[media-credit name=”Akira Suwa The Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT Campus” align=”alignleft” width=”300″] Charlie Manuel speaks with the media Aug. 16 after being fired as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies by the team’s general manager, Ruben Amaro Jr., left, who wipes away tears. Ryne Sandberg has taken over for Manuel on an interim basis.

During the Aug. 17 Philadelphia Phillies game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, there were chants being yelled throughout Citizens Bank Park.

“Fire Ruben! Fire Ruben! Fire Ruben!”

The fans were showing their support for recently fired Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and their strong disapproval of the job being done by General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr.

While Manuel has never been the best at in-game strategies, he is quite good at getting the most out of the players he has. Throughout baseball, he is known as a player’s coach; that is his strength, and he has maximized that strength throughout his baseball career. If he were given the players, he would extract the best out of them, whatever the result may be.

Over the past two seasons, Manuel was given an average roster at best. As a result of his past success, he was asked to transform the unit into a championship team. Manuel couldn’t and was formally relieved of his duties Aug. 16. As it is throughout sports, if you don’t win on a consistent basis, you will be out of a job.

Manuel leaves the Phillies as the best manager the team has ever had. His 780 wins with the Phillies are the most in franchise history. He has five National League East division titles, one of which came in 2011 when he led the team to a franchise record 102 regular-season wins. He led the team to two National League titles in 2008 and 2009, and most importantly a World Series win in 2008.

Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Chase Utley said, “I love Charlie Manuel, on the field and off. I wanted to play my entire career for him.”

However, the Phillies’ failures over the past two seasons have not been entirely Manuel’s fault. The longtime manager was fired because of the mistakes of Amaro, who has taken excellent talent that was found and developed under former general managers Ed Wade and Pat Gillick and turned the Phillies into a team of mostly 30-year-olds who are well past their prime.

Injuries have been a major reason why the Phillies have struggled over the past two seasons. Stars Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay and Chase Utley have barely been on the field, and even when they have been, their performances have not matched expected production. All three of them have been injured this season, which has contributed to the disastrousness of the season, along with injuries to Ben Revere and Mike Adams and Carlos Ruiz’s 25-game drug suspension.

Despite those injuries, Amaro is responsible for assembling the second-worst bullpen in all of baseball. He also needs to answer why he thought “The Delmon Young Experiment” would work. It was pointed out by baseball writer Bob Whalon, “It speaks volumes that Young hasn’t even signed on with another team since the Phillies released him, while the Cubs were able to get a prospect in a trade for Alfonso Soriano.”

Amaro has made some flashy moves in his time as GM like signing Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon and Halladay. However, it has been his reluctance to get younger and build a farm system that could contain the core of the next generation of Phillies, and this has resulted in a poor product being put on the field and is why the future seems less optimistic for the Philadelphia faithful.

That’s where the essential problem lies; Amaro isn’t really a good judge of talent. He just has a virtually limitless payroll, which will grow even larger with the new television deal that the Phillies will sign in a couple of years. Amaro has given Howard and Papelbon contracts that are virtually untradeable, and Jimmy Rollins is a shortstop who is quickly declining.

Proof of Amaro’s inability to judge talent can be found when evaluating the Cliff Lee trade before the 2010 season for Phillippe Aumont, J.C. Ramirez and Tyson Gillies, three players who have amounted to basically nothing for the Phillies. The core of the greatest era in franchise history — Howard, Rollins, Utley and Hamels — was drafted under Wade. It’s not a coincidence that the team’s drafting has suffered since Amaro was chosen to be the Phillies GM.

Charlie Manuel gave his entire life to the game of baseball, and it’s a shame that he’s being made a scapegoat for the mistakes of Amaro. He deserved better. Unless he suddenly learns how to judge talent or gets fired — the latter seems more likely — the crowds at Citizens Bank Park will surely continue to plead to Phillies management.

“Fire Ruben!”

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[media-credit name=”Rolando Otero Sun Sentinel/MCT Campus” align=”alignleft” width=”287″] AC Milan’s Mario Balotelli, right, tries to break free of Los Angeles Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez in first-half action in the third-place game of the International Champions Cup at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Aug. 7.

Over the course of the past two weeks, soccer has become a popular topic in the United States. At the Major League Soccer All-Star Game, MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that there would be four more teams added to the league.

“As MLS enters a period of accelerated growth,” Garber explained, “the addition of new teams will allow us to expand our geographic coverage, grow our fan base and help us achieve our vision of being among the best leagues in the world by 2022.”

Along with the addition of the new MLS teams, U.S.-born international player Clint Dempsey completed a $9-million transfer to the Seattle Sounders. At the age of 30, Dempsey’s four-year, $32 million deal makes him the highest-paid player in MLS history.

Finally, the International Champions Cup began in multiple cities across the U.S. The tournament brought some of the best teams in Europe, such as Real Madrid and Chelsea FC, to play in a tournament over the past two weeks, with the Los Angeles Galaxy being the lone MLS team in the tournament. The matches were played all across the country in cities such as Indianapolis, San Francisco and Phoenix.

The semifinals of the ICC were held Aug. 4 in East Rutherford, N.J., at MetLife Stadium. Valencia and Inter Milan were competing for the right to play in the fifth-place match, while Chelsea and AC Milan played for a berth in the championship match.

Over 39,000 people were at MetLife Stadium to watch all four teams play. Valencia was led by midfielder Jonathan Viera’s two goals as they defeated Inter Milan 4-0 in the first match, while an early Kevin De Bruyne goal and late extra-time Andre Schurrle goal gave Chelsea a 2-0 victory against AC Milan.

With the victory, Chelsea and manager Jose Mourinho advanced to face Mourinho’s former team, Real Madrid, for the championship. Mourinho, who is never one to shy away from controversy, took the high road when asked about his feelings about facing his former team. In the championship match, Real Madrid defeated Chelsea by a score of 3-1, led by two goals from superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

“It’s the best for us because we want to play against the best teams,” Mourinho said after the victory against AC Milan. “To play Real [Madrid] is the best thing that could’ve happened.”

The response to the ICC matches being held in the U.S. has been tremendous, with crowds of over 30,000 attending each and every match. With the growing profile of MLS and soccer in the country, even more matches of this scale will be played in the U.S. in the future. One of the topics of discussion among ICC organizers was which cities could hold future tournaments.

Lincoln Financial Field is one of the locations being looked at as a host stadium possibility when the ICC returns to the U.S. next year. Philadelphia fits the type of city the ICC looks for when choosing a location, as the population in the area allows the organizers to attract strong soccer fans and casual fans alike. The Linc would be ideal because not only does it have the dimensions to hold a soccer match, but it also has the capacity to hold over 68,000 people. And judging by the high attendance at ICC matches this year, it would be an ideal location.

The inaugural season for the ICC has been a success in the U.S. Soccer fans from all parts of the country are being given an opportunity to see the top teams from around the world in their neighborhoods. Watching these teams play is an opportunity of a lifetime, and if Philadelphia is chosen for next year, fans from our region will be treated to a soccer experience like no other.

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Curt Flood is a name that gets lost in the annals of sports history. His name becomes forgotten because his performance on the field pales in comparison to his accomplishment off the field. Flood, the former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, challenged Major League Baseball’s reserve clause in 1969 and changed the way professional athletes are paid in the United States by helping to usher in the notion of free agency.

During his battle with MLB, Flood faced a significant amount of criticism among his peers and from those outside of baseball for trying to change the status quo. He was a baseball player and was living every young boy’s dream.

The same could be said about collegiate student-athletes. Many Division I athletes have a significant portion — if not all — of their room and board, tuition, and other expenses paid for by their school. However, greed is not the major factor when it comes to college athletes challenging the NCAA.

It’s about the celebrated employees — the student-athletes — in a multibillion-dollar business having the opportunity to share in the revenues of the NCAA as they continue to increase. It was the NCAA and various university presidents and boards of trustees that decided to turn collegiate athletics into big business, not the student-athletes. As a result of the increasing revenues, everyone in the NCAA has financially benefited. However, the NCAA is at a crossroads with how it does business.

In June, Judge Claudia Wilken told plaintiffs’ attorneys in former University of California, Los Angeles basketball player Ed O’Bannon’s suit against the NCAA, Electronic Arts and the Collegiate Licensing Co. that if they wanted to include current college athletes in their proposed class-action lawsuit, they would have to add at least one current student-athlete. Last week they found their own Curt Flood: actually, six of them.

University of Arizona middle linebacker Jake Fischer, Arizona kicker Jake Smith, Clemson University cornerback Darius Robinson, Vanderbilt University middle linebacker Chase Garnham, University of Minnesota wide receiver Victor Keise, and Minnesota tight end Moses Alipate were all named as additional plaintiffs in the O’Bannon lawsuit.

If Wilken certifies a class that includes current and former players, as described by O’Bannon’s attorney, Michael Hausfeld, the focus of the case would shift from the use of former players’ likenesses in video games and videos to the lucrative media rights deals between television networks, video game companies, and the NCAA conferences and universities. Potential damages could increase dramatically, and the NCAA would be forced to defend its concept of amateurism in court. Plaintiffs would seek a new revenue distribution model that would allow players to receive a specific portion of the revenue generated by broadcast rights.

Hausfeld expressed concern that the NCAA would react harshly against current student-athlete plaintiffs by investigating them or by restricting eligibility. This is an accusation that the NCAA has vehemently denied.

“Your July 8, 2013, request for a stipulation regarding hypothetical ‘retaliation’ against plaintiffs is completely unnecessary and, given the NCAA’s prior representations on this topic, offensive,” NCAA attorney Gregory Curtner said.

If the class-action suit is certified and the plaintiffs win this case against the NCAA, EA Sports and the Collegiate Licensing Co., they are then entitled to a piece of the billions of dollars that the NCAA and its universities rake in every year. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament contract averages $770 million per year. The college football playoff and its fellow bowl games just signed a deal with ESPN for $5.6 billion over 12 years.

These numbers don’t include the hundreds of millions of dollars that the conferences make by selling their own individual television rights. Including current players in this lawsuit has made the potential damages jump from millions of dollars to billions if the NCAA loses. A decision is expected later this summer to see if Wilken decides to certify this class. Her decision will have a lasting impact on past, present and future student-athletes.

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[media-credit name=”Steven M. Falk Philadelphia Daily News/MCT Campus” align=”alignleft” width=”230″] Philadelphia 76ers guard Jrue Holiday drives to the basket against Milwaukee Bucks
center Larry Sanders at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia March 27.

Last offseason the Philadelphia 76ers were celebrating the arrival of 7-foot All-Star center Andrew Bynum and sharpshooter Jason Richardson. Bynum and Richardson were greeted to roaring crowds while Sixers fans dreamed of a playoff run led by their new big man and budding young star Jrue Holiday.

Fast-forward to the present day, just a few weeks after the NBA Finals, and the Sixers offseason is already much different than last year’s. The 2013 offseason began when the Sixers made changes within their front office. CEO Adam Aron and General Manager Tony DiLeo were both replaced. Replacing Aron is Scott O’Neil, the former president of Madison Square Garden. The more interesting decision was hiring Sam Hinkie as the new GM. Hinkie comes from the Houston Rockets, where he was the executive vice president of basketball operations.

While in Houston, Hinkie learned under Daryl Morey, who is widely regarded as one of the best GMs in the NBA. In Houston, Morey and Hinkie helped turn the Rockets from a team in the middle of the pack of the Western Conference to one of the best teams in the West. The Sixers are betting that Hinkie can use the model that Morey used in Houston to turn them around. In Houston, Hinkie learned to gain as many assets as possible in order to create space within the cap, and most importantly, improve through the draft. Hinkie spoke about the Sixers and the direction in which they were headed during his opening press conference.

“The ownership here and the people in this organization have a real commitment to build something lasting and to build something big. Sometimes that requires taking risks. Often it requires doing things a lot differently here and there, and I think you’ve seen some of that play out. I think [draft night] is a summation of the kinds of things we’ll have to do moving forward. Try to find more players to be a pipeline of talent,” Hinkie said.

Hinkie’s moves this offseason show that he is using that same model to reshape the Sixers for the future. First came the 2013 NBA Draft, where the Sixers traded Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans for the No. 6 overall pick, University of Kentucky center Nerlens Noel, and a protected first-round pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. With the No. 11 overall pick, Hinkie drafted Syracuse University point guard Michael Carter-Williams.

The trade of Holiday will be a setback for the Sixers initially, but they were never going to be contenders with Holiday and the current Sixers roster. Meanwhile, Carter-Williams and Noel will be used as building blocks for a new Sixers team. However, the key prize of the Sixers offseason is the protected first round pick in 2014. Next year’s draft has been widely regarded as one of the best in years, with multiple potential franchise-changing players.

In free agency, the Sixers have been fairly quiet and not making any significant moves, playing it smart as many expiring contracts will be removed from their books after next season. Two of the expiring contracts include centers Spencer Hawes and Kwame Brown. The goal is to create enough cap space in order to sign a big-name free agent in the 2014 offseason. The potential free agents in 2014 include LeBron James, Paul George, Greg Monroe and DeMarcus Cousins.

The Sixers will be a team that struggles in the 2013-14 season, but their future looks bright. Fans should be excited about what Hinkie is attempting to do. Every move he makes comes with an obvious risk; however, trying something new and failing is better than the alternative of mediocrity, which is what Sixers fans have been accustomed to over the past few seasons.

The recent string of moves have given the Sixers an opportunity for a bright future. While playing the waiting game may not be appealing to some fans, it all comes down to whether you believe that the Sixers can come away from this rebuilding process as a good team. If you do, then there are many reasons to be excited about Sam Hinkie and the future of this franchise.

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Sophomore shooting guard Meghan Creighton attempts a foul shot during Drexel’s 67-57 WNIT win over the University of Florida. Creighton will assume a bigger role on the team next season as one of only two returning starters.

Coming off a 2012-13 season in which the Drexel women’s basketball team won the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, Athletic Director Eric Zillmer announced May 30 that head coach Denise Dillon has agreed to a multiyear contract extension that will keep her at the school through 2020.

The contract extension is not only for the record-breaking season that Dillon and her Dragons team had this past season. It is also to reward the winningest coach in Drexel history who has raised the bar of performance for the past five seasons. During that time, Dillon has guided the Dragons to the postseason every year, including a Colonial Athletic Association Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament berth in 2009. The Dragons qualified for the WNIT in each of the following four seasons. In 2012, Drexel won its first-ever postseason game under Dillon in the first round of the WNIT. Dillon followed that victory in the WNIT with the memorable championship run in 2013.

“Denise has led our women’s basketball team on an incredible run over the past few years, capped off by this year’s historic WNIT victory,” Jim Tucker, senior vice president for Student Life and Administrative Services, said to drexeldragons.com. “I’m pleased that she will be staying with the Dragons and confident that she will continue to do great things with this talented team.”

“I’m very glad I get to continue coaching here. I wanted to be a part of Drexel as long as I can, and I’m thankful Drexel was able to make that happen,” Dillon said of her new contract. Dillon is a two-time CAA Coach of the Year, once in 2005 and again in 2009. Only five coaches have won 100 regular-season games in the CAA, and Dillon is one of them.

There will be new challenges facing Dillon in the first year of her new contract. The Dragons will lose key contributors due to graduation. First-team All-CAA guard Hollie Mershon, third-team All-CAA forward Taylor Wootton, leading shot blocker Nicki Jones and defensive stopper Renee Johnson-Allen will no longer be part of the team. Aside from guard Meghan Creighton, no other player in the starting five of the WNIT Championship Game will return. Other players will have to improve their game and step up to replace the production that will be lost.

“It’s an opportunity for them to step up. Fiona [Flanagan], Abby [Redick], and Tory [Thierolf] have to lead this team now; it’s their turn,” Dillon said.

The Dragons have been one of the top defensive teams in the country, ranking in the top 10 in both 2011 and 2012. Defensively, the Dragons always play well together and are strong on the defensive end, but it is the offense that most worries Dillon.

Mershon and Wootton, the team’s two leading scorers, leave tough holes to fill. However, the Dragons will be bolstered by the return of junior forward Jackie Schluth, a player whom Dillon believes will be a key contributor to the team next season.

“We are looking forward to the return of Jackie. She’s worked hard, and we are looking forward to getting her back on the court,” Dillon said of Schluth, who missed last season due to a knee injury.

New recruits, who will look to bring versatility, flexibility and scoring to an already formidable Drexel team, will also bolster the Dragons.

Alexis Smith from Calvert High School in Maryland is a combo guard who brings a scorer’s mentality to the team. Forward Sarah Curran will be the third player from Archbishop Carroll High School in Wayne, Pa., playing for Drexel this season. The final addition to the team is guard and forward Florence Outtara, a product of Life Center Academy in New Jersey.

“Losing so much in the senior class, we are going to count on the freshmen to make an impact and play some meaningful minutes,” Dillon said .

Over the years, the Dragons teams have had players who complemented each other. This upcoming season will be no different, as Dillon has recruited players to complement her existing core. That core next season will be led by senior Fiona Flanagan and Abby Redick, both of whom will be looking to continue the legacy of raising the bar and leaving their mark as Drexel Dragons.

The post Dillon signs extension through 2020 appeared first on The Triangle.

At a time when Rutgers University should be finding ways to make an impact in its new conference, the Big Ten, the school is instead trying to right the ship that is sinking amid many controversies and allegations over the past two months.

Former Rutgers men’s basketball coach Mike Rice came under fire April 3 when ESPN aired Rutgers practice videos showing him verbally and physically abusing players. Following the firing of Rice, Tim Pernetti, the man responsible for the university’s celebrated move to the Big Ten, resigned as Rutgers’ athletic director.

To replace Pernetti, Julie Hermann was hired May 15 to clean up the Rutgers athletic program. Hermann was previously the No. 2 athletic administrator at the University of Louisville. Hermann, however, has also found herself in controversy. The Newark Star-Ledger reported that Hermann quit as the University of Tennessee women’s volleyball coach 16 years ago after her players submitted a letter complaining that she abused the team emotionally and caused fear and humiliation.

The players wrote in the letter, “The mental cruelty that we as a team have suffered is unbearable.” The letter, submitted by all 15 team members, went on to say that Hermann called them “whores, alcoholics and learning-disabled.”

“It has been unanimously decided that this is an irreconcilable issue,” the women added in the letter. In the report, the players told The Star-Ledger that Hermann’s response was, “I choose not to coach you guys.”

Hermann has denied the allegations, saying, “It’s absolutely not true that I referred to them with any name-calling like that. That’s not part of my vocabulary.”

Hermann proceeded to say, “Am I an intense coach? Absolutely, as many coaches are. There’s a big canyon between being super intense and abuse. This was not an abusive environment. Was it challenging? Yes. It was incredibly challenging. Was I aware players were unhappy? I was unaware by the end of the season. We had so many challenges with this group of women.”

The Star-Ledger asked Hermann about the players’ lingering grievances, to which she responded, “I never heard any of this, never name-calling them or anything like that whatsoever. None of this is familiar to me.”

Rutgers President Robert Barchi issued a vote of confidence for Hermann through a statement: “We remain confident that we have selected an individual who will work in the best interests of all of our student athletes, our athletics teams and the university.”

The vote of confidence came before The New York Times released a report May 28 of a lawsuit brought against Hermann while she was at the University of Louisville in 2008. According to the report, assistant track and field coach Mary Banker approached Hermann, who at that time was the senior athletic administrator at Louisville, about what she thought was sexist behavior and “discriminatory treatment” by head coach Ron Mann. After taking her concerns to human resources, Banker was fired within three weeks.

Hermann’s tenure as athletic director at Rutgers could come to an end before it barely even started. It will be interesting to see how the Scarlet Knights handle this scenario. They can choose to stand by Hermann; however, if allegations prove to be correct, they will be standing by the very type of individual they got rid of only two months ago in Mike Rice. The tragedy of the Hermann controversy is that Rutgers should have learned its lesson from the Mike Rice situation. Rutgers should have, at the very least, picked an individual with an unblemished record of caring for student-athletes.

The decision to hire Hermann seems rushed and poorly handled. It also reflects poorly on university President Robert Barchi. Rutgers is struggling to find the right answers as to whether to stand by Hermann or once again start the process of finding a new athletic director. Once the university decides who will lead the athletic program, the process of displaying the leadership that has been lacking there over the past few months will begin anew.

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Lea Winkler is the top recruit for the Drexel women’s tennis team going into the 2013 season. Winkler, a native of Switzerland, is the 68th-ranked player in the country.

The 2012-2013 season for the Drexel men’s and women’s tennis teams was a successful year under head coach Mehdi Rhazali. Last year, Rhazali was promoted to head coach of a Dragons program looking to make a mark within the Colonial Athletic Association. In a short period of time, Rhazali has made an initial mark and now has his eyes set on bigger and better things for the program.

Heading into the 2013 fall season, the men’s team will look to build upon a strong winter campaign. In the winter, the men’s team defeated Temple University for the first time since 2008 and they reached the semi-finals of the CAA Championships for the first time. They will return nine out of the ten players on the roster from last season, all of whom have match experience.

Drexel is led by junior Badr Ouabdelmoumen and senior Skyler Davis. Ouabdelmoumen was an All-CAA First Team selection after winning eight singles and six doubles matches. In conference play, he led the team in its first ever victory over the University of Delaware by a score of 4-3, capturing both his doubles and singles matches.

The men ended their season with an 8-5 record and a 2-1 record in the CAA. Rhazali will be releasing information on his recruiting class in the upcoming weeks, but has promised to build upon the men’s strong season.

The women’s team also returns key contributors on a 9-7 Dragons team that reached the quarterfinals of the CAA Championships. The women are led by senior Zeynep Mafa, who earned All-CAA First Team honors last season. Mafa led the team with nine singles and eight doubles wins throughout the course of the season.

Fellow senior Marcela Rosales and junior Nicole Pivonka will also look to make strong impacts in the fall after excellent spring performances. Pivonka received All-CAA Second Team honors last year along with graduating senior Emma Brook. Rosales was named to the All-CAA Third Team for her doubles performance this year.

Rhazali will bolster the women’s team by adding two highly touted recruits. Lea Winkler from Switzerland is the 68th-ranked player in the country and top-15 for her age group.

“Lea is a very good defender with great touch and a great net game,” Rhazali praised of the incoming freshman.

Joining Winkler next season will be four-star recruit Fiorella Coria from California. Coria also ranked No. 96 in the country in the class of 2013.

“Fiorella is a lefty, all-court player with a lot of match play experience,” Rhazali commented on the West Coast arrival.

“I’m expecting them to help us go to the next level, which would [mean] going further in the CAA Championships, [as well as] getting more CAA academic and athletic recognitions,” Rhazali said. “Both of them are the right fit for this school. They are really smart and talented girls.”

“Academics are one of the biggest things for me because I want them to succeed in life as well as on the court and they can do that,” Rhazali said.

Several of the current Drexel student-athletes will be helping Rhazali with a tennis camp being held  this summer. After the camp, the Dragons will kick off their fall season in October as they look to further their growth in the CAA.

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Two members of the Drexel men’s golf team were honored for their contributions to the team this season. Head coach Mike Dynda was voted the Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year, and freshman Christopher Crawford was voted CAA Rookie of the Year. Crawford was also named Second Team All-CAA.

Their awards reflect the success achieved by the Dragons as they capped a successful season with a fourth-place finish at the CAA Championship. It was the highest finish for Drexel in the Championship since joining the CAA in 2002.

In his 10th season as head coach, Dynda led the team to five top-five finishes, including a victory Sept. 24 in the Swarthmore Open in Wilmington, Del. The team was in first place at the end of the first day of competition at the CAA Championship before falling to fourth by Sunday.

“Personally, it means a great deal, but obviously nothing can be accomplished without the unity of a team,” Dynda said of receiving the award. “At the CAAs, the Delaware coach came to me and said, ‘Your kids have made the greatest improvements,’ which is true. They continually strive to improve in all facets, including school and golf.”

The standout performer for the Dragons’ season was Crawford, who had one of the best first-year campaigns in Drexel history. Crawford’s 74-stroke average was the best by a Dragon in four years, and he claimed two individual victories this season. He finished first out of 60 golfers in the Swarthmore Invitational and first in the Lafayette Invitational out of 105 golfers. Crawford had seven individual top-10 finishes.

“This award is truly tremendous for him,” Dynda said of his freshman golfer. “He will keep getting better. … There are many more victories to come.”

Crawford had three rounds of scoring 70 or fewer this season, including a career-best 67 at the George Mason Invitational. The 67 is the best one-round score by a Dragon in the last four years. Crawford finished an outstanding rookie season by placing 13th at the CAA Championship. The Bensalem, Pa. native, who attended Holy Ghost Preparatory School, fired an opening-round 72 and was in second place after his first round.

This was by far the Dragons’ most successful season in Dynda’s 10 years as head coach. With Crawford returning only as a sophomore, Dynda will look to improve on his team’s performances and take his players to new heights in upcoming years.

The post Crawford earns CAA Rookie of the Year award appeared first on The Triangle.

In his first year in charge of making draft decisions for the Philadelphia Eagles, head coach Chip Kelly chose pieces that he hopes can become the foundation for a winning formula in Philadelphia.

Coming from the University of Oregon, Kelly is known for his innovative offense, so it came as no surprise that his first pick was an offensive player. The Eagles drafted versatile offensive lineman Lane Johnson from the University of Oklahoma with the fourth overall pick. Kelly continued to stay on the offensive side of the ball by drafting Stanford University tight end Zach Ertz in the second round. Because Kelly’s coaching style is dependent on a creative offense, drafting two players on that side of the football with his first two picks was expected, even for an Eagles team that is in dire need of improving a defense that was ranked 18th in the National Football League.

Kelly finally addressed some defensive moves in the third round by drafting interior defensive lineman Bennie Logan from Louisiana State University. Then, Kelly’s fourth-round choice sent shockwaves throughout Philadelphia and the rest of the NFL, as the Eagles traded up to draft University of Southern California quarterback Matt Barkley. No one knows what Kelly’s ultimate plan is for this team, but it seems as though he has added an offensive lineman, tight end and quarterback that could be the building blocks for the offense for years to come.

“We were very specific,” Kelly said in a press conference following the draft. “I think you have to be, because there has to be a certain level that you bring in here. If you constantly take the overachiever at every position, you’re going to be too small.”

The rest of the Eagles’ draft focused on the defense. They drafted North Carolina State University safety Earl Wolff, The University of Utah outside linebacker Joe Kruger, Oregon cornerback Jordan Poyer and Oklahoma defensive end David King to round out the draft. Poyer could prove to be a steal with the 218th pick, as many scouts had a second-round grade on him even after questions about his speed arose.

In this draft, the Eagles and Kelly went after players from big-time programs. Every pick was from the Big 12, Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference or Pac-12. Comparatively, under former head coach Andy Reid, the Eagles drafted a player from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision or lower in five of the last eight drafts. Sometimes teams can find a player that can contribute to a team from those smaller schools. However, it is far more unlikely that one of them will turn out to be somebody like Victor Cruz from the University of Massachusetts Amherst or Jeremiah Trotter from Stephen F. Austin State University.

“I think you still have to adhere to the fact that we wanted to get bigger, and we felt like we did,” Kelly said. “I think size is important, but there’s not one factor that overrides the other. I think you have to look at the whole package when you’re making those decisions.”

Some of the Eagles’ draft picks this year have valid concerns. Barkley, for example, is coming off shoulder surgery, and his arm strength is in question. However, it speaks volumes to the existing options that Kelly has inherited here in Philadelphia. By adding Barkley, Kelly has sent a message to quarterbacks Michael Vick and last year’s season-ending starter Nick Foles.

Chip Kelly has yet to coach a game in Philadelphia, but for the first time in a long time, Eagles fans have a chance to feel excited about the man putting together the building blocks of the franchise.

The post Kelly completes first draft as Eagles coach appeared first on The Triangle.

Closing out their golf season at the Colonial Athletic Association Championship in Southport, N.C., the Drexel men’s golf team had its best finish ever in the tournament. The Dragons finished fourth overall, but the highlight was holding the lead after round 1. Unfortunately, head coach Mike Dynda and his team could not keep this lead and faltered back for a fourth-place finish after the third and final round.

“This was our best finish in my 10 years at Drexel, so that’s pretty good,” Dynda said of his team’s overall performance.

Dynda sent out four seniors and one freshman to compete in the tournament. Leading the Dragons throughout the tournament was senior James Braunsberg, who finished tied for 10th place in his final tournament as a Dragon. The senior from Plymouth Meeting, Pa., shot 71-76-81 for a three-day score of 228. The 71 Braunsberg shot on the first day tied him for first place along with Alex Hicks of The College of William & Mary.

Christopher Crawford shot a 230, good for 13th place in the final event of his freshman year. Crawford, who was the Dragons’ top golfer all season long, was inconsistent in his final tournament of the season. Crawford started well by shooting a 72 on the first day, which placed him second overall. However, he could not hold on to the momentum and faltered, as he shot a 77 and 81 on the second and third days of competition, respectively.

“We were in a position we have never been before,” Dynda said of his team’s ability to maintain the lead. “It was tough adjusting and learning how to handle being in the lead.”

Seniors Benjamin Feld, Andrew Lawson and Billy Reube were also competing in their last tournament for Drexel. Feld finished right after Crawford, tied for 14th place, by shooting 77-80-74 for a total score of 231. Lawson completed the tournament tied for 18th place, shooting 83-78-73 for a combined score of 234. Finally, there was Reube, who was a late addition and only competed in days 2 and 3 of the tournament. His combined two-day score was 163 after he shot 80-83 for the second and third rounds.

Dynda knew that cracking the top three would be a tough task for his team. Throughout the entire tournament there were opportunities for the Dragons to accomplish their goal, but the unfamiliarity with being in contention got the best of the team. Further proof of that mental obstacle was that Crawford, Braunsberg and Feld were all in the top 10 heading into the final nine holes on Sunday.

“I think this shows that we have the potential to hang with the other programs in the CAA,” Dynda said.

Coming off his team’s best finish ever at the CAA Championship, Dynda said he believes that his team can get better and will be looking to prove that next year. As a result of Drexel’s strong showing in the tournament, Dynda and the team received praise from fans everywhere, including Drexel Athletic Director Eric Zillmer.

“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who was watching online [for] the texts and calls,” Dynda said. “Because they really meant a lot to us.”

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