Top 3 Coaching Hires of the Offseason – a Fan's Take
Posted: July 8, 2012 at 2:12 am
The past offseason saw 28 teams acquire new head coaches. There were some high profile schools involved in the coaching search for numerous reasons. The Ohio State Buckeyes, Penn State Nittany Lions, Arizona Wildcats, Arkansas Razorbacks, UCLA Bruins and Texas A&M Aggies are a few of the big name schools with a new coach. After looking over the coaching hires, I picked the hires that I think will benefit the schools that hired them the most. Narrowly missing my list was hires like Rich Rodriguez to the Wildcats. If Rodriguez wouldn't have failed so miserably at Michigan, this would have been a splash hire. One hire that is intriguing, but not sure how su
ccessful it will be is Charlie Weis heading to Lawrence to coach the Kansas Jayhawks. He immediately brought in some big name quarterbacks, but it will be interesting to see if he can sustain long term success. His offensive coaching abilities are unquestioned. How he can relate to college aged players is still up in the air.
Here are my top 3 hires of the offseason and it is no doubt that their fan bases are hoping and expecting for immediate success in every instance.
3. Kevin Sumlin - Texas A&M Aggies
Head coach Kevin Sumlin returns to the Aggies sideline, but this time as head coach. Sumlin was on the staff in both 2001 and 2002. Sumlin worked wonders for the Houston Cougars, compiling a 35-17 record over 4 seasons and leading the team to 3 bowl berths in 4 seasons. Sumlin has his work cut out for him though as the Aggies are moving from a Big 12 Conference that is tough, but the SEC will pose a much more challenging schedule. It is widely known the success the SEC has had in recent years. Aggie fans will have to have some patience in the transition stages as wins won't come easily early on.
2. Mike Leach - Washington State Cougars
Every since Mike Leach was let go from the Texas Tech Red Raiders sideline, it was just a matter of time before he got back into coaching. The Cougars are giving Leach the chance to build his reputation, as well as, bring their school some recognition and hopefully more wins in the process. In 10 seasons with the Red Raiders, Leach led his team to 10 bowl games and finished the season in the top 25 in 5 of his final 6 seasons. Leach is a mastermind on the offensive side of the ball and will no doubt bring excitement back to an offensive that has only managed to score more than 28 points twice against Division 1 opponents in the past 3 seasons.
1. Urban Meyer - Ohio State Buckeyes
Urban Meyer has been at or near the top of every coaching search since he left the Florida Gators for family and health reasons. Buckeye fans are hoping Meyer is re-energized and ready to go. Meyer has shown he will have no problems recruiting, despite the probation and appears likely to restore the success the Buckeye faithful have become accustomed to. Smith won 2 National Championships with the Florida Gators before a surprising 8-5 campaign in 2010. Don't expect Meyer to take long to get the Buckeyes back on top. Despite a bowl ban in 2012, I would fully expect Ohio State to be battling for a Rose Bowl berth in 2013.
Born in Lincoln, NE and being a Nebraska Cornhusker an his entire life, Kevin has been an avid football fan his entire life.
Raleigh man coaching youth to succeed in life
Posted: at 2:12 am
Voices Raleigh man coaching youth to succeed in life
Published: 2012-07-06 18:25:00 Updated: 2012-07-06 20:07:54
Jul 6, 2012
Raleigh, N.C. It is an everyday moment at the Raleigh Boy's and Girl's club Ron Williams commanding the undivided attention of young people.
"You work with kids; give them guidance, explained Williams. (Be) there for them when they need you."
For decades, Williams has been there. He has been in the Raleigh community helping countless kids succeed in life and sports - there is no exact number and it would be pointless to try and guess one.
North Carolina Central University head basketball coach LeVelle Moton was one of those kids.
"I definitely wouldn't be here, Moton said. I'd be dead. Or incarcerated, just like a number of kids I grew up with."
Moton worked his way from the projects to become the conference player of the year at NC Central. Now he runs the program.
"It's young men like me who have grown through his guidance, Moton said. I have a platform now and can share his story."
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Raleigh man coaching youth to succeed in life
Youths graduating from ‘life coaching’ program
Posted: at 2:12 am
Graduates of a program aimed at helping teens with their transition from foster care will get a new laptop computer today, thanks to the Orange Duffel Bag Foundation.
The 25 youths ages 15 to 19 will have completed a life coaching program through the nonprofit organization, which helps improve the outlook for young people who are in foster care.
The graduation is at noon at Macon State College. At the ceremony, each graduate will receive an orange duffel bag with a computer.
Sam Bracken, founder of the program, will be guest speaker at the graduation.
Bracken was homeless at age 15, but he earned a football scholarship to Georgia Tech and later became a successful executive.
He co-authored the book My Orange Duffel Bag: A Journey to Radical Change. His success story is a basis for the program.
Mike Daly, chairman of the foundations board of directors, said Macon was identified as an area with a high number of at-risk youths, so the foundation decided to hold classes there.
Daly said Macon residents supported the program overwhelmingly, so he hopes to hold more classes this fall.
We have been welcomed with open arms, he said.
The program encourages youths to discover and develop their passions and create a comprehensive life plan.
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Youths graduating from ‘life coaching’ program
June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health fast cleanup job and Jump popping balloons videos 004.MP4 – Video
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June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health Balloon pop with black converse sneakers on 001.MP4 – Video
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Bipasha Basu Love Yourself – Pelvic Thrust – Health And Fitness Videos – Video
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How will your expenses change in retirement?
Posted: at 2:12 am
Estimating expenses over the duration of one's retirement is a fundamental part of retirement planning. Yet, there's surprisingly little agreement among financial planners about spending behaviors.
Some suggest that retirement spending rises as clients age due to accumulating health care expenses. Others suggest that expenditures decrease as retirees reduce their spending in areas such as travel and entertainment. Still others suggest that retirement spending stays relatively level and simply keeps pace with inflation.
The long-term impact of inflation is a fundamental risk for retirees. Yet most individuals never adjust their portfolio withdrawals each year for inflation. Instead, the checking account bears the brunt of inflation, which means funds need to be replenished. To determine how much inflation you are experiencing, you must look at changes in the checking/savings account balances over time, preferably over one year.
A recent article by Wade Pfau, director of the Macroeconomic Policy Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo, Japan, examined the question of How do spending needs evolve during retirement? It concludes that most people's spending patterns change over the course of retirement. Expenses look very different at age 90 than at age 65.
He cites a paper by Californian Lutheran University Professor Somnath Basu, Age Banding: A Model for Planning Retirement Needs, that discussed post-retirement spending patterns.
Basu considered a 30-year retirement divided into three 10-year intervals. Rather than assuming a constant rate of inflation for expenses in retirement, he divides spending into four general categories: taxes, basic needs, health care and leisure. Within these categories, he investigated the spending patterns by age and made allowances for differential inflation rates among these categories.
For example, he noted that retirees spend more on leisure (7 percent inflation rate) in the early part of retirement and more on health care later. Health care expenses, which had an inflation rate of 7 percent, were adjusted upward by 15 percent at age 65, 20 percent at 75 and 25 percent at 85. Taxes and basic living expenses were assigned an inflation rate of 3 percent, and 7 percent for health care and leisure.
This methodology provides a useful tool for planning long-term retirement budgets. Having a system to track your expenses is a must. Make it a habit each year to review where your money is going and what increased and decreased.
Your expenses will change during retirement.
Thomas M. Rush is a wealth adviser with Yuma Investment Group. He can be reached at 329-1700.
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How will your expenses change in retirement?
Retirement reality check
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Looking ahead ... Todd and Karen Eldridge. Photo: Jon Reid
An entire industry has grown around telling you how poor you'll be in retirement. As if you need reminding.
As a rough rule of thumb, $1 million at 65 (or about $1.25 million at 60) will give a comfortable lifestyle, which the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) retirement standard says is $55,080 a year after tax.
But it depends on what you earned in the meantime because that will determine what you consider comfortable, whether you've paid off the mortgage, expect an inheritance, are going to downsize your home or move interstate, and how long you live.
On course Mark and Erica Kirby may need to salary sacrifice into super. Photo: Simon Alekna
Super is a great tax break but isn't the be-all and end-all of a decent retirement, either.
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Under the seniors and pensioners tax offset (forever destined to be called SAPTO), a retired couple over 65 could earn up to $57,948 a year without paying a single cent in tax.
That's more than twice the ordinary tax-free threshold.
Options ... Dennis Maddock. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
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Retirement reality check
D'Angelo Jams, Shakes Off The Past At Essence Fest
Posted: at 2:11 am
NEW ORLEANS -- At the Essence Music Festival presented by Coca-Cola on Friday night, I couldn't help but think there was something poignant about D'Angelo taking the stage for the latest in a season of comeback concerts in the same week that Frank Ocean had seized the news cycle for his game-changing personal revelation. Kindred musical spirits: one ahead of his time, the other firmly a product of his time.
More than 15 years before Ocean was hailed as a radical voice poised to remake the oft-beleaguered genre known as rhythm and blues, Michael Eugene Archer became a messianic figure, sent down to save our (neo) souls from the hackneyed bump-and-grind of R&B with his 1995 debut, Brown Sugar. So maybe it's just me, but the moment feels right for the now-38-year-old to be reemerging.
If fans were expecting the Richmond, Virginia-born singer to bask in the nostalgia of his classic first LP, though, they were disappointed. Taking the stage without any fanfare, he dove into his cover of Roberta Flack's "Feel Like Makin' Love," off his sophomore disc, Voodoo. And it was instantly clear that D'Angelo and his raucous band were less concerned with faithful renditions of the well-aged tracks than with turning the songs on their heads.
Still, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where swag included tote bags emblazoned with the 59-year-old mug of the night's headliner Charlie Wilson, D's highly instrumental approach to his set didn't always gibe with the room. But for die-hards, who largely skewed younger, the singer was mesmerizing. (One row in front of us, Destiny's Child alums Michelle Williams and LaToya Luckett, along with rising star Luke James, were as enthralled as we were, dancing during much of the show.)
While D'Angelo rightfully dug into material that will probably appear on James River, his first album in a dozen years, he also dusted off his hits. There was the bewitching "Devil's Pie" and the blissfully profane "Sh--, Damn, Mother------," which he drew out to Church Revival lengths, even leaving the stage for a few moments before returning to cap off the coda.
The chiseled, cornrow-rocking D'Angelo of the late '90s is now a thing of a bygone era, tossed into the archives of the "neo-soul" movement that birthed him. For Friday's show, D tied a black bandanna around his unruly mass of locks for a look that seemed inspired by pirates and Hendrix. So we shouldn't have been surprised that for "Untitled" (How Does It Feel), the massive single now synonymous with his break with the music industry, there were no panties thrown and no abs shown.
Instead, the all-black clad D'Angelo sat at the keys and ran through a subdued verse as the ecstatic crowd sang along. He seemed eager to get it over with, the song perhaps too much of a reminder of a time when he buckled under the weight of sex symboldom, disappearing for nearly a decade into a haze of addiction and personal demons.
It was on the anthemic "Lady," though, that D came alive. With the concertgoers on their feet, he let himself smile, soaring on his falsetto on that infectious hook. In the mid-'90s, lyrics like this had put D'Angelo squarely ahead of his time: "Babe, I know they've seen us before/ Maybe at the liquor store / Or maybe at the health food stand / They don't know that I'm your man." Then only 21 years old, his songwriting was both conversational and reflective, a rare combo in R&B.
Now, as he shakes off the weight of his past, D'Angelo seems poised to grab his place again.