Team manager to AD: After graduating from Tech, Jim Oakes returned to serve for 14 years
June 30, 2008
After rising from football team manager to Louisiana Tech athletic director, Jim Oakes will say goodbye to the hallowed halls of Thomas Assembly Center today after 14 years of running the school’s programs.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
2008 TULANE HALL OF FAME CLASS
June 30, 2008
2008 TULANE HALL OF FAME CLASS- NOLA.com
unday, June 29, 20081998 FOOTBALL TEAM
– Won Conference USA title and finished 12-0
– No. 7 ranking in final AP poll
– Beat BYU 41-27 in Liberty Bowl
– Eleven wins by double digits.
PERRY CLARK
Men’s basketball coach 1989-2000
– Had 185-145 record and six 20-win seasons
– Seven postseason appearances (3 NCAA, 4 NIT), one conference title
– National Coach of the Year in 1992 by UPI, USBWA and Scripps Howard
— Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992
PAM BUFF
Women’s golfer 1997-2001
— Three time C-USA Player of the Year (1998,1999, 2000)
— Honorable mention All-American in 1999
— Led Wave to first NCAA regional championship
appearance— Won C-USA individual titles in 1998 and 1999
JOHN OLAGUES
Pitcher 1965-66
— Had 12-8 record, 264 strikeouts and a 1.97 ERA
— Had 20 strikeouts in one game twice
— First Tulane player selected in the modern MLB draft
PATRICK RAMSEY
Quarterback 1999-2001
— Has school record for completions (798), attempts
(1,355), yards (9,205) and touchdown passes (72)— Has school record 31 consecutive games with a
touchdown pass— Had four 400-yard passing games and 16 300-yard games
— Selected in first round of the 2002 draft by Redskins
Green Wave hires men’s tennis coach
June 30, 2008
Green Wave hires men’s tennis coach- NOLA.com
Ex-LSU assistant has impressive résumé
Sunday, June 29, 2008
By Nakia HoganTulane has hired LSU assistant tennis coach Mark Booras to take over as men’s coach for the Green Wave, Tulane athletic department officials announced Saturday.
With the team slated to begin competition in 2009-2010, Booras will have a little more than a year to help restart the program, which was suspended after Hurricane Katrina.
“I am excited and honored to be selected as the head men’s tennis coach at Tulane University,” Booras said. “This tennis program has had a great tradition of success, and I look forward to working with the athletic department and the community to restore it to a championship level once again.”
Booras, 37, is the fourth coach hired by Tulane to restart a suspended program, joining women’s golf coach John Thomas Horton and women’s tennis coach Terri Sisk, who were hired last summer, and Lena Guarriello, who was hired earlier this month to relaunch the women’s swimming and diving program.
The Green Wave also will add women’s soccer and women’s bowling next summer, giving the Green Wave 16 varsity programs and returning the athletic department to full strength for the first time since 2006.
Booras will take over at Tulane after spending the previous 10 years at LSU, where he was associate head coach his final four years.
At LSU, Booras became one of the country’s top assistant coaches, helping the Tigers reach the NCAA Tournament in each of his seasons with the program.
In 2007, Booras was selected the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Assistant Coach of the Year. He also was recognized in 2004 and 2007 as the best assistant coach in the ITA Southeast Region.
“After a long and exhaustive nationwide search, which attracted many prominent successful head coaches and top associate head coaches, we believe Mark stood above the candidates because of his passion for developing the total student-athlete,” Tulane Athletic Director Rick Dickson said. “He is widely recognized for his skill development, excellent match strategies and unique ability to identify and develop top collegiate-level talent as evidenced by his selection to direct the USTA Summer Collegiate Team.”
Wave’s undefeated team bound for TU Hall
June 30, 2008
Wave’s undefeated team bound for TU Hall - Tulane Beat - Times-Picayune - NOLA.com
Posted by Nakia Hogan Staff writer June 28, 2008 10:55PMFormer Tulane record-setting quarterback Shaun King has only one regret from his playing days with the Green Wave. He wishes he and teammates on the 1998 team that went undefeated and captured the Conference USA title were playing under the current NCAA system and given an opportunity to play in a BCS bowl game.
Instead, the Green Wave finished its 12-0 campaign with a decisive 41-27 win against Brigham Young in the Liberty Bowl and were left with thoughts of what could have been.
“I just hate that we didn’t have this new arrangement so we could have went to the Fiesta Bowl that year and played Tennessee or Florida State,” King said.
The sting of not being included in one of college football’s elite postseason games has been eased by the fact that the 1998 Green Wave squad is being inducted as an honorary member of the 2008 Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame class.
The 1998 team that was led by King, who became the first NCAA I-A player to have 3,000 yards passing and 500 yards rushing in a season and set a then-NCAA I-A passing efficiency record of 183.3, highlights a class that also includes former men’s basketball coach Perry Clark, former women’s golfer Pam Buff, former baseball player John Olagues and former football player Patrick Ramsey.
The group will formally be enshrined during a ceremony Oct. 3 at the Lavin-Bernick Center on the Tulane campus.
“We are the first team to ever be collectively inducted into the Tulane Hall of Fame, so anytime you are a first it gives you great pride and a great sense of accomplishment,” King said. “It’s a just reward for all the hard work and effort that was put into that season by that team. I thought the guys did a great job of making our success a priority, and it paid off for us.”
Clark, who coached the Green Wave for 11 seasons (1989-2000), said he was pleased with the honor. He was responsible for helping resurrect the program in 1989 after a four-year suspension of the program.
At Tulane, Clark’s teams compiled a 185-145 record, had six 20-win seasons, seven postseason appearances (3 NCAA, 4 NIT) and won the Metro Conference regular season championship once. He was the United States Basketball Writers National Coach of the Year in 1992 and a two-time Metro Conference Coach of the Year in 1991 and 1992.
“I feel very, very honored and special to be honored in the Tulane Hall of Fame,” Clark said. “New Orleans will always be home for me, and Tulane will always be very, very special.
“The way I look at my time at Tulane is like Camelot. It’s just a very special time, and there were a lot of special and magical people that came through. I’ve come to learn to just put it in a time capsule. I don’t ever try to duplicate it because it will never ever come again. You just kind of put it up on a mantel and appreciate and enjoy the memories.”
That’s precisely what Buff plans to do.
She said she was flattered when the call came informing her of the induction. She is enamored that her accomplishments on the golf course are being further recognized.
Buff, who competed at Tulane from 1997-2001, is one of the most accomplished women’s golfers in school history. Three times she was chosen C-USA Player of the Year (1998, 1999, 2000), and she was an honorable mention All-American in 1999.
She also won two C-USA individual titles in 1998 and 1999. But this latest honor ranks up there with all her previous awards.
“This is a huge honor, definitely,” Buff said. “I am very thankful, and I am very happy to be selected to such a prestigious group. I know that there is such a small group that is picked, and I’m just honored to be a part of it.”
Olagues, a hard throwing right-hander and former team captain, starred for the Green Wave in 1965 and 1966.
Olagues, who was 12-8 with 264 strikeouts and a 1.97 earned-run average, averaged 14.03 strikeouts per nine innings on his way to becoming the first Green Wave player selected in the modern-day MLB draft.
Ramsey, who passed for more than 9,000 yards as a three-year starter from 1999-2001, left Tulane as one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in school history, having thrown 72 touchdown passes, including at least one in a school-record 31 consecutive games.
Tulane lands football commitment
June 30, 2008
Tulane lands football commitment - Prep Sports - NOLA.com
Posted by The Times-Picayune June 27, 2008 2:12PM
Categories: RecruitingCody Ledford, a linebacker from North Florida Christian School in Tallahassee, has commited to Tulane.
Ledford, 6-0, 215, recorded 184 tackles last season, 30 for losses, seven sacks and two interceptions. He has run 4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash.
Speedy Receiver Commits to Wave
June 29, 2008
The trip to New Orleans became routine for the Van Hooser family. And Monday, that trek finally resulted in a new member of the Green Wave family.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
NJ’s Leffler hopes to visit NOLA later this summer
June 28, 2008
Green Wave fans often express excitement over the expanded recruiting territory Tulane coach Bob Toledo has dished out to his staff since his arrival in New Orleans.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane/2008/06/n…
Who should be No. 1?
June 27, 2008
Claude “Little Monk” Simons excelled all over the field for Tulane. Back in the 1930s, bowl game invitations weren’t exactly handed out like candy like they are today.
http://www.topix.com/ncaa/tulane-football/…
Women’s Track and Field Completes another Stepping-Stone Year in 2007-08
June 26, 2008
Green Wave storm national meetsJune 24, 2008
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane University women’s track and field and cross country teams enjoyed a successful 2007-08 academic calendar. The cross country team placed ninth at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships, the team was represented at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the second year in a row, and five members of the team competed at the NCAA Outdoor Mideast Regional Championships.
The 2007-08 seasons served as another big stepping stone for the program, as it tries to get back to the top of the conference where it stood for the late 1990s and early 2000s. The season review is broken down by individual season, beginning with cross country, and then moving into indoor track and field before finishing with outdoor track and field.
Cross Country
The Tulane cross country team had a banner year in 2007. Freshman Laurie Dalrymple was a third-team All-Conference USA selection and named Louisiana Sportswriters Association Female Cross Country Freshman of the Year, while senior Aubrey Phillips was named LSWA Female Cross Country Runner of the Year, freshman Rebecca Coady earned a spot on the LSWA All-Louisiana team and head coach Heather Van Norman was named LSWA Cross Country Coach of the Year.The Green Wave began the season by winning its first three meets in team scoring, and with two athletes winning the first two meets individually. While the races at the end of the season - conference, NCAA regional, NCAA Championship - are the most important, and while team victories outside of those meets do not count for much, the three dominating performances to open the 2007 season were very important for Tulane.
“We started off the season great,” Van Norman said. “I think once we got to the Chile Pepper the competition became extremely difficult, and we kind of set it up that way. At the beginning (of the season), there are only two weeks of team training. We had the home meet, and we headed over to LSU, and then we started getting into the more challenging courses. Chile Pepper was obviously where we were going to go because that was where regionals were being held, so it’s good that they went and got out on the course twice.”
The team began by sweeping the points in its home meet, the Green Wave Invitational, on Aug. 31, and was led by freshman Rebecca Coady - a middle distance runner on the track - who felt right at home on the two-mile course. She was followed closely by junior Aubrey Phillips, freshman Laurie Dalrymple, junior Cecelia Clarke and senior Jill Shriver.
The Green Wave went on to nearly sweep the Southern Miss Invitational the following weekend, scoring 16 points. Phillips won the race, while Coady, Dalrymple, Shriver and senior Savannah Moon squared up the points. Tulane also won the LSU Tiger Cross Country Festival, and then placed fifth at the Auburn Invitational to complete an outstanding start to the season.
Tulane traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., on Oct. 13, for the prestigious Chile Pepper Festival, one of the biggest cross country meets in the nation. The Wave finished 16th out of 41 teams, not as well as they had hoped, but respectable in its first appearance.
The Green Wave finished sixth in Conference USA for the second straight year, led by Dalrymple’s 15th placed finish to earn her all-conference honors, and the team posted its second-ever top ten finish in an NCAA regional when it placed ninth at the South Central Regional Championships.
“I think sixth place was really discouraging for us,” said Van Norman. “We expected to do better, we had been training to do better, and we did not want the season to end like that. It could have been easy to put your hat in the fire, but we said no, let’s go into regionals. That’s where it started getting exciting again because I think it kind of reconnected the women. So, I was really, really excited with being at the top, up at regionals.
“Cross country season - we always look forward to it, and it’s so short you snap your fingers and it’s gone. So, you kind of have to strategically plan it out and prepare the women for every single week. I thought the cross country season ended up very well.”
Indoor Track and Field
The Green Wave sent a representative to the NCAA Indoor Championships for the second consecutive year in senior Gloria Asumnu, who became an All-America for the fourth time in her stellar college career when she finished seventh in the finals of the 100-meter dash. The team also earned a sixth-place finish at the Conference USA Championships for the second year in a row.Asumnu was named C-USA Indoor Track and Field Female Athlete of the Year, and earned the co-Performer of the Meet for the conference championships, her second year in a row winning the honor. She also won conference titles in the 60-meter dash, 200-meter dash and with the 4×400-meter relay team, which also consisted of senior Shanon Beelendorf, junior Vanessa Kienast and freshman Aieshia Brooks.
Asumnu set two C-USA records at the championships when she tied her own record time in the 60m of 7.22 seconds, and she became the first athlete in C-USA history to win one event four times at the conference championships.
Also standing out for the Green Wave at the C-USA Championships were sophomore Jasmine Momoh, who placed sixth in the 60m, Wilson who placed second in the 400m, Dalrymple (eighth in the 3,000m), Phillips (fourth in the 5,000m) and Minor (fifth in the pentathlon).
“We participated in a lot of major meets, and I thought the girls performed very well during the season,” Van Norman said. “Obviously, with Gloria getting high marks and going on to the NCAA’s, that was big for our program. We gained as a team in certain areas, and we are always trying to improve.”
Tulane’s strongest showing of the indoor season was the weekend of Jan. 31-Feb.2 when the team competed at the Sykes-Sabock Challenge Cup hosted by Penn State in University Park, Pa., and the LSU Combined Events in Baton Rouge, La. The Wave set 11 personal bests, garnered six top five finishes, including victories by Asumnu in the 60m and 200m, Phillips in the 5,000m and a runner-up finish by the 4×400 relay team. Sophomore Arielle Minor placed fifth in the pentathlon at the LSU Combined Events, setting personal records in four of the five events and a personal-best point total. It was at the Sykes-Sabock that Asumnu automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 60m.
The following weekend, the Green Wave traveled to New York City for the New Balance Collegiate Invitational at the world-famous New York Armory Track. The Wave tallied five top-ten finishes in a meet the featured at least 50 competitors in nine of the 15 events in which Tulane athletes participated.
Tulane split the squad between the Tyson Invitational which was held in Fayetteville, Ark. - the site of the NCAA Championships - and the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa. The sprinters went to the Tyson Invite, which featured the top runners from all over the nation, and the long distance runners traveled to the Iowa State Classic. Following the split weekend, the Wave went to the LSU Twilight Invitational in its last preparation before the Conference USA Championships.
“We were a fairly young team, but we did well,” said Van Norman. “Aubrey did a good job of bringing the young girls along. The sprinters held their ground. Gloria, obviously, winning back-to-back (championships) in the 60m and being named Athlete of the Year was great. We are always on an upward climb as a team and are always trying to improve.”
Outdoor Track and Field
Tulane qualified five athletes for the NCAA Mideast Regional - Shanon Beelendorf in the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Valencia Wilson in the 400-meter dash, sophomore Nicolette Taku in the triple jump and the 4×400 relay team of Beelendorf, sophomore Jasmine Momoh, Kienast and Wilson. Wilson competed at the regionals as a freshman in 2006 and Taku did so as a freshman in 2007. Taku set a personal best in the triple jump in that meet this season, with a mark of 12.41m (40-08.75) to place 12th.The Green Wave placed 10th as a team at the Conference USA Championships, but had a strong showing from several individuals, including NCAA qualifying times by Wilson and the 4×400 relay team. Scorers for the team included: Valencia Wilson’s sixth place finish in the 400m, Aubrey Phillips at sixth in the 5,000m and third in the 10,000m, Laurie Dalrymple at eighth in the 10,000m, Beelendorf at fourth and Vanessa Kienast at seventh in the 400m hurdles, Katarina Busljeta at fifth in the hammer throw and Arielle Minor at fourth in the heptathlon.
“I thought UTEP did a fine job of hosting the conference championships,” Van Norman said. “We did not finish where we wanted to finish, which was top three or four. We realized we really need to recruit a lot more - we need to get more bodies out on the track and keep other teams from filling out those seventh and eighth spots, and get out athletes in those slots.”
The outdoor season began with a trip to nearby Hattiesburg, Miss., for the Southern Miss Invitational, on the same weekend as the NCAA Indoor Championships. Beelendorf won the 400m hurdles, while freshman Zandria Debowles finished fifth, Busljeta placed second in the hammer and third in the discus. Debowles also placed third in the high jump, Phillips fourth in the 1,500m and Wilson fourth in the 200m.
The Green Wave endured a frustrating rain-shortened meet at Georgia Tech on the final weekend in March, but one in which freshman Rebecca Coady set the school benchmark in the 3,000m steeplechase. Coady was the first Tulane athlete in several years to run the steeplechase, and set the best time achieved by any of the steeplechase athletes before her.
Phillips provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 10,000m at the Stanford Invitational, and Minor set more personal bests in the heptathlon at the LSU Combined Events on April 10. The Wave then competed at the Ole Miss Invitational and the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational. Taku qualified for the NCAA regionals in the triple jump at Ole Miss, tying her personal best with a jump of 12.40m (40-08.25).
Phillips and Dalrymple ran at the prestigious and highly selective Drake Relays, while the rest of the squad competed at the Rice Twilight meet on April 24. Phillips and Dalrymple ran respectable times in the 5,000m at Drake, placing 11th and 15th, respectively. At Rice, freshman Peggy Keplinger set a personal record in the pole vault, with a mark of 3.20m (10-06.00)
“As long as I’ve been here, we have had people at the NCAA’s and performing very well there. It’s always good to get people at the NCAA Championships. We need to get back to that next year (after missing out on this season). Our girls always perform well nationally. We can be a top 20 team nationally and top 3-4 in C-USA.”
Van Norman continued with her praise for the team’s outdoor success, while also looking to the bright future for Tulane track and field.
“I thought the seniors held their ground pretty well,” Van Norman said. “Aubrey did a fantastic job in the 10,000m. We had our first real steeplechase athlete in a long time and Rebecca Coady is really developing into a good steeplechaser. Shanon really stepped up in the quarter hurdles and found her place on the team. Valencia has always been good, and she came along at the end of the season to make it to regionals. We hope to gain in point totals in the future. The freshmen came in and did a really good job and made strides within the program. They will work during the summer to get better and come back stronger next year.”
Van Norman and her team expect to be back at the top of Conference USA, and with the talent her and her staff has assembled, they expect to reach that goal in the very near future.
Tulane Athletics Tabs Brandon Macneill as Executive Associate Athletic Director
June 26, 2008
Official Athletics Site of the Tulane University Green Wave
TU Alumnus spent the last five years in the Kansas Athletic DepartmentJune 24, 2008
New Orleans - Tulane University Director of Athletics Rick Dickson announced today the hiring of Brandon Macneill to the post of Executive Associate Athletic Director in the Green Wave Athletic Department.
“Brandon brings broad administrative experiences from his 12 years of service from the Ivy League as well as flagship state universities, which makes for a nice addition to compliment the excellent staff that has headed up our rebuilding efforts,” Dickson said. “He possesses great management experience along with a passion for his alma mater.”
Macneill, 37, will handle day-to-day operations with Tulane’s executive staff and oversee the continued growth of the Green Wave’s external programs (Marketing, Public Relations, the Tulane Athletics Fund and Ticket Sales), as well as coordinate with the athletic director towards successfully completing TU’s Reinstatement Plan.
“I could not be more excited to come back to this great university with my family to be a part of the athletic department,” Macneill said. “I have tremendous respect for Rick Dickson and am very appreciative of this opportunity. I look forward to furthering the mission of Tulane Athletics and will work tirelessly to do my part to put our student-athletes and coaches in a position to be successful in both the classroom and on the fields of play.”
Macneill returns to his alma mater after spending the last five years at the University of Kansas where he had served as the Jayhawks’ Associate Athletics Director for Administration since 2004. He originally came to KU in October 2003 as the Assistant Athletics Director for Strategic Planning.
During his tenure at KU, Macneill’s duties included managing the Athletic Marketing and Licensing departments, oversight of the departmental relationship with Host Communications, the multi-media rights holder for Kansas Athletics, and he was the sport supervisor for the softball and tennis programs. In addition, he helped negotiate a multi-year, department-wide apparel partnership with adidas, spearheaded the development and implementation of the KU Athletic Department five-year strategic plan– Unparalleled Excellence– and he served as a member of the University of Kansas’ Athletics Senior Management Team. He also devoted much of his time to strategic planning and the rewriting of department policy manuals.
Prior to Kansas, Macneill served three years (2001-03) at Princeton University as Associate Athletics Director for Development. While at Princeton, he was responsible for overseeing, implementing and coordinating the annual uniform fund-raising and membership drives of various groups that supported the Princeton athletics department.
Before going to Princeton, Macneill spent one year as the Director of Collegiate Marketing for Steinberg, Moorad and Dunn. Based at the University of Hawaii, he was responsible for soliciting and servicing corporate partners for the athletics department. Macneill worked closely with Leigh Steinberg on the Hawaii project and other consulting ventures, as well as overseeing all marketing and promotional programs related to Hawaii Athletics.
Macneill, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University in 1993 and a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1997, has also served as Assistant Director of Athletics for Marketing and Promotions at Dartmouth College (1998-2000) and as an Athletic Marketing Intern at UConn (1996-98).
A native of Winchester, Mass., Macneill and his wife, Amy, have two daughters: Caroline (6) and Alexandra (3).
“This marks another forward step in solidifying Tulane Athletics, along with the completion of coaching hires, to restore our department, which had evolved to one of the model programs in both Conference USA and in the country. Brandon and his family are a welcome addition,” Dickson said.