MONTE KIFFIN, LEX NATIVE AND PRO FOOTBALL COACH, DIES AT 84:
Lexington native and longtime pro football coach Monte Kiffin died yesterday. He was 84.
He was a member of the Nebraska football team from 1959-1963. After a brief professional playing career in the Continental Football League and Canadian Football League, he returned to Lincoln to coach under Bob Devaney.
The longtime Nebraska and NFL Defensive Coordinator was the Defensive Coordinator for the Huskers 1970 and 1971 National Championship teams, and won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. While in Tampa, he also helped create and implement the Tampa 2 Defense with Tony Dungy. His tenure with the Buccaneers as DC (1996-2008) ranks as the longest tenured coach in franchise history.
NEBRASKA MBB NON-CON SCHEDULE RELEASED:
Nebraska men’s basketball has released its non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season.
The Huskers will play 11 games outside of the Big Ten Conference this next season. Six of those games will be in Lincoln.
After an exhibition with Grand Valley State, NU will open against UT Rio Grand Valley Nov. 4. That will be followed by home affairs with Bethune Cookman (Nov. 9) and Fairleigh Dickinson (Nov. 13).
The lone true road game for NU in the non-con is Nov. 22 at Creighton. With the Husker women slated to play at CU that same day, reports indicate the games could be played as a double-header.
NEBRASKA FOOTBALL MEDIA DAY PLAYER REPRESENTATIVES ANNOUNCED:
Nebraska Football will introduce its 2024 version with a trio of Huskers in attendance for Big Ten Media Days later this month.
The event will take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, July 23-25. Nebraska will participate on July 24 with Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, UCLA and USC
The Huskers are sending three seniors: Ben Scott, Isaac Gifford, and Ty Robinson. Coach Matt Rhule will also be there.
All three of the participating Huskers have earned honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades. The trio has a combined 103 games of experience.
UNK MBB ASSISTANT COACHES NAMED:
Nebraska-Kearney head men’s basketball coach Marty Levinson announcedyesterday that Mitch Runco and Rob Fuller will serve as his assistant coaches.
Runco will have the title of Head Assistant with the pair officially starting their duties this month.
Runco most recently was the head boys’ basketball coach at Omaha Westview High School (2022-24). The first head basketball coach in Westview history, Runco has also been greatly involved with the adidas grassroots 3SSB club circuit.
After playing for Runco at St. Bernard, Fuller went onto East Los Angeles College and Division II Holy Names University (Oakland). He helped East L.A. win 47 games and two league titles while leading the Pac West Conference in assist/turnover ratio in 2019-20 playing for HNU.
KEARNEY LEGION JUNIORS TO HOST CORNHUSKER LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEDNESDAY:
Grand Island swept the Cornhusker League Championships Wednesday.
It took 15 innings for the Grand Island Home Federal Seniors to defeat Hastings Five Points Bank at Ryder Park, winning 3-2.
The Juniors contest was easily won by the Grand Island Five Points Bank Juniors at Kearney’s Memorial Field, winning 10-6 over Kearney Pinnacle Bank.
KEARNEY MISKO SENIORS FALL TO LINCOLN SOUTHEAST ON EARLY HIT PARADE:
The bats started going for the Kearney Misko Sports Seniors Wednesday at Memorial Field, but ultimately fell short in a 6-3 loss to JC Brager Post 3.
Both teams tallied seven hits, but JC Brager would make the most of four Misko Sports Seniors errors in the early frames to go up 6-1 after three innings.
The Misko Seniors are now 14-12 and move on to the Kearney/Hastings tournament this weekend.
TEAM USA MENS BASKETBALL STARTS ROAD TO GOLD WITH CANADA WIN:
For USA Basketball, the road to the Paris Olympics has started with a win.
Anthony Davis scored 13 points, Stephen Curry added 12 and the United States opened its tune-up schedule for the Paris Games by topping Canada 86-72 on Wednesday night.
Jrue Holiday scored 11 points and Anthony Davis finished with 10 for the U.S., which has four more exhibitions before getting to France.
RJ Barrett scored 12 points for Canada, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dillon Brooks each had 10.
BERHALTER FIRED AS USMNT COACH AFTER DISASTROUS COPA AMERICA:
Gregg Berhalter was fired 10 months into his second stint as U.S. men’s soccer coach, leaving the Americans searching for a leader less than two years before they host the World Cup.
Berhalter was dismissed Wednesday, nine days after his team’s first-round exit from the Copa America flamed doubts he was the right person to remain in charge.
Jürgen Klopp, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Marcelo Bielsa are among those being speculated about as candidates to replace Berhalter, along with Jesse Marsch, Hugo Pérez, Pellegrino Matarazzo, David Wagner, Steve Cherundolo, Jim Curtain, Massimiliano Allegri and Mauricio Pochettino.
ARGENTINA MOVES ON TO COPA AMERICA FINAL WITH 2-0 WIN OVER CANADA:
Lionel Messi and Argentina moved within one win of joining Spain as the only nations to win three straight major titles.
“It’s insane what this team has done, what the Argentina national team is doing,” Messi said Tuesday night after his 109th international goal sealed a 2-0 victory over Canada that earned a berth in this weekend’s Copa America final. “For those who remain from the old guard, it’s beyond impressive that the national team is in another final.”
With a victory on its independence day, Argentina extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games. The Albiceleste seek a record 16th Copa title when they play Uruguay or Colombia on Sunday at Miami Gardens, Florida.
BERYL DAMAGES ROOF TO NRG STADIUM:
Several panels were missing from the retractable roof of NRG Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Houston Texans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which has left millions in Texas without power and the cause for multiple deaths in Texas and Louisiana.
Video posted by The Associated Press showed at least three panels missing from the stadium’s roof.
Beryl made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.
Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros, did not sustain serious damage from the storm. The Astros will host the Miami Marlins as scheduled Tuesday night.
TOMINAGA NAMED TO JAPAN OLYMPIC TEAM:
Former Husker men’s basketball standout Keisei Tominaga became the second Nebraska men’s basketball player selected to the 2024 Paris Olympics, as Japan announced its 12-member team Monday morning.
Tominaga, who recently signed an Exhibit 10 contact with the Indiana Pacers, will participate in his second Olympic games, as he was a member of the 3×3 team for Japan in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Japan will wrap up its Olympic preparations against Germany on July 19 before opening pool play with Germany on July 27. Japan will also take on France and Brazil in pool play.
He has been a member of the Japan Senior National Team for three years and helped Japan qualify for the Paris Olympics at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Tominaga joins Jack McVeigh (Australia) as players in the 2024 Olympics, while former Husker great Tyronn Lue will serve as an assistant coach for the United States.
FORMER UNK ADMIN TO BECOME CHADRON STATE AD:
A former UNK Athletic Administrator and Kearney native is set to take the reigns as Athletic Director at another Nebraska college.
Mannie Reinsch, formerly the Senior Associate AD for Championship Resources at Austin Peay University, was named the new athletic director for the Chadron State Eagles yesterday.
A 2014 UNK graduate, Reinsch holds a bachelor’s degree in exercise science and a master’s degree in physical education with an emphasis in sports administration. He was also a three-year letterwinner as a member of the Lopers baseball team as a left-handed pitcher.
After graduating, he was a graduate assistant for two seasons. He was then hired as UNK’s facility and event manager in October 2016 before earning a promotion to Assistant Athletics Director overseeing facilities and events in July 2018, holding that position until February 2020 when he joined former Loper AD Paul Plinske at CSU-Pueblo.
1890 NEBRASKA NAMED OFFICIAL NIL COLLECTIVE OF NEBRASKA:
The University of Nebraska Athletic Department and 1890 Nebraska announced a partnership today, making 1890 Nebraska the official Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) Collective of Nebraska Athletics and streamlining the process to make it easier for fans to support Husker Athletics among several options.
With this partnership, contributions to 1890 Nebraska are now eligible for Huskers Athletic Fund priority points and can be included in calculating Huskers Athletic Fund membership levels, including Nebraska Leadership Society annual and lifetime memberships. In addition, 1890 contributions are eligible to receive tax deductibility when directed to the 1890 Foundation and priority points are declined at the time of the donation. Every donor contribution to 1890 goes directly to student-athletes, and 1890 contributions are also eligible for 1890-specific benefits and experiences.
SPORTS BETTING COMPANY DRAFTKINGS FINED BY STATE OF NEW JERSEY:
In one of the most sternly worded rebukes they have ever issued, New Jersey gambling regulators have fined DraftKings $100,000 for reporting inaccurate sports betting data to the state, which it called “unacceptable conduct” that demonstrated weaknesses in the company’s business abilities.
The errors resulted in regulators having to post corrected financial data for several months, something that had not happened in 13 years.
The mistakes involved overstating the amount of money wagered on multi-tiered bets, or parlays, and understating other categories of wagers.
The inaccurate data caused Resorts Digital, the online arm of Resorts casino, to file incorrect sports betting tax returns for December 2023 and January and February 2024.
The documents had to be corrected and reposted weeks later.
DraftKings said Monday it has fixed the problem.
FRIDAY KGFW Sports Schedule:
- Kearney Misko Seniors vs Colorado Dirt Bags 5:15-7:45
