Regular-season champion McNeese State leads all teams with five of the 11 selections to the all-academic squad. Texas State was the only other school with multiple selections as two Bobcats are named.

Joining Barbier on the infield of the all-academic team are Tyler Dugas and Bryan Cartie of McNeese State and Cody Merrell of Texas State.

Other Cowboys named to the team are Joe Hulett at catcher, Thomas Zabasky at designated hitter and outfielder Charlie Kingrey. They helped McNeese win its third SLC title by posting a 35-20 overall record and 22-8 SLC mark.

Texas State's other selection is Luke Cannon in the outfield.

Texas-San Antonio's Michael McKennon is the third outfielder named to the 2006 team. Rounding out the team are pitchers Jeremy Mizell of Southeastern Louisiana and Tim Gray of Sam Houston State.

Following is a look at the 2006 CapitalOne/SLC All-Academic Baseball Team, complete with hometowns, grade point averages and majors.

The all-academic team honors student-athletes who were selected first-team all-conference and/or named as a national all-academic recipient this year while also earning at least a 3.00 grade point average. Remaining spots on the all-academic teams are then voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors and academic/compliance administrators. Student-athletes must have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team's competition.

The student-athlete of the year is annually presented to the individual in each conference sport who achieves excellence in academics and athletics. Nominees shall have earned at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average to go along with superior athletics achievement.

2006 CAPITALONE/SLC ALL-ACADEMIC BASEBALL TEAM

• Bobby Barbier - Northwestern State - Sr. - IF - Lafayette, La. 3.58, Physical Education
• Tyler Dugas - McNeese State - Grad. - IF - Lafayette, La. 3.67, Health & Human Performance
• Cody Merrell - Texas State - Sr. - IF - Perrytown, Texas 3.31, Exercise and Sports Science
•Bryan Cartie - McNeese State - So. - IF - Meadows Place, Texas 3.20, Business/Marketing
• Joe Hulett - McNeese State - Jr. - C - Shreveport, La. 3.17, Political Science/Sociology
• Thomas Zabasky - McNeese State - Jr. - DH -Pineville, La. 3.53, Finance
•Charlie Kingrey - McNeese State - Jr. - OF - Kinder, La. 3.57, Nursing
•Michael McKennon - Texas-San Antonio - Jr. - OF -Pearland, Texas 3.43, Business
•Luke Cannon - Texas State - Sr. - OF - Crandall, Texas 3.39, Exercise and Sports Science
•Jeremy Mizell - Southeastern La. - Sr. - P - Baton Rouge, La. 3.23, Kinesiology
•Tim Gray - Sam Houston State - Jr. - P - Huntsville, Texas 3.60, Biology

By giving him a purple and gray helmet he hasn’t worn since 1975, president Lu Hardin symbolically handed over the reins of the athletic department to UCA alumnus John Thompson at a Wednesday morning news conference.

Thompson was introduced as UCA’s new Athletic Director at the conference in Wingo Hall. A Bear defensive back for two years and a 1978 graduate of the university, Thompson follows former AD Vance Strange who abruptly resigned last Friday.

Hardin said a limited search was planned at first, but Thompson quickly emerged as the strongest candidate. The Board of Trustees and Hardin felt comfortable making the hire without conducting a search. With UCA’s move to Division I, Hardin said there was no time to leave the position unfilled.

“I thought, on Saturday, that perhaps we would have a limited search, but if you have an individual with the qualifications, the desire and the work ethic then there is no need,” Hardin said. “And there is a gross misperception that you have to (conduct a search); you do not, and in many cases it’s much better not to and in this case we were very fortunate to have an individual that can step in and do the job.

“I will quote Ecclesiastes,” Hardin joked. “There is a time for a national search and a time not for a national search.”

Since 1998, Thompson has coached at six different schools. After his contract was bought out early this year by South Carolina, where he was a co-defensive coordinator on Steve Spurrier’s staff, his wife Charleen decided Conway was where they wanted to raise their two children and the family headed back to his home state.

Thompson said although he has bounced from school to school in the past – coaching at Arkansas, Northwestern State, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Southern Mississippi, Memphis, LSU, Florida, East Carolina and South Carolina – his career has come full circle and he intends on setting “deep, deep roots” in Conway and staying at his alma mater for a long time.

“We have no plans on doing anything else but working our tail off at the University of Central Arkansas and raising these children right here,” the Forrest City native said. “You know, it all started right here and I am so happy to be here and I don’t plan on doing anything else.”

Hardin said Thompson was one of five names that stood out immediately when he was looking at candidates to fill the position. Conversations were had with three or four others but Hardin took a liking to Thompson who was already living in Conway and had a lot of Division I experience.

“As the few days developed it became clear to me that coach Thompson had the extraordinary work ethic that I espouse, that he had the experience, that this was the man for the University of Central Arkansas,” Hardin said.

“This university has complete unlimited potential,” Thompson said. “But potential’s not gonna get it done. Potential doesn’t win any games – football, baseball, basketball, it doesn’t win any races it doesn’t win anything. Potential doesn’t do that. Hard work gets it done and that’s what happens and that’s what’s going to continue to happen in this office. We are going to work hard; we’re going to be attentive to every single detail. We have a lot of work to get done.”

That work includes filing a national report to the NCAA by June 1st and facilitating UCA’s move to Division I-AA and the Southland Conference. One of Thompson’s longer stops was at Northwestern State, a member of the Southland, where he was the defensive coordinator for six years. Thompson said he understands the talent level of Division I very well and will work with UCA’s coaches to have success in the Bears new conference.

“John’s a professional,” football coach Clint Conque said. “He’s the director of athletics and I’m the head football coach at this university and certainly he’s gonna be the boss and he’s got the big vision for our department. We’re just gonna do the things in our shop that have proven to be successful in recruiting, player retention, player development, academics and we’re gonna follow his leadership so we can move forward.”

Conque said he has known Thompson professionally for 15 years and their paths have crossed several times. Baseball coach Doug Clark was a coach for the Razorbacks baseball team while Thompson was there as defensive coordinator and the two developed a good relationship there.

“I’m really looking forward to being under his guidance,” Clark said. “Because he has name recognition and with this move to Division I, I think the fundraising part of it will be increased so it should be an exciting time.”

Basketball coach Rand Chappell did not know Thompson well before he came to UCA, but likes what he has seen so far.

“It’s really impressive what he’s accomplished in his career and the experiences he’s had and the people he knows both in this area and nationally,” Chappell said. “So I think it’s a great hire for us.”

Although Thompson has extensive Division I coaching experience, this will be his first job in administration. His only head coaching job was at East Carolina in the 2003 and 2004 seasons where he resigned after compiling a 3-20 record.

“I think I’ve drawn a little bit from obviously every place that I’ve been and I will use that,” Thompson said. “But I’m gonna be my own man, I will use my own administrative style – I was a head coach for a couple of years – but I have learned from everybody that I’ve ever been around.

“I take this job with a tremendous sense of pride, a tremendous sense of loyalty to this university – and it sounds so good to hear myself say that,” Thompson said. “I have chill bumps right now to talk about serving this university.”

The UCA Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Athletic Director Vance Strange at its meeting on Friday.

"When I became president, we needed some serious work to bring good will to the community," president Lu Hardin said. "I believe Vance did a great job in the community and the state. I am grateful for the work he has done for the past three years."

Prior to being named UCA AD, Strange had been in private business for 15 years. But before that he had been a football and track coach at UCA. He also coached at Henderson State, Hendrix, Austin College and the Conway school district.

Board members Dr. Michael Stanton and Randy Sims both expressed gratitude to Strange for his years of service.

"I've known Vance Strange for a long time," Stanton said. "He is always one of the most positive people I've been around. I hope he will continue to help [UCA]."

Sims said he hates to see Strange leave.

"I hate to hear about Vance's resignation," he said. "I hope he continues to support the Bears and continues to bring a positive attitude to all the games."

Hardin said in a press release that the search for a new athletic director is underway.

Frank Koon was UCA's first AD in 1955, he held the office until 1970 when Cliff Horton took over. Sid Simpson took over from 1979-81, Rex Lovell and Bill Stephens were in office from 1981-88, Stephens took the job on by himself from 1988-1999 and from 2000-2003 William Lide was AD before leaving to become commissioner of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

It was quite apparent sophomore Tim Winston wasn’t your run-of-the-mill sports fan when he showed up for his interview with The Echo wearing a shirt that prominently boasted about an event that most every other sports fan disapproved.

The shirt, complete with an illustration of the infamous container, proclaimed “I threw the cup at Ron Artest,” referring to the brawl-inspiring cup of beer that hit NBA player Artest last season. Artest went after the fan who threw the cup and the rest is history. Winston, although he really didn’t throw the cup, is trying to make a little history at UCA along with sophomore Tim Daulong.

“The Purple Haze Army is a group dedicated to the defense and protection of the University of Central Arkansas from any who by claim, action or allegiance are enemies of the University of Central Arkansas,” says the mission statement on the at top of the page of the facebook group. But how they go about defending and protecting UCA is a little unorthodox.

The Purple Haze Army is a facebook group, presently consisting of 599 UCA students, that harasses adversaries by poking opposing athletes, causing the victim to have to click on each individual poke to clear their facebook profile. And when you get poked by 600 people, it could take a while to get rid of those. But the goal of the group is not only to aggravate the opposition, but also to get UCA students fired up about the Bears and Sugar Bears.

“We go to basketball games and we realize there’s not really that big of a fan base there, it’s kinda disappointing,” Daulong said. “I was disappointed because in high school it was like standing room only. So I was really pumped about coming to college and then we got here and there’s really not that big of a fan base. So we just wanted to find a way to reach out to the rest of the student body – to let them know when games are, the results of games or whatever and to somewhat terrorize other people – it just makes it fun.”

Winston said that a few people from other schools have threatened him and the Purple Haze Army, and some UCA students have messaged him disapproving of the group that some think take it over the line. One student from Harding made it known he didn’t appreciate the attack from the Winston and his army.

“One of them was very vulgar about it because I think he was really upset.” Winston said. “I can’t remember what we called him at the soccer games but he didn’t get to play much so we made fun of him a lot. He was very vulgar about it asking us how we did in the tournament. But it was an easy reply because Harding didn’t even make it to the national tournament.”

There’s not an exact science as to who the leaders of the group send a link to poke to every member of the army. Sometimes, it’s because they simply don’t like someone.

“We attend the games and we decide on a player who’s most vulnerable to poke or who did horrible, we just want to make them feel like a jackass,” Daulong said.

Daulong and Winston, both former cross country runners at UCA, came up with the name for the group by a chant their coach used to make them scream before competing: “One, two, three, Purple Haze!”

They got some help creating the group from sophomore Cody Stone, but said he couldn’t spend as much time leading the army as the Tims do once he got a girlfriend. After Stone’s downfall freshman Amir Rostampour stepped up and can be seen at the games alongside Daulong and Winston without a shirt – something the leaders of the army want to see from a lot more people with UCA’s move to Division I.

“I’m hoping like after we leave the Purple Haze Army carries on,” Daulong said. “I think that would be an awesome tradition to start. I watch like Duke basketball games and see their fan section, like everybody’s painted. That’s what I want, that’s our goal. Right now there’s only like four of us that get really painted and get right there in the action. I’m hoping we can fill the whole student section and I hope DI will give us that opportunity.”

UCA got the signature of one of the state's best distance runners on Thursday when Justin Smith of Heber Springs inked with the Bears.

Smith, an all-conference and all-state selection in track and cross country since his freshman year, joins coach Richard Martin's team as the program begins its resurrection after a hiatus dating back to the early 90s.

Smith has a part in two state records – his sophomore year he ran on 2-mile relay teams that set state records for class AAA in both indoor (8:21) and outdoor (8:09) at the state meet. Smith's Panthers have never finished worse than second as a team at the state meet.

Smith, who has a 3.4 GPA and is one of just two seniors on the track team this year, has been a valuable leader according to HSHS coach Dale Cresswell.

“He’s a good overall student, he makes good grades and he’s a good kid,” Cresswell said of Smith. “He’s not the kind where once you turn around he’ll start walking. He leads by example. He likes running so much – this year between cross country and track I finally told him to take a week off and I think in that week he ran anyway.”

UCA should also expect a signature in the near future from Conway High runner Raven Fuller, who has offers from Oklahoma and Oklahoma State but likes the advantages UCA offers.

"Most likely I'll go to UCA and stay close to home," he said. "And UCA's talking about more money. UCA is a good school and they'll be D-I, and really I just want to get my education because I know I'm not going to run after college."

Fuller also cited coach Richard Martin as part of UCA's appeal.

"He's come to a couple of my meets and he'll talk to you like he's one of your friends," Fuller said. "He's pretty cool."

Fuller runs cross country, the 2-mile relay, the 800m run, 1-mile and 2-mile run for the Wampus Cats. And, he also suits up for the basketball team.

"UCA's looking at me just to run," he said. "Hendrix and a couple other schools looking at me to do both, but that's fine because I don't think I could do both and still keep up with my schoolwork."
Fuller even gave golf a brief shot this year, but don't expect to see him helping out Ryke Dismuke's team at UCA.

"I tried to play golf some but I figured I wasn't any good," he said. "I wanted to play every sport my senior year so I tried it, I tried it and I like it I'm just not good at it."

Fuller came in fifth overall and was the top finisher from Arkansas at the Oklahoma/Arkansas All-Star meet during the 2005 cross country season. He has been all-state in cross country since his freshman year and in track since he was a sophomore.

Echo Sports founders Kai Caddy and Josh Goff combined for 15 awards at Friday's Arkansas College Media Association awards banquet.


Goff, the editor of The Echo, won nine awards. Caddy, sports editor of The Echo, came away with six.

Goff's awards include: First place in Sports Feature Writing, First place in Sports Column Writing, Third place in Sports Story Writing, Honorable Mention in Sports Feature Writing, Honorable Mention in Sports Photography, Second place in General Column Writing, Secondplace in Editorial Writing, Second place in Feature writing and Third place in Editorial Writing.

It might not've been pretty – but it's still a win.

Despite a handful of miscues and a rare earned run given up by closer Brian Blankenship, the UCA Bears (27-13) were able to stage a three-run, 9th-inning rally to defeat the Bisons of Harding University in a non-conference game Tuesday at UCA Field.

"We weren't ready to play," UCA coach Doug Clark said. "Let's call a spade a spade. We were not ready to play – the coaches, the players. I guess we just thought we'd throw on our gloves and hats and go out there and win."

After Blankenship – who entered the game with a miniscule 0.44 ERA – allowed Harding's Ben Wimberly to score in the top of the 9th, UCA entered the home half trailing 5-3.

A sacrifice bunt by Dallas Black gave the Bears runners at second and third with just one out, and Harding opted to give an intentional pass to second baseman Jeff Mack – who was 0-for-3 in the game – to load the bases for third baseman Craig Nyborg, who was 2-for-3 entering the final at-bat.
Nyborg connected with Benincosa's 2-2 offering, sending a shot to Harding second baseman Zach Fisher. Fisher flipped the ball over to Whitaker at second for the second out, but Nyborg beat the throw to first to avoid the double play and allowed Davis to cross the plate with the winning run.

"I had played the situation out in my head," Nyborg said. "I just waited back to see the ball, and hit it."

Harding jumped out to a 4-0 lead on UCA early, scoring in each of the first three innings. The Bears' bats were silenced early by Bisons starter Brian McCrackin, who gave up just one earned run in 6.2 innings and allowed UCA just two hits through four innings – the first coming with two out in the 3rd.

UCA finally got on the board in the 6th, when Davis and Ashworth scored thanks in part to a pair of miscues by the Bisons. The Bears added their third run in the 7th on a towering homer by right fielder Chris Houk that cleared the scoreboard in left-center field with ease.

Blankenship moved to 3-1 with the win while Benincosa fell to 2-1.

Zach Barnett started the game for the Bears and lasted just two innings, giving up three hits, two
earned runs, striking out three and walking three.

In two innings of work, Benincosa allowed three runs, walked one, hit four batters and struck out none for Harding.

by Kai Caddy

UCA football coach Clint Conque's office redecoration is now complete, just like his team's first spring as a Division I-AA squad.

The Bears wrapped up spring practice last Friday night before an estimated 500 fans at Estes Stadium in the annual spring game, in which the projected first string showed why they're in that position as the first offense and first defense dominated their counterparts on the second string.

The first-string offense put on a show for the fans early and often. After the first defense held the second offense to a three and out, the first offense didn't waste much time before getting in the end zone.

After another three-and-out from the second offense, the first team only needed one play to score. Ross Brown took the handoff and broke a couple tackles and wound up in the end zone 65 yards later.

On the third drive it was more Ross Brown and Fairooz. Brown had an 11-yard run and Fairooz had a catch for 13 yards and one for 15. Transfer tight end Charles Twilley was on the receiving end of an 11-yard pass, while a couple poor defenders were on the receiving end of Twilley not wanting to go down. The drive sputtered out, though, and James Paul was called in to attempt a 46-yard field goal. Paul nailed it.

The second offense finally saw a little success on the next series. But not before transfer cornerback Tristan Jackson nearly made an acrobatic interception. On the next play, though, Marcus Smith, a transfer running back from Arkansas-Pine Bluff took off on a tough 15-yard run before being stopped. That gave the second offense its first first down of the day. But, freshman Zach Hyatt ended all that, picking off a Robby Park pass to end the half.

Just after the half, the first offense found itself in some trouble after a sack and a penalty. But on third-and-long, Nathan Brown hit Ross Brown on a screen. Ross Brown was close to the first down, but a scuffle broke out behind the play when offensive lineman Lane Freiwald threw down defensive lineman Josh Fay, hovered over him and commenced punching.

After order was restored, the first offense started its next series deep in its own territory. But Ross Brown quickly got the offense out of the shadow of its own end zone, running 35 yards for the first down. Ross Brown carried for another first down before the passing game took over. Nathan Brown hit Jones for a 12-yard pickup, then on fourth-and-eight hit Brandon Payne for a gain of 13. Nathan Brown hit Fairooz for another first down, then Ross Brown capped off the long drive with a 13-yard run.

The 13-yard run would be the last touchdown until late in the scrimmage when linebacker Quentin Maxfield scooped up a fumble and scored from 12 yards out.

Linebacker Ryan Taylor, cornerback Dathan Johnson, receiver Cameron Kinard and offensive lineman Ronnie Lee all sat out the scrimmage because of injury, but all are expected to be back for the fall.

Also returning in the fall will be linebacker Calvin Dumas, who has missed the last two seasons with injuries.

Dennis correctly guessed 37 of 63 (58.7 percent) games and was one of only three contestants to even guess a Final Four team right.

UCA's first major scrimmage as a Division IAA program on Saturday in front of a crowd of about 200 in Estes Stadium provided plenty of positives heading into the Bears' final week of spring drills.

The 75-play scrimmage was one of a situational nature. The Bears worked first string vs. first string and second string vs. second string for most of the session, but at the end the first strings proved why there were first stringers as they took on the second string.

Running back Ross Brown showed a little bit of extra speed that he accumulated sometime between the end of last season and this spring. He went 60 yards untouched after bouncing a run out to the left sideline then all the way to paydirt for the first touchdown of the scrimmage during some third down situational work.

Junior transfer tight end Charles Twilley would not go down. The big bruiser caught several passes early on and punished defenders as he fought for more yards. He scored the second touchdown of the day during redzone work when returning quarterback Nathan Brown rolled out and hit him for a 7-yard TD strike.

Transfer quarterback Robby Park saw work primarily with the second string, but also got to work with the ones. He threw some good balls and looked comfortable in the offense. He did throw one interception, but it bounced off the receivers hands right into the defender's.

When the first offense took on the second defense, they quickly showed the flair from last season when they averaged 40.1 points per game en route to a Gulf South Conference championship.

On the first play Nathan Brown hit Che Jones and Jones quickly accelerated by the entire defense and scooted 65 yards for a score. Jasper Johnson, a starting safety last season but playing on the second string defense in the scrimmage, put a big hit on All-American receiver Aaron Fairooz on the next play.

Later Nathan Brown hooked up with Fairooz as they did several times last season for a big 41-yard score.

The Bears came out of the scrimmage relatively injury free. Offensive lineman Ronnie Lee is out for the spring with a bad knee, receiver Cameron Kinard ended his spring over spring break when he broke his hand. Punter Muhammad Spreco is out for the spring with a knee injury as well.

Offensive linemen Brad Gordon and cornerback Dathan Johnson were out for the scrimmage, but will return to action this spring.

The Bears wrap up spring drills on Friday when they hold their annual Spring Game at 7 p.m. in Estes Stadium.

The Final Four is set and Matt Page was the only contestant to correctly guess two of the four teams. But Page can't win. Due to his struggles in earlier rounds he finishes the contest with 70 points.

In fact, there are only three contests left that can win this bad boy of a contest. The current leader, Nathaniel Broadway can hang on to the lead, while David Dennis and Tyler Cox can still jump into the winner's circle if things go their way on Saturday.

Broadway, who picked Florida to go to the Final Four and lose, will only win if both the Gators and UCLA fall in Saturday's seminfinals.

No one will get the huge 20-point prize for the national champion, as no one picked any of the actual Final Four teams to win it. .

If you have any questions or need to submit contact information just e-mail us at admin@getoffus.com.

The current rankings can be found on this page.

Scoring information and a better explanation of the rules is available in the March 15 Echo.

Montevallo, from the East, got to the championship after handily dispossing of Arkansas-Monticello, 80-71.

The Falcons had four players score in double figures. They were led by James Hall's 21 points. Marcus Kennedy had 20 points.

Jasper Johnson for the second day in a row hit a big shot to put the Statesmen back in the lead for good. He finished with 19 points. Travis DeGroot led the Statesmen with 24 points.

Today's men's final will tip-off at about 2:30 p.m.

The West Division No. 1 seed Lady Reddies (25-3) trailed 33-28 at halftime. That was after allowing a six-minute 15-0 run by the Braves (19-9) in the middle of the first half.

The game was back and forth for the remainder of regulation. With 26.7 seconds left to go and West Georgia leading 61-60, HSU's Shondra Bush missed a pair of free throws. Then UWG's Natasha Liggins made just one of her two free throws on the Braves next possession to give them a 62-60 lead.
The Braves then fouled Keisha Blackwell with 13.9 seconds left. She nailed both free throws. UWG was unorganized and couldn't get a final shot, thus overtime.

In the OT HSU's Rayna Hare took over and scored the first seven Lady Reddie points to push them out to a 69-64 lead.

The score stayed 69-64 for quite some time. But with 29.7 seconds left to go HSU inbounded the ball and Liggins promptly stole it and hit a 15-foot jumper while drawing the foul. She made the free throw to cut the Henderson lead to 69-67.

Hill hit a pair of free throw to extend the Lady Reddie lead to four. On the Braves next possession Collea Carter snagged her own rebound, went back up with a shot, made it and was fouled. She hit the free throw to cut the lead to one, 71-70.

Hill made two more free throws with 5.1 seconds to go to make it 73-70. The Braves had enough time to advance the ball down the court, but execution was sloppy and time ran out.

The Braves were just 2-of-10 from the field in the overtime period after shooting more than 40 percent in regulation.

Hare was struggling in the first half, but finished the game with 19 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Lady Reddies. Blackwell finished with 14 points. Ashley Perry had 10 boards for HSU.

West Georgia was led by the GSC's leading scorer, Tai Ellis, who finished wit h21 points. Liggins had 19 and Doville Gulbinaite finished with 13 points and 9 boards for the Braves.

The Braves likely earned themselves a spot in the NCAA Regionals with their win in the first round over Central Arkansas. The selections for that tournament will be announced Sunday, until then the Braves will have to sit and wait.

Henderson, on the other hand, will have its hands full tomorrow afternoon when the Lady Reddies will battle the West's No. 2 seed, Delta State, in the GSC championship game at noon.

They didn't get it. The Lady Argos (22-6) were able to force overtime with Delta State in Saturday's GSC semifinal, but the Lady Statesmen (27-2) proved to be to much in the extra period and pulled away to a 63-54 win to advance to Sunday's championship game.

With 30 seconds remaining in regulation UWF's Melissa Nafzger stepped up and drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the circle to tie the game at 50.

In overtime built a five-point advantage before the Lady Argos were able to score. UWF scored just one more time in the period and shot 20 percent. DSU scored all but two of its points from the free-throw line in overtime, going 11-of-16 from the line.

The Lady Statesmen play the winner of the Henderson State-West Georgia game tomorrow at noon.