Tagged: ‘Dave Telep’

posted by on November 15, 2012 4:50 PM

ESPNU’s National Signing Day Special to feature three Top 30 decisions

(L-R) Paul Biancardi and Dave Telep. (Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)

In the past three years, nearly 25 ESPN 100 players have revealed their college choice live on ESPN Recruiting Nation.

That number will grow once again during tomorrow’s National Signing Day Special on ESPNU (7 p.m. ET) when the Class of 2013′s No. 20 player, Kennedy Meeks (Georgetown or UNC), No. 25 Isaac Hamilton (San Diego State, UCLA, UNLV or UTEP) and No. 27 Tyler Roberson (Kansas, Syracuse or Villanova) join the hour-long program to announce their decision.

Also scheduled to join the program are Kansas coach Bill Self, Kentucky coach John Calipari and Memphis coach Josh Pastner.

As players put pen to paper on their national letters of intent, ESPN’s Paul Biancardi will be manning his own phone for updates from leading programs, coaches and players to deliver the news over the air. It’s an experience he knows well after a career in coaching that brought him to, among other leagues, the Big Ten (Ohio State), the Big East (Boston College) and the Horizon League (Wright State).

“At Wright State (as head coach) I signed a kid in late April who eventually became the Horizon League Player of the year,” Biancardi said. “It’s hard to find someone of that caliber in April, normally you try and find them the year before. I got the job in April and landed DaShaun Wood soon after; he became one of the best players in the history of Wright State basketball.” continue reading…

Filed in: Behind The Scenes

posted by on September 13, 2012 9:44 AM

No stranger to ESPN’s Bristol campus, UConn’s Jim Calhoun retires

SportsCenter will have coverage surrounding Jim Calhoun’s retirement as UConn men’s basketball coach throughout the day from Storrs, Conn. with college basketball insider Andy Katz on site. Throughout the day — and across various ESPN outlets — fans will hear from college basketball analysts Dick Vitale (via phone), Seth Greenberg (in Bristol), Jay Bilas (Charlotte) and Digger Phelps (South Bend) in addition to other experts and reporters.

SportsCenter will carry the 2 p.m. ET news conference live, as will ESPNU, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. ESPNU will have continuing coverage throughout the day. ESPN Radio also plans to have excerpts from the presser throughout the afternoon.

Outside the Lines (3 p.m.) will look at the career of Jim Calhoun and consider his legacy.

ESPN.com features Calhoun elements including this piece from Dana O’Neill and a look at the presumed replacement for Calhoun, Kevin Ollie, from Dave Telep (Insider content).

ESPN Classic will begin a “Jim Calhoun Tribute” at 6 p.m. ET tonight, and it will run through 9 p.m. on Friday. Included will be key Big East Tournament and regular season games. The final three games in the tribute will be the Big East quarterfinal (3 p.m.), semifinal (5 p.m.) and final (7 p.m.) from UConn’s remarkable 2011 tourney run.

With today’s expected announcement that UConn coach Jim Calhoun is retiring after 40 years in coaching — as well as three national championships and 873 wins — Front Row took a look back in the archives to find some of the the Hall of Famer’s visits to the Bristol, Conn. campus. (The UConn campus is less than an hour from ESPN’s headquarters and Calhoun was a frequent visitor and his UConn teams were staples of ESPN’s college basketball slates.)

In the gallery above, we look at some of Calhoun’s interactions with ESPN and the video below shows Calhoun’s “This is SportsCenter” commercial filmed in August of 2009.

Filed in: Breaking News, ESPN History