Tennessee State's head football coach L.C. Cole has been namedthe Ohio Valley Conference Football "Coach of the Year" in voting by the league's headfootball coaches and sports information directors.
Defensiveend Lamar Carter was named the league's Defensive "Player of theYear". Four of his Tiger teammates, Avion Black (ReturnSpecialist), Bennie Anderson (Offensive Guard), MichaelThompson (Offensive Tackle) and Corey Sullivan (WideReceiver) were selected to the 1999 All-OVC first team. Overall, fifteenmembers of the Big Blue Tigers were named to the various OVC squads, includingquarterback Leon Murray who was named second team All-OVC even after beinginjured in the seventh game of the season. Last year, Murray was named theleague's Player of the Year.
Cole was selected as the OVC Coach of the Year after guiding Tennessee State to a perfect 11-0 overall record and the school's second consecutiveOVC football championship. The Tigers were the only undefeated team in I-AA football this season and are ranked #1 in all three major Top 25 polls. The11-0 record was the first for TSU since 1984, and they were the first OVC team since Murray State in 1995 to post a perfect regular season. TheTigers' 19-game regular-season winning streak is the longest in I-AA football and trails only Florida State among all Division I schools. TSUwas awarded the top seed for this year's Division I-AA football playoffs, and will host North Carolina A&T in the opening round on Saturday,November 27th. Cole is one of 16 finalists for the Eddie Robinson Award, which honors the top coach in I-AA football.
Carter, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior from Tullahoma, Tenn., led the OVC with 12 sacks (-73 yards) and was fifth in the league with 17.5 tackles forloss (-84 yards), despite missing the team's final two games with a shoulder injury. He also recorded 50 total tackles, three pass breakups, ablocked field goal and an interception. Carter became the Tigers' career sacks leader with 41.5, breaking the mark held by former NFL standoutRichard Dent. He turned in his best performance of the season in TSU's win over nationally ranked Eastern Kentucky, tallying 12 tackles, six tacklesfor loss and 3.5 sacks. The effort earned him I-AA National Defensive Player of the Week honors from the Sports Network andTeamlink.com. Carter is one of 16 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award, which honors the topdefensive player in I-AA football, and is the first person from Tennessee State to earn OVC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
1999 ALL-OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE FOOTBALL TEAM
(Selected by OVC Head Football Coaches and Sports Information Directors)
First Team
OFFENSE
Player, School Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Justin Fuente, Murray State# QB 6'2 216 Sr. Tulsa, Okla.
Rod Smart, Western Kentucky RB 5'10 185 Sr. Lakeland, Fla.
Jermaine Manning, Murray State RB 5'8 180 Sr. Austin, Tex.
Terrence Tillman, Murray State WR 5'9 170 Sr. Memphis, Tenn.
Corey Sullivan, Tennessee State# WR 6'3 195 Sr. Miami, Fla.
John Borne, Southeast Missouri TE 6'1 235 Sr. Metairie, La.
Patrick Goodman, Western Kentucky C 6'2 295 Sr. Cecilia, Ky.
Josh Hunter, Eastern Kentucky# OG 6'3 290 Sr. Myakka City, Fla.
Bennie Anderson, Tennessee State* OG 6'5 305 Sr. St. Louis, Mo.
Wes Gallagher, Tennessee Tech# OT 6'2 278 Sr. Wartrace, Tenn.
Michael Thompson, Tennessee State OT 6'6 290 Sr. Savannah, Ga.
David Collett, Tennessee Tech# PK 6'1 190 So. Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.
Avion Black, Tennessee State# KR/PR 6'0 180 Jr. Nashville, Tenn.
DEFENSE
Player, School Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Branon Vaughn, Tennessee Tech* DL 6'1 229 Sr. Memphis, Tenn.
Lamar Carter, Tennessee State* DL 6'3 215 Sr. Tullahoma, Tenn.
Ben Wittman, Western Kentucky DL 6'1 242 Sr. Sarasota, Fla.
Terry Thomas, Eastern Kentucky DL 6'2 270 Sr. Flint, Mich.
Chad Evitts, Tennessee Tech# LB 6'2 205 Jr. Hartsville, Tenn.
Melvin Wisham, Western Kentucky LB 6'1 223 Sr. St. Louis, Mo.
Jeremy Atwell, Southeast Missouri LB 6'1 220 Sr. Tonkawa, Okla.
Bobby Sippio, Western Kentucky DB 6'4 220 Fr. Kissimmee, Fla.
Brian Hinton, Southeast Missouri DB 5'10 165 Sr. St. Louis, Mo.
Joshua Symonette, Tennessee Tech* DB 6'0 210 Sr. Miami, Fla.
John Williams, Eastern Illinois DB 6'0 187 So. Lombard, Ill.
Brian Bivens, Murray State P 6'2 190 Fr. Henderson, Ky.
OVC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Justin Fuente - Murray State
OVC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Lamar Carter - Tennessee State
OVC COACH OF THE YEAR: L.C. Cole - Tennessee State
* - denotes All-OVC first team in 1998 # - denotes All-OVC second team in
1998
Second Team
OFFENSE
Player, School Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Anthony Buich, Eastern Illinois QB 6'0 213 Sr. Tiburon, Calif.
Leon Murray, Tennessee State* QB 6'3 205 Sr. Shreveport, La.
Corey Crume, Eastern Kentucky RB 6'0 222 Jr. Lebanon, Ky.
Amariah Robb, Tennessee State RB 5'9 195 Jr. Gallatin, Tenn.
Joe Perez, Murray State WR 6'0 185 Sr. Overland Park, Kan.
Avion Black, Tennessee State# WR 6'0 180 Jr. Nashville, Tenn.
Anthony Watson, Eastern Kentucky TE 6'3 244 Sr. Atlanta, Ga.
Ike Boone, Tennessee State C 6'1 280 Sr. Memphis, Tenn.
Jason Williams, Murray State# C 6'3 270 Sr. Hopkinsville, Ky.
Mark Williams, Tennessee Tech# OG 6'1 274 Sr. Shelbyville, Tenn.
Paul Carrizal, Murray State OG 6'3 365 So. S. Grand Prairie, Tex.
Ron Brown, Murray State OT 6'2 310 Sr. Houston, Tex.
Lewis Diaz, Eastern Kentucky OT 6'1 274 Jr. Miami, Fla.
Jason Martin, Eastern Kentucky PK 6'2 215 Jr. Bakersfield, Calif.
Bobby Sippio, Western Kentucky KR/PR 6'4 220 Fr. Kissimmee, Fla.
DEFENSE
Player, School Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Hometown
Jerry Turner, Tennessee Tech# DL 6'2 245 Sr. Birmingham, Ala.
Joel Becker, Southeast Missouri DL 6'2 255 Sr. Park Falls, Wisc.
Jason Muchow, Eastern Kentucky# DL 6'0 285 Sr. Merritt Island, Fla.
Steve Williams, Murray State DL 6'3 275 Sr. Sapulpa, Okla.
Lavante Epson, Tennessee-Martin LB 6'2 215 Sr. Greenville, Miss.
Brent Sterling, Tennessee State LB 6'0 235 Sr. Oxford, Ala.
Donovan LaViness, Southeast Missouri LB 5'11 220 Sr. Midwest City, Okla.
Scooter Asel, Eastern Kentucky DB 6'0 205 Jr. Plano, Tex.
Troy Grant, Tennessee Tech DB 5'9 180 Jr. San Antonio, Tex.
Ligarius Jennings, Tennessee State DB 5'10 195 Jr. Birmingham, Ala.
Mel Mitchell, Western Kentucky DB 6'2 192 So. Rockledge, Fla.
Ed Sanders, Tennessee State DB 6'1 200 Jr. Nashville, Tenn.
Bill Besenhoffer, Eastern Illinois P 5'7 185 So. Niles, Ill.
Honorable Mention: Derick Logan, TB, Eastern Kentucky; Walter Hill, WR,
Tennessee Tech; Antoine McNutt, OG, Tennessee State; Scott Pitt, OG, Murray
State; Chris Kiefer, OT, Southeast Missouri; Todd Sorrell, OT, Western
Kentucky; Seth Goodowens, PK/P, Tennessee State; Greg Miller, PK, Murray
State; Steve Marcinkowski, DL, Eastern Illinois; Kareem Vaughn, DL, Murray
State; Larry Floyd, DL, Tennessee State; Sherrod Coates, LB, Western
Kentucky; Jai Williams, LB, Murray State; Jilon Van Over, LB, Murray State;
Reggie Knighten, DB, Tennessee Tech; Jabir Walker, DB, Murray State; Frank
Cutolo, KR/PR, Eastern Illinois
