Alabama appoints new athletic director

Alabama has appointed Bill Battle as the new Alabama athletic director after Mal Moore had to retire for health reasons. Battle, who played for Bear Bryant in 1961, then went onto coach as a graduate assistant at Oklahoma and the US Military Academy, before going to Tennessee as an assistant before graduating to head coach in 1970, where he was relatively successful, going 59-22-2 in Knoxville. After leaving there, he became quite the entrepreneur, starting up the Collegiate Licensing Company, where he was CEO until 2010. His first client? The University of Alabama. Alabama coach Nick Saban called Battle a “First class person and leader” , and invited him to practice, according to reports.  

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Harvey Updyke gets three years for Toomer’s Oaks poisoning

It’s too  harsh to call it ‘murder’ because that word refers to humans, but Harvey Updyke has admitted to the killing of Toomer’s Oaks. The Alabama fan – who famous called Paul Finebaum’s show to admit his crime – was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to “Criminal Damage to an Agriculture Facility”, which is a Class C felony in the State of Alabama. The sentencing was part of a plea deal with the D.A. He will be out after six months, and then under supervised probation for five years. “As part of the plea deal, Updyke’s probation will require him to abide by a 7 p.m. curfew and he is forbidden to attend any collegiate athletic events and is

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Clowney has $5m insurance policy

South Carolina defensive end and All-American Jadeveon Clowney has a $5 million insurance policy should he get injured in the 2013 season, it has been reported. The policy – which will be paid out via the NCAA should anything go awry next season – will be paid for by family members, and protect against future . The cost is $30,000. Reply to Charleston Post-Courier writer Daryl Slater’s report, Paul Myerberg of USA Today noted that the policy was the largest available to players. The insurance company offering the policy is HCC, based in Cincinnati. On South Carolina’s website, they said: “Student athletes can receive up to $5m in coverage, up from $4.4m in basketball and $3m in football.” The NCAA

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ESPN announces August-October SEC TV dates

ESPN has announced its August – October TV dates for SEC schools – starting with South Carolina’s hosting of North Carolina on Thursday, August 29th at 8pm. Here is the line-up: Thu, Aug 29 6 p.m. North Carolina at South Carolina * ESPN   9:15 p.m. Ole Miss at Vanderbilt ESPN Sat, Aug 31 5:30 p.m. Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game: Virginia Tech vs. Alabama (Atlanta) ESPN   8 p.m. Georgia at Clemson ABC   9 p.m. Cowboys Classic: TCU vs. LSU ESPN Thu, Oct 24 7:30 p.m. Kentucky at Mississippi State ESPN We’re already extremely excited! In order of games that the neutral should be excited about, here we go: 1) Georgia at Clemson – Two likely highly-ranked teams in one

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