Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page C08

PAGE: C8 Zone: 6 CMY Typeset Sent C8 FRIDAY, DECEMBER14, 2007 THEHARTFORDCOURANT COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEST HAVEN is not a football player on campus, and the blue and gold uniforms been worn in four years. But the next schedule is nearly complete, and a change at the University of New Haven. When the Chargers abandoned football after the 2003 season, part of the reason was they find teams to play unless they traveled the country every week. When the program returns in 2009, the Chargers will be members of the Northeast-10 Conference, and Thursday, Pete Rossomando was introduced as the coach who will lead them. An assistant at Albany the last seven seasons, the past three as associate head coach and offensive coordinator, Rossomando is no stranger to New Haven football.

He began his coaching career with the Chargers as one of Tony assistants in 1994-98. When Rossomando was introduced at a campus press conference, his former boss now the Dallas assistant head coach and offensive line coach first offered some words of praise and then some words of advice in an amplified phone call. no more proof than me trusting him with my two sons at Sparano said. know going to do great things. stop wasting time at the podium and get out there recruiting right now and let everybody out there know that the University of New Haven football program is Rossomando, 35, has been hired to revive a program that was one of the most successful in the country.

The Chargers were 41-14-1 in five seasons (1994-98) under Sparano, and went to the 1997 Division II championship game and the 1995 NCAA playoffs. They also reached the postseason in 1992-93 under Mark Whipple. But every season, the independent program had a hard time finding teams to play. in a athletic director Deborah Chin said. was becoming increasingly more difficult just to make out a schedule.

had to travel twice to the West Coast to be able to play. a lot of money for a small school. the smallest Division II school ever to play in a national championship game. You fund a program like that flying all over the The drive to bring football back started not long after the Chargers last played a game. be honest with you.

It started right Chin said. first job was to find us a conference. no way we could have brought it back without being in a conference. excited. When all of this all happened, I said I would not retire until I brought football Also helping the return of football was a change in NCAA selection procedures and requirements.

Schools now have to play full Division II schedules. Northeast-10 have enough football-playing schools, and they want to travel Chin said. became more of a palatable opportunity and more of a Instead of traveling to play schools like Cal-Davis, Central Washington, Western New Mexico and North Dakota, the 2009 schedule includes games at Assumption, Merrimack, St. Anselm and Southern Connecticut. targeted this conference from the Rossomando said.

explored some others, but this is one they wanted to get into. Geographically, it fits. Academically, it fits. put a lot of funds behind this program. Otherwise, I never would have taken the job.

really committed to doing it the right New Haven will move from the East Coast Conference to the NE-10 in other sports next fall. To comply with Title IX, the school will add varsity track and field hockey. ABoston University graduate, Rossomando returns to New Haven with the blessings of his most recent boss, Albany coach Bob Ford. is well-prepared and ready for this Ford said. has crossed all the and dotted the He has a passion for the game, and every kid on our squad respected Rossomando officially begins his new duties on Jan.

1, and he will heed the words of Sparano and take to the road right away. great thing about the University of New Haven is the strong alumni base that we have here in Rossomando said. guys you talk to out in the community are Chargers forever. Those guys will keep coming back as long as we continue this great tradition of football. a lot of work that has to be done.

We have a football player who has been recruited on campus, so we need to get out on the road and start Contact Tommy Hine at Revival Meeting Voice Of New Haven Past Greets Rossomando By TOMMY HINE COURANT STAFF WRITER At Appalachian State, Game For The Fans wanting a way to commemorate the shocking upset of Michigan can get limited edition artwork, posters and T-shirts. As for the most important part of Appalachian season, a T-shirt with two words and a number is all needed to sum it up: FOR Appalachian State, the first Division I-AA school to beat a ranked major college team, has returned to Chattanooga, to try for its third consecutive national championships. The Mountaineers (12-2) play Delaware (11-3) tonight. A possible good omen for Appalachian State: The Blue Hens wear helmets patterned after famous winged design. The Blue Hens feature an explosive offense led by All-American running back Omar Cuff, who has 1,861 yards rushing and 38 touchdowns, and quarterback Joe Flacco, the Pittsburgh transfer who has had pro scouts studying him.

He has thrown for 3,929 yards with 22 TDs. The Blue Hens average 37.3 points and 462.6 yards on offense a game. one of those guys are capable of beating you on one Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. Appalachian State counters with QB Armanti Edwards who totaled 495 yards, 313 rushing, in the 55-35 semifinal victory over Richmond. playing at a level faster than everybody else on the Delaware coach K.C.

Keeler said. The Mountaineers average 483.2 yards of offense and 42.3 points. Foster tops in I-AA Georgia Southern quarterback Jayson Foster won the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in Division I-AA. Foster ran for 1,844 yards (7.1 yards a carry) and 24 touchdowns this season, and also completed 109 of 170 passes for 1,203 yards and six touchdowns in leading his team to a 7-4 record. Northern Iowa quarterback Eric Sanders was second.

Allen leaving Louisville: Louisville running back Anthony Allen has been granted a release and will transfer. The sophomore led the Cardinals in rushing this past season with 696 yards. Big East rules prohibit Allen from transferring to another school in the conference and Louisville will not release him to any school on its schedule in the next three years or to Arkansas, where former Louisville coach Bobby Petrino is now coach. Northern Illinois hires Kill: Jerry Kill is the new coach at Northern Illinois, less than a week after he had Southern Illinois in the FCS semifinals. Kill replaces Joe Novak, who retired after 12 seasons.

Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe was offered the coaching job at Duke, the Knoxville News Sentinel said. Duke fired Ted Roof after a 1-11 season. Oklahoma assistant Kevin Sumlin will be hired as Houston coach, the Houston Chronicle reported. Appalachian State Eyes 3rd Straight Associated Press NATION THE GOOD TIMES New Haven qualified for the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1992, when it beat Division I-AA UConn, and in 1993 under coach Mark Whipple and again in 1995 and 1997 under Tony Sparano. In 1997, the Chargers became the smallest school to reach the championship game, losing 51-0 to Northern Colorado.

In 1992-97, New Haven had four seasons with at least 10 victories and three seasons with only one loss. Running back Roger Graham won the Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II player of the year as a junior in 1993, rushing for 1,687 yards and 19 TDs, with four TDs on receptions and returns. THE BAD TIMES A nonconference school at the time, New Haven was forced to travel extensively to find suitable opponents after 1997, sometimes flying to the West Coast twice in the same season. The travel-weary Chargers had only one winning season between 1998 and 2003. In that six-season span, New Haven played games in 18 states, including California and Washington.

Unable to find teams willing to put the Chargers on their schedule and unable to fund the expanding travel costs, New Haven finally packed its uniforms and equipment, and dropped football after the 2003 season. TOMMY HINE Return Of Chargers Football COLLEGE BASKETBALL There are no fouls called in one rebounding drill at Central Connecticut. There even an out of bounds. See the ball, get the ball. Freshman forward David Simmons often is cheered by his teammates for his relentless pursuit.

had a Band-Aid over three stitches on his chin a previous practice and it falls off during the coach Howie Dickenman said. took it off and threw it down. He have cared With 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, Simmons led the Blue Devils past Maryland-Baltimore County 58-54 Tuesday night. In his past three games, the 6-foot-5 Simmons averaged 7.7 points and 7.3 rebounds. Simmons, a graduate of Henninger High School in Syracuse, wills the ball into the basket, rather than shoot it with textbook form.

Since the preseason, though, he has improved his technique, especially on his bank shot. When it comes to rebounding, the 6-4 Dickenman, still third on the career list with 1,040, is effusive in his praise. He says Simmons, who has a team-high 20 offensive rebounds, jumps as high as anyone. a relentless Dickenman said. a pretty high compliment in my vocabulary.

You have to be possessed. You have to be obsessed. You take the attitude that no one but nobody is going to get that rebound but Simmons, averaging 4.8 points and 4.3 rebounds overall in 10 games for the Blue Devils (3-7), is entrenched in the starting lineup, one that Dickenman says will now have Tristan Blackwood playing point guard. knows me; crazy and overaggressive when it comes to Simmons said. figure the more reps you get, the more it gets in your brain and in your heart to get that Blackwood, a senior, said Simmons reminds him of a young Obie Nwadike.

Nwadike, 6-2, was leading re- bounder on last NCAA Tournament team. care in front of Blackwood said. going to grab that rebound. David take possessions Joe Seymore, a 6-2 sophomore swingman, had four or more rebounds twice in 34 games last season. He already has nine games of four or more this season.

Back To Philly Until last year, Philadelphia was home to coach and his wife. When the Hawks (5-6) play at No. 18 Villanova (7-1) tonight, Philly will feel like home again to Dan and Nancy Leibovitz, even though the visitors. going to be an amazing said Leibovitz, who was John assistant at Temple for 10 seasons. are people coming out of the woodwork to come see us.

There will be hundreds of people in the stands wearing The Leibovitzes the only Hawks with Philadelphia ties. Hartford associate coach John Gallagher played at St. and was an assistant at La Salle. Assistant coach Chris Gerlufsen is a Philadelphia native, and players Joe Zeglinski and Anthony Minor went to high school in the city. going to be said Leibovitz, a Penn graduate.

going to be hard. The place will be rocking. We just have to give it the best we can, try to hang around and see if we can steal Chaney and Leibovitz talk frequently, but the retired Temple coach will not be at the game. said he want to take away from my Leibovitz said. The Hawks have made 30 three-pointers in their past two games, including a school-record 17 at North Texas Saturday.

Improved Grade On The Hartford team played a poor defensive game in a 72-60 loss to UMass Dec. 1. Eleven days later, the Hawks played one of their better defensive games in a while in defeating Marist, 49-32. UMass was kind of the turning coach Jen Rizzotti said. had four full days to really get after it after that game.

We really focused on it a lot in the St. game. We made a commitment to Hartford (9-2) is 3-0 since the UMass loss, beating St. (64-62) and Hofstra (73-42) at home before breaking 26-game home win streak Wednesday. rotated our zone was Rizzotti said.

were very happy with Hartford shoot well in the first half (25 percent), but Marist shot worse (23.8) and Hartford led 19-14 at halftime. going to have nights where we shoot the ball Rizzotti said. long as our defense is good, be Hartford is off for exams through Dec. 22, when the Hawks play No. 21 Michigan State (7-2) at 2 p.m.

at Chase Arena. Top Despite missing the final eight games because of a knee injury, Quinnipiac guard Erin Kerner was named to the Northeast Conference second team last season. She looks like on her way to moving on up. She leads the Bobcats (6-1) in scoring, (16.4), three-pointers (15) and assists (3.7). She ranks third in the NEC in three-point percentage (44.4) and fifth in scoring.

Contact Tom Yantz at Courant staff writers Tommy Hine and Lori Riley contributed to this report Young Devil Possessed Going For Rebounds By TOM YANTZ COURANT STAFF WRITER STATE NOTEBOOK hatever happens at Arizona this season and beyond, you get the feeling the 2007-08 Wildcats have a capable interim head coach in Kevin The Wildcats (6-2) have responded to him in a big way and raised a lot of eyebrows Saturday with a 78-72 overtime victory against Illinois at the United Center in Chicago. This young team, without Hall of Famer Lute Olson guiding them, erased a 12-0 deficit to beat the Fighting Illini, one of the hottest teams in the country at the time. The Wildcats, ranked 21st this week, have also beaten Texas and lost to mighty Kansas and Virginia by a combined seven points. The Kansas game also went to overtime and was in Lawrence. next game is Sunday at home against Fresno State (5-4).

An assistant under Olson at Arizona in the 1980s, was a head coach for 11 seasons at Marquette, Tennessee and Northwestern. He also coached for seven seasons in the NBA, including one as head coach of the Toronto Raptors. goes, toughness, defense and fire are constants. And in all honesty, those have not been traits of recent teams. partly why Olson called last spring to replace longtime assistant Jim Rosborough.

Olson is 73. He said he feels good, but still 73. There very many basketball coaches his age these days. He had all but taken off the first half of the season for personal reasons when it was made known Dec. 6, two days before the win over Illinois, that he would be on a leave of absence for the entire season.

That day, he filed for divorce from his second wife, Christine, 50. Olson and his first wife, Bobbi, were married for 47 years and had five children. Bobbi died Jan. 1, 2001, of ovarian cancer. 50, never expected to be in this situation when he decided to come back to Arizona after having discussions with good friend Steve Kerr, a former Wildcats guard, and others about getting back into the college game.

But the way has handled this adversity should have Arizona fans thinking about what the future might look like when the Silver Fox decides to call it quits for good, which figures to be soon, right? think it was going to turn into said this week. had no idea. not being was the furthest thing we never even talked about that. We never talked about what would happen if he left, and when he left; that never became part of the But it is team. was alerted by Coach and I informed the players he coming said who will be credited with the wins and losses this season.

had missed quite a bit of practice time and games and then he came back to some practices on a part-time basis. So I just said, some clarity now in this situation, not only for us but for Lute. And what we need to do is move ahead; business as And to our credit, done The Wildcats cranked it up and started rolling against a good Illinois team. But talk about overcoming adversity the Wildcats were trailing the whole game until they took a 59-58 lead with 55 seconds left. They fell behind again, and to make matters worse, the lights and scoreboard malfunctioned during the game.

Still, they pulled out the win. After all of this, the rest of the season should be a piece of cake. used the word awkward to describe the entire situation and I think actually a good said. I mean awkward as uncomfortable. just no blueprint for this type of situation.

If there is, I wish somebody would show it to me Well, there is a precedent of sorts. After one game, Rick Majerus left Utah during the 2000-01 season to be with his ill mother. He returned the next season (and is now at St. Louis). is known as a super recruiter.

Remember him putting on the charm while he was at Marquette to recruit Will Gates in the highly acclaimed documentary? Last season he was basically between jobs, which afforded him the opportunity to spend time with his mother, Kate, who died almost a year ago. Her death helped put life into perspective for He wanted to be a basketball coach again. And he was going to be true to who he was. Olson had called to give him another opportunity, but he was going to be Kevin good looking and said jokingly. rich and not.

So basically talking about a completely different animal here, two different personalities. But I have a great respect for what done and great respect for the Arizona tradition and why back here in the first place. But really with Lute, all he has to do is walk in a room, and I still sit up straighter. He has such a presence. more of a push, push guy, get on That style is working at Arizona right now.

The Wildcats gave up an astounding 260 three-pointers last season. This year, timely defense has been a key to the success. But they have to improve it even more. With at the helm, they just might be able to do that. Contact Desmond Conner at Absence Stop Arizona DESMOND CONNER COLLEGE BASKETBALL ASSOCIATED PRESS KEVIN has replaced Lute Olson on an interim basis at Arizona and has the Wildcats on the right track.

Freshman Corey Chandler scored 15 points in a return to his hometown and JR Inman had 14 points and 13 rebounds to lead Rutgers to a 65-55 victory over winless New Jersey Institute of Technology Thursday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. Chandler, a former Newark East Side High School standout who grew up three blocks from the new arena, was 9 of 9 from the free-throw line. The Scarlet Knights (7-3) face top-ranked North Carolina at the Rutgers Athletic Center Sunday night. NJIT (0-13) got 21 points and 11 rebounds from Kraig Peters. Rutgers won despite shooting 33 percent from the floor (18-of-54) and going six minutes in the second half without a field goal.

But the Scarlet Knights went 25 of 34 at the free-throw line. Women No. 1 Tennessee 84, Middle Tennessee 61: Candace Parker had a season-high 34 points and 13 rebounds and Alexis Hornbuckle scored 17 points to help Tennessee defeat Middle Tennessee in Knoxville. Parker set a Tennessee record by taking 21 free throws. She made 17.

Alex Fuller added 16 points and seven rebounds for Tennessee (8-0), which played its first game in more than a week after a break for exams. Amber Holt led the Blue Raiders (3-5), who played their sixth road game of the season, with 28 points and five assists. It was Middle first game since Dec. 5. Freshman Chandler Leads Rutgers Associated Press NATION.