Published: July 21, 2008 11:44 pm         

Ramblin' Reck: College football season right around corner

TERRE HAUTE — It may be later than you think. College football teams report for practice later this month and begin the 2008 season next month.

Coaches and media who cover the Missouri Valley (formerly Gateway) will meet in St. Louis today with the preseason picks being made.

Indiana State won’t be picked that high this year but could be moving up the ladder soon with Trent Miles and his staff getting ready for their first season.

Magazines specializing in college football have been on the newsstands for some time with their picks on the various conferences.

To no one’s surprise, Ohio State is picked to win the Big Ten again based on a poll based on picks made by several publications.

Wisconsin is picked second followed by 3. Illinois, 4. Penn State, 5. Michigan, 6. Iowa, 7. Michigan State, 8. Purdue, 9. Northwestern, 10. Indiana, and 11. Minnesota.

Purdue’s rank likely will serve as extra motivation for Joe Tiller, winding up his tenure at the Indiana school. Ditto for the new staff at Michigan which has not often been tabbed No. 5 in the preseason.



• Chad moves up — Chad Collins had his best finish of the season on the PGA Tour in the U.S. Bank Championship played in Milwaukee.

The linksman from Cloverdale had rounds of 69, 66, 68 and 66 to tie for 11th with an 11-under-par 269. He earned $77,000, his best check of the summer and now has earned $148,397 in his first year on the main tour.

He’s in the field for the Canadian Open this week.

Hoosier Jeff Overton made the cut in his first British Open as post-Tiger TV ratings went up with the play of Greg Norman, who made a run at the title to the delight of us old-timers and other fans of “The Shark” who once played in the Larry Bird Golf Classic.

He’s a big fan of the Boston Celtics, in case you didn’t know.



• Coaches tabbed — More coaches have been named at high schools in Illinois.

Dave Shawver is the new softball coach at Cumberland. He succeeds Sarah Lemond, who has taken a teaching position at Robinson.

Shawver formerly was an assistant at Casey under Denny Throneburg and coached the Warriors after Throneburg ended his run at the school. He had lots of success with the Warriors, compiling a record of 145-31 with four trips to the state finals, and has been helping Throneburg in his new role as coach at Lake Land College.

Cumberland, of course, competes in the Little Illini Conference with Casey. Dara Updegraff recently was named coach of the Warriors.

In another move, Robin (Downs) Karras is the new girls basketball coach at Martinsville. She served as the athletics director at the school last year and was a volunteer coach in basketball.

Karras played high school basketball at Marshall and Terre Haute South and scored 1,196 points in two seasons at Lake Land.

She succeeds Doug Dahnke as coach of the Bluestreaks.



• Tom-Cattin’ It — Purdue quarterback Curtis Painter is one of 31 players on the Davey O’Brien quarterback watch list.

• Emily Lahay of Sullivan was one of the players from the area who took part in all-star basketball action at New Castle on Saturday.

She received the mental attitude honor in 3A action while Molly Fox of Brown County was leading scorer with 14 points for the West team.

• DeAndre Thomas will continue his college basketball career at NAIA school Robert Morris. He was one of the players dismissed from the team at Indiana where he averaged 3.6 points and 1.8 rebounds as a freshman.

• Pike High School is looking for a boys basketball coach. Billy Wright resigned to take an assistant’s position at Western Illinois.

• Matt Ingel of Vincennes Rivet will play college baseball at IU. He had a 7-3 record his senior year with 136 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.73.

• Mike Vanderjagt is still kicking the football but not in the NFL. The former Colts’ ace is the kicker for Toronto in the Canadian Football League and also handles punts and kickoffs.

• Steve Cass visited Rea Park last week while the city junior tourney was in progress. He won junior titles in 1969 and 1972.

“We moved after the 1969 tourney. I wanted to show my son where I played,” he said. He was in town for the funeral of his brother, Dave, who died of a heart attack.



Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by e-mail at tm_reck@yahoo.com and by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.