Penn State Behrend men’s basketball coach Dave Niland has picked up 362 victories and 162 defeats in 19 seasons at the helm of the Division III team, with no losing seasons.

His first cousin, Michigan’s John Beilein, has 673 career victories and 403 defeats after defeating Syracuse and Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim 64-59 in the Final Four meeting in Atlanta, then losing to Louisville and Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino 82-76 in the championship game.

Niland, whose father Joe Niland is the brother of Beilein’s mother, played at LeMoyne under Beilein in the late 1980s, when Beilein’s Division II Dolphins played under the shadow of Boeheim’s Orange. Beilein started at Erie Community College, spent one season at Nazareth (Division III), nine at LeMoyne, five at his first D-I job at Canisius, helped by Boeheim’s recommendation, five at Richmond, five at West Virginia, and now six at Michigan.

The combined 1,035-565 record could be No. 1 for first cousins.

Bob Jarzomski

McDowell running back/outside linebacker James Conner signs his National Letter of Intent with Pitt Wednesday at McDowell's library. MATT MEAD/Erie Times-News

Today is National Letter of Intent Day, and many area football players and other athletes are set to sign with Division I and Division II schools or commit to program at other levels.

The Erie Times-News took a look at the area football players expected to sign today. Read a short bio on each player. Here’s the list:

Football
Damion Terry, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
Delton Williams, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
John Chereson, Cathedral Prep – Notre Dame (walk-on)
Erik Swanson, Cathedral Prep – Pennsylvania
Jake Plonski, Cathedral Prep – Mercyhurst
Nick Dubowski, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)
Brendan Klemensic, Cathedral Prep – Gannon
James Conner, McDowell – Pittsburgh
Sean Gallagher, McDowell – Edinboro
Riley Dunbar, McDowell – Mercyhurst
DeShawn Coleman, Hickory – West Virginia
Dionte Pope, Hickory – Edinboro
Artrel Foster, Meadville – Temple
Quinn Thompson, General McLane – Connecticut
Aidan Graham, General McLane – Clarion
Nathan O’Brien, Eisenhower – Lock Haven
Aaron Lundmark, Eisenhower – Grove City
Logan Rickert, Reynolds – IUP

——————–

Following are the athletes from other sports who plan to sign today. Read a short bio on each athlete.

Baseball
Eli Flynn, Cathedral Prep – Concord College (W.Va.)
Scott Hess, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)

Cross country
Ethan Louis, Cathedral Prep – Dayton
Austin Pondel, Corry – Penn State
Hunter Johnston, Saegertown – Dayton

Soccer
Cory Kuzilla, Harbor Creek – California (Pa.)
Olivia Augustyniak, Mercyhurst Prep – Duquesne
Sarah Kaiser, Mercyhurst Prep – Cleveland State

Track and field
Jaynee Corbett, Corry – Youngstown State

Volleyball
Maria Peluso, Fort LeBoeuf – Shippensburg

Wrestling
Evan Daley, Fort LeBoeuf – Clarion

Water polo
Michael Squeglia, Cathedral Prep – Gannon

Note: Coaches are encouraged to notify the Times-News if an athlete plans to commit to a college.

Let’s recap Week 12, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 14 Stanford at No. 1 Oregon

Final score: Cardinal 17, Ducks 14 (OT)

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 12.

Game of the week: No. 14 Stanford Cardinal (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) at No. 1 Oregon Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: The Ducks are No. 1 in both national polls and second in the BCS standings, but all that will mean nothing if they fall to Stanford.

They won’t, though. The Cardinal aren’t going into Eugene with a redshirt freshman quarterback and beating the Ducks in their final regular-season home game.

Don’t get me wrong. Kevin Hogan is good. Real good.

He was clutch in last week’s win against Oregon State in his first collegiate start. In addition, Stanford is first in the nation in rushing defense.

The Cardinal are allowing 58.60 yards on the ground. So they’re up to the challenge of stopping Heisman candidate Kenjon Barner, who is second in points with 120 (20 TDs) and fourth in rushing (136 ypg.).

Barner had what looked like a right hand or wrist injury against Cal. He’ll likely play Saturday, but if it keeps him from being the difference maker he is, the Ducks could be in the trouble.

The problem for Stanford is it will have the same problem every other team has had against the Ducks. You fall behind early and can’t go score for score with them.

Say Stanford trails 14-0 or 17-3 or 21-10 by the midway point in the second quarter. It will be down 42-20 going into the fourth.

No one can go score for score with the Ducks. No one.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s recap Week 8, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina at No. 3 Florida

Final score: Gators 44, Gamecocks 11

Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.

However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.

Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.

Post-game commentary: The Gamecocks fumbled away this one.

Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel threw three of his four touchdowns off South Carolina turnovers as the Gators put South Carolina’s championship dreams on arctic freeze.

The Gamecocks had four total turnovers with three being fumbles. When the going got tough for them, they got ran out of stadium.

As for the Gators, a win this week against Georgia in Jacksonville all but seals up a spot in the SEC title game. Their final conference game is Nov. 3 at home against Missouri, which is 0-4 in SEC play.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 8.

Game of the week: No. 9 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1, 4-1 SEC) at No. 3 Florida Gators, (6-0, 5-0 SEC), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WSEE (CBS)

Pregame rant: Despite losing to LSU, South Carolina can still find itself in the SEC title game, but must beat the Gators to do so. To see Steve Spurrier go back to the place he starred as a player and as a coach and knock off Florida would be one his biggest wins ever.

However, South Carolina better shore up that run defense if it plans to upend the Gators. The Gamecocks allowed LSU to bang ‘em for 258 yards on the ground.

Florida is averaging 233.33 yards rushing and will be content to win a low-scoring affair, as it did against LSU, rather than play score for score.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three games worth watching in Week 5.

Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) at No. 20 Michigan State Spartans (3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.

Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.

He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.

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Let us recap Week 4, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 10 Clemson at No. 4 Florida State

Final score: Seminoles 49, Tigers 37

Pregame rant: So much talent on both teams here, but if the Seminoles are a national title contender, they’ll handle the Tigers.

Allowing just 103.33 yard a game and a total of three points, Florida State is first in the nation in total defense and scoring defense, but two of its three wins are against FCS schools Murray State and Savannah State.

Clemson will test that defense with its array of playmakers lead by junior quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is 63-of-86 for 747 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Post-game commentary: The Tigers just couldn’t keep up with the ‘Noles, who scored 28 straight points after falling behind 31-21 in the third quarter.

EJ Manuel had a sensational game, going 27-of-35 for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Too bad Clemson and FSU are in the same division in the ACC. Like to see a rematch of those two.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three games worth watching in Week 4.

Game of the week: No. 10 Clemson Tigers (3-0,0-0 ACC) at No. 4 Florida State Seminoles (3-0, 1-0 ACC), Saturday, 8 p.m. WJET (ABC).

Pregame rant: So much talent on both teams here, but if the Seminoles are a national title contender, they’ll handle the Tigers.

Allowing just 103.33 yard a game and a total of three points, Florida State is first in the nation in total defense and scoring defense, but two of its three wins are against FCS schools Murray State and Savannah State.

Clemson will test that defense with its array of playmakers lead by junior quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is 63-of-86 for 747 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let us recap Week 3, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 2 USC at No. 21 Stanford

Final score: Cardinal 21, Trojans 14.

Pregame rant: The Cardinal want to prove they’ve been more than Andrew Luck, but they’re going to need a lot of luck to get past the Trojans.

Barkley has 10 touchdown passes to only one interception and has only been sacked twice, but the Trojans haven’t been tested. If Stanford can take an early lead, it will be interesting to see how Barkley fares when the defense knows he’s passing.

Post-game commentary: No Luck needed in this one. The Cardinal pounded out 202 yards rushing with senior Stephan Taylor going for 153 and a score on 27 carries. As for Barkley, he was just 20-of-41 for 254 yards, no touchdowns and two picks.

The good news for USC is it lost early. The bad news is the Trojans still have to play Oregon. A loss Nov. 3 to the Ducks will end all hopes of an opportunity to play for a national title.

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