee Tech. Last year he was an assistant at Sewanee and was set to the OL Coach and TSU when George left for BG.

Updated unofficial list.

Partridge, QB

Nosal, OL

White, RB

Bayer, ST

Alexander, TE, AHC

Fisher, DC

McNutt, DB

Jackson, DB

Simmons, DL

Bowden, OL

More Coaching Updates

So, the football staff appears to be rounding into shape.  Based on reporting on Football Coaching Scoop confirmed by internal sources, the new coaches are all from Tennessee State.

Brandon Fisher will be the DC.  He is the son of Jeff Fisher, who coaches George in the NFL.  He has been the DC at Tennesee State for four years, and coached in the NFL for 8 years.

Richard McNutt will also be coming to BG.  He coached D-backs at TSU. This is one a lot of us identified as an important guy, because he has great connections inside Ohio. He has coached at Youngstown State, Toledo, Kent State, and Ohio State and was also a member of the Cleveland Browns’ staff.  He also played for OSU.  Note that the KSU years were when Doug Martin coached there and they had a very good defensive unit.

Joe Bowden is the associate head coach and LB coach. He played 8 years in the NFL and also coached in the NFL for 5 years, mostly with Tennesee/Houston. Has coached for 18 years.

D-line Coach is Clyde Simmons.  He's an NFL star, playing 15 years, two-time all-Pro, eye-popping numbers and in the Eagles HOF.  He also has 10 years of coaching experience.

There are reports as well that OC/QB coach Travis Partridge is close to coming. He was an NFL signee and played in the CFL with coaching experience at Kansas, UT-Martin, Delta State and TSU.

So, the staff looks like this;

• Partridge, QB
• Nosal, OL
• White, RB
• Bayer, TE/ST
• Fisher, DC
• McNutt, DB
• Jackson, DB
• Simmons, DL
• Bowden, OL

The only position group not represented appears to be WR.  We know the "holdover" guy won't be here, but there is no word on whether the TSU WR Coach is coming.  And the RB might not be final.

One thing: We cannot possibly have had a coaching staff with this many pro players. So, there are four: Bayer, Simmons, Bowden, and George. Then you have pro coaching experience from Fisher and McNutt. It's huge.

I looked at our list of assistant coaches...I didn't do a full count....Cato June, Cornell Brown, Jon Hoke, Vance Joseph, Mark Miller...there are probably more who played in the NFL.

4 at a time is significant.  Let's say that.

So, the staff is coming together. It's time to get to work. Spring practice is coming up fast, and recruiting is going on like crazy.

Football Coaching Updates

Another update on the football staff....Steve Morrison has not been retained and that has left BG with four coaches from the previous staff: 

Derrick Jackson, DB

Alex Bayer, TE/ST

Greg Nosal, OL

Brian White, RB

As I understand it, that's the end of the process.  So next up will be incoming coaches.

Know this.  It's a madhouse down there.  Staffing up, getting coaches, recruiting across numerous levels....'25, '26, portal guys, OUR GUYS.  You want to grind?  Pick up a program in March.

The List Remains at 8

 

Now 57 elapsed years since BG has been in the NCAA MBB tournament.  Here is the company we live with now.  There are 8.

Columbia: Last appeared in 1968
Tennessee Tech: Last appeared in 1963
Maine: Division I since 1962 (Made the conference championship game but lost).
New Hampshire: Division I since 1962
Dartmouth: Last appeared in 1959
Army: Division I since 1948
Citadel: Division I since 1948
William & Mary: Division I since 1948

Three More Football Assistants Will Not Return

Coach George continues to work his way through the holdover staff and evaluate who will return.  We here from people who are not returning....not sure if anyone has been retained (and not said anything) or when those will be announced.

Cornell Brown and Robert Armand revealed themselves on X Friday.

Since then, the following coaches have also been informed they will not return:

• Sammy Lawanson, LB
• Max Warner, OC/QB
• David Cooney, WR

Man, this is a tough business.  These guys are being set adrift in the worst time of the year and this is their livelihood.  Unlike head coaches, they are probably on one-year deals.  It's amazing how quickly things can change. What a way of life.

Cooney is a good example. Guy has been on the BG staff for like 3 weeks.  His last job was in Miami.  Florida.  Moving into his first on-field coaching role.  Ouch.

Not blaming anyone...it's a tough business and that's the nature of the beast.  You can still acknowledge what these guys are faced with.

I suspect we will hear more.

UPDATE:

Also, Brian White, our RB Coach, who looked like he had left for Marshall is now tweeting "Go Falcons" so apparently he is still here.

Also, Justin Lamson has entered the portal. He was a QB who came in from Stanford and also played two years at Syracuse.

As reality zooms in again, BG has question marks at QB and that will need to be one of the first issues for our coach.

There are 4 players in the portal now, two of whom Never played for us.

Travel Revels, an up and coming DB

CJ Brown, a DB who was all-MAC at NIU and played for us last year.

Marcus Moore, a transfer from Akron on the DL who we liked.

Lamson

On we go.