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Griffin joining URI football staff

Bob Griffin, football coach at the University of Rhode Island from 1976 through 1992 and designer of the famed "Ehr Force" passing attack of the 1984-85 championship seasons, is returning to the Rams sideline as tight ends coach and special assistant to head coach Darren Rizzi. Rizzi played for Griffin for four years and was a two-time All-America tight end.

Griffin's 17-year record was 79-107-1. His best teams were the 1984 and 1985 clubs that were 10-3 and Yankee Conference champion each year and featured the passing of quarterback Tom Ehrhardt and the receiving of tight ends Brian Forster and Tony DiMaggio and wide receiver Dameon Reilly.

Griffin was fired after the 1992 season and had little or nothing to do with URI for more than a decade. He was inducted into the URI Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996 and returned in 2005 when the '84 and '85 teams were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

After leaving URI, Griffin coached professional football in Germany and returned to the U.S. to coach at Syracuse and at Holy Cross, where he was the offensive coordinator. He mentored Chris Pincince, who succeeded him upon his retirement from the Holy Cross staff and who is Rizzi's offensive coordinator at URI.

-- Mike Szostak

Posted by Mike Szostak  at 6:48 PM to College Sports | Permalink | Comments 0

Update: R.I. loses its only local all-sports radio station as Citadel changes formats at WSKO

Rhode Island lost its only local all-sports radio station today when Citadel Broadcasting told employees it would be changing formats on WSKO AM and FM.

"In the end, it was purely a business decision," said Barbara Haynes, Citadel's general manager. "The hosts'' -- Andy Gresh and Scott Zolak in the morning, and Scott Cordischi in the afternoon -- "are good men, and they have a great future in radio."

"And the programming was first-rate," added Ron St. Pierre, WSKO's programming director.

But Haynes confirmed the arrival of WEEI-FM, Boston's powerful all-sports radio station, into the Rhode Island market in April 2004, started a downward spiral in WSKO's ratings.

WSKO's FM signal, 99.7, will begin simulcasting WPRO-AM's programming on Tuesday. To avoid confusion with the existing WPRO-FM signal, it will be called "Newstalk Radio 630 and 99.7" on the FM side.

The AM signal, 790, will continue to carry "Imus In The Morning" and will carry syndicated ESPN programming for the rest of the week. Haynes and St. Pierre said plans beyond that had not been finalized, though Cordischi indicated the station would switch to a syndicated oldies-music format.

Cordischi said he was told of the decision when he arrived at the station Monday afternoon to begin preparing for his show. He did not go on the air; ESPN's "Stephen A. Smith Show" was broadcast in its place. Gresh and Zolak did their normal broadcast, but were told after their show was over.

"We had no inkling. None of us did,'' said Cordischi, who said the station's employees will receive four weeks' severance pay. Cordischi had signed a three-year contract in January, but said the contract contained a clause which stipulated the agreement could be severed at any time.

Posted by Art Martone  at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Beckett suffers setback

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Red Sox manager Terry Francona said today that Josh Beckett (back) was pretty sore last night and again this morning.

"He had a good day [Sunday] but a tough night," said the manager.

While the Red Sox are in Port St. Lucie to play the Mets, Beckett was back in Fort Myers getting treatment.

"He's resigned himself to do the right thing and not something silly," said Francona. "We'll be OK, we just have to get [Beckett's back] calmed down."

Beckett was scheduled to start against the Marlins on Saturday, but felt the spasms after throwing just one warmup pitch, and left the field.

Francona said the right-hander will not resume baseball activities until the spasms go away. Now that he's had a little bit of a setback, Beckett's availability for the Japan trip is in question.

"There's no reason to make that assessment today," said Francona. "It doesn't make sense. We just want to get him better."

Facing a 19-hour flight to Japan in just nine days would be difficult for someone with a back issue. Francona said the team will use caution with this.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:52 AM to Red Sox | Permalink | Comments 0

Fantasy watch: Get the inside track on closers

Today on the fantasy sports blog, Rob Steingall breaks down closer controversies in the National League and the American League, giving you some perspective if you're trying to find a cheap, darkhorse relief man.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments 0

Big East all-league picks announced

The Big East just released its all-league teams. PC's Geoff McDermott did not make the cut in the top 20 but was given honorable mention notice.
Here are the picks. The Player, Coach and Rookie of the Year awards are handed out Tuesday night in New York.

2007-08 All-BIG EAST First Team

Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati, So., 6-1, 195, Indianapolis, Ind.

Jeff Adrien, Connecticut, Jr., 6-7, 243, Brookline, Mass.

*A.J. Price, Connecticut, Jr., 6-2, 187, Amityville, N.Y.

*Roy Hibbert, Georgetown, Sr., 7-2, 278, Adelphi, Md.

*David Padgett, Louisville, Sr., 6-11, 245, Reno, Nev.

*Luke Harangody, Notre Dame, So., 6-8, 251, Schererville, Ind.

Kyle McAlarney, Notre Dame, Jr., 6-0, 196, Staten Island, N.Y.

Sam Young, Pittsburgh, Jr., 6-6, 215, Clinton, Md.

Brian Laing, Seton Hall, Sr., 6-5, 215, Bronx, N.Y.

Kentrell Gransberry, USF, Sr., 6-9, 270, Baton Rouge, La.

Joe Alexander, West Virginia, Jr., 6-8, 230, Mt. Airy, Md.

2007-08 All-BIG EAST Second Team

Hasheem Thabeet, Connecticut, So., 7-3, 263, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Jonathan Wallace, Georgetown, Sr., 6-1, 188, Harvest, Ala.

Draelon Burns, DePaul, Sr., 6-4, 220, Milwaukee, Wisc.

Terrence Williams, Louisville, Jr., 6-6, 210, Seattle, Wash.

Lazar Hayward, Marquette, So., 6-6, 225, Buffalo, N.Y.

Dominic James, Marquette, Jr., 5-11, 185, Richmond, Ind.

Jerel McNeal, Marquette, Jr., 6-3, 200, Chicago, Ill.

Donte’ Greene, Syracuse, Fr., 6-9, 217, Baltimore, Md.

Paul Harris, Syracuse, So., 6-5, 228, Niagara Falls. N.Y.

Scottie Reynolds, Villanova, So., 6-2, 190, Herndon, Va.

2007-08 All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention

DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh, Fr., 6-7, 250, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Geoff McDermott, Providence, Jr., 6-8, 235, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Anthony Mason, Jr., St. John’s, Jr., 6-7, 209, Memphis, Tenn.

Dominique Jones, USF, Fr., 6-4, 205, Lake Wales, Fla.

Jonny Flynn, Syracuse, Fr., 6-0, 186, Niagara Falls, N.Y.

BIG EAST All-Rookie Team

Mac Koshwal, DePaul, Fr., 6-10, 250, Chicago, Ill.

Dar Tucker, DePaul, Fr., 6-4, 210, Saginaw, Mich.

Austin Freeman, Georgetown, Fr., 6-4, 225, Hyattsville, Md.

*DeJuan Blair, Pittsburgh, Fr., 6-7, 250, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Corey Chandler, Rutgers, Fr., 6-2, 180, Newark, N.J.

Justin Burrell, St. John’s, Fr., 6-8, 230, Bronx, N.Y.

Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall, Fr., 6-5, 185, Bronx, N.Y.

*Dominique Jones, USF, Fr., 6-4, 205, Lake Wales, Fla.

*Jonny Flynn, Syracuse, Fr., 6-0, 186, Niagara Falls, N.Y.

*Donte’ Greene, Syracuse, Fr., 6-9, 217, Baltimore, Md.

Corey Fisher, Villanova, Fr., 6-1, 185, Bronx, N.Y.

*denotes unanimous selection

Posted by Kevin  at 11:17 AM to PC basketball | Permalink | Comments 0

Notice to high school baseball and softball coaches

HSGameTime.com will be expanding its statistical report this spring for baseball and softball.

Call in your game information as you always have. We'll get your games up ASAP.

Then, once a week or so, send us your season-to-date stats. For baseball and softball we'll be tracking:

Individual Hitting: Games, At Bats, Hits, Home Runs, Runs, Runs Batted In.

Individual Pitching: Innings Pitched, Earned Runs, Strike Outs, Wins, Losses and Saves.

You can send us your stats anytime, any day. This is a great opportunity to build support for your team.

E-mail your stats to pjsports@projo.com or fax your stats to (401) 277-7444. For questions call Bob McGarry in the projo sports department at (401) 277-7340.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 10:37 AM to High School | Permalink | Comments 0

Atlantic 10 awards announced

The Atlantic 10 just announced their post-season awards. Here is a link to the league's official release.

URI's Will Daniels made the first all-league team but no other Ram player was mentioned in the top 15 players. Parfait Bitee was an all-defensive team pick and Jimmy Baron was named to the all-academic team.

The A-10 Player of the Year was UMass' Gary Forbes. Rookie of the Year was Kevin Anderson of Richmond and Xavier's Sean Miller was the Coach of the Year.

Posted by Kevin  at 10:17 AM to URI Basketball | Permalink | Comments 0

Download today's sports cover

On today's sports cover, John Gillooly writes about Moses Brown player's Billy Cosmopulos' day of redemption on the basketball court, Kevin McNamara looks at the conference tournament challenges ahead for PC and URI, and Joe McDonald catches up with the Red Sox' J.D. Drew.

Click here to download the file in pdf format.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments 0