The Southern Highland Reader

Football

2009-12-19 – WCU coach Dennis Wagner announces mid-term transfers: defensive back Reggie America (Coffeyville, Kan., CC/Junction City, Kan., HS); defensive lineman Walt Woolwine (Garden City, Kan., CC/Ashland, Kan., HS); offensive lineman Dan Polaski (Hargrave, Va., Academy/Long Meadow, Mass.; HS); and quarterback Casey Turner (Chesapeake, Va./Great Bridge HS). Turner is a transfer from Connecticut.

2009-12-19 – Wagner turns down Kansas.

2009-12-15 – 2010 schedule includes NC State, early date with Appalachian. Story here.

2009-11-29 – Cats sign Tuscola fullback/linebacker John Austin Chambers.

2009-11-29 – In an interview at halftime of last week’s Duquesne game, Coach Dennis Wagner told Catamount basketball broadcaster Gary Ayers that he and his staff planned to try former North Buncombe star quarterback Randy Pressley, who redshirted this year, on the defensive side of the ball in the spring.

2009-08-20 – Veteran Charlotte Observer sportswriter Tom Sorenson has climbed the stairs at E.J. Whitmire Stadium many times during his career. Here he writes about Brad Hoover, who used to run those very stairs (A hint; it’s the Observer’s annual “remember Green Bay” piece).

2009-07-24 – Former WCU standout Darius Fudge was named the Indoor Football League rookie of the year last week. Fudge, who plays for the Wichita Wild, was also a first-team all-league running back selection in the 20-team league. Fudge ran for 936 yards and 31 touchdowns this year. Also honored was Lamont Reid, another former Catamount who was a first-team linebacker for the Wild. A quick look at the Wild roster shows five former Catamounts; in addition to Fudge and Reid, there are Carlton Bailey, Kevin McAlmont and Andre Brown.

2009-07-16 – More on Bumpus from the Muskogee (OK) Phoenix:

“I’ve talked to him and he’s excited,” Muskogee coach Matt Hennesy said. “He had some injury problems at Oklahoma and was pushed back on the depth chart. He wants to get on the field. Jonte also had an offer from Cal-Poly.”

Hennesy said Bumpus, who had 92 tackles and nine sacks in his senior year (2007) at Muskogee, has three years of eligibility left. He was signed by WCU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Andy Follett, who was at Missouri State.

“(Follett) signed Jaryd Horn and Andre Anderson to Missouri State,” Hennesy said. “He recruited (Muskogee) hard and that’s how Jonte knows him.”

2009-07-14 – The Catamounts have bolstered their defensive line by bringing in Oklahoma Sooner transfer Jonte Bumpus. Story from the Oklahoman. High school info (from OU): Recorded 92 tackles and nine sacks as a senior in Oklahoma’s 6A Class … also recorded 10 tackles for loss, nine forced passes, and three fumble recoveries … named first-team all-state by The Oklahoman and Tulsa World … defensive lineman of the year in district 6A-4 … collected 96 tackles and four sacks as a junior … also a track and field athlete … coached by Matt Hennesy.

• Three-star Rivals.com
• No. 32 defensive end in the nation (Scout.com)
• No. 30 weakside defensive end in the nation (Rivals.com)
• No. 8 in Oklahoma top 30 of 2007 (Rivals.com)

2009-07-10 – Ja’Quayvin Smalls here and here.

Notes: Among the players who won’t return in the fall are a couple of very familiar names: Quintin Phillips, a senior linebacker with a nose for the ball, and Adam Hearns, an athlete who has seen time at quarterback and wide receiver. A source close to the program says that “nobody is gone that the coaches wish was still around”. More evidence that Coach Dennis Wagner’s my-way-or-the-highway philosophy applies regardless of talent level.

COLUMBIA–Wayne Tolleson, perhaps Western Carolina’s last two-sport star, played baseball and football for the Catamounts in the seventies.

He went on to a ten-year major league baseball career with the Rangers, White Sox and Yankees.

Tolleson, a Spartanburg native, has been named a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2010.

2009-12-08 – Slam Online’s Joey Whelan’s take on Western’s win at Bradley:

Western Carolina out of the SoCon took down Bradley last night, significant because the MVC is looking stacked this season and because the Catamounts are now looking pretty at 8-1, their only loss coming to Texas. The rest of the early season schedule includes the aforementioned win over the Braves, solid victories over conference opponents Furman and Wofford and the win to hang your hat on for now, an 83-77 squeaker over Duquesne. This is an offense by committee with six players averaging between six and 11 points and five averaging been four and six rebounds. It’s always hard to gauge how these hot starts can carry over into the near year, but with the type of balance Western Carolina is showing, I like them in the SoCon to make some noise.

2009-12-08 – WCU beats Bradley.

2009-12-07 -Western Carolina’s mens basketball team enters tonight’s game against Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, with six straight wins in its back pocket, and a 7-1 overall record.

The Catamounts rose today to 15th in the collegeinsider.com mid-major poll.

The Cats are coming off of consecutive league victories over Wofford and Furman, and Western is ranked 97th in the Sagarin college basketball rankings from USA Today. Bradley, which competes in the Missouri Valley Conference, is 93rd. On the other hand, the Cats are 32nd in the national RPI rankings, Bradley 86th.

Western is playing a steady — and luxurious — ten-man rotation, and has had six different high-scorers in eight games. The Catamounts have shown flashes of potential on offense, including a record-setting night from three-point territory in a victory over Duquesne, but have hung their hats on their defense. Western is forcing 21 turnovers per game, good for a nationally fifth-best turnover ratio of 7.8. The Catamounts are ranked eighth in steals.

Tonight’s game is the first of a three-year three-game series with the Braves; two in Illinois, one in Cullowhee.

2009-11-29 – WCU at #52 in the national RPI, one spot behind Bradley, who Western plays next week.

2009-11-29 – Western Carolina forced 29 turnovers in a comfortable 75-59 win Saturday at Gardner Webb. As the the Shelby Star reported, Western beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs at their own up-tempo game. Brandon Giles, a senior all-conference selection, had 24 points after a quiet start to his season. This was Larry Hunter’s first win in four tries against Gardner Webb.

2009-11-26 – WCU tops Duquesne (post)

Baseball

2009-12-09 – Baseball early signees.

2009-12-06 – The College Baseball Blog on Catamount team visit to Elida Home.

2009-07-10 – Asheville Reynolds standout picks Western.

2009-07-07 – Nice feature on pitcher Corey Martin (drafted by the Cubs) from the Yadkin Ripple.

2009-07-07 – Complete rundown of Catamounts in the minors from Catamountsports.com.

2009-07-07 – Former Catamount and recent Arizona Diamondbacks draftee Brent Greer jackin’ em in Yakima.

2009-07-07 – Ross Heffley, rising sophomore, recorded an odd stat line for the Orleans Firebirds in the prestigious Cape Cod League during a recent 9-3 win over Bourne. Heffley registered just one official at-bat, going 0-for-1. But he had three sacrifice bunts and a sacrifice fly with two RBI.

2009-07-07 – Western’s 24-23 win over Eastern Kentucky last season brought back memories of a 32-16 loss to Ohio State in Cullowhee almost three decades ago. I watched that one as a junior high kid, then about a decade later saw the Cats rally from about ten runs down with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to beat App.

Track and Field

2009-11-30 - WCU track and field releases 2010 schedule. From Catamountsports.com

2009-07-14 - Former Catamount sprinter Manteo Mitchell performs well at US National Club Championships, has decision to make. From Catamountsports.com

2009-06-03 – Senior Manteo Mitchell has received an at-large bid to the NCAA track and field championships.

2009-05-19 – Signee Brandon Hairston of Carver High in Greensboro wins two state championships. Read more here

Coach Danny Williamson’s track and field teams are fresh off another phenomenal year. The men won first at the SoCon Track and Field Championships, the women finished second.

CULLOWHEE–The online basketball publication SLAM features WCU sophomore Harouna Mutombo in this Sunday post.

Mutombo, nephew of NBA great Dikembe Mutombo, was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year last year, as well as to the SoCon All-Conference second team.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

Playing in a mid-major conference, Mutombo’s exploits were regularly outshone by the bright star that was Stephen Curry at Davidson last season. Regardless, Harouna made a huge splash in the Southern Conference leading the Catamounts in both points (14.4) and rebounds (4.6) while placing second in assists (68), steals (56) and blocks (16) and minutes (30.4).

And it didn’t stop there. After he finished up his college season, Canada Basketball invited him to train with the National Team as they prepared for the World Championship Qualifying Tournament where he would be under the tutelage of not only Team Canada’s head coach Leo Rautins but also Raptors’ Maurizio Gherardini and Cavs assistant coach Mike Malone learning the international game, even playing a few exhibition games in Spain for Canada.

In a related matter, a Texas blogger wondered last week whether Harouna would adopt his uncle’s famous finger-wagging “no-no” after blocking an opponent’s shot. That remains to be seen, we suppose.

No-no.

CULLOWHEE–Some entertaining baseball odds and ends:

• The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Mark DeFelice. DeFelice is a nice story; he played at Western more than a decade ago, spent ten years in the minor leagues, and is now doing well in his first complete year in the bigs. He’s a reliever (And a barber).
• The Northwest Arkansas Morning News on former Catamount Greg Holland, a small guy who throws big heat for the nicely-named Northwest Arkansas Naturals, a Kansas City AA affiliate in the Texas League.
• Binghamton University coach Tim Sinicki played at Western two decades ago with Keith LeClair. LeClair also went on to a distinguished coaching career at East Carolina before succumbing to Lou Gehrigs disease in 1996. Sinicki’s Bearcats play in their first-ever NCAA tourney starting this weekend, and their first opponent? East Carolina. The Greenville Daily Reflector has a nice piece on the LeClair-Sinicki friendship.
• The Asheville Citizen-Times on Western’s season.