SWH Is Going To Miss The Ol' Ball Coach

Soccer

The men's team lost in the only game it played last week when Maryland defeated the Lions 4-3. The team will play Michigan State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a match that will be televised nationally on the Big Ten Network.

The women's team had two great wins in the past week. It took care of Maryland 1-0 and then handled Indiana easily with a 4-0 win on senior day. Sophomore Elizabeth Ball was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for her effort during the pair of shut-outs.

Quick Hits

The women's volleyball team was handed its second loss of the season on the road versus Northwestern. The team was able to take care of business the night before when it handled Illinois 3-1. After playing a pair of teams from the Land of Lincoln, the ladies will host two teams from Indiana this weekend. On Friday Russ Rose's squad will face Indiana and on Saturday it will take on Purdue.

There was a story detailing a trip to Hong Kong last year by PSU journalism students. BSD writer Evan Romano was one of those who took the trip.

A community garden at Penn State-Schuylkill teaches sustainability. Onward State reports that enrollment at PSU is on the rise.

Nineteen Penn Staters were honored with Alumni Fellow Awards for outstanding professional accomplishments. Check the list to see if you made the cut. If not, there's always next year.

Hockey

On the heels of a 6-1 win in the first game of the season versus Canisius, Curtis Loik was named the Big Ten's First Star of the week.  Loik scored the first goal then assisted on the next two to help PSU jump out to a 3-0 first period lead. It was the third time that a Penn State player garnered the honor. David Glen made the NCAA's Top Five Plays of the Week when he took a low-angle shot, bouncing the puck off the back of the goalie's shoulder and into the net (turn off ad-blocker to view the video.)

Former PSU goalie PJ Musico tried out for the ECHL's Greenville Swamp Rabbits, an affiliate of the New York Rangers, last week and was rewarded with a professional contract this week. Musico is now the third former Lion to join the professional ranks, along with Casey Bailey (Toronto Maple Leafs) and Patrick Koudys (Indy Fuel.)

The hockey team will host Notre Dame on Friday night at 7 p.m. and again on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Friday night game will be a white-out for the student section.

The last student whiteout went well. Wonder what @TheRoarZone has in store for us on Friday? #WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/Kj54wvNAOs

— Penn State Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 13, 2015

The Empty Visor

There have been a number of mid-season coaching changes in college football this season. Recently Maryland fired Randy Edsall. A week before the season started Illinois fired Tim Beckman. A few days ago it was announced that USC let Steve Sarkisian go. North Texas fired Dan McCarney after an 0-5 start to the season. Some of these moves are not shocking other than the timing, close to the start of the season or mid-season.

One recent coaching change did come as a surprise. While Steve Spurrier has had diminishing success the past few years at South Carolina, his decision to retire mid-season caught many football fans off-guard. Spurrier's career in football spans six decades and is full of accomplishments. Here are some of the more memorable wins in Spurrier's illustrious career. Spurrier's nickname, the Ol' Ball Coach, has been with him for years and even has spawned nicknames for other coaches. He was a dominant coach with Florida during the 1990's and will be missed by some who have watched him storm the sidelines for nearly 30 years. This video shows the humor that was still a part of his style prior to this season.

Some of his one-liners would have become memes had the internet been around when he spoke them. He dubbed Florida State Free Shoes University after a pay-for-play scandal was discovered at his rival school. He took a jab at Auburn University after a dorm fire destroyed 20 books, saying "The real tragedy is that 15 hadn't been colored yet."

Spurrier's departure leaves only a few old ball coaches in college football. There are only three coaches active that took the job they are in prior to the year 2000 and two of those took the job in 1999 (Ferentz/Stoops.) Only Frank Beamer (1987) and Bill Snyder (1989 with a four-year hiatus) have been at their respective schools since the 1980's. At the age of 76, Snyder is still recruiting with the best.