Kelin's Korner Sports Features

The recent fire of Dave Van Halanger, Director of Strength and Conditioning for the University of Georgia, sparks new names and faces.

Brown playing for the Atlanta Falcons

Joe Tereshinski was recently promoted to the position of Director of Strength and Conditioning by Coach Richt. It is not clear yet if Keith Gray (Assoc. Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) or Clay Walker (Strength and Conditioning- doctoral student), will be coming back to assist Coach Joe T. These men have given many years to the University of Georgia’s program, they truly bleed red and black.

Effective January 1st, one of Georgia’s greatest running backs, Thomas Brown, will be rejoining the UGAfamily once again; not on the field, but in the weight room, on Joe Tereshinski’s strength and conditioning staff. I had the opportunity to talk to Thomas about his new opportunity and how he felt about coach Richt offering him the job. “I chose the University of Georgia coming out of high school because I wanted to be a part of a program that is committed to excellence. It will be an honor to return to this great University and aid in the continuing development of our student-athletes on and off the field”.

Thomas, an Atlanta native from Tucker High School, just recently ended his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons and the Cleveland Browns. Thomas has a beautiful wife, Jessica Brown, and two lovely kids, Orlando and Tyson. Thomas is very excited to be back close to home with his friend and family. So if you see some new faces around UGA’s practices or games don’t hesitate to go up and Meet the Brown’s and shake the hand of the strongest pound for player UGA has seen in a long time.

A common occurrence for Brown

Recent firing of head coach at the University of Miami, Randy Shannon, turns a lot of attention to the future of UM. Randy Shannon gave the University of Miami four good years of football. After graduating from “the U” and becoming the head coach years later was a dream come true.

Melvin Bratton

University of Miami has always been known to be a power house program when it comes to college football. With the recent departure of coach Shannon I had the opportunity to talk with one of Miami’s greatest running backs to ever come through the program, Melvin Bratton. When asked how he felt about the recent firing of coach Shannon, he had this to say: “Coach Shannon gave four years of head coaching. Randy will be a success as a head coach. He made mistakes on the job, but he also learned from those mistakes. That is why he will be a good head coach somewhere else.”

When asked about the struggles of Miami over the past few years under Randy Shannon, Bratton felt that Randy shouldn’t have hired Randy’s guys.” Meaning friends and ex-teammates. Bratton was very clear with me. He felt like Randy had no one on the staff to step up to him and give him that positive and negative feedback.

Darrell Fullington

Miami is known for their bad boy mentality in the past years; the swagger on the field, the high intensity level, and their showmanship. Bratton said that he went away from what he knows and what he was taught as a player at UM. The bad boy mentality wasn’t there and it showed. “Randy cut and shut the door off for alumni coming back and having relationships with current players.” Growing up in the state of Florida I have always known that Miami has a strong alumni presence when it comes to football. When players finish their senior year they always stay and train for the combine at the University of Miami. That shows that the program and the school support their ex-players and invite them to keep a relationship with the program. This was very shocking to me hearing that Randy shut the door on his fellow teammates which created a division, whether he meant it or not. Former Safety for University of Miami, Darrell Fullington said, “Disappointing one of our own couldn’t lead us back to the top. Out of respect, he’s still family. Family doesn’t always do what you want them to do.”

ESPN’s 30/30 host “The U”, Melvin Bratton, had this to say when asked about who he would like to see as Miami’s next head coach. “If they have the money for Jon Gruden he will be our ideal coach for the job. He has the mentality that works for what Miami needs. I also asked him what he thinks about UM going after UGA’s Head Coach Mark Richt. “No, that’s a bad move. You’re getting back into the same type of coach Randy was, the good boy mentality.”

Those are two big time coaches for The U to go after. It makes sense for Mark Richt to go back to his roots at UM. He’s a Florida boy at heart and it won’t be a bad look for Miami. If Jon Gruden takes the job, so many positives will come out of his hire. The experience, relationships, and success he has built in his coaching career will be an immediate impact on the University of Miami’s program. Other coaches up for UM hire are Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville, and Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator Brent Venables. It’s been reported that Gruden has been offered $3.4 million per year.

I have also gotten word that the alumni of Miami will come together and help the university pay for the coach they want, so money will not be a problem as long as they get the production that they’ve been waiting for.