FIU football to hold practice Saturday in Liberty City’s Charles Hadley Park
College football is coming to Liberty City.
FIU will practice at Charles Hadley Park at 8:30 on Saturday morning. The park is located at 1350 NW 50 St. in Miami, and the “Community Day” practice is open to the public.
After practice, FIU has partnered with VOUS Church to hold an Easter egg drop for kids, starting at about 11 a.m., also at Hadley.
“This is good news for the community,” Miami Central football coach Jube Joseph said. “It shows FIU’s investment in the inner city. It’s big for kids to see FIU as a presence here.”
FIU has 22 players on its current roster from Miami-Dade County, and many of them are inner-city athletes.
“A lot of our players competed in Little League football on that field,” FIU coach Mike MacIntyre said of Hadley. “Our players and coaches are really excited to practice there.”
MacIntyre said having the practice at Hadley was his idea, and this is a first for FIU.
“We’re trying to give back,” MacIntyre said. “Hopefully there’s a good turnout in the community.”
Besides the community aspect, there is also the following thought pattern that MacIntyre does not deny: There are so many great players who have come out of Miami’s inner city that doing this event makes complete sense for FIU.
FMU hires champion coaches
Florida Memorial University, which competes as an NAIA school, has hired two coaches who have combined to win three national titles at this level within the past five years.
On March 24, the Lions hired Alex Nichols as its men’s soccer coach.
Nichols led the Central Methodist Eagles (Fayette, Missouri) to NAIA national titles in 2018 and 2019. In the past five seasons, Central Methodist went 107-7-7, the best record during that span across all divisions.
Six days after Nichols, FMU hired Delano Thomas as its men’s basketball coach.
In 2020-2021, Thomas led Shawnee State to a 31-2 record and its first NAIA national title. Shawnee State finished the season on a 27-game win streak.
Shawnee State, located in Portsmouth (Ohio), went 18-14 and 17-13 in the two seasons after its national title.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Nova Southeastern University’s Jim Crutchfield has been awarded the Clarence Gaines award, given to the NCAA Division II men’s basketball Coach of the Year. He led NSU to a 36-0 record and a national title.
In addition, NSU forward RJ Sunahara has won the Bevo Francis Award, given to the best player not competing in Division I. He averaged 18.9 points per game this past season.
▪ FIU’s men’s basketball gave national semifinalist FAU quite a run earlier this season. FIU lost their first matchup, 79-53, in Boca Raton. But in the rematch in Miami, FAU barely escaped with a 77-73 overtime victory. FIU’s Denver Jones led all scorers with 25 points.
▪ Noah Moran has been hired to launch Barry University’s men’s and women’ swimming programs. A former swimmer at Eastern Michigan, Moran has more than 20 years of NCAA coaching experience (head or assistant coach). He is the former head coach of the Turkish National Team, and he spent last season in Division I as a Cleveland State assistant.
▪ St. Thomas University president David A. Armstrong, J.D., threw out the first pitch on Friday when the Marlins hosted the New York Mets.
▪ MDC baseball player Wooyeoul Shin, an outfielder from South Korea, ranks second in the state with a .421 batting average. He also has 12 homers.
