HBCU Grappler Takes Coaching Role at Wrestling Powerhouse
Roberts returns to Wyoming Seminary, where his wrestling journey began. The school is known for producing NCAA stars and national prep champions. Therefore, his return brings experience, passion, and a commitment to developing young talent.
While at Morgan State, Roberts posted a 12–6 record during the 2024–25 season. He went 8–3 in dual matches and recorded a 2:23 pin-the fastest of his campaign. Moreover, he balanced academics with athletics, earning a degree in Applied Liberal Studies. In addition, he is completing a Project Management certificate by year's end.
Olympic gold medalist Kenny Monday has led Morgan State's wrestling resurgence. Under his leadership, Roberts matured into a top competitor and team leader. In fact, Monday praised Roberts' influence in a statement to MorganStateBears.com:
"Darrien is excited to start his new journey as Assistant Coach at Wyoming Seminary. He's had a major impact on our program at Morgan with his experience and leadership."
The Blue Knights recently won their eighth national prep title in 2024. As a result, adding Roberts to the coaching staff strengthens a program that thrives on discipline and tradition. His HBCU-honed mindset, combined with his leadership, makes him an ideal fit. Furthermore, his personal experience at both levels brings invaluable insight.
Clearly, this move highlights a larger trend. Athletes from HBCUs, especially Morgan State, are stepping into key leadership roles. Roberts proves that HBCU players do more than perform-they mentor, build, and lead. Consequently, programs like Wyoming Seminary benefit from this rising pipeline of HBCU talent.
For more on Morgan State's growth and standout recruits like Anthony Ferrari, check out our full report.
The post HBCU Grappler Takes Coaching Role at Wrestling Powerhouse appeared first on HBCU Gameday.
Copyright HBCU Gameday 2012-2025
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Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
It's too late for buyer's remorse. Why L.A. can't back out of hosting 2028 Olympics
The Great Depression threatened the 1932 Olympics. A pandemic raged during the 2021 Tokyo Games. Parisians planned a 'poop protest' in the Seine before the 2024 Games. From natural disasters, construction woes or unpopular opinion, every Olympics has faced threats in the planning process. Yet nearly every time, the city, ready or not, still hosted the Games. With less than three years before the L.A. Olympics, calls on social media for the city to withdraw or cancel have intensified. Wildfires devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena in January. L.A. had to balance a $1-billion deficit. Immigration raids have put communities on edge while President Trump has threatened further military intervention. But Olympic preparations press forward. So invested in the success of the 2028 Games, the International Olympic Committee allowed venue naming rights for the first time in history. LA28, the private group responsible for organizing the Games, has contracted more than 70% of its $2.5-billion sponsorship goal, with more deals coming. No matter the calls for withdrawal, the prospect remains almost impossible. 'There's no buyer's remorse,' said Michael Payne, a sports marketer and former longtime IOC executive. Legally, no. Host cities and host country national organizing committees (in this country, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee) sign a host city contract (HCC) after the IOC officially awards the Games. The contract for the 2028 Games, signed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti and then-City Council President Herb Wesson in September 2017, states procedures for termination from the IOC's perspective but doesn't leave the same option for the host city or the national organizing committee. 'While one cannot foreclose all potential theories, it is hard to imagine a scenario where Los Angeles could terminate the HCC without facing substantial legal issues,' Nathan O'Malley, an international arbitration lawyer and a partner at Musick, Peeler & Garrett, wrote in an email. 'Especially if the reason for ending the contract was a political disagreement between the federal, state and local branches of government.' The HCC keeps the door cracked open by saying the Olympic organizing committee could request the IOC to consider 'undue hardship … which could not reasonably have been foreseen.' But it does not obligate the IOC to make changes, cancel or assume liability. Even the COVID-19 pandemic was not enough to reach this standard. After an initial one-year delay of the Tokyo Games, medical professionals pleaded to cancel amid rising COVID cases. Public sentiment soured drastically, with protests in the streets and a March 2021 poll by Asahi Shimbun, one of the most prominent newspapers in Japan, finding that 83% of voters believed that the Olympics set to take place that summer should be postponed or canceled. But, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said, only 'the IOC has the authority to decide.' Breaching the contract could have put Tokyo in danger of being sued by the IOC for $4 billion to $5 billion, economist Andrew Zimbalist told Yahoo Sports in 2021. The Nomura Research Institute estimated the total cost of cancellation to be 1.8 trillion yen — about $16.6 billion. The IOC can terminate the HCC and withdraw the Games from a host city if the host country 'is at any time … in a state of war, civil disorder, boycott, embargo decreed by the international community or in a situation officially recognized as one of belligerence or if the IOC has reasonable grounds to believe that the health or safety of participants in the Games would be seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason.' The procedure to terminate the Games requires the IOC to officially put the host city, the host national Olympic committee and the Olympic organizing committee on notice, which leaves them 60 days to address the problems. If the problems persist, the IOC can withdraw the Games. While the IOC could make the ultimate decision to pull the Games, the host city, the host national Olympic committee and the Olympic organizing committee would still be responsible for costs incurred and lost revenue, according to the HCC. If the IOC were to sue for damages — whether it pulled the Games or if L.A. broke the contract — the amount would be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). 'In terms of quantifying what the damages would be, particularly this close to the Games if they did not have access to terminate, [withdrawing] would be exposing L.A. to quite a bit of liability just to pull the plug on this without any other basis,' said Maureen Weston, a law professor at Pepperdine. The biggest — and most expensive — hurdle for most Olympic planning is construction. L.A., which touted its multitude of existing venues during its initial bidding process, is already ahead of the curve. 'From where I sit, they're probably better prepared than any city has ever been,' said Payne, who led the IOC's marketing for 20 years and advised on the successful host bids for the 2012, 2016 and 2028 Games. But the next three years will not be without concerns, said Jules Boykoff, a political science professor at Pacific University and longtime Olympic scholar. A ballot measure proposed by organizers with the hotel workers union could affect construction for the temporary venues by requiring a citywide vote. The Olympics, scheduled to open on July 14, 2028, will take place during wildfire season. While LA28 has promised to cover all Games operational costs, the city has still pledged funds for transportation and infrastructure improvements that will remain after the torch is extinguished and will be liable for the first $270 million in overruns. Then there's the federal government. 'The federal government is necessary for security, funding and transportation, but Trump is 'extraordinarily erratic,' Boykoff said. While signing an executive order to establish an Olympic task force, the president also took a swipe at Mayor Karen Bass, calling her 'not very competent.' 'Typically there's coordination between the local, city government, where the Olympics are being hosted, and the federal government, positive, collaborative energy,' Boykoff said. 'And there's not that at all with this.' Following precedent from the 1996 and 2002 Olympics, the 2028 task force will be focused on security, transportation and entry/exit policies. Then-Vice President Al Gore chaired both the 1996 and 2002 Olympics task forces. Trump installed himself as the task force chair for the 2028 Games. 'I think in general, these task forces are not run by the people that are chairing them, really,' Boykoff said. 'I think that the actual day-to-day machinations will not be overseen by the President. … So I view it as more of sort of a prestige post that he's giving himself to look important. And I think it signals that he really values the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics coming off [well].' Among other responsibilities, the task force, which will be led by an executive director, will 'assist in the planning and implementation of visa processing and credentialing programs for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media personnel.' Accredited Games personnel from every country must be allowed entry into the United States, and any sign of travel limitations on Games participants could be in violation of the HCC, prompting potential termination. LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman has emphasized that he has assurances from the federal government that the United States will be open, despite recent travel bans and tighter scrutiny of international travelers arriving in the U.S. Trump's June proclamation includes exemptions for athletes, team personnel or immediate relatives entering the country for the FIFA World Cup, the Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State. But in the two months since the ban, visas have been denied for athletes, including the Cuban women's volleyball team traveling for a tournament in Puerto Rico, a baseball team from Venezuela that qualified to play in the Senior League Baseball World Series and Senegal's women's basketball team preparing for a training camp. 'The international community has to believe that the U.S. will fulfill our obligations,' Weston said, 'and that people coming from around the world to not only participate in the Games, but to attend and to support the Games as spectators, as fans, staff, personnel, that they're welcome here, they are safe.' Denver, which was awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics, is the only city to reject the Olympics after it was selected by the IOC. Organizers won the host position in 1970 with a bid that misrepresented the city's Olympic capabilities, said Adam Berg, the author of 'The Olympics that Never Happened: Denver '76 and the Politics of Growth.' The overconfident committee hypothetically placed skiing sports in areas with no anticipated snowfall. Wanting to appease the IOC's desire to put all events within a one-hour radius from the Olympic Village or the main stadium, the organizing committee chose venues that were close in proximity, but had no realistic ability to host sports. When organizers started to rework the plans to be more realistic and budgets soared, politicians and citizens grew concerned. In November 1972, voters approved an initiative that barred Olympic organizers from using public funds on venue construction. Without the funding, organizers could not proceed, and the IOC relocated the event to Innsbruck, Austria, which had hosted the 1964 Winter Olympics. But 50 years later, it's unlikely that there could be a repeat. The 1976 Winter Olympics had 1,123 athletes. L.A. will be the largest Olympic Games ever with 11,198 athletes. It'll bring the Paralympics to the city for the first time. Needing to find a new host on short notice for an event that has grown exponentially both in competition and TV production since Denver's sudden switch would be a nearly impossible task. 'It's literally a totally different universe,' Payne said of comparisons between Denver and L.A. Denver avoided paying massive damages, Berg said. But the IOC, which goes through a more extensive bid evaluation process now, had yet to harness the financial power of the Olympics and broadcasting partners in 1972. Today's iron-clad host city contract had not yet been formalized. 'The International Olympic Committee has really tightened up its fiscal ship over the years,' Boykoff said, 'and always to its own advantage.' If any city should be ready to host the biggest Olympics in history, it should be L.A. Not only because of the existing venues, but because of the unprecedented 11-year planning time after the IOC awarded the Games in 2017. Now with less than three years remaining, relocating to a city that would likely have to build new venues would be unrealistic for the IOC. 'The IOC is really in a bind too,' said Mark Dyreson, a sports historian at Penn State. While there has never been an official backup option named, L.A. is often in the conversation. The city volunteered as a potential emergency host when the 1924 Paris Olympics were threatened by severe floods. Although the Olympics remained in the City of Light, Dyreson said L.A.'s offer was the first step of getting on the IOC's radar to eventually earn the 1932 Games. When Athens, Greece, struggled to keep pace with venue deadlines for the 2004 Games, the IOC coordination committee publicly criticized organizers for the construction debacle. There were whispers that L.A. could be ready at a moment's notice. Now the idea of moving the Olympics from L.A. would be a major role-reversal for the city that had historically been seen as a viable backup. 'For Los Angeles, a city whose identity is partly predicated on staging the Olympics twice, and now having a third time,' Dyreson said, 'I think it would be really, really difficult for L.A. to give up the Olympics.' The Games run through the heart of L.A.: Olympic Boulevard, formerly 10th Street, was named for the 10th Olympic Games in 1932.
Fox Sports
9 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Dodgers Showed Urgency in Sweep of Padres and Why They're Still the Team to Beat
Major League Baseball Dodgers Showed Urgency in Sweep of Padres and Why They're Still the Team to Beat Updated Aug. 17, 2025 11:07 p.m. ET share facebook x reddit link LOS ANGELES – Six weeks after taking a nine-game lead in the National League West, the Dodgers' sizable advantage was not just dwindling; it was gone. The reigning World Series champions entered a critical weekend wobbling, having lost 21 of their last 33 games. They hoped a visit from the revamped rivals who overtook them for the division lead might help them discover the urgency and intensity that had been missing. Consider them found. After sweeping the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers reclaimed their place atop the NL West, reestablished the pecking order in one of MLB's most hotly-contested division races and reinforced the belief that the last couple of months of substandard play isn't necessarily indicative of what's to come for one of the most talented rosters in baseball. "I think it might reinforce it to others outside of the locker room," manager Dave Roberts said. "But it is something of, like, we've got to get going and not just talk about it." ADVERTISEMENT Padres vs. Dodgers Highlights | MLB on FOX Check out the best moments between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. This weekend was a start. Intensity, Roberts explained, is not always overt, the way it was the last time the Dodgers and Padres met in the middle of June, when the memories of last year's contentious division series clash still lingered. A condensed slate of games between the two rivals invited simmering tension. Over the course of seven matchups in 11 days, there were 11 hit batters, a benches-clearing incident, three suspensions and words exchanged between players and managers. Between the lines, though, the Dodgers clearly had the upper hand, taking five of those seven contests. The Padres, with a lineup lacking depth at that point, were more playoff hopefuls than legitimate championship contenders. That has since changed. For the past two months, the Padres have again demonstrated their willingness to do whatever it takes to win now. Their litany of moves at the deadline, which emptied the upper levels of their farm system in an effort to bring a championship to San Diego as quickly as possible, epitomized that. The Dodgers, meanwhile, scoffed at the prices for top talents on the market and have since paid the price for a quiet deadline, scuffling over the past few weeks with a tattered bullpen while the Padres reap the rewards of their audaciousness. With a new-look roster, the Padres entered this weekend — and a stretch of six crucial games in 10 days against the Dodgers — having won 14 of their last 17 games. In the process, they went from trailing in the division by six games on July 25 to leading it by one less than three weeks later. "You know, the division isn't won or lost in the next 10 days," Clayton Kershaw said. "But it will make an impact. We know that." Clayton Kershaw had a vintage outing in Friday's win over the Padres. (Photo by) This time, there was too much at stake for a skirmish between the division rivals. On Friday afternoon, both managers insisted that what happened in the past remained there. The next 72 hours would prove it. There were no spats, back-and-forth barbs or bench-clearing brouhahas. It was just a display of dominance by a Dodgers team that got the upper hand back as it eyes a 12th division title in 13 years. "I think we all know who we are in here," Freddie Freeman said, "and how good we can be." The intensity Roberts sought from his group pertained only to his team's performance after a lengthy spell of uninspired play. Entering the weekend, the Dodgers had just been swept by the Angels. In four of their previous five losses, they held a one-run lead in the eighth inning or later. Their depleted bullpen and volatile lineup had prevented the group from reaching its potential. "I do think that there are some things that we can get that tightened up," Roberts said. "When you're playing against a really good ballclub, and it's going to be 50,000-plus here, excited fans, that kind of heightens intensity and focus." So does having Kershaw on the mound. On Friday at home, Kershaw ended the Dodgers' four-game skid and lowered his ERA for the year to 3.01 with six innings of one-run ball. "It's a game in August, obviously," Kershaw said. "It's not that huge a deal. But the way we were going, it felt like a big game for us." Before the series began, Roberts said he would manage the series with more urgency, considering the opponent and the circumstances, but added that it's still not Game 7 of the World Series. The Friday matchup — a game in which Kershaw was pulled at 76 pitches and Blake Treinen, one of the few healthy high-leverage right-handers in the Dodgers' bullpen, was asked for only one out — exemplified how the Dodgers are still keeping an eye on the future while recognizing the importance of the present. "When you have the talent that we do, you just gotta kind of play good baseball," Roberts said. "And if you do that, we're going to win more than we lose." The Dodgers reclaimed the division lead a day later, letting the Padres run themselves out of first place in a calamity that strayed from the type of play that put San Diego in this position. Within the first two innings of Saturday's 6-0 thrashing, Dodgers catcher Will Smith had already thrown out three runners on the basepaths, Padres starter Dylan Cease had issued six free passes, and Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill let a two-out fly ball pop out of glove at the warning track in center field to score two runs. That set the Dodgers up on Sunday to do what they failed to a week ago, when they let a chance to sweep the AL East frontrunners Toronto Blue Jays at home slip away. They did not want a repeat. Manny Machado and the Padres entered the weekend atop the NL West but are once again behind the Dodgers after a three-game sweep. (Photo by) That was evident with who was behind the plate. Smith, their All-Star catcher, doesn't normally catch in a day game after a night game. This weekend, he caught all three games. "This is a good time to go for the jugular," Roberts said. The Dodgers did just that, attacking early with a three-run homer from Freeman in the first inning, then responding late on a go-ahead homer from Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to finish off the sweep with a 5-4 win. Alex Vesia secured the final five outs after approaching Roberts and telling him he wanted the opportunity in the ninth. "You gotta win the close games," Freeman said. "We've had our chances to win games by one or two runs, and we just weren't able to pull them off there in the last week. We were able to pull them off this week…So gotta keep it going, keep our foot on the gas." Mookie Betts' eighth-inning solo shot proved to be the decided in Sunday's win. (Photo by Emma Sharon/MLB Photos via Getty Images) As the Dodgers wait for their top bullpen pieces to return to health, this weekend was the formula: clutch hits, sound defense and, most importantly, elite starting pitching performances from a rotation that is finally healthy and rounding into form. Starters Kershaw, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow combined to surrender three runs in 17 innings against the Padres' reloaded lineup. The Dodgers have now won eight times in 10 matchups against the Padres this year to secure the season series. The teams will meet for the final time this regular season next weekend in San Diego, when the Dodgers' urgency and intensity will be tested again. "I don't think anyone in that clubhouse doubted our abilities and how good we can be," Roberts said. "Honestly, it was just good to play a really good series, start to finish. I think we respect those guys, I think they respect us, and now we've got to turn the page and move on." Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner . What did you think of this story? share
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Social media hit Ilona Maher takes women's rugby onto new plane
Ilona Maher transcends women's rugby, giving it a profile outside of the sport in the way that Mia Hamm did for women's football. Now the stage is set at the women's World Cup in England for the American to spark even more interest. The 29-year-old phenomenon has attracted over eight million followers on social media, not only through her sporting exploits but also for her promotion of body positivity. She played a pivotal role in the USA women's team winning a first ever Olympic medal, beating Australia in the third-place playoff in Paris last year. On the back of that achievement, Maher featured in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition and appeared in the US version of hit TV show "Dancing with the Stars", finishing runner-up. The Maher-fuelled improvement of the USA team attracted the attention of American investor Michele Kang who donated $4 million to help develop the USA Women's Rugby Sevens Team over four years. In another sport, Kang owns the Lyon women's football team, the eight-time European champions. Maher's days in Paris were not just spent playing rugby but also attracting even more followers with her pithy social media posts. She compared life in the Athletes' Village to a reality TV show, in one humorous posting saying she was there "looking for love", to which her friend replies: "No you are here to play rugby." In more reflective mode in Paris, she told the Bleacher Report one of her goals was trying to reassure "girls" that playing sport did not take away their "girliness". "What we're trying to show is the beauty that in sports you can be a badass on the field, you can be a beast on the field, but also be a beauty," she said. "It's really important for me because I want girls to see what their body is capable of. "It's not just to be looked at, objectified, but it's strong and it's fast, and it's brilliant." Maher, who through her body positivity push has become a brand ambassador for a deodorant and a skincare product she co-founded, revels in her global popularity and being "America's sweetheart." "I love when people call me that because I feel like I'm maybe not the image you would have of a sweetheart in some sense of the word,' Maher told CNN in January this year. "I'm honoured." - 'Tone down' - Maher, who hails from Vermont, may be extrovert and cheerful but she keeps her ego in check by showing appreciation to those women sports stars who paved the way for her. Hamm, her fellow American and a groundbreaking football superstar of the 1990s and early noughties, a two-time Olympic and World Cup winner, features high on the list. "I remember in our gym we always had a poster of Mia Hamm, and that was always cool to look up to her," Maher told the Bleacher Report. Closer to home, though, she is part of a tight-knit family unit, with her father Michael, a keen rugby player who introduced her to the sport, Netherlands-born mum Mieneke and sisters Olivia and Adrianna. Elder sister Olivia has a considerable social media presence herself. From her father Ilona not only learned about rugby but also a crucial life lesson when he defended her at a softball event. One of the other dads complained that Maher's pitches were unhittable but he was put in his place by Maher senior. "I think that was the first moment of being told to never tone it down," she told CNN. "Because that dad over there … wanted me to tone myself down so that it could be easier for (his daughter). "But that's not the world, is it? The world isn't going to tone down for you." Instead Maher has upped the ante and the fruits for women's rugby have been plentiful as New Zealand legend Portia Woodman-Wickliffe told AFP. "Having someone from America with that American market who is very confident, loves rugby, loves supporting women's bodies, someone as vocal as that is amazing for us," Woodman-Wickliffe said. "We need to capitalise and follow her as much as we can." pi/gj
