San Jose State postpones game following death of running back

Associated PressOct 21, 2022, 11:15 PM EDT

Douglas Stringer/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose State has postponed its football game this weekend after a freshman running back was killed Friday when he was hit by a school bus while riding a scooter near campus.

Athletic director Jeff Konya said Saturday’s game against New Mexico State will be played later this season after the Spartans mourn the death of Camdan McWright.

“We are all saddened by the tragic loss of Camdan McWright,” Konya said. “The San Jose State community is a very close one, and the campus is devastated. We lost a very bright, talented young man too soon. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the McWright family.”

The San Jose Unified School District bus had the green light when the 18-year-old McWright entered the crosswalk directly in the vehicle’s path, the California Highway Patrol said. McWright died at the scene, about two blocks from the university, authorities said.

No one was injured on the bus and the 14 students, ages 14 to 17, were escorted onto a second bus that drove them away from the scene, the highway patrol said. It said the 36-year-old bus driver pulled over and remained at the scene. Investigators don’t believe alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash.

McWright, a running back, was previously a football star for St. Genevieve High School in Los Angeles, near his hometown of Sylmar. He had played in one game this season.

“We lost an amazing young man tragically this morning,” coach Brent Brennan said in a statement. “Camdan had a bright future ahead of him and everyone in this community that had the opportunity to spend time with him knew that. We are still trying to deal with the news of this tragedy, and appreciate everyone’s support during these difficult times.”

University officials are cooperating with the highway patrol’s investigation and will make counselors available to students and staff, the university said.

“We grieve for Camdan, his family, friends, teammates, and the Spartan family,” university President Steve Perez said. “We grieve together and will provide all of the support that Camdan’s family, our students and our football program require to help move through this tragic time.”

Perfect Alabama finishes No. 1 in AP Top 25 for 12th time

Associated PressJan 12, 2021, 7:50 PM EST

Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports Images

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Alabama finished the season No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the 12th time, extending its record by completing the program’s first perfect season since 2009.

The Crimson Tide were a unanimous No. 1 in the final poll, getting 61 first-place votes, after beating Ohio State 52-24 in the College Football Playoff championship game Monday night.

Alabama was the preseason No. 3, but when it started playing this strange season amid a pandemic in late September it moved up to No. 2. The Tide jumped to No. 1 in early November and finished as major college football’s only undefeated team.

“We set this as a goal, to potentially be the greatest team to ever play,” Tide quarterback Mac Jones said. “I think we made a valid statement in winning the national championship tonight.”

The Buckeyes were second, followed by Clemson at No. 3. Texas A&M was fourth, finally passing Notre Dame for the Aggies’ best finish in the AP poll since they won the national title in 1939. The Fighting Irish made the playoff but slipped to No. 5 after losing to Alabama in the semifinals.

For the Crimson Tide, it is the sixth national title under coach Nick Saban in the last 12 seasons. No other team has won more than two during that time. With 12 AP titles overall – Paul “Bear” Bryant was coach for five and Gene Stallings for one – Alabama has four more than Notre Dame, in second place with eight.

Big 12 champion Oklahoma finished No. 6, Georgia seventh and Cincinnati was eighth.

The Tide, Aggies and Bulldogs give the Southeastern Conference three teams in the top seven. The SEC finished 7-2 in the bowls, counting Alabama’s national championship victory.

Iowa State was No. 9, its best final ranking and only the third time the Cyclones have finished the season ranked. Northwestern finished 10th, the Wildcats’ best final showing since they went to the Rose Bowl in 1995 and were eighth in the last poll.

The Big 12 finished with a perfect record in five bowl games. Oklahoma and Iowa State were joined by No. 19 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma State in the final rankings from that conference.

The ACC’s postseason was a dud at 0-6. Clemson, Notre Dame, No. 18 North Carolina and No. 22 Miami gave the ACC four ranked teams.

The odd season in a pandemic put a spotlight on teams outside the Power Five conferences as never before, and the final poll treated the upstarts well.

Cincinnati, the American Athletic Conference champ, was one of eight non-Power Five teams to land in the Top 25.

Independent BYU finished No. 11, the Cougars’ best final ranking since they finished the 1995 season fifth.

Sun Belt rivals Coastal Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette were Nos. 14 and 15, respectively. That conference had never finished with two ranked teams. Liberty, another independent, was 17th.

Rounding out the bottom of the poll were No. 23 Ball State, the Mid-American Conference champ, No. 24 San Jose State, the champ of the Mountain West, and No. 25 Buffalo, another MAC school.

Boise State hires Andy Avalos as head coach

Associated PressJan 9, 2021, 3:37 PM EST

Andy Nelson via Imagn Content Services

BOISE, Idaho — Andy Avalos is taking over as head coach at Boise State, returning to the school where he was a standout linebacker and defensive coordinator.

Avalos was announced Saturday as the replacement for Bryan Harsin, who left Boise State to take the head coaching position at Auburn just before Christmas.

The hiring of Avalos continues Boise State’s trend of keeping the job running the program within the Broncos family. Boise State has hired either an assistant within the program or a former player to run the show dating back to Dirk Koetter taking over in 1998.

Avalos played for the Broncos from 2001-05 and later returned as a defensive assistant and took over as defensive coordinator in 2016. For the past two seasons, he has been the defensive coordinator at Oregon.

“This is a dream come true, and a very humbling opportunity for myself and my family to be back in this program,” Avalos said in a statement. “I’m excited to get back around the players I have missed the last two years, and to provide an elite experience for all the young men in the Boise State football program.”

The Broncos job seemed to come down to which former Boise State connection would end up in charge – former quarterback Kellen Moore, Montana State coach Jeff Choate or Avalos. Moore has always seemed destined to be a head coach, but he withdrew from the process after signing a new contract to remain the offensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys.

After Moore withdrew, the decision for new Boise State athletic director Jeremiah Dickey came down to Avalos or Choate, a former assistant for the Broncos under Chris Petersen.

“We did our due diligence with this search in a very short period of time, and this was a national search, not just something we were looking at keeping within the family,” said Dickey, who was hired by the school just a week ago. “Andy left no doubt that he was the individual that would continue building on the well-established culture within Bronco Football.”

Avalos was a two-time all-WAC first-team selection during his playing career. Once he finished playing, Avalos coached at Division II Nebraska-Kearney and Sacramento State before returning to Boise State in 2012 as an assistant.

Avalos was hired as the defensive coordinator at Oregon in February 2019.

He will inherit a Boise State program in flux. The Broncos have not matched the same level of success from the time when Moore was the quarterback and Petersen was in charge, but the program has remained the benchmark for most Group of Five programs. Boise State went 69-19 under Harsin, won three Mountain West championships and claimed a Fiesta Bowl title in Harsin’s first season.

Boise State went 5-2 this season and lost to San Jose State in the Mountain West title game.

But there have been rumblings of unhappiness with the Broncos’ current situation in the Mountain West, as evidenced by recent emails from Harsin revealed through public information requests and published by the Idaho Press that suggest change could be in order.

The Broncos have not played in a New Year’s Six bowl game since 2014 and have seen a number of programs in the American – Cincinnati, UCF, Memphis – pull even or surpass Boise State in terms of prominence and recent success among the Group of Five schools.

Avalos’ task will be getting Boise State’s on-field product back to the top of that conversation while the school seems to be exploring what’s the best move for the future of its football program.