Girls basketball: Te’era Williams signs with Texas Southern
Douglass' Te'era Williams was the Little All-City Player of the Year after leading the Trojans to their first state tournament in 20 years. PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
Douglass girls’ basketball standout Te’era Williams has signed with Texas Southern, her mother said
Williams, who was The Oklahoman’s Little All-City Player of the Year after leading the Trojans to their first state tournament in 20 years, had signed with Grambling State, but was granted a release after coach Donnita Rogers was fired.
Williams averaged 27.3 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and seven steals as a senior.
Girls basketball: Coach Brett Sanders leaving Cache
Cache girls basketball coach Brett Sanders has resigned and taken the same position in Siloam Springs, Ark., athletic director Lonnie Nunley said.
Sanders led Cache to an undefeated season and a Class 4A state championship in 2010, and a runner-up finish in 2011.
Last May, Sanders had accepted Choctaw’s open girls’ basketball coaching position, but backed out before officially resigning at Cache and stayed one more year.
Nunley said Cache, which lost in the area semifinals in 2012, has a strong freshman class coming up.
Four state players nominated for U.S. Army All-American Bowl
BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com
Four state players are among the nominees for the 2013 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
Vian offensive lineman Rob Boyd, Sequoyah Tahlequah quarterback Brayden Scott, Tulsa East Central wide receiver/defensive back Stanvon Taylor and Lawton defensive end D.J. Ward are among the 400 nominees to play in the game.
The nominations were made the the game’s selection committee, consisting of regional coaches throughout the country and Rivals.com officials. Of the group, 90 will be selected to play in the game. The selections begin in September and run through early December.
The game will be played Jan. 5.
Taylor and Ward are both OU commits, with Taylor having made his decision public Friday. Boyd is committed to Tulsa. Scott has offers including Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Clemson, Missouri, Tennessee and Tulsa.
Football: Edmond Santa Fe hires Chris Rose as defensive coordinator
EDMOND — Filling the vacant defensive coordinator position was one of Edmond Santa Fe coach Lance Manning’s most important tasks this offseason.
The position has been filled; Manning said Monday he has hired former Midwest City defensive coordinator Chris Rose.
Rose was considered a top candidate to replace Steve Huff as the Bombers’ head coach, but the job ultimately went to former Tulsa Washington and Star Spencer coach Darrell Hall.
Rose replaces Kenny Young, who retired after one year as the Wolves’ defensive coordinator. Before that, he had a long, successful tenure as head coach at Bishop McGuinness.
Rose was formerly an assistant coach at Edmond Memorial, where he was also the boys’ soccer coach.
He inherits a defense that lost some of its best players from 2011, but is also bringing several good ones back.
The Wolves lost defensive ends Michael Onuoha, who signed with OU, and Josh Crouch, who combined for 162 tackles and 16 sacks a year ago.
Also gone is defensive back Conner Bays, who made 101 tackles and will play college ball at Southwestern Oklahoma State.
But returning for Santa Fe is cornerback Khari Harding, who boasts offers from several Division I schools and is one of the top college prospects in the state for the class of 2013.
Linebacker Jerremy Moore also returns after recording 102 tackles and seven sacks as a junior.
Manning is entering his second season as Edmond Santa Fe’s coach. In 2010, the Wolves were 1-9, but in Manning’s first season, the team went 10-2 and won its district.
Girls basketball: Western Heights’ Antoinet Webster signs with Tulsa
Western Heights' Antoinet Webster has signed with Tulsa, her coach said. PHOTO BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN
Western Heights guard Antoinet Webster finally found a college basketball home.
Webster, whose lack of any NCAA Division I offers was the subject of an Oklahoman story earlier this year, signed with Tulsa, Jets coach Carol Beall said.
Webster averaged 19.2 points as a senior for Western Heights, which missed the Class 5A state tournament for the first time in three seasons. Webster (5-foot-9) was forced to shoulder the load for the inexperienced Jets.
Webster joins a Tulsa recruiting class of 2012 that includes a few big names around the metro — Shawnee’s Kelsee Grovey and Kaitlyn Ramirez and Midwest City’s Ashley Clark.
Baseball state tournament pairings
CLASS 6A
At Claremore
Thursday
Game 1: Moore vs. Broken Arrow, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Jenks vs. Yukon, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Owasso vs. Edmond North, 4 p.m.
Game 4: Edmond Santa Fe vs. Stillwater, 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
At Oral Roberts
Championship game, 2:30 p.m.
CLASS 5A
At Tulsa Union
Thursday
Game 1: Shawnee vs. Claremore, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Skiatook vs. Carl Albert, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Guthrie vs. Durant, 4 p.m.
Game 4: McAlester vs. Deer Creek, 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
At Oral Roberts
Championship game, noon
CLASS 4A
At Shawnee
Thursday
Game 1: Berryhill vs. Heritage Hall, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Anadarko vs. Tecumseh, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Hilldale vs. Byng, 4 p.m.
Game 4: Weatherford vs. Oologah, 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner. 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship game, 5 p.m.
CLASS 3A
Thursday
At Edmond Memorial
Game 1: Marlow vs. Jones, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Henryetta vs. Metro Christian, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Salina vs. Plainview, 4 p.m.
Game 4: Verdigris vs. Spiro, 6:30 p.m.
At Shawnee
Friday
Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 11 a.m.
Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 1:30 p.m.
Saturday
Championship game, noon
CLASS 2A
At Dolese Park
Thursday
Game 1: Dale vs. Fairview, 11 a.m.
Game 2: Silo vs. Hennessey, 1:30 p.m.
Game 3: Ketchum vs. Tushka, 4 p.m.
Game 4: Oktaha vs. Wister, 6:30 p.m.
Friday
Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 4 p.m.
Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
At Shawnee
Championship game, 2:30 p.m.
Putnam City West promotes Rocky Martin to football coach
Putnam City West promoted linebackers coach Rocky Martin to head football coach on Friday.
Putnam City West didn’t look far to find its new head football coach.
The school promoted linebackers coach Rocky Martin to head coach on Friday to fill the void of John Jensen, who was removed from the position last month.
This will be the first head coaching job for Martin, who has an interesting resume.
His coaching career began at Cherry Creek (Colo.) High School, his alma mater, in 2002-03 then became an assistant at the University of Akron from 2004-07.
After that, he spent two seasons as an assistant at Irving Middle School in Norman before joining the PC West staff in 2010.
As a player for Colorado State, Martin went to four bowl games, starting on the 2000 squad that went to the Liberty Bowl and finished the season ranked 14th.
Like his predecessor, Martin plans to keep his players active in areas beyond the football field.
“We recognize that we are working with students first and athletes second. Our student-athletes will be held to the highest standards in the classroom and the community,” Martin said.
“I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life and excited to work in a new role with this great group of students. I’m ready to go.”
There will be an expectation of Martin to ultimately produce victories for the long-struggling football program. Jensen, who remains at the school as athletic director, was removed as head coach because principal Buster Meeks wanted the program to go “in a new direction,” despite a consistent growth in participation and support under Jensen. The Patriots have won three games in the last five seasons.
– Scott Wright, swright@opubco.com
Twitter: @ScottWrightOK
Girls basketball: Oral Roberts news affects Shawnee’s Taylor Cooper
Shawnee's Taylor Cooper (10) has signed with Oral Roberts. PHOTO BY MATT BARNARD, TULSA WORLD
There’s lots of news coming out about Oral Roberts’ womens basketball program today.
First, a source confirmed that coach Jerry Finkbeiner, who has been with the program since 1996, will be introduced as Utah State’s next coach at an 11 a.m. press conference Thursday.
Finkbeiner won three straight NAIA national titles from 1994-96 at Southern Nazarene in Bethany. The news of his departure was first reported by the Tulsa World late Tuesday.
Also breaking Wednesday was that sophomore Jenni Bryan will transfer from Oklahoma State to ORU. Bryan, from Coweta, was granted a release by the Cowgirls, coach Jim Littell said in a text, and a source confirmed she’d join the Golden Eagles.
One of the folks in the Oklahoma City area most directly impacted by all of this is Shawnee senior forward Taylor Cooper, who signed with ORU in November.
Cooper was the Golden Eagles’ only high school signee for the class of 2012, and she picked ORU over offers from bigger schools.
From an outsider’s perspective, it seems to me Finkbeiner and Co. intended to build the future of their program around her. And the future certainly appears bright because the Golden Eagles just wrapped up a third consecutive 20-plus win season.
But will Cooper stick with ORU? She has developed a close relationship with assistant coach Misti Cussen, who is a possible candidate to succeed Finkbeiner.
Cooper was on our Super 5 team for 2012 after helping lead Shawnee to an unbeaten season and the Class 5A state championship. She averaged 13.2 points and 6.1 rebounds as a senior.
She said then that she picked ORU largely because of the coaches, who she said “reminded me of my parents.”
Only time will tell what Cooper will decide, but should she ask for and be granted a release, it would be a big blow to the ORU program, a program that has been through a whirlwind couple of days.
Boys basketball: Edmond Santa Fe, Edmond North set to hire coaches
Bishop McGuinness coach Tondrell Durham has been mentioned by sources as a candidate for the Edmond Santa Fe job.
EDMOND — Edmond Public Schools will recommend the hiring of boys basketball coaches for Edmond Santa Fe and Edmond North to the school board Tuesday morning, district athletic director Mike Nunley said.
Edmond Santa Fe is hiring its third-ever boys basketball coach after Shawn Schenk was dismissed in late March.
Schenk was Santa Fe’s coach for six seasons. Last month, the Wolves advanced to the 6A semifinals.
Bishop McGuinness coach Tondrell Durham, Douglass’ Terry Long and Mount St. Mary’s Lenny Hatchett have all been mentioned by sources as candidates for the Edmond Santa Fe job.
Durham’s Irish squad won the Class 5A state championship last month. It was Durham’s fifth title with the school since he became coach in 2001.
Long won his third consecutive 4A title last month at Douglass, while Hatchett has been Mount St. Mary’s coach since 2004.
For Edmond North, it will be the school’s fourth boys basketball coach in four seasons. Quinn Wooldridge, who was hired last summer, resigned to become head coach at Southwestern Christian University in Bethany earlier this month.
Edmond North athletic director Tom Snider said then long-term stability would be one of the main criteria in hiring Wooldridge’s replacement.
Boys track: Magnus Scott nearing college decision after weekend visit to Arkansas
Coyle athlete Magnus Scott will soon decide whether to run track at Arkansas or Kansas State.
Coyle athlete Magnus Scott is nearing a decision on where he’ll run track in college after a weekend visit to Arkansas.
Scott said Sunday that he will soon choose between Arkansas and Kansas State.
“It was good,” Scott said of his visit to Fayetteville. “They really want me. I’m going to go home, talk to my parents about it and go from there.”
Scott also has interest in playing football wherever he goes to college, and said Arkansas coaches were much more open to that than Kansas State’s were.
“He said if I really wanted to play, he didn’t mind,” Scott said, while adding that until Arkansas hires a football coach to replace Bobby Petrino, he won’t know for sure if it’s possible.
As a senior on the gridiron, Scott accounted for 35 total touchdowns as Coyle made the playoffs for the first time in school history. Scott rushed for 1,923 yards and averaged nearly 13 yards per carry.
Arkansas is a traditional power in track, and isn’t too far from Scott’s home. Both of those factors will play into his decision, he said.
