D’Andre Hill has been recently named head coach of Women’s Track and Field at Vanderbilt University. The name should ring a bell because Hill was the one-time head coach of women’s track at Dayton, before moving on to TCU where she worked with the sprinters and relays as an assistant coach.

What makes this all the more interesting of a hire is Hill becomes the first black head coach of any sport in Commodore history. For a school in the SEC that champions southern roots, this comes as a small shock, but perhaps Vandy’s academic, white-kids-from-the-suburbs personality was simply the most likely to break the color barrier last.

Regardless, this is a solid promotion for Hill. Vandy track is very good and her days as an Olympian should provide a solid teaching backbone.

Talk about leaving your loved ones out to dry. Duquesne women’s soccer head coach James Walker has resigned from the Dukes to take an assistant coaching position with the nationally respected Penn State men’s soccer program. No doubt it’s a great personal move for Walker, but could the timing be any worse? The start of fall practice is just two weeks and away and the season kicks off another two weeks beyond that. Walker sported a 31-36-6 record with the Dukes – not all bad considering where the program was when he took over. His recruiting was a shot in the arm and Walker fielded teams that were far more competitive even in the losses. They won 10 games in 2005 and made the A10 postseason tournament. Last year was a disappointing 4-10-2, but it’s hard to imagine Walker being pushed out at such an bad time. Coaching changes are made right after the season so new coaching hires aren’t made under duress. Perhaps there’s more to this story than we know. Look for the Dukes to hire from within or fetch a top assistant from somewhere.

The Deveroes summer league is about to wrap up and what have we learned? Let me preface what I’m about to say with a rather significant caveat: summer league performance is not a solid predictor of future success. At the same time, it doesn’t rule anyone out. Having said that, it does appear Mickey Perry has taken a jumpshot or two in his life. On a team with a jumpshot problem, this comes as pretty good news. Stephen Thomas also brings a decent jumper to the team, though he and the other frosh elected to bypass summer ball down in Cincinnati. Perhaps most surprising is Charles Little as he nailed several triples during the run of play. An aberration or hard work? We shall see.

The Flyers are officially in the high altitude club. Marcus Johnson, Charles Little, and Chris Wright have all reached the 40-inch vertical barrier according to a reliable source. At 6-3, 6-6, and 6-8 respectively, the Buzz Aldrins of basketball bring incredible athleticism to different parts of the court.

Matt Cavanaugh is interested in Dayton and Dayton is interested in Matt Cavanaugh. That’s a good start. For the better part of two decades, the Dayton area has been a proverbial graveyard of talent that ixnayed on the Flyer program for greener pastures elsewhere. Chris Wright did a lot to change the perception and it’s fair to say Josh Benson was a byproduct. Cavanaugh is intriguing because he has Chip Hare range on his jumpshot. Let’s just hope he’s more like SJU’s Bill Phillips and not the Chipster when he reaches his junior and senior years at whatever school he chooses. I don’t know a much about Cavanaugh other than what everyone else knows. Centerville has never been good to Dayton – both in quantity and quality. I hope and prayed for steel-chinned Ben Rhoda a few years ago, but it never happened. We took Chris Spears instead.

Back to Josh Benson for a moment. I like him. I watched him in the state tournament and it is obvious that Josh doesn’t know how good he can be. It’s real simple: if Benson has a mediocre work ethic, he ends up Michael Harmon. If he wants to be as good as can, he ends up Chris Daniels in his senior year. My only concern is finishing near the rim when the dunk isn’t there. Clean up the bunnies. All the tools are there however.

The schedule is out and my verdict is in. It’s a great schedule from an RPI standpoint and a rather uneventful one from a fan’s perspective. Other than Pittsburgh, there’s not much there to get excited over. Put another way, who would beg for your tickets to any game besides Pitt? I don’t see any candidates. From a strength-of-schedule perspective however, I can’t fault Ted Kissell and when it comes down to it, Id rather make the NCAAs than have more excitement because making the NCAAs IS the excitement. Still, something in me salivates for a home-and-home with West Virginia, Southern Illinois, BYU, Florida State, or UNLV. Rumor is we’re working feverishly with the Valley and Mountain West. It’s not easy.

The 2007 A10 men’s and women’s soccer preseason All-Conference and All-Rookie teams are out. On the women’s side, UD is represented by sophomore forward Mandi Back and senior midfielder Kristen Persichini. Possible errors of omission include sophomore forwards Colleen Gibson and Caitlin Proffitt. Only four teams – SLU, URI, UD, and Charlotte – were represented, which tells me the league thinks these four will rise to the top of the standings too. On the All-Rookie team, Beavercreek product Kelly Blumenschein made the list, but the former All-Ohioan and All-American had no other Flyer company. Charlotte had a banner recruiting year and to no one’s surprise, four 49er’s made the list.

On the men’s side, the pickings are slim. Senior forward Tyler Imbrogno made the All-Conference list despite three career goals and two career assists – all last year. Rhody and St. Louis each had three players honored while the Bills also placed three newcomers on the All-Rookie team. No Flyer made All-Rookie.

Look for Mike Tucker’s team to rebound after a disappointing 2006. Everyone is back and everyone back should be better. The Canadians should see their first action in uniform after sitting out most or all of last year, while the 2007 class of newcomers fills several holes. Charlotte and SLU should be the toughest competition but this team is good enough to land safely in the Top-3. On the men’s side, Head Coach Dennis Currier remains in rebuilding mode rather than rebounding mode. Last year’s team was young and many first and second year players gobbled up the minutes. Get used to it again as only two seniors (Imbrogno and GK Zac Gibbens) exist. The team has talent, but they need leadership and consistency. Year three of the Currier regime should provide us with a good handle on where things are headed.

With the new Arena Seating Contribution levels out in the open, the response we’re hearing has been favorable, at least from a ticket renewal standpoint. I’ve heard anywhere from 100-150 seats in the lower Arena went either un-renewed or requested a move to a less expensive location, while requests to move to a higher priced location exceeded them several times over. Fans in the upper Arena looking to snatch a lower Arena seat shouldn’t get their hopes up however. Many of the requests to move to higher priced seats come from lower Arena ticketholders as well, and those are the ones who are likely to move to the front of the line based on past contributions and season ticket longevity. At the same time, those in the lower Arena wishing to move to less expensive seats are unlikely to make the leap to the upper Arena, preferring to move to a less expensive lower Arena section. In other words, I envision a shuffling of the lower Arena deck chairs with major location moves between the upper and lower Arena as infrequent and closely scrutinized.