Troy University Athletics
BLOG: Sun Belt Conference Media Days ? New Orleans
In a TroyTrojans.com first, Athletic Media Relations fourth-year student assistant Taylor Bryan will be blogging his and the rest of his travel party’s experiences on the road to the Big Easy and at the annual summertime event.
Making the trip to New Orleans for Sun Belt Media Days is Troy head coach Larry Blakeney, junior All-Sun Belt Conference linebacker Boris Lee, "The Voice of the Trojans" Barry McKnight, Director of Athletics Media Relations Ricky Hazel and Bryan.
If you have any questions you would like to have answered pertaining to Sun Belt Conference Media Days, feel free to email Taylor at bryant@troy.edu.
Tuesday - 10:27 AM
Things are starting to dwindle down here at the 2008 Sun Belt Conference Media Days and thus we have the end of this blog. We should be getting back on the road for Troy by around 11 AM.
Thanks for checking us out on TroyTrojans.com, we’ll have more blogs in the future.
Tuesday - 10:04 AM
We're doing one-on-one interviews and I got a couple of more answers from Boris in between reporters stopping by his table.
What was your first impression of Coach Blakeney?
“I would say that would be when he pulled me in the office and told me he wanted me to be a Trojan.
“This is my coach of the future. This is the man that I am about to be looking up to for the first couple of years. He shot me straight. He knew my situation. He didn’t sugar coat it. He told me Troy was going to wait for me. He made me comfortable and I knew he was going to look out for me no matter what.”
What was your impression of linebackers coach Benjy Parker?
“The biggest thing I’ve gotten from him is technique and how to do certain things and the physical part will come. I’m more of a technique kind of guy that runs to the ball and get things done. That’s the type of coach he is. He just wants someone that can get it done. I was 200 pounds playing middle linebacker but he had confidence in me.”
Tuesday ? 9:34 AM
Former Miami Head Coach and current ESPN personality Larry Coker is at the podium as the guest speaker.
His overall message dealt with staying positive and how everyone seems to be really positive about their teams and the Sun Belt. He personally also feels confident in the Sun Belt.
He also talked about Kevin Everett, the former Miami tight end who is recovering from paralysis. He referenced the Jim Valvano quote from the ESPY’s in 1994 prior to his death about never giving up.
Overall, a good speaker, Coker should bring quality insight to the ESPN broadcasts he works with.
Tuesday ? 9:17 AM
South Alabama AD Joe Gottfried just spoke for a few minutes about the state of the South Alabama football program. Something of note, USA has already signed a four-year home-and-home deal with Navy.
“First couple of years we’re going to try and get as many wins as possible,” Gottfried said.
He named off Kentucky Wesleyan, Hargrave and several others as schools they already have scheduled.
They expect to be a full-time member of the Sun Belt by 2012 with bowl-eligibility.
USA head coach Joey Jones also got up and shared a few words about his staff and the facilities they are planning on building.
Tuesday ? 9:08 AM
Good news on the bowl front. It seems that the prayers of Sun Belt football fans have finally been answered. It was just announced that the Sun Belt now has relationships with the PapaJohns.com Bowl, the PetroSun Independence Bowl and the newly-founded St. Petersburg Bowl.
Sparing you all the details, this means that if one of the conferences that is contractually obligated to send a team to one of those bowls fails to produce enough bowl-eligible teams, then the bowls would then take a Sun Belt eligible team before looking for an at-large addition.
"We wanted to get to a point where our 11 could compete with their 11 and after looking at the wins from the last year, we feel like we are at that point," Sun Belt Commissioner Wright Waters.
"We need to keep our teams regional so that we can show that we can compete and that we can bring a crowd."
All three bowl games in addition to the New Orleans Bowl are played within the Sun Belt territory. The PapaJohns.com Bowl is played at Legion Field in Birmingham, the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. and its obvious where the St. Pete Bowl is played.
So this is good news for teams such as the Trojans last year who finished 8-4 but missed out on bowl season.
Waters also spoke about the strength of conference ratings. The Sun Belt officially passed the MAC and came with in 2.4 points of passing Conference USA. In Waters words that 2.4 points could be one or two games that we could have won, but didn't. That is more good news for the conference.
Tuesday - 7:29 AM
Breakfast is at 8 AM down stairs, but before we get to that just a couple of notes on Boris Lee. One, he is a better card player than me, because his fake money held out a lot longer than mine did last night.
Two, he’s had his iPod with him since we left yesterday and I just asked him what was on it. What does Boris Lee listen to on his Ipod?
“This is Jimi Hendrix I’m listening to right now. I like Young Dro, Hendrix, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Isley Brothers,” Lee said.
“Bear [Woods, fellow linebacker and member of self-dubbed ?Killer B’s’] loaded it up for me and we have the same taste in music.”
Lee also went on to tell me how he and Woods had become really close and that actually although they grew up in two different states, they were only 30 minutes apart.
“I really like his family a lot,” Lee said. “They just treat you like you are apart of their own.”
I should have another post shortly. There supposedly is a big announcement coming this morning and former Miami coach Larry Coker is speaking so I will have a summary of both of those up.
Monday - 8:30 PM
Back From Dinner.
The Sun Belt put on a good party for everyone tonight. They rented out a riverboat on the Mississippi that came with a jazz band, authentic Cajun cuisine and faux gambling with fake money. Whoever ended up with the most fake money at the end of the night got prizes, and our own Ricky Hazel took home first prize and a nice gift basket.
It seemed like everyone had a good time with all the coaches and players attending, along with most SID’s and a fair number of media.
That’s it for day one. I’ll have some in-depth comments from Boris Lee tomorrow morning.
4:54 PM
Slow time now at Media Days. Coach Blakeney is being interviewed by Louisiana Lafayette's radio guy right now for a sports talk program he hosts in Lafayette. Boris is up in our room resting. Our next event is at 6 pm, when we load a riverboat for dinner.
4:23 PM
Just in time.
With 20 minutes to spare before Coach Blakeney's scheduled interview time, we have arrived at the Hilton on St. Charles. We have checked in and Coach Blakeney and Boris have already completed a few interviews. I'll have more after the afternoon interview session is complete. Thanks to those of you who have sent emails. I'm getting to them as fast as I can, please continue with your questions.
2:45 PM
64 Miles to Go
We are 64 miles outside of New Orleans according to the sign we just passed on I-10. It’s 2:45 pm and Coach Blakeney is expected to be at the podium at 4:10 pm. With that said it is going to be close.
I’ve been talking to Boris Lee off-and-on during the ride and I asked him if he has had a chance to play as “digital Boris Lee” in NCAA '09 yet.
He answered no, saying that he doesn’t play a lot of video games. Lucky for him, I do.What else do you guys expect? I’m a 21-year-old college student.
I proceeded to tell Boris how in year two of my legacy with Troy (of course) that Boris has four interceptions through three games against TCU, Texas Tech and Southern Miss (I made the jump to Conference USA after going 11-2 in 2008 with a Motor City Bowl win over Northern Illinois).
Boris’s response? He wasn’t impressed and his only comment was “Let me know how I finish up my senior year”
We can only hope that confidence carries over to the 2008 season and here’s to his digital performance being outshined by his physical performance.
12:42 PM
Time to make a stop.
Quick pit stop in Mobile to pick up four boxes of media guides from our printing company, Interstate Printing. We are grabbing some lunch at a local eating establishment and we’ll be back on the road.
10:08 AM
We are on the road!
We just pulled out of Troy headed toward I-65 and New Orleans. Coach Blakeney has already joked with Boris about his self-dubbed nickname, “the Living Legend”. That’s a pretty hilarious story. You may have seen it coming from Drew Champlin last season.
I also just found out that I’ll be rooming with All-Sun Belt Boris, so expect some one-on-one questions with him later in the day.
That’s it for now. I’ll post again when we make a stop.