One of Carter Hawkins’ first tasks when he accepted the Chicago Cubs general manager job last November took only a few moments to complete.

Here’s a link to the story.

CARBONDALE, III. – Long-time Southern Illinois football assistant coach Pat Poore announced his retirement on Thursday, leaving as the winningest assistant coach in school history. In fact, with 87 career victories in 13 seasons, no head coach or assistant has been involved in more wins or playoff appearances (7) at SlU.

Poore served two coaching stints with the Salukis — first as the quarterbacks and special teams coach under Jerry Kill from 2001-07, and most recently as the tight ends and fullbacks coach under Nick Hill from 2017-21.

From 2001-07, Southern went from door mat to conference champions, starting out 1-10 in 2001 and finishing 12-2 in 2007. Along the way, the program went 55-32, won three-straight conference titles and made five-straight FCS Playoff appearances. Poore left after the 2007 season to accompany Kill to Northern Illinois.
.
Poore returned in 2017 under Hill, who was the team’s starting quarterback during the 2006 and 2007 championship seasons. In the last six years, SIU has returned to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, winning postseason games in 2020 and 2021.
“Having worked with Pat for 10 years as both a player and a coach, he has helped shape who I am, and how I want to treat people,” Hill said. “Every day he came to work or practice with a true joy of coaching. He loves the game of football for the right reasons and was as loyal as can be. He only worked for two head coaches in his career. He always brought a smile to my face, and what a great way to be remembered.”

Poore coached in some of the biggest wins in school history, including both victories over Big Ten programs, beating Indiana in 2006 and Northwestern in 2022.

Poore will be recognized on-court during the first half of Friday night’s men’s basketball game versus Chicago State.

CARTERVILLE — Unbeaten no more.

The nation’s sixth-ranked and previously undefeated Vincennes Trailblazers met their match Wednesday as the eighth-ranked John A. Logan College men’s basketball team rolled to a 44-27 halftime lead en route to an 80-64 Region 24 victory over the visitors from Indiana.

Here’s a link to the story.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word, as the great philosopher Elton John once noted.
Here’s a link to the column at the Chicago Tribune.

Grant Wahl, the American soccer reporter who collapsed and died while covering the World Cup in Qatar last week, died of an aortic aneurysm that ruptured, his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, said Wednesday.

Here’s a link to the story.

SIRR – Current Standings
Wrestling, 2022-23

Team Record
Murphysboro 4-0
Anna-Jonesboro 4-0
Benton 2-1
West Frankfort 2-1

Schedule, Scores and Results:

Dec. 6 (Host: PV, BN, WF)
Harrisburg vs. Pinckneyville, 78-6
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Pinckneyville, 72-6
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Harrisburg, 66-18
Benton vs. Herrin, 67-12
Murphysboro vs. West Frankfort, 56-24
Carterville vs. West Frankfort, 51-30
Carterville vs. Murphysboro, 49-25

Dec. 13 (Host: CV, MB, WF)
Benton vs. Carterville, 46-36
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Carterville, 63-18
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Benton, 40-34
Herrin vs. Murphysboro, 46-14
Harrisburg vs. Murphysboro, 50-30
Harrisburg vs. Herrin, 60-23
Pinckneyville vs. West Frankfort, 72-6

Jan. 10 (Host: HR, BN, HB)
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Herrin
Herrin vs. West Frankfort
Anna-Jonesboro vs. West Frankfort
Benton vs. Pinckneyville
Benton vs. Murphysboro
Murphysboro vs. Pinckneyville
Carterville vs. Harrisburg

Jan. 24 (Host: AJ, WF, PV)
Anna-Jonesboro vs. Murphysboro
Benton vs. West Frankfort
Harrisburg vs. West Frankfort
Benton vs. Harrisburg
Carterville vs. Pinckneyville
Herrin vs. Pinckneyville
Carterville vs. Herrin

The San Francisco Giants have landed the best shortstop on the free agent market. Carlos Correa and the Giants have agreed to a massive 13-year contract worth $350 million, reports ESPN.

Here’s a link to the story at CBS Sports.

Spring training camps open in roughly two months and 21 of our top 50 free agents remain unsigned, including three of the top nine. Don’t worry, those guys will sign soon enough. Here are Tuesday’s hot stove rumors.

Here’s a link to the story.

Perhaps the highest compliment about the most improbable college coaching career of this generation is that as time marches on, and new eras of homogenized football coaches emerge, explaining the Mike Leach coaching experience will sound like fiction.

Here’s a link to the story.

The 26th MVC Hall of Fame class features baseball star and former No. 1 overall pick Andy Benes (Evansville); three four-time first-team All-Conference selections in Melanie (Boeglin) White (Indiana State women’s basketball); Barb (Gaines) Porter (Missouri State softball), and Rachel Tejada (Illinois State women’s soccer); Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach Tubby Smith (Tulsa); and a 2007 Master’s and 2015 British Open champ in Zach Johnson (Drake). Including this year’s six inductees, the MVC Hall of Fame consists of 145 former student-athletes, administrators, coaches, and contributors.

The league will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championship in St. Louis, Mo., next March 2-5. The Friday, March 3, festivities will begin with an 8:00 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:30 a.m. Tickets to the 2023 Hall of Fame event – scheduled to be held at Stifel Theatre, which is adjacent to Enterprise Center – can be obtained by contacting the league office at (314) 444-4300. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The 2023 State Farm MVC Tournament marks the 33rd-straight year the event has been staged in St. Louis. With 33-consecutive years at the same neutral site, Arch Madness is the second-longest neutral site tenured collegiate tourney in the nation (following only the Big East in New York City).