Ohio State legend Katie Smith selected as Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame finalist

Former Ohio State shooting guard Katie Smith is a three-time Olympic gold medalist and set the record for points scored by either a man or woman in the Big Ten during her four-season collegiate career from 1992 to 1996. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

By Colin Hass-Hill
January 17, 2018

One of the greatest players in Ohio State women’s basketball history, Katie Smith was selected as one of 10 finalists for the 2018 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

The three-time Olympic gold medalist set the record for points scored by either a man or woman in the Big Ten during her four-season collegiate career from 1992 to 1996. Smith was honored as the Big Ten Player of the Year her senior year. In her freshman season, she powered her team to a conference title and NCAA championship appearance.

Smith played 15 season in the WNBA and two professionally for the Columbus Quest from 1996 to 1997. When she retired in 2013, she was the all-time women’s professional basketball leading scorer with 7,885 points. Smith was voted one of the 20 best and most-influential players in WNBA history in 2016. After her playing career ended, she was hired as an assistant coach by the New York Liberty. She became the team’s head coach Oct. 16.

“She’s totally deserving of that honor and she should be inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame,” Ohio State women’s basketball head coach Kevin McGuff said. “She’s an unbelievable player. She was an unbelievable player here. She’s a great coach now. I can’t wait to see all her success with the New York Liberty.”

Smith was inducted into Ohio State’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001. McGuff said she frequently makes trips to Columbus continues to stay in touch with the program.

“I love the fact she comes around a lot, she stays connected to the program, which I love,” McGuff said. “She’s a great role model to the current players.”

The 2018 Basketball Hall of Fame finalists were announced were Jan. 11. Inductees will be announced the night of Feb. 12 during the Louisville-Connecticut game.

The class of 2018 will be introduced during the Final Four in Columbus, meaning Smith might have a homecoming if inducted.

Former NIACC standout Yanda selected to NJCAA football hall of fame

January 17, 2018
By Whitney Blakemore

Former NIACC all-American offensive lineman Marshal Yanda has been selected to the NJCAA Football Hall of Fame.

Yanda, who played at NIACC in 2003-04, joins former Ellsworth standout Andre Tippett and Lackawanna College (Pa.) coach Mark Duda in the 2018 class.

Yanda, a current member of the Baltimore Ravens, was an honorable mention NJCAA all-American in the 2004 season under coach Dave Gillespie.

After NIACC, Yanda played two years at the University of Iowa earning second-team all-Big Ten honors as a senior.

Yanda was drafted in the third round (86th overall pick) by the Ravens in the 2007 NFL Draft.

Yanda has been selected to the Pro Bowl six times (2011-16). He's a two-time first-team all-pro selection (2014-15) and three-time second-team all-pro selection (2011, 2012, 2016).

Yanda won a Super Bowl ring with the Ravens when the they topped the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.

Yanda, who attended high school in Anamosa, and his wife Shannon have three children- Graham, Libby, and Logan.

Yanda is the third NIACC football player to be selected to the NJCAA football hall of fame. MarTay Jenkins was selected in 2011 and Shawn Harper was selected in 1995.

Tippett, who played at Ellsworth in 1978, played at Iowa and then played for the New England Patriots from 1982-93. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He was a member of the NFL's all-decade team of the 1980s.

Duda was a four-time Northeastern Football Conference coach of the year. He is currently the NJCAA active leader in career wins.

NFL Coaching Carousel: Mike Vrabel Emerges as a Strong Fit for Titans’ Head-Coach Position

Quickly

• Since the Titans announced that they were parting ways with head coach Mike Mularkey on Monday morning, Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel has quickly emerged as a strong fit to step in the opening — and more updates as the NFL's coaching carousel spins.

By Albert Breer
January 15, 2018

Every decision the Titans have made for three years now has been with quarterback Marcus Mariota’s development at the forefront.

When they fired Ken Whisenhunt halfway through 2015, the beheading the Titans’ quarterbacks were taking early that season pushed the issue. When they hired Jon Robinson as GM in January 2016, his time spent around Tom Brady as a scout for the Patriots and in drafting Jameis Winston as the Buccaneers’ director of player personnel were factors. And when Mike Mularkey was given the head-coaching job full-time, it was largely because he’d fixed the aforementioned protection problem.

So the Titans are about to hire an offensive guru as head coach, right?

Not so fast.

On Monday, two head-coaching spots were, for all intents and purposes, filled, and another one opened up. And one widely-held assumption early in the day was that Josh McDaniels’s availability had pushed the Titans to pull the plug on Mularkey, an idea that was punctuated by McDaniels’s offense tearing through an overwhelmed Tennessee team in Foxboro on Saturday night.

My belief is that was never the case, and McDaniels—who’s as bright a head-coaching prospect as there is on the market—probably wouldn’t have been the Titans’ lead dog had he still been available (the Colts are expected to hire the Patriots’ offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports). The reason why is simple: it’s about fit.

Over the last two weeks, as news of Mularkey’s employment status was widely reported and and written about by the media, the trust between Mularkey and Robinson fractured—and that was a piece of why talks on bringing Mularkey back broke down over the last couple of days. It may have been difficult to get Mularkey to take a Band-Aid deal and make staff changes previously. These circumstances made that impossible.

Now the Titans will look to find alignment, and the first man they requested to interview, Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, is seen as a better match for the team’s brass than McDaniels from a personality standpoint. Also, he and Robinson have common background in that each spent many years in New England. Vrabel will have to sell Tennessee on his staffing choices and his vision for developing Mariota, but word of how well Vrabel interviewed in Detroit and Indianapolis has gotten around. Robinson laid out criteria for the job during his press conference on Monday, and the first thing he said he was looking for was a “leader of men.”

That’s Vrabel, whose strengths are in his presence and ability to reach people. It doesn’t mean he has job, but there’s little question that he’s well-positioned for it.