News briefs: Spurrier hires Falcons LB coach VanGorder
CBSSports.com wire reports
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Steve Spurrier brought in new leaders to fire up South Carolina's defense and special teams. The Ol' Ball Coach put himself on notice to improve, too.
Spurrier hired Atlanta Falcons linebacker coach Brian VanGorder as defensive coordinator Wednesday, one day after adding Maryland special teams wiz Ray Rychleski for South Carolina's special teams.
VanGorder takes over for Tyrone Nix, who left for Ole Miss earlier this month. Rychleski replaces Fred Chatham, who was not retained by Spurrier. The changes come after a season that started promising and turned sour. South Carolina started 6-1 and ended the season on a five-game losing streak littered with breakdowns on defense and special teams.
Spurrier met with VanGorder on Tuesday and the two agreed on a three-year contract. Spurrier did not want to provide VanGorder's salary, although he's said during the search whomever he hired would earn more than Nix's package of $195,000.
Rychleski, who coached with the Terps the past seven seasons, agreed to a two-year deal.
Spurrier said he had to act fast on VanGorder, whose old NFL boss Bobby Petrino had talked about a position on his own new staff at Arkansas. Full story
Gundy hires Vols assistant
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy hired Tennessee receivers coach Trooper Taylor to be the Cowboys' co-offensive coordinator.
Taylor was on the same Baylor staff with Gundy and former Oklahoma State offensive coordinator Larry Fedora for one season in 1996 before the three parted ways. Fedora was hired as coach at Southern Mississippi last week, and Gundy acted quickly to fill a void on his staff, even though he hinted earlier Wednesday he had had little time to consider potential replacements for Fedora.
Regarded as a strong recruiter, the 37-year-old Taylor has been on Phillip Fulmer's staff at Tennessee since 2004. He also has coached at Tulane and New Mexico, and he played defensive back at Baylor before joining the staff there.
At Tennessee, Taylor has coached Robert Meachem, who set the Volunteers' season record for receiving yards (1,298) before becoming a first-round draft pick by the New Orleans Saints this year.
Sun Devils LB suspended
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State linebacker Morris Wooten will not play in the Holiday Bowl because of an unspecified team rules violation, coach Dennis Erickson said.
Wooten, the team's sixth-leading tackler with 47, will be replaced by sophomore Mike Nixon. Wooten is a transfer from Glendale Community College.
The 12th-ranked Sun Devils play No. 17 Texas in the San Diego bowl game on Dec. 27.
Vols reserve LB needs surgery
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee reserve linebacker Shane Reveiz, son of former NFL kicker Fuad Reveiz, will need surgery to treat an unspecified heart condition.
"Our prayers go out to him," Volunteers coach Phillip Fulmer. "Our prayers go out to his family, the doctors. He'll require some surgery. To what degree, we're not sure just yet."
Reveiz, a Farragut native whose older brother Nick also plays linebacker for the Vols, is the second Tennessee athlete to have a heart condition discovered this month during a round of free echocardiogram tests provided by the school for all athletes. Basketball player Duke Crews was benched indefinitely on Friday with an unspecified heart condition.
"Here we are doing something proactively for the health of our young men, and we find something very significant that could be saving a young man's life," Fulmer said. "I'm really proud of our medical staff for getting that done."
