Pirate Galaxy » d we both want the unit to do well, sa

Matt Rhule is taking on a Texas-sized challenge at Baylor after leading Temple to unprecedented success.After consecutive 10-win seasons with a roster filled by kids from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and a football life spent mostly near those areas, Rhule will be introduced on the Waco campus Wednesday as the new coach of a Big 12 Conference program hit hard by scandal and suddenly struggling on the field.Rhule heads to the Lone Star State, one of the most highly competitive recruiting areas, with only days to talk to potential recruits before a month-long quiet period begins Monday.I am truly honored and humbled to join the Baylor family, Rhule said Tuesday in a statement . I am excited to get started.Rhule becomes the full-time replacement for two-time Big 12 champion coach Art Briles, who was dismissed after a scathing report over the universitys handling of sexual assault complaints, including some against football players.After that report and Briles departure, Baylor lost half of its highly touted 22-player class from last spring. With recruiting on hold since then, the Bears have only one firm verbal commitment for signing day in February. They have only about 70 scholarship players this season on a roster with a dozen seniors.Rhule also will have to put together a coaching staff since it is unlikely that any of the current assistants will stay on. Briles staff remained when former Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe put his retirement on hold in May to serve as Baylors acting head coach this season. The assistants include Briles son, Kendal, the offensive coordinator, and son-in-law Jeff Lebby, the running backs coach.While Rhule lacks deep Texas ties, athletic director Mack Rhoades said the 41-year-old former Penn State linebacker has many of the qualities that he sought in a new coach.We wanted a coach who shared our values, who had demonstrated success, who showed a true commitment to the overall student-athlete and who we believed could lead Baylor to a national championship, Rhoades said. We found all of that and more in Matt and I know that he will be a perfect fit with the Baylor family.Baylor is 6-6, and headed to the Cactus Bowl despite a six-game skid that included the loss of senior starting quarterback Seth Russell after season-ending ankle surgery. Grobe told Rhoades back in September, before the Bears had lost a game, that he didnt want to be a candidate for the full-time job.Rhule was 28-23 in four seasons at Temple, his only previous head coaching job. The Owls are 10-3 this season and won the American Athletic Conference title with a 34-10 win over Navy last weekend after a 10-4 record in 2015.Temple named assistant Ed Foley as interim head coach to lead the Owls in the Military Bowl against Wake Forest on Dec. 27.After first going to Temple as an assistant under Al Golden in 2006, Rhule spent the next decade there -- except for the 2012 season in the NFL as an assistant offensive line coach for the New York Giants. He returned to Philadelphia as the Owls head coach in 2013 , and had a contract through 2021 after an extension last year. His resume includes stints at UCLA, Western Carolina, Buffalo and Albright College in Pennsylvania in 1998, his first year out of college.Briles took Baylor from the bottom of the Big 12 to back-to-back conference titles (2013, 2014) and six consecutive bowl games that ended a 16-year postseason drought. Robert Griffin III won the schools only Heisman Trophy in 2011, and the Bears just missed the first four-team College Football Playoff in 2014, the same year a new $264 million campus stadium opened on the banks of the Brazos River.But the nations largest Baptist university was rocked by scandal this year and an investigation by the Pepper Hamilton law firm determined that the school mishandled assault claims for years. The firms report in May led to the immediate suspension of Briles, who had eight seasons left on his contract and reached an undisclosed settlement with the school a month later.The school still faces several federal lawsuits by women who say the university ignored or tried to suppress their claims of sexual and physical assault. School regents recently disclosed that 17 women had reported domestic violence or sexual assaults that involved 19 football players since 2011.Two women who reported being gang-raped reached a settlement with the school last month. While details of the attacks werent disclosed, Baylor interim President David Garland said then that players implicated in those cases were no longer at the school.The Bears havent won since becoming the only FBS school to start 6-0 each of the last four seasons. They play Boise State (10-2) on Dec. 27 in Phoenix. Their six-game skid is the longest since losing nine in a row when they dropped the final eight games of the 2007 season and the 2008 opener in Briles debut.---More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25 Adidas NMD Wolf Grey . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Fake NMD R1 For Sale . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. http://www.cheapnmdonline.com/wholesale-adidas-nmd-human-race-china.html . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history. Adidas NMD Womens Sale . Numbers Game looks into the Canadiens securing the services of Thomas Vanek in a trade with the New York Islanders. The Canadiens Get: LW Thomas Vanek and a conditional fifth-round pick. Adidas NMD Black Sale . Clarke was injured while practicing on the Doha Golf Club range after the pro-am on Tuesday. The Northern Irishman arrived at the course on Wednesday hoping to start, but after hitting a few balls on the practice putting green Clarke advised officials he was not fit to play. LAS VEGAS -- Gregg Popovich is probably never going to get over basketball without Tim Duncan.Theres a big hole in my belly, Popovich said of Duncan, the future Hall of Famer he coached for his entire 19-year career in San Antonio, who retired last week.I think about the culture and his humor. Ive been used to that for 20 years and now its gone. I have to find that in some other way, some other power, some other player. I have to do something. But life goes on for all of us.This week, life without Duncan begins in earnest as Popovich coaches the Select Team at USA Basketballs training camp in Las Vegas. Its a way to get to know some of the players hell likely be coaching when he succeeds Mike Krzyzewski as head coach of Team USA after these Summer Olympics. But its also become an exciting challenge in the august of Popovichs own Hall of Fame career.It was always believed Popovich, 67, would retire at the same time Duncan walked away. Now hes committed to coaching the San Antonio Spurs and Team USA for at least the next four years.You know what happened? I just got roped in, Popovich joked. I had to keep making promises. Manu [Ginobili] was going to sign a few years back and he was like, Are you going to be here? Tony [Parker], then Kawhi [Leonard]. Then when we were recruiting LaMarcus [Aldridge], he was like, Are you going to be here? it just goes on and on. So I guess I can never stop, I can never retire.Theres gotta be some time when were trying to sign a free agent and he goes, Pop, are you going to be here? and I say, Nope, Im leaving next week.While letting go of Duncan last week was incredibly emotional, Popovich said its been good for him to work with the younger team at this camp.Its really fun. When you look at the group, its almost like men and boys, he said. I look at the Olympic team and then I look at the Select Team, and theyre so young and thin, their faces look like theyre little kidss.dddddddddddd I think about that, but then I think 10 of the 12 Olympians went through that program. Its a pipeline, its a culture. These guys will be the same thing.Krzyzewski compared the succession process with himself and Popovich to platoon leaders succeeding each other in the military.The fact that were both military guys we understand that I have the unit right now and hes going to take command of the unit and we both want the unit to do well, said Krzyzewski, who coached at West Point and served as a field artillery liaison in South Korea. We understand that. Weve been good friends but this has been great for me and I think for him too; just for us to bond even more.Popovich played basketball at the Air Force Academy, served five years of active duty and returned as an assistant coach for the Air Force Academy.Two academy guys following each other, Popovich said. I dont think its a requirement for the job by any means. But it worked out that way.Im totally surprised and shocked when Jerry Colangelo called me because theres a whole lot of younger guys that could do the job. So I was thrilled. When you think about being able to be with these guys and represent your country, you say yes. You dont say, Ill think about it, Ill get back to you. You say yes.In some ways, Im scared to death. I gotta fill some pretty big shoes. This program has been pretty great for a decade after it was a debacle before. I feel that. Id be lying if I didnt say I feel that pressure. Im going to bust my butt and get it right. Im going to squeeze all the information I can out of Coach K and Jerry [Colangelo] and everybody who has been here. Thank heavens Jerrys still going to be with the program. Im sure Coach K will too. So Im in good shape that way. I have all kinds of people I can lean on. ' ' '