Football: Texas rallies to win Alamo Bowl. 3C
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S U N D A Y , D E C E M B E R 30 , 2012
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BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
WORKING FOR
TRADITION Mal Moore and Doug Walker know about football programs with rich traditions, having worked at Notre Dame and Alabama By Tommy Deas Executive Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA | Doug Walker has worked at Notre Dame and at the University of Miami, and now works for the University of Alabama athletic department. No one, likely, has more ties to the two schools participating in the Jan. 7 BCS National Championship Game and to the host city. “I’ve got three worlds colliding here,” said Walker, UA’s 48-year-old associate athletic director for communications. Walker, a Texas native, worked at Texas A&M, his alma mater, and Texas Christian in athletic media relations before taking a job as Miami’s primary football sports information director in 2000. He stayed there until taking a similar job at Notre Dame in 2004 before arriving at Alabama, where he runs the media relations department, in 2006. The convergence of Alabama and Notre Dame in Miami is an Doug intriguing one for Walker Walker. “I think it’s great for the sport that these programs are doing this well,” he said. “Miami is a cool place because it’s an entertainment destination area. When I was there they would say it’s an event city. If it’s the cool place to be, the cool thing to do, people are going to be there. If it’s not, you’re going to know that it’s not. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem being the cool thing to do that week in Miami. It’s going to be the center of the universe for about four days.” Walker’s fi rst encounter with Notre Dame made an impression. “Being a college football person, it meant a lot to me,” he said. “There’s a lot of allure there, a lot of mystique. It definitely felt like you were part of something that mattered to people, which was true to an extent everywhere I’d been — but that’s a different level. “It’s probably the only job that I ever got that my mom had an emotional reaction to, which really kind of surprised me because my mom is not a big sports fan. I grew up in Texas. I didn’t grow up a fan or a hater or anything, it was Notre Dame, a power that was up there. I grew up Catholic and I am Catholic, but it didn’t have much of an affect on my sporting loyalties or anything.” SEE WALKER | 3C
PHOTO | ERIN NELSON
Greensboro center Jimmie Taylor, a University of Alabama signee, scored nine points and had 12 rebounds in the Raiders’ 45-40 win against Hale County in the championship game of the D.J. White Holiday Basketball Tournament at the Umphrey Center on the Shelton State campus.
Raiders win D.J. White Tournament By Andrew Carroll STAFF PHOTO | ROBERT SUTTON
University of Alabama athletic director Mal Moore was an assistant coach for the Crimson Tide and also served as an assistant for Notre Dame.
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niversity of Alabama athletic director Mal Moore spoke to The Tuscaloosa News recently to discuss his history with Notre Dame, both as an assistant coach with the Fighting Irish and as an Alabama assistant in some of the games between the two historic programs. By Chase Goodbread | Sports Writer did your move from AlaQ: How bama to Notre Dame come about, and what was the experience there like? Great memories for me. I guess, having been at Alabama with Coach (Paul W. “Bear”) Bryant 24 years — played for him five, coached for him 19 — maybe I had lived a sheltered life in the coaching profession that I had not moved around a lot. I actually didn’t know anyone there. I went up and interviewed for the job and got the job. It was like an adventure moving there, and taking the family there. Such a change, a drastic change. The weather, the people, not knowing anyone. But it was a great experience for me. I realized there are very good people everywhere — and there certainly were there. I made great friends and enjoyed my time there. I realized, too, for the fi rst time to
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INSIDE ALABAMA NOTEBOOK:
Faust had been there two A: Coach years when I joined the staff. It would have been tough for anyone to
Saban not a fan of adding new plays go from high school to the head coach during bowl preparations | 3C of Notre Dame. He loved Notre Dame.
be away from Alabama, to look back at what I had been a part of here, what I’d experienced here. I think you get to where you kind of take things for granted. I didn’t realize what we had here, having coach Bryant for 25 years, the great success we enjoyed. I went from Alabama, one of the great names, to Notre Dame, one of the great names. It was very exciting, that part of it.
They’ll never have another coach that loved the place like he did. And still does. I talk with coach every now and again. I saw him a couple years ago when I went up for Marty Lyons’ or Woodrow Lowe’s (College Football Fall of Fame) enshrinement. I went to a party they had for Tim Brown, who won the Heisman. I got to see a lot of the players that I coached. There were quite a few there, and Coach Faust came. are the traditions at AlaQ: How bama and Notre Dame simi-
lar? You coached for Gerry Faust, They’re very similar, I think. who was hired from Notre Both have great success Dame out of the high school ranks. through their years. Alabama from How did he handle that pressure? SEE MOORE | 3C
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It’s back to normal for Fighting Irish receiver Daniels By Eric Hansen South Bend (Ind.) Tribune
SOUTH BEND, I ND. | There was a flash of fear as DaVaris Daniels ran a pass pattern through the middle of the Notre Dame defense Friday, followed by a predictable thump that reverberated throughout his body. But once the Fighting Irish sophomore wide receiver picked himself up after being tackled for the fi rst time in 48 days, he was awash in normalcy. “It was almost like a confidence boost,” he said Saturday. And, perhaps a big boost for the Notre Dame offense heading into the BCS National Championship Game between the top-ranked Fighting Irish and second-ranked Alabama. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Daniels fi nished the regular season as Notre Dame’s fourth-leading receiver (25 receptions for 375 yards), despite missing the fi nal 2½ games with a broken
BCS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Alabama ■ When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7 ■ Where: Sun Life Stadium, Miami ■ Records: Alabama 12-1 Notre Dame 12-0 ■ TV: ESPN ■ Radio: 95.3 FM, 790 AM
collarbone suffered at Boston College on Nov. 10. More telling than those numbers is how he stretches opposing defenses, as his 15-yards-per-catch average — best among Notre Dame’s top five pass-catchers — suggests. “We’ve got to get big-chunk plays,” Fighting Irish coach Brian Kelly said. “I’m telling you that right now. They know that. We know that.” And Daniels knows that. He also knows that if Notre Dame
were playing in just about any other postseason game, he’d been questionable at best, if not completely unavailable. The Fighting Irish, for instance, played their bowl game on Dec. 29 last season. Daniels’ fi rst day of contact practice since the injury was Dec. 28. “When I broke (the collarbone), I didn’t even know what I had done,” he said. “I just knew it was bad. It was difficult, because I didn’t know at fi rst if I’d be able to come back. I was just hoping I’d be in this position.” He’ll be welcomed back into action by an Alabama team that ranks fi rst nationally in total defense and second only to the Fighting Irish in scoring D. “We would not put him out there unless he was free from injury,” Kelly said. “Now he practiced the last three weeks, but in a red jersey. We just didn’t want any contact. I usually don’t put jerseys on guys, but I wanted him to be involved in all the timing work,
but nobody could touch him. “Now, he’s out of the red jersey. He’s good to go out and play, jump, get hit, fall down. He’s a really good player who understands his reps are going to be based upon how he practices and how he performs. I’m certain that he’ll play a role in the game.”
Personnel matters Safety Austin Collinsworth was never expected to be a late-season option to play, but Kelly at least figured he’d have the junior available for scoutteam duty in preparation for Alabama. But as Collinsworth recovered from June shoulder surgery that effectively wiped out his 2012 season, he began to experience back discomfort. The day before the Fighting Irish closed the regular season Nov. 24 at Southern California, Collinsworth underwent back surgery, Kelly revealed Saturday. SEE I RISH | 3C
Sports Writer
TUSCALOOSA | Keimondre Turner, a senior guard, scored five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter Saturday to help the Greensboro High School boys basketball team win a championship. Turner made one free throw, drove for a basket and made two more foul shots as the Raiders defeated Hale County 45-40 to claim the title in the D.J. White Holiday Tournament at Shelton State Community College. In the other games Saturday, Paul W. Bryant beat Holt 53-45; Central downed Sumter Central 53-44; and Greene County defeated Brookwood 34-31. Greensboro (13-1) reached the fi nal after edging Paul W. Bryant on Friday. “I’m a little disappointed in our overall effort tonight,” Greensboro coach Marty Everett said. “ We didn’t come out with the same fi re and passion as we did last night, but give them credit. Hale County came out ready to play, which is the reason all of us came here this weekend — to win a championship. “We were able to hit some crucial free throws down the stretch. We stepped up and got some big rebounds when we needed some. We got in a little bit of foul trouble; just didn’t play with any rhythm tonight and it made things very difficult for us.” Greensboro lost senior point guard Donald King, who fouled out with 2:03 left. Hale County’s Rod Arnold drove for a basket to cut the Raiders’ lead to 41-38. Turner drove the lane and got fouled as he scored with 1:08 remaining. He missed the free throw but boosted the lead to five points. The Wildcats responded, getting a basket from Wyman King. Turner missed a one-and-one free throw with 41 seconds left. Hale County missed on two 3-point tries before Kavoris Owens got the rebound for Greensboro. He was tied up, but the Raiders retained possession. Turner made two free throws with 9 seconds left to give the Raiders their fi nal margin. “He knocked a couple of crucial free throws down and pretty much sealed the game for us,” Everett said. “He’s a work in progress, but he’s coming along pretty well. We need him to step up, especially when our point guard Donald King is not in the game.” Owens, the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds. SEE R AIDERS | 5C