Mullen Tour Resumes; Byrne Blogs; Etc.

MSU football coach Dan Mullen has set his 17-city tour of the Southeast – a.k.a. the “Road Dawgs Tour” – which will begin in late April. In-state stops include Clarksdale, Columbus, Corinth, Greenwood, Jackson, Laurel, McComb, Natchez, Ocean Springs and Vicksburg.

AD Greg Byrne posted his weekly blog today, and he spent quite a bit of it pontificating on the whole Nicholls State fiasco. Some great detail in there, including, “The Nicholls coach’s (Chip Durham) final words were that our team would be the only one on the field.” And there was this: “[T]he spirit of college athletics and the competitive nature of what we do were compromised.”

And then there is this: MSU junior center Jarvis Varnado was named to the NABC District 21 second team, along with “teammate” David Huertas. Once again, our state is disrespected.

Also, a statement from basketball coach Rick Stansbury regarding Elgin Bailey, who’s lost for the season with a dislocated ankle: “He was absolutely playing one of the best games of his career. He’ll be missed. Number one, we’re just thankful there’s no more damage than what’s already there. It’s still a serious injury, but it could have been a lot worse. But if anybody can handle this in a positive way, it’s Elgin. He was really playing with the toughness and energy we knew he could bring. With him being out, it’s really going to hurt our bench. But the other guys are going to have to step up now.”

Stansbury also spoke today about the passing of Lake Kelly, one of his coaching mentors. Kelly was a former Austin Peay head coach and Kentucky assistant: “his is so hard to believe. If not for Lake, I wouldn’t be where I am today. He gave me my first chance at coaching, and I’ll forever be grateful. You know, as great of a coach as he was, and there was no one better, he was even a far greater person. This was a man that loved basketball and talking Xs and Os, almost to a faut. He was more than a coach to me. He was like a father. We did everything together, golfing and fishing. … I owe him everything for where I’m at today.”