Monday, Oct. 26, 2009

CCU football notes: Big South, WPDE point fingers over TV debacle

CONWAYThe Big South Conference and WPDE are pointing fingers at each other for the broadcast of Saturday's Coastal Carolina-Stony Brook game being unavailable locally.

The game was supposed to air on WPDE's sister station, WWMB, but viewers on the Grand Strand instead saw "Judge Judy," the movie "Boys and Girls" and two other shows, "Moms on the Move" and "The American Athlete."

The Big South was at fault for not getting the station the correct satellite coordinates and for not being available when there were problems on Saturday, WPDE TV-15 General Manager Billy Huggins said Monday. But the Big South said that it passed along that information earlier in the week and didn't hear about any problems until the game had already started, conference assistant commissioner Mark Simpson said.

"We spent the day trying to track them down," Huggins said. "It was just a total system meltdown from the standpoint of them not getting us the information about the satellite they were using and us not being able to get anybody in [their] office on Saturday. We had talked with them on Thursday and given them our numbers.

"It was one of those situations that was out of our control."

Simpson said the conference was not notified until after the 3:30 p.m. kickoff that there was a problem with the satellite. He said the league sent satellite coordinate information to WPDE last week via e-mail but never received any feedback from the station.

"Obviously there was a breakdown on both sides," he said. "We're very sorry that the game did not air down there. We're making steps to ensure everything is corrected for the next time.

"We'll look into the satellite issue, and we're taking steps to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Huggins said that even if WPDE had received the correct satellite coordinates Saturday, it wouldn't have done any good, because the Big South was using a satellite that was operating at only 25-percent power. The signal from that satellite is not available to stations in this area, he said.

Norman to play

Coastal corner Josh Norman will play Saturday against Clemson despite being arrested early Monday by Aynor police.

Norman, a starter, was charged with driving without a South Carolina driver's license, according to jail officials. He was booked into jail at 12:49 a.m. Monday morning and later released after paying a $237.50 fine.

"This is an unfortunate case of miscommunication with a family member over a previous ticket that was to be paid," Coastal Athletic Director Warren Koegel said in a statement. "When it wasn't, his license was suspended without his knowledge and wasn't discovered until this weekend when he was pulled over for a non-working tail light.

"We have discussed this matter internally, with Josh and with various law enforcement officials, and in our view, this matter has been resolved and he will participate fully in this week's preparation for and play in the game at Clemson. This is unfortunate as he has been a model student-athlete, both on and off the field, here at Coastal Carolina."

Norman, a 21-year-old sophomore, is considered one of the team's brightest young stars. He has a team-high three interceptions along with 30 total tackles, three pass breakups and six passes defended.

On the net

Only one of the area's two major Internet service providers will provide a streaming, online television broadcast from Saturday's game between the Chants and Tigers. Coastal will make its first appearance on ESPN360.com, the television network's free broadband destination for telecasts that do not appear on one of his TV channels.

ESPN charges ISPs for access to the site. Horry Telephone Cooperative has purchased rights to ESPN360.com, allowing all of its high-speed Netracer customers to watch the Coastal-Clemson game live on their computers. Time Warner Cable has not reached an agreement with ESPN.

Going fast

Ticket sales for Saturday's game through Coastal's athletic department started to pick up Monday, Coastal Athletic Ticket Manager Ken Faircloth said.

About 600 tickets from Coastal's 2,300 allotment remain, he said. The cost is $35 apiece. Customers can purchase those tickets by calling 843-347-TIXX or by visiting the school's ticket office.

ONLINE | To view Hoke's Coastal Carolina blog "The Roost," go to TheSunNews.com.