Cleaning out the inbox

The inbox cleaning continues with a few notes that accumulated over the last month plus and we try to catch up.

The SWC Roundup is doing a weekly series called "Know Your Program" and started with the Houston Cougars.
The series will eventually cover every division I football program in Texas and is a great history for fans of a particular program to reflect on or even learn about a program's past for a new fan.
When it comes to the Cougars, I'm a little bit of both, so there were lots of new things that I learned from the article.
It includes all sorts of facts and stories and the Roundup's picks for the program's "Mount Rushmore".
I'm sure I'll have the Texas Tech version for a future "inbox" when the Red Raiders are added to the series.

ArizonaSports.com has an oral history of the original USFL Arizona Wranglers, which is the 1983 version and not the 1984 team that went to the USFL championship game.
The author talks to players, coaches and front office members and covers the team's origin, training camp and various memories of the season- on and off the field.
It's always interesting to read oral histories as they read like you are just sitting down and are having a conversation with a bunch of people talking about the subject, especially on defunct leagues which makes you want to kick back and enjoy the war stories.

The Athletic does a where are they now feature on former Boise State quarterback Jared Zabransky, who was the Boise passer that led the Broncos to that well-remembered Fiesta Bowl win over Adrian Peterson and the Oklahoma Sooners.
Zabransky talks about his EA sports cover on NCAA Football (I miss that game!), what he is up to today and of course the Fiesta Bowl.

Another where are they now page comes from the San Antonio Express-News on former Loyola Chicago gunner Alfredrick Hughes, who Spurs fans call the biggest bust in Spurs history, who was the 14th pick in the 1985 draft.
San Antonio picked Hughes over Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, Terry Porter and A.C Green.
Hughes was back in the news when Loyola-Chicago made the final four as the most recent star for the Ramblers in the 80's, so his one year in Texas averaging five points a game brought back some old scars for Spurs fans.

The Cincinnati Enquirer notes the new head coach at Western Carolina is now Mark Prosser, son of former Xavier and Wake Forest coach the late Skip Prosser.
I've written before about being such a fan of Skip Prosser and I'm sure I'll be a fan of Mark Prosser's teams as well.
The Catamounts went 13-19 last season in the Southern Conference under then-coach Larry Hunter, who passed away last week following a stroke.

During the tournament. I found an old story from Staten Island's local newspaper about the loss that Mike Krzyzewski still stews about and it's not from an NCAA tournament, ACC tournament or an old loss to North Carolina or Maryland.
It goes back to Coach K's third season at Duke, when the Bill Foster recruits like Gene Banks and Kenny Dennard that had kept the Blue Devils respectable in the first year of his reign had left, his second team finished 11-17 and his first big recruiting class (Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie and a guy you might have seen on television named Jay Bilas) were all freshmen.
That bunch would take Duke to the NCAA Finals in four years, but on this January 1983 night, it was Duke losing to Wagner 84-77 AT Cameron Indoor Stadium!!
It gets worse the more that you read.
Wagner entered that game off a FIFTY point loss to UNLV and rolled into Durham with a record of 2-7!
You would think that Wagner's win revitalized their season, but you would be wrong as the Seahawks finished the season at 10-18 with Krzyzewski's squad ending the season with another record of  11-17.
Wagner wouldn't be remembered for anything for a while until it graduated Ian McArdle over thirty years later.