The Five Degrees of Separation Blog

One of the great things about college athletics is the endless web of relationships that extend across the country among coaches, administrators, athletes and ex-athletes. I'll expend a few electrons this week on some of the Idaho State and Pocatello connections that have popped up via the Internet recently: former Idaho State assistant basketball coach Louis Wilson (above) was recently named the head coach at Division II Adams State. Wilson, who was on Doug Oliver's staff at ISU for eight years, comes to Adams State from Cal-Northridge, where he was recently promoted to associate head coach. He inherits a team that finished 8-19 overall and 5-14 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Louis' son, Jacques, played at Century High School and recently completed his collegiate career at Eastern Oregon....

....Greg Byrne, son of former ISU student body president and current Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne, was recently named athletic director at Arizona. Byrne, 38, moves to Tucson from Mississippi State, where he was one of the youngest Division I ADs in the country when he was hired there two years ago. He's already had the experience of firing the football coach and replacing him at MSU. His dad, Bill, served as the long-time athletic director at Nebraska before departing for Texas A&M. He was fast friends with the late Dubby Holt going back to Byrne's days as student body president and Dubby's as ISU athletic director....

....This one is kind of a stretch, but new Hawaii basketball coach Gib Arnold has a loose connection to Pocatello. His father, former BYU coach Frank Arnold, started his coaching career at Pocatello High School. Arnold, who was hired by Hawaii from his latest position as an assistant at USC, has other Idaho roots -- his only head coaching experience was at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, where he led CSI to the national junior college tournament in 2004 and 2005....

....Josh Fuller of Rexburg's Madison High School was recently named the outstanding player in the Upper Snake River Valley by the Idaho Falls Post Register. The 6-foot-7 forward, who signed with Utah in the fall, averaged 21 points and nearly eight rebounds a game for the Bobcats. He is the son of former Bengal forward David Fuller, who played for ISU from 1989 to 1991....

....Future Bengal point guard Sheryl Bitter of Shelley was also honored by the Post Register, named to their first-team all-area squad....

....Another future Bengal, Andre Hatchett, a 6-4 wing man from the Tucson area, was recently named to the Arizona Republic's second-team 4A all-state team. Hatchett led his Santa Rita team to the Arizona state title, along with teammate Terrell Stoglin, a Maryland signee. Hatchett scored 26 points in the championship contest....

....And finally, here's a gratuitous Kentucky link for my broadcasting partner and fervent UK supporter Mark Liptak. Kiel Turpin, a 7-foot-1 center who could barely walk and chew gum at the same time in high school, has come on with a rush, leading Lincoln College of Illinois to the Division II junior college national championship and earning MVP honors last week. Turpin is the son of former Kentucky and NBA center Mel Turpin. Oh, and there is an Idaho State connection here. John Hutchinson, former graduate school dean at ISU, is the outgoing president of Lincoln College. Hutchinson is retiring after five years at the school to become a higher education head hunter.....

Big Sky Basketball is Officially Over

Northern Colorado became the last Big Sky Conference school to hang up the foot wear this year, losing to Pacific 63-59 in the second round of the College Insider Tournament in Greeley Monday night. The Bears, who had a school record 25 wins just three years after being the lowest-rated Division I team in America, hosted two games in the CIT, which is geared toward so-called "mid-major programs." They beat Portland last week before losing to the Tigers. In order to get the host role, they had to put up $31,000 a game. Northern Colorado estimated they needed 2,400 fans in their 2,900-seat facility in order to break even on each game. They drew only 1,800 in their opener, but had almost 2,600 last night.

Weber President in a Powerful Position

Weber State University President Ann Millner may not know it, but she is one of the 18 most powerful people in college basketball right now. Dr. Millner is part of the 18-member NCAA Division I Board and Executive Committee. She and her 17 fellow presidents will make the ultimate decision on whether to expand the NCAA basketball tournament. The NCAA has until July 31 of this year to decide whether to continue its contract with CBS to televise the tournament, and a lot people are speculating the NCAA will expand the tournament to 96 teams in order to increase television revenue, whether it be from CBS or another entity. The NCAA gets 90 percent of its revenue from the tournament television contract.

--Brad Bugger

Sobolewski Growing in the Job

There were some pretty good coaching jobs turned in by Big Sky Conference women's basketball coaches this year: Wendy Schuller took an Eastern Washington team picked in the bottom half of the league to a regular season championship; and Jamie Craighead, the youngest Division I coach in the country, reinvented the Sacramento State program, winning a school record 10 conference games and initiating her own brand of "40 minutes of hell." So I don't expect Idaho State head Coach Seton Sobolewski (left) to win conference coach of the year honors.

But the second-year Bengal mentor did a great job as he continues to grow into his position at ISU. He took a team that lost its top scorer and rebounder in Michelle Grohs, and its steals and assist leader in Jenna Brown, mixed in six freshmen, all of whom played significant minutes, endured a brutal non-conference slate, and wound up tied for second in the conference with ten wins. Sure, the loss in the first-round of the tournament to Portland State was disappointing, but finishing with a .500 overall record after playing such a difficult non-conference slate was something to relish.

As further testament to Sobolewski's coaching, consider the Bengals were 5-0 in games decided by five points or less, 3-1 in overtime, and finished 4-4 on the road in Big Sky games. He also shook off the loss of 6-5 freshman center Ashlee Rigter, who left the program before ever playing a game, and the mid-season unavailability of wing players Morgan Wohltman and Chelsea Pickering due to illness and injury, respectively. It was no coincidence the Bengals finished the season with a six-game winning streak after both returned to the lineup, but Sobolewski managed to keep the Bengals together while they struggled during their absences.

The next phase in Sobolewski's coaching "growth," if you will, comes next season, when the Bengals lose leading scorer and rebounder Oana Iacovita, assist and steals leader Andrea Videbeck and defensive stalwart Devin Diehl. Those three seniors depart with 53 percent of the Bengals' scoring, 44 percent of their rebounding and 63 percent of their assists in conference play.

The good news is that Sobolewski has built a nice foundation for the program with the six freshmen who got significant playing time this past season. Aussie Ashleigh Vella was the most consistent of the frosh, starting 29 of 30 games and averaging 8 points and 5.6 rebounds a contest. She started off the year focusing primarily on rebounding, then shifted to becoming a regular double-figure scoring threat. She shot almost 53 percent from the field in Big Sky play, 40 percent from the three-point line.

The other freshmen all played roles this year, but some of them are going to have to take that next step in development and become key contributors next year. Wohltman is a great three-point shooter, but needs to work on quickness and creating her own shot. Kaela Oakes got 13 starts at point guard, but shot only 27 percent from the field in league play. Two-guard Brea Matthews and power forward Ashley Smith need to become more aggressive on the offensive end of the court. And Shannon Byrne, well she needs to start living up to her many physical skills, which Seton has praised all year. The 6-3 lefthander runs, jumps and shoots well -- now she needs to translate that ability into something more than the five minutes, two points and one rebound a game she averaged in conference play.

Pickering and guard Andrea Blodgett hopefully will grow into leadership roles as the key seniors next year, and Sobolewski's early signing period recruiting class produced three players who will likely see some minutes next year: post Cydney Horton, point guard Sheryl Bitter and wing player Kara Jenkins. Because Sobolewski has built some depth and versatility on his roster, none of those freshmen will have to carry an inordinant burden next year, however.

That young depth also has given Seton the ability to gamble a bit in spring recruiting. He already has one commitment from a high school forward this spring, and he's going to use his final three scholarships to pursue high-risk, high-reward prospects where he may be going up against a stronger level of competition. He's pursuing a couple of players who could be "difference makers" this spring. If they sign, they could elevate ISU to the next level in the Big Sky Conference; if they don't, well the Bengals should still remain competitive for the next several years as a very young team -- and a young coach -- continue to grow together.

Broncos Look for New Coach

Boise State made the decision to fire head basketball coach Greg Graham, and eat the last year of his $362,000 a year contract, not, primarily, because of his up-and-down win-loss record, but rather because of raging apathy in the Boise Valley. Graham, just two years removed from a WAC championship, was axed last week on the heels of a season that saw BSU draw an average of just over 3,100 fans a game to spacious Taco Bell Arena. I know when I broadcast the ISU-BSU overtime loss to the Broncos at TBA in 2008, I was stunned at how much the game-day atmosphere had deteriorated in Boise. There was simply no life in the place.

With the Broncos knocking on the door of the Mountain West Conference, they need a relatively healthy and vigorous men's basketball program to enhance their appeal to MWC administrators.

The success of the BSU football team has certainly raised the bar on expectations for the basketball program. I see some parallels between Boise and Missoula, which used to be a great college basketball town, but has seen enthusiasm and attendance for its basketball program drop in almost inverse proportion to the way Montana's football program has grown in dominance. The Griz, who won a first-round NCAA tournament basketball game not so long ago, and won over 20 regular season games this year, still averaged just over 3,300 fans a game.

The Broncos and Griz are also feeling the national fallout from the dropping interest in college basketball. As we've noted before, attendance and television ratings for college basketball are diving all over the country, and Boise and Missoula are not immune.

It will be interesting to see what impact Graham's demise will have on Idaho State's future basketball schedules. ISU Coach Joe O'Brien was working on a home-and-home deal with the Broncos before Graham's firing.

With the announcement that Eastern Washington is keeping men's coach Kirk Earlywine for at least another year, it appears the Big Sky Conference coaching rosters, on both the men's and women's sides, will be stable going into next season. That's barring any late-breaking developments, of course. Last year Portland State's Ken Bone was hired for the Washington State opening, and Sac State's women's coach departed in late spring for an assistant's job at Oregon. Both were replaced by assistant coaches from the existing staffs.

Football Tidbids

I got a chance to chat with Bengal football Coach John Zamberlin last week for the final episode of Bengal Review, and came away with some nuggets of information. First, Coach Z told us he's adding Josh Fetter, a former defensive line coach at Portland State, to his staff. Fetter, who played at Idaho with current Bengal defensive coordinator Brian Strandley in the 1990s, worked for both Tim Walsh and Jerry Glanville at PSU. I'm assuming he'll take over the duties of Joe Cullen, who went back to the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaquars.

Zamblerin also noted that, even though it's off-season, football players are still not immune to the injury bug. He told us that incoming freshman quarterback Justin Level will not take part in spring ball due a knee injury; and transfers Jahmel Rover (running back) and Bo Hudeen (linebacker) are both struggling with leg injuries that could restrict their spring availability. Returning linebacker Phil Arias is also dealing with a stomach ailment that could sideline him as well.

Coach Z said the search for a kicker/punter continues. He brought a prospect to campus last weekend but they haven't confirmed his academic status as yet.

--Brad B.

Office Closed

If all seems quiet on the media relations front in the next few days ... that's because it's going to be pretty quiet around here. Our entire office will be working the Spokane Regional from Thursday through next Sunday, with a full days drive there on Wednesday and back on Monday. The only event going on this weekend is a women's golf tournament....that's it. No softball, no tennis, no track ... no nothing. Weird, right?

There will be some football popping up this week though. I'm waiting for the official eights and weights from the Pro Day stuff that goes on today (I just found out about that one). That is going on at Holt Arena from 11:30 (the guys who are done with their eligibility), and then upcoming seniors at 2:30, and everyone else around 3:30ish or so. Mark Campbell takes the weights and heights at that event and will get those to me, and then I can have the prospectus finalized. That reminds me...last year I got a bound prospectus from Oklahoma....bound. Full color cover. Money is great, isn't it? This year by the way Oklahoma's spring guide is 100 pages....100 pages? ISU's 2001 media guide for the fall season...i.e. the one that counts, was only 96 pages.

Now onto a bunch of things around the office/school/department you folks might find interesting..

Football Team Collects Food for the Idaho Food Bank
Nice job by Wes Horrocks of Channel 3 covering the proceedings here. Not sure why they went with the orange jerseys though.

Thankfully Southern Utah's Quarterback Won't be the One Going Off This Time
Back in 2000, South Utah quarterback Matt Cannon led the Southern Utah Thunderbirds with three rushing touchdowns and 1,153 yards rushing. Well, not really, it only seemed like it...it was actually 262 yards, and it still is the record for the most yards by a visiting player, as SUU beat ISU 62-24 (on Homecoming....uugh).

Now, a much different cannon is being talked about....one that actually goes boom. It's been pretty funny from my end, because a fan is putting all of this together, and sinking some $$ into it (I'll get him a Bengal Foundation membership for all of this at the very least), but some folks seem to be against it, harping on that you can't shoot a cannon in the dome. Really? They have fireworks during concerts in here, and a cannon will not be any louder than the freakin' Monster Trucks that rev themselves up outside of my office that forces me to go home early. It's not shooting a real cannonball, it's just powder...it will be fine, really. And yes, the man doing this (who by the way is in the Army, so yes, he knows of what he speaks) has talked to the folks needed, including the guy who runs the building, who is all for it. So, we got the building folks to OK it, the team OK'ed it, and the players OK'ed it. Be warned...we might very well have a cannon shooting at home games.

LOST Video Contest
Some folks might wonder "What does Frank Mercogliano do on a Sunday in his downtime?" Well, I make contest entries for LOST. If I get in the top 10, I'm coming back here begging for votes, because I want that van. If I don't make the top 10 I'll post the thing on Youtube anyways....

If you haven't been watching the greatest show on television....you don't even have to miss the NCAA Tournament, because it is on Tuesdays. Just go to Hulu.com, and catch up on the first five seasons, and you can be caught up in five weeks.

Charlotte's Web
Let me tell you a little story. Sit down...please...get a brownie or some chips. Back in 1998 when I came to Idaho State, the ISU athletic website sucked. It was HORRID. I had never done anything with the internet or a website ever, and so it continued to suck for a few months. It really was bad. Well, in the fall of 1998, a friend of mine named Ray Emery helped me revamp it so that we had a way to update it, get stats and news and rosters and stuff on there, and it was serviceable. Here is what it looked like back fall of 1999 (look at how cute the football page was back then), here is it in December of 2000, and in October of 2001, and the last incarnation of to old www.isu.edu/athletic site, the day before we switched to www.isubengals.com.

Flash forward to 2002, and ISU unveiled www.isubengals.com, which actually debuted on August 9, 2002, and it now more note worthy because I had a goatee at the time. At the time, we were ahead of the pack in terms of a website, it was clean, fast, organized, and everyone in Bengalville was happy, and kudos went to Howard Gauthier, who was the A.D. and agreed to spend the money and make the switch.

Well, it's 2010, and we have had the exact same website for the last eight years, and while I will still say it's totally function, we have no bells and whistles, and we are trying to keep up with the Joneses while trapped in the sites mandated design (case in point, there is NOTHING but white space on the right side of the page, and the videos we post are just sort of crammed into the page).

Now, we can fix that, but it would cost money. Eventually the question becomes this...do you keep adding and fixing, or do you just start over? Do you keep fixing your car, which is functional and runs, but can't maybe do everything you want, or do you just go down to Meador's and get a new car? Well, we are approaching the new car portion of the discussion.

We are looking at potentially switching our website for a radical redesign, very possibly with a new company. CBS College Sports, formerly CSTV, formerly Fans Only, formerly something else I can't remember, is getting a bit cost prohibitive, and so we are looking at a different company possibly, that handles and caters to more schools our size (view Montana State's website for an example).

So this is where you guys come in....what do YOU want in a website? There are things Katie, Jamie and I definitely want (more dedicated spots for video, facebook and twitter links in a better format, and a better layout graphically), but if you have any comments or suggestions on what you want to see on a website (be reasonable), email me at mercfran@isu.edu. If the cannon thing is any indication...yes, we listen to folks down here. We may not do it, we may not agree, but no idea is too dumb to be listened too, as Mr. Garrison was so nice to point out a few years ago.

Former Bengals in the Tourney
Amazingly enough, two former ISU Bengals are both in the NCAA Tournament. Paul Bubb, now the Sr. Associate Athletic Director at Murray State, will no doubt accompany the Racers to San Jose as the #13 MSU Racers take on #4 Vanderbilt, and Russ Eisenstein had possibly the best call of the day on Saturday (it's the inside the second video clip here...nice to have that in-house TV production eh?) as his Ohip Bobcats shook off an 7-9 conference record, and a #9 seed in the conference tournament to earn a 14-seed and head to Providence, RI to face off with the #33 Georgetown Hoyas. Dance boys, dance....