European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 34 stars and stripes wednesday april 18 2007 air Force promotes Bzdelik assistant Reynolds the associated press air Force Academy Colo the air Force Academy didst Jook far to find its new mens basketball coach promoting Assis Tant Jeff Reynolds on tuesday Reynolds will replace Jeff Bzdelik who left for Colorado two weeks ago the 50yearold Rey nolds is the seventh head coach in the Academy history and the fourth in the past five years Reynolds joined Bzdelik staff two years ago after serving As an assistant at Tulane from 2000 to 2004 he was the head coach at division n Wingate in North Caro Lina from 1997 to 2000 finishing r6127 he also was head coach for the 198586 season at North Caro Lina Wesleyan going 217 Bzdelik went 5016 at air Force but the buffaloes lured him away for More than a year s Alabama retires Arrow Mobile Ala South Ala Bama has rehired former coach Ronnie Arrow from Texas Christi and is set to introduce him tuesday Arrow who helped Start the Christi program in 1999 and led the islanders to their first Mcaa tournament this year told the Corpus Christ Call or times the Job was too Tough to sports briefs pass on Arrow will be introduced in a news con Ference tues Day to replace John Pelphrey who left to be come head coach at Arkansas the pres Register said a school spokesman declined to confirm his hiring athletic director Joe Gottfried did not immediately re turn a Call from the associated press Christi athletic director Brian Teter said he would begin his search for a successor immediately Saint Louis fires Soderberg St Louis basketball coach Brad Soderberg was fired tues Day after five seasons at Saint Louis despite the schools first 20win season since 1998 the school said the Success of its new Campus Arena scheduled to open for the 200809 season was contingent on a team that could contend for conference championships Saint Louis went 2013 last sea son and finished in the Middle of the Atlantico conference the Billiken Haven made it to the Mcaa tournament since 2000 the school said it fired Soder Berg after an extensive review and said it will immediately begin the search for a successor Indiana White to return Bloomington ind Indi Ana Forward do White will re turn for his senior year after Lead ing the hoosiers in scoring and re bounding last season White a second team Al big ten selection averaged 138 Points and 73 rebounds for an in Diana team that finished 2111 and advanced to the second round of the Mcaa tournament i believe it is in my Best inter est to return for my senior sea son White said in a statement tuesday i Learned a lot from coach Kelvin Sampson and the rest of the coaching staff and really improved my game last year in excited to take my game to an other level Texas gives Barnes a raise of Texas regents approved a raise for Rick Barnes on monday boosting his salary to million per year Barnes has led the longhorns to the Mcaa tournament in each of his nine seasons including a trip to the final four in 2003 this is a Good thing for Rick and a Good thing for the University of Texas athletic director de loss Dodds said coach Barnes has been terrific for the University his record on the court and our players Success in the class room speak for themselves and were also a to five program in the nation financially under his leadership Hes the kind of per son we want Here at Texas Texas went 2510 last season behind freshman Kevin Durant the associated press player of the year last week Durant announced he would leave the Long horns to enter the Aba draft Plitschko to face Brewster in Germany new York if heavy weight Champion Wladimir Plitschko will defend his title against Lamon Brewster in a july 7 rematch in Germany the bout will be held in co Logne Arena k2 promotions said monday in a 2004 fight for the who title Brewster won with a fifth round technical knockout Plitschko had knocked Down Brewster in the fourth round but he was saved by the Bell this Chance for revenge against Lamon Brewster is a dream come True Plitschko said he is without a doubt an extremely dangerous opponent but i always hoped for a Chance to re deem myself Morenstam to reduce schedule Stockholm Sweden an Nika Morenstam will play fewer Golf tournaments this season and focus on the majors because of a Back injury i will play less prepare More and really go for the big competitions Morenstam told swedish broadcaster set the 36yearold Morenstam Learned last week that she has a ruptured and herniated disk in her Back and will miss at least a month from the Lyga tour jays Ryan out 46 weeks Toronto Blue jays closer by Ryan will miss four to six weeks with an Elbow sprain and ail Star third baseman Troy Glaus will be placed on the disabled list tuesday left fielder Reed Johnson also opted for surgery to repair the herniated disk in his lower Back Johnson who was placed on the disabled list Friday will have the procedure done tuesday in St Petersburg Fla and will be out until july the flurry of moves leaves the Blue jays with Jason Frasor As their closer Rookie Adam Lind in left Field and a platoon of John Mcdonald and Jason Smith at third base age defying Okoye ready for nil by Well Graves the associated press by the opening question is always the same always when nil personnel first meet Amobi Okoye they dont ask the former Louisville Star How he folded him self into one of the top defensive line prospects in this years draft they dont wonder about his work habits or pester him about what it was like growing up in Nigeria their question is much simpler often spoken in hushed tones to let Okoye know its of to finally drop his guard and let them in on the secret they think Hes keeping there always like Are you 19 really Okoye says shaking his head they say Tou can Tell me i wont Tell anybody Okoye sighs and lets out a Little laugh the questions hearing now Are the same ones he heard four years ago after joining the cardinals at age 16 a time when most players Are getting ready for their Junior year of High school in used to it said Okoye who turns 20 in june peo ple have always been asking me about it in my head when i hear it now in like again dont get Okoye wrong Hes not ungrateful for the Atten Tion or exasperated by the somewhat sceptical look in a scouts eyes whenever they watch him work out its just Hes ready for people to Start looking past the Date on his birth certificate and concentrate on whats made him a virtual lock to go in the first round the never Idle motor he spent three seasons harnessing before v finally letting Loose the lighting Quick Way he gets off the Ball the nimble footwork that makes double teaming him nearly impossible in a player you know he said Lef s talk about foot Ball Okoye understands the scepticism everything about him from his cerebral quiet nature to his 6footl 300pound Frame suggests Hes All grown up his deep voice rumbles from somewhere out of his thick Chest his words Are measured polite and exact you hear about his age and you wonder How Hes going to fit in said Atlanta defensive line coach Kevin Wolthausen who coached Okoye at Louisville before following Bobby Petrino to the Falcons but it just goes Back to his parents and the Way he was raised Hes never known any thing different when Okoye moved from Nigeria to Alabama at age 12 he spent two weeks in Middle school before voluntarily testing into High school so he could be with his older brother and sister he joined the football team at Lee High in Huntsville Ala after one of his friends told him hed prob ably get broken if he tried to run with the big boys so i was like Tou know just for that i am going to go out there he said at that Point his impressions of the sport were the Blurry images he saw during random games broadcast to Nige Ria the rules were a mystery he thought the whole thing looked like some chaotic Brawl but Okoye Learned to love football even if he didst understand it he enjoyed being part of a team and playing helped him fit in with his older classmates who quickly forgot the kid who just knocked them Over was 3 years younger than them it didst take Long for colleges to notice but nearly every one wanted Okoye to Redshirt when he got to school to allow his body and his mind to mature it want what he wanted to hear he wanted to play now i didst want to Redshirt or Gray shirt nothing like that he said Louisville didst choose Okoye As much As he chose Louisville after attending a couple of summer football Camps at the school he came with the Promise hed be Given a Chance to get on the Field during two Days that first year playing is what i wanted to do and i just kept going after it he said it worked Okoye played in 13 games As a 16yearold freshman in 2003 even picking up a sack he moved into the starting lineup As a Junior and last season became the driving Force on a defense that helped Louisville to the big East title and a Victory in the Orange bowl i think he was simply ready Wolthausen said All we could do with him was screw it up so we tried not to screw it up Okoye finished with 55 tackles and eight sacks on his Way to being a second team Al american playing with the kind of intelligence teammate Zach Anderson said just proved Hes smarter than All of us Okoye etched his place into school lore during a 2317 win Over Cincinnati in october with the bearcats driving Down the Field in the final minute trying for an upset Okones relentless Pursuit of quarterback Dustin Grutza Garry Louisville lineman Amobi Okoye stretches before working out for nil scouts at Cardinal stadium on March 26 became a Staple of the teams video sessions the rest of the season Petrino would Point to Okones fallout Effort As something that should be the Rule not the exception its that kind of attitude that s helped propel Okones draft Stock his athleticism impressed Tampa Bay coach Jon Gruden at the senior bowl and during Louisville re cent pro Day he was surrounded by coaches scouts and general managers eager to see if the 19yearold was As Good As advertised still the age question lingers though he was 16 when he arrived at Louisville he was still Only six or seven years younger than the oldest player on the team in the nil he could be sitting next to veterans who were already in High school when he was born its a dynamic Okoye is aware of but knows theres Only one Way to earn the respect of his new teammates in just going to go in there and work hard he said those Guys have been around a Long time i just want to learn from them and prove that i belong