College Football
Ferris State and Michigan State pioneer Gideon Smith honored
Tom Shanahan Dec 19 2014The American Football Coaches Association's website story on Gideon Smith selection to receive its AFCA: The Trailblazer Award.Follow up story from Jan. 12 award in LouisvilleThe award will be presented posthumously Jan. 12 in Louisville.AFCA: Gideon Smith Honored with 2014...
Mariota path to Heisman began with Bob Apisa
Tom Shanahan Dec 18 2014Marcus Mariota’s Heisman Trophy acceptance speech was touching and soon popular on Youtube. Fans listened to words spoken with humility that have been missing from recent Heisman winners of questionable character. The Oregon All-American quarterback thanked his college,...
Dantonio is Michigan State Destination Man
Tom Shanahan Dec 15 2014This time a year ago Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio's name was mentioned as a candidate for the vacant Texas job, but Dantonio was quick to squash the rumors. "I see Michigan State as a destination, not a stop" said the man who has resided in East Lansing 14 total seasons...
A West Point officer a Big Rapids coach and Army football
Tom Shanahan Dec 13 2014No annual sports event is bigger to a West Point or Annapolis graduate than the Army-Navy Game with its unique pageantry and history that is played for the 115th time on Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. For retired U.S. Army Colonel Rick Steinke, a Big Rapids High...
Kelly and Army seniors take last shot at Navy
Tom Shanahan Dec 10 2014Best-selling author John Feinstein wrote in his 1997 book “Army vs. Navy, A Civil War” that the Army-Navy Game is classic everyone should see once in their life. Once you’ve crossed off that item on your bucket list, your left feeling gratified with the experience but later...
Roaf witnesses America through football and education
Tom Shanahan Dec 9 2014Clifton Roaf's life spans the best and worst America has to offer. He grew up in the segregated South in Pine Bluff, Ark. He was a teenager at all-black Merrill High when historic Civil Rights events unfolded in 1957 at nearby Little Rock. President Eisenhower sent U.S. Army...
Michigan football fans need perspective
Tom Shanahan Dec 9 2014It’s tough to pinpoint, but somewhere along the line Michigan fans turned as nutty as the zealots of Alabama football and Kentucky basketball. Michigan has one of the best football coaches in the country in Brady Hoke, but fans are turning up the heat as he prepares for his...
Former Harbaugh player expects him to coach Michigan someday
Tom Shanahan Dec 1 2014J.T. Rogan knows the contentious side of Jim Harbaugh and the competitive side. He knows the prickly coach as well as he will let anyone get to know him. Rogan played running back for Harbaugh at the University of San Diego and coached under him at Stanford. More importantly for...
Nebraska football lives in Osborne lost fantasy world
Tom Shanahan Nov 30 2014Unreality finally caught up to Nebraska. The Cornhuskers faithful are unable to accept reality that the halcyon days of Tom Osborne in the 1990s – national titles in 1994, 1995 and 1997 -- will never return. And so Bo Pelini was fired on Sunday, two days after his team won a...
Graves sheds new light on Michigan State 1974 goal line stand
Tom Shanahan Nov 4 2014The wonder of history is an untold story always surfaces years later. Tommy Graves, Michigan State’s All-Big Ten second-team safety as a 1974 freshman that was robbed of future greatness by knee injuries, tells one 40 years later. It's about the Spartans’ monumental 16-13 upset...