Wire and staff reports
The college football notebook …
CHAPEL HILL ó North Carolina has promoted Steve Sisa to safeties coach, filling the vacancy left when Everett Withers became interim coach after the firing of Butch Davis.
Sisa worked last season with the Tar Heels in player development. In a statement, Withers said he wanted to complete the coaching staff quickly.
Before coming to Chapel Hill, Sisa served two seasons as a graduate assistant at Southern Mississippi.
Withers had spent three seasons as defensive coordinator and secondary coach. Linebackers coach Art Kaufman will take over as defensive coordinator.
The school also announced that junior running back Hunter Furr plans to transfer. Furr said in a statement he wanted to compete for more playing time elsewhere. He had run for 35 yards on eight carries in two seasons
ECU TV
Three additional East Carolina football games have been added to the Pirates’ broadcast schedule in 2011 according to an announcement by IMG College, the multimedia rights-holder for the ECU Athletics Department.
The Pirate IMG Sports Network, will carry Conference USA home contests against UAB on Sept. 24 and Tulane on Oct. 29, while also providing live coverage of East Carolina’s league matchup at Memphis on Oct. 15.
FLOYD REINSTATED
SOUTH BEND, Ind. ó Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly reinstated Michael Floyd to the team Wednesday, 41/2 months after the star receiver was arrested for drunken driving.
“We haven’t reached a destination point,” Kelly said at a news conference with Floyd. “He knows he has all eyes on him. There is an intense amount of scrutiny, cynics out there who look at this as we had this put together since day one. We can’t change what people think.”
Floyd, who has caught more TD passes than any player in Notre Dame’s storied history, said he has been to counseling, has changed his circle of friends and will stay in a residence hall instead of moving off campus.
GEORGIA TECH
ATLANTA ó Georgia Tech was back on the field Wednesday, giving coach Paul Johnson one more reason to stop answering questions about NCAA probation.
“Honestly, I haven’t thought much about it,” Johnson said after the Yellow Jackets’ first fall practice of 2011. “You just move on and you worry about things you can control and move forward.”
Johnson begins in his fourth season at Georgia Tech with the football program facing five years of probating for allowing two ineligible players, Demaryius Thomas and Morgan Burnett, to compete in the final three games of ’09.
OREGON STATE
CORVALLIS, Ore. ó Oregon State flanker James Rodgers has been cleared to practice in a “limited fashion” after two knee surgeries.
OHIO STATE
COLUMBUS, Ohio ó Freshmen who never played a game for Jim Tressel are showing support for the former Ohio State coach.
Several of the Buckeyes’ incoming freshmen were wearing bracelets with “JT” on them when they briefly met with reporters Wednesday.
Tressel was forced to resign May 30.
TEXAS QBS
AUSTIN, Texas ó Texas coach Mack Brown is being coy about his quarterbacks.
The Longhorns report Thursday for the 2011 season with last year’s starter, Garrett Gilbert, fighting for his job. He threw 17 interceptions as Texas fell to 5-7 in 2010, its first losing season in 13 years.
Gilbert now is trying to fend off challenges from sophomore Case McCoy, the younger brother of former Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, and freshmen Connor Wood and David Ash.
Brown gave little hint Wednesday of who he expected to emerge as the starter for the Sept. 3 opener at home against Rice.