Former OSU star Krenzel shares testimony at FCA event in Charleston

In the 2003 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, quarterback Craig Krenzel led Ohio State to an improbable 31-24 double-overtime victory over highly favored Miami to claim a National Championship in what is called by many as one of the greatest college football games of all time.

Craig Krenzel

That may be one reason why Krenzel holds the story of David and Goliath dear to his heart.

Krenzel, now a business partner with Arthur Krenzel Lett Insurance Group in Winfield, spoke at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes lunch at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston, WV on Wednesday.

The win over Miami capped a perfect 14-0 season for Ohio State. But the Hurricanes were the defending champions and were ranked No. 1 at the time.

“At some point in everyone’s life, you’re going to be an underdog,” Krenzel said. “You have to face every challenge and look at it as an opportunity serve the Lord just as David did. You have to tackle that giant confidently knowing that God is on our side.”

In his talk, Krenzel pointed to the similarities of a football playbook and The Bible.

“I don’t care what you do in life, there are rules,” he said. “Obviously in the game of football, to have success you must have a gameplan. To me, the gameplan of life is The Bible. It’s the one thing that can stand the test of time and the only thing that is absolute truth. To have eternal success, I have to get in the Word and study it and learn it. I have to do whatever I can to live it.”

In his first start in 2001, Krenzel led Ohio State to a 26-20 victory at Michigan. It was the Buckeyes first win in Ann Arbor in 14 years. He capped his career with a second Tostitos Fiesta Bowl victory in 2004 and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player for the second time as well. He finished his career at OSU with a 24-3 record as a starter.

Krenzel graced the cover of Sports Illustrated twice.

“I learned a lot about life in my time at Ohio State,” Krenzel admitted. “The friends and the teammates I had, I will have for life. We have a lot of memories that we share. It was the five best years of my life.”

Craig Krenzel and Keith Tyler

After his college career, Krenzel was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He started five games for the Bears before being released in 2005. He ended his pro career with a one year stint with the Cincinnati Bengals. He was a third string quarterback behind Carson Palmer and John Kitna before a shoulder injury forced him out of football.

Krenzel was more than an athlete however. He was also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Krenzel won the Draddy Award, known as the academic Heisman.

“We did not have a FCA Huddle in my high school and I wish we did,” Krenzel, a Sterling heights, Michigan native said. “FCA is great with what it does with all of the kids in the schools. They share the gospel with the younger generation. I don’t know if there’s a more important ministry out there. They do an exceptional job.” 

Krenzel pledged to be a participant in local FCA activities.

“It has been a ministry that has been a pleasure for my wife and me to serve,” he said. “At [Arthur Krenzel Lett Insurance Group], we want to be active and involved in the community. We had started coming to the FCA luncheons and Keith [Tyler] asked me to share my testimony.”

The local chapter of FCA is headed by Keith Tyler, a former All-American basketball player at the University of Charleston.

“Craig has a heart for ministry and sports so he was a great guest,” said Tyler, the Multi-Area Director of FCA based in the Charleston office. “He was awarded with an induction to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Hall of Fame as a student-athlete. We are blessed to have him in our area now.

“We have this FCA Adult Chapter lunch every month so we can share with the community what FCA is doing in the schools and the area.”

For more information about the local FCA chapter, contact Tyler at ktyler@fca.org or call 304-344-9005.

Kaley Gregory rocked out to state swim meet title

To underestimate Hurricane High sophomore Kaley Gregory as a mere wisp of a young lady would be akin to calling a shark just a fish.

It would be a huge miscalculation.

Kaley Gregory

But it wasn’t long ago that even Gregory found out what she was capable of, winning the 200 Free event and coming in third place in the 500 Free at the 2009 West Virginia High School State Swim Meet.

“My first state meet [as a freshman] last year was really exciting,” Gregory said. “There were a lot more fans than I was used to seeing at competitive meets. I got second [place] in the 500 Free and third in the 200 Free.

“I was happy. I got best times and I was just happy to be there.”

After a taste of the competition, Gregory decided that she wanted more.

“When I started my sophomore season I just thought ‘I want to win,’ so I set my goals all year,” she said. “I didn’t know if I could do it.”

Gregory’s morale and spirits grew with each new success this season.

“I won the [Mountain State Athletic Conference] meet, setting a meet record and I got another best time. That really boosted my confidence for the regional meet.

“I just decided to go faster.”

Simple enough. But going faster required Gregory to reach deeper within herself than she knew she could.

“At that point I hadn’t broken two minutes and that was a major goal for me,” she revealed. “I went out at the regionals and won the meet and went under two minutes. That was very exciting because I never thought that I could do that.”

Going into the state meet, Gregory had an additional motivating factor pushing her to excel: a desire to rock out.

“I wanted to win the prelims at the state meet because you got to choose a song [played over the p.a. system upon the entrance of the competitors at the finals],” she explained. “I did it. It wasn’t my best time, but it was right where I wanted to be going into the finals.

That song? “The Downfall of Us All” by the band A Day to Remember.

“My friend Tyler told me about the song at school,” Gregory said. “I’m the girly type that likes the love songs and all that stuff. But that song is really hardcore rock. They scream! I’m not sure my Mom knew what to think of it. But it was perfect. I’ll never forget picking out that song.

“After I touched the wall, I told myself, ‘OK, just do it one more time’. I just kept telling myself, ‘You can do it, you can do it.’ I haven’t really been the type of person that got that into it mentally before.”

Gregory’s new found focus and motivation paid off handsomely.

“I got my best times in my 50 Free, my 100 Free and the 200 Free,” she revealed. “It was like all of the excitement and the nerves got let loose.

“Everyone that I wanted to be there was in the stands, all of my teammates were there cheering for me. I couldn’t have done it without all of them being there at the side of the pool screaming for me.”

The win in the 200 Free event gave Gregory her first state title.

“I took off a whole other second, coming in at 1:58,” she said. “I never show excitement but I jumped out of the pool and just ran. I was very happy. It was probably the best day of my life.

“Tyler and my other friend Steven came up to the meet. It was really important to me that they where there. When I listen to the song now, I smile every time.”

Gregory is still training almost daily, although she competes in other sports for Hurricane.

“My goal this summer is to go to the long course [swimming] nationals,” she said. “I also run cross country and track. I enjoy it. My teammates are like family to me, we’re so close. We were undefeated [in cross country] until the state meet. We got beat by University High and came in second.”

Kaley’s parents are John and Karen Gregory, a former Marshall University Hall of Fame quarterback from 1986-89 and a former cheerleader.

“They’ve been great, driving me all over the place for practice and meets,” Gregory said. “They’re very supportive. They’ve been awesome. They’re my biggest fans. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.”

“We’re very proud of her,” John said proudly. “We know how difficult the sport of swimming is and she has dedicated her whole life to it. We try to show our support for her the best we can.

“She grew up learning to swim in the HYCAT program at University of Charleston. We put a lot of miles on the car over the years, especially with her Mom driving her there.”

John, now a manager with RBC Wealth Management in Huntington [formerly Ferris Baker Watts], leaves most the coaching to others however.

“I was never a swimmer, so I let the swim coach handle that,” he said. “Being an athlete, you always think that you can coach them up a little. But I try to sit back as best as I can and watch her and let the coach do the coaching. She has always had great coaches.

“It’s a very disciplined sport and she has a lot going on. Our biggest job is just to get her to meets and set her up to be in the best position to be successful.”

Three WVIAC teams advance to NCAA Women’s Tennis regionals

In previous years, only one West Virginia Conference women’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Division II regional tournament.

But this year the conference tournament and regular season champion University of Charleston won’t be alone. West Virginia State University and West Virginia Wesleyan have also been chosen as at-large teams to go the 2009 NCAA Atlantic Region I tournament which begins Wednesday, May 6 at Washington Park in Washington, Pa.

W. Va. State will take on W.Va. Wesleyan today at 3 p.m. for a shot at taking on No. 1 seed and tournament host California (Pa.) on Thursday at 1 p.m.

UC waits until Thursday at 10 a.m. to play Shaw University.

“The conference has gotten so much better over the last couple of years,” UC head coach Shari Reed said. “Now were reaping the benefits of it. It’s exciting because we’re going to be pulling for the other teams in our conference.”

“We’ll definitely be rooting for each other,” said State head coach John Simms. “Whoever wins our game [today] will be rooting for the other to beat Cal the next day. And we will be rooting for UC against Shaw.

“Making it to the tournament again is good for our program.”

W.Va. State's Brittany Craig

It marks the second straight trip to the tournament for the Yellow Jackets. UC is heading back to the NCAA region tournament for the first time since 2005.

UC has made five appearances in the NCAA regional tournament in head coach Shari Reed’s 12 seasons as the women’s tennis coach.

The Golden Eagles went through the WVIAC regular season schedule and tournament unbeaten at 14-0 to earn an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

This year, WVIAC teams are benefiting from a region realignment by the NCAA.

“Changing the regions helped,” Simms agreed. “The WVIAC schools are now grouped with the PSAC [Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference] and CIAA [Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association] schools in a region. It’s the largest region in the country as far as the number of schools.

“It’s still a real tough region. Cal always has a nationally ranked team. We have more inter-league play with the PSAC schools so there is a little more respect now [for WVIAC tennis] after having played us.”

The WVIAC was paired with the Great Lakes Valley Conference [GLVC] and the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference [GLIAC] for many years before this season’s changes.

“Those conferences string all the way out to St. Louis and Michigan,” said Simms of the GLIAC and GLVC. “We normally didn’t get to play them out of conference.”

Improved play in the WVIAC is also a reason for the increased number of invitations for the post-season tournament.

“It took a while for the schools to realize the funding level that is needed to compete at the NCAA level,” Simms said. “Now a good number of schools in our conference have made the commitment to be true NCAA D-II programs.

UC's Neha Rana and Bre Moyle

The PSAC and CIAA schools may have a little advantage over the WVIAC this week. They play primarily spring schedules while the WVIAC maintains a fall schedule for conference play in women’s tennis. WVIAC teams do compete with a shorter non-conference spring schedule as well.

“We played a strong schedule to make sure we could qualify,” said Simms. “We’re happy to be going. The girls have worked hard. They started back in August so that makes for a long season.”

The competition is fierce at this time of the year. But Simms expressed optimism for his team.

“Cal is first in the region and in the top ten in the nation,” Simms said. “We played them once this season so it would be a tough, tough match. We’ve played Wesleyan twice in the year and split with them.

“Both times we played Wesleyan we were minus Emily Bowlin, who plays No. 4 singles for us. She is a junior that has been in our lineup for three years. She had a stress fracture in the fall season and missed all but the first five matches. We’re glad to have her back in the lineup.”

“We have a young team with no seniors,” Simms added. “We have two juniors with the rest freshmen and sophomores. We’ve played better in the spring than we did in the fall and matured as the year has gone along.”

State’s top player is No. 1 seed Brittany Craig, a freshman from Atlanta.

“Craig’s only conference loss was to [UC senior] Bre Moyle and she was the WVIAC Freshman of the Year,” Simms said.

 The Yellow Jackets also feature two sets of sisters – junior Teddi and sophomore Eben Russell of Liberty Township, Oh. along with junior Emily and freshman Sarah Bowlin, of Belle. The Bowlins played at Riverside High.

 UC is also been served by its youth.

 “We had three freshmen that were a big part of our success this season,” said Reed. “[No. 3 singles] Alyssa Hackworth of George Washington High in Charleston, [No. 5 singles] Katie Kim of Coppell, Texas and [No. 4 singles] Sarah Monsheimer of Silver Springs, Md. really stepped up for us. When I recruited them, I hoped that they would contribute and they did. They took us from just competing with W. Va. State and Shepherd – who had won [the WVIAC] over the last couple of years, and they took us to another level.”

 Alexa Kay, a sophomore from Cross Lanes, is the No. 6 singles seed for the Golden Eagles.

 Senior No. 1 seed singles Bre Moyle teams up with junior No. 2 seed singles Neha Rana to form an imposing No. 1 doubles team.

 Melissa Carpenter is the only other senior on the team at UC.

 “Melissa has been an important part of our team and its success,” said Reed. “We’ll lose Bre and Melissa after this year, but we feel confident with our depth. It has been our strength.”

University of Charleston Women's Tennis, 2008-2009 WVIAC Champions

T.L. Asbury honored with Neal Baisi Award

Frazier’s Bottom native T.L. Asbury is the 2008-09 winner of the Neal Baisi Award presented by Beckley Newspapers.  The award recognizes the outstanding Mountain State native on a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football roster.

T.L. Asbury pursues the quarterback

The former Winfield High School all-state athlete wrapped up his senior season at the University of Charleston last fall as the Golden Eagle’s all-time sacks leader. He was also named a first team All-WVIAC defensive end and selected as an Honorable Mention All-American by D2Football.com. In addition, he was a second team choice by Don Hansen’s Football Gazette to its All Super Region 1 squad.

Asbury was presented his Neal Baisi Award at the Victory Awards Dinner, sponsored by the West Virginia Sports Writers Association, last weekend at the Embassy Suites in Charleston.

T.L. Asbury, a 2009 Neal Baisi Award recipient

“I’m shocked by this award because there are a ton of great athletes from West Virginia that play football in the WVIAC,” Asbury said. “I’m extremely blessed and thankful for everything, including the coaches that I have had. It feels good being a hometown guy. I think it shows that we have some pretty decent athletes in this area.”

Asbury had a unique opportunity to be a part of the successful rebuilding of the UC football program from the ground up. When he came in UC was struggling and he left Charleston as one the contenders for the league title year in and year out.

“It is real special,” Asbury admitted. “All of the guys that I came in with were part of Coach DeMeo’s first recruiting class. So we take pride in knowing that we helped get this program going again and getting it on the right path.”

“T.L. is first guy that we recruited,” said UC head coach Tony DeMeo, who was hired in December of 2004. “He was a quarterback in high school, but I always envisioned him as a defensive lineman. He played a big part in the building of our program.”

Asbury looks to the sideline for the signals

In DeMeo’s first season at Charleston in 2005 and Asbury’s freshman season, the Golden Eagles went from 3-8 in 2004 to 8-3 – a five win improvement and the biggest single-season win-loss turnaround in WVIAC history.

Asbury got plenty of playing time from the opening game on and was entrenched as a starting defensive end by the time conference play rolled around that year. He was a solid force on the UC defensive line for the next three seasons as well.

“T.L. did a really good job for us and had a good career,” DeMeo added. “He’s an outstanding athlete and a real credit for Winfield High School.”

Coming out of high school, Asbury embraced what the UC coaches were selling and benefited from it immensely.

“I was about 6-foot-4 and at the most 225 and now I’m 6-5, 265,” Asbury said with a chuckle. “They put some muscle on me – that’s for sure. [Strength] Coach [Ken] Ferrar at first and now Coach [Mike] Weeks head up a great weight program at UC. They take care of the athletes and they know what they’re talking about. As Coach Weeks says, if you drink the ‘Kool-Aid’, you’ll be all right.”

Asbury witnessed a tremendous transformation in the WVIAC during his four years at UC.

“There are a lot of quality athletes playing in the West Virginia Conference now,” said Asbury. “It is the largest Division II conference in the nation, so that should tell you something right there. We play against good competition. People need to start paying attention to it a bit more.

“When I first came in the only team any one talked about was Shepherd,” he added. “Now you have Charleston, Glenville, West Liberty and West Virginia State that are all strong. They’re all right there now too. You have to add them to that list.”

Asbury will finish his equally fine academic career at UC with one more semester. He is a double major in Athletic and Business Administration with a minor in History. Asbury has hopes of working in athletic marketing at a university initially and eventually becoming an athletic director at a high school or college.

In the meantime, Asbury finally has time to reflect on his own athletic accomplishments.

“For me, a Division II school was fantastic,” he said. “I’m so glad I did this. The people you meet are life-long friends. You don’t have to go to an Ohio State, WVU or somewhere huge. It does not have to be like that.  It’s more of a family atmosphere at a smaller school. And D-II still has great football competition. That’s what I love. I just wanted to continue to play football. I had that chance and I am lucky.

“My friend [and former UC teammate] Kasey Teegardin and I were sitting around just the other day and talking about the good old days,” Asbury added. “He was talking about me when I came in as a little freshman. It honestly seems like just yesterday. I couldn’t ask for a better college football career that I had.  It was so much fun. I met lifelong friends and coaches that I will stay in contact with. I don’t have any regrets.”

DeMeo Clinic draws 160 coaches to Charleston

Tony DeMeo wrapped up springs drills with his University of Charleston football team with a bang on Saturday.

Tony DeMeo

 

Besides sending the Golden Eagles out for the usual Maroon and Gold scrimmage, DeMeo and his coaching staff finished a two-day clinic for 160 high school coaches representing 22 different states and one province in Canada.

 

You can mark Dale Schuring, the head coach at Arthur High School in Arthur, Illinois, as a DeMeo disciple and a believer in his Triple Gun Option offense.

 

“We were here last spring,” said Schuring. “I first heard about Tony DeMeo and his clinic when I attended NIKE clinics and I heard him speak three different times about this. It intrigued me. We didn’t have superior athletes, but his offense was something that I felt we could compete with and have a chance with when the other team had better people.

DeMeo draws up play at the Coaches Clinic

 

“We tried it one year without coming here and we messed it up terribly as coaches. We didn’t have much success with it. One of assistant coaches and I came last year and found out a lot of things we did wrong and we went back and it worked perfectly for us. Now we’re here this year trying to pick up some new things, new options and new variations. We’ve found out that there are a few things that we are still doing a little wrong.

 

The triple gun option found a home at Arthur High. But it took a more personable approach to finally get over the learning curve of installing the offense.

 

“The first year, the triple [option] was probably our worst play and last year it was our best play,” Schuring said. “That’s the basis of the offense. Our coaches just didn’t understand because we had not taken the opportunity to sit down with Tony and his staff for two days at first. It was just an hour at a clinic over three different years. Of course, I had his books and stuff, but you can’t really get all of the ins and outs through just the books and videos.

Drawing up the Triple Gun Option

 

“Coming here was a huge difference from our lack of success to our improved success.”

 

DeMeo’s style of being approachable and accessible to high school coaches has been a key to the success of the clinic.

 

“The thing that is very impressive about Tony and his staff is that if you email them or call them, they actually answer their own phones and they reply to emails,” Schuring said. “Most coaches – and I am talking from Division I all the way down to Division III and everyone in between – you’re going to get a secretary instead and four days later you may get a call back. Tony answers his own phone and he’ll talk to you. He’s probably the most open and giving coach I’ve ever been around.”

 

Visitors from Canada at the DeMeo Coaches Clinic

Arthur’s opponents have certainly taken notice of the triple gun.

 

“One of our new assistant coaches this year was a former coach for an opponent’s staff last year,” Schuring pointed out. “He said that they watched film on us and after being here and listening to all of this, they had no idea of what we were doing. It’s not something that is out there widespread or the ‘in’ thing necessarily. So we’re at a definite advantage over our opponents because it is unique.

 

“A lot of people run options and a lot of people run triple option. But the mechanics are so much different from the old time stuff. Most people know that it is hard to defend because you’re defenders are being assigned to the wrong person. They have no chance of succeeding. It’s a fantastic offense.    

UC's Maroon & Gold game

 

“The best part is that it is so simple [to teach],” Schuring added. “It really is. There are very few plays, but you can get good at what you’re doing. It’s his philosophy and I agree with it totally.”

 

DeMeo launched a personal website at www.tonydemeo.com about a year ago that lends support to coaches year round.

 

“I’ve been to the website many times,” said Schuring. “I go there everyday, sometimes several times a day. I like to check out the forum to see what people are saying. It’s a great idea.”

         

“The website has been really good for us,” said DeMeo. “We started the website with the idea of creating a little fraternity of coaches for this kind of an offense. We don’t charge anything to go on the website It is a pure attempt to develop a community of triple gun option coaches.”

 

a few of the coaches pose for a photo following the Tony DeMeo Coaches Clinic

The website features play diagrams, videos and a forum for coaches to ask questions with DeMeo answering them in detail.

 

“They can keep in touch with me or with each other over the course of the year,” DeMeo explained. “Now it has gotten to the point where they know as much about it as I do. They’re even answering each other’s questions. The feedback has been excellent.”

 

The clinic has grown steadily through unconventional means.

 

“We don’t do any advertising,” DeMeo said. “It’s all word of mouth. It’s just guys that have come to know this offense and want to come out and see it and learn more. We’re really flattered with the response. Here we are, we’re a Division II school.” 

 

UC ended springs drills with a spirited scrimmage on the turf at University of Charleston Stadium on Saturday.

 

“This is our last scrimmage, so our goal is to get through it without any injuries,” DeMeo said. “We’ve seen some good things this spring. We’re developing some good kids. We’re just wrapping it up and having a little fun before we get out.”