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2018 Celebration Bowl is back on ABC, featuring MEAC and SWAC champs

Game will kick off football bowl season

2:07 PMThe Celebration Bowl, featuring football champions from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), will kick off the 2018 bowl season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Dec. 15.

“We are proud that once again the Celebration Bowl will kick off the college football bowl season on ABC in Atlanta, Georgia,” said Celebration Bowl executive director John Grant. “Each of the past three years we have presented exciting games that went down to the wire in determining who would claim the coveted Celebration Bowl trophy.”

It’s the fourth consecutive year that the conference champions will play. The MEAC leads the series 2-1, with both wins coming from North Carolina A&T, whose last-minute 21-14 win over Grambling State in 2017 capped the first unbeaten season in MEAC history. Grambling won the SWAC’s first title in 2016 with a 10-9 victory over North Carolina Central.

“I would like to thank ESPN for their vision and dedication to establishing the Celebration Bowl as one of the top collegiate bowl games,” said interim SWAC commissioner Edgar Gantt. “We are excited and look forward to participating in this year’s bowl. Our student-athletes, coaches and fans have enjoyed this first-class event.”

“The exposure for our conference and institutions on a national level is tremendous for our branding,” said MEAC commissioner Dennis E. Thomas. To start the 2018 bowl season is an excellent opportunity for our student-athletes, coaches and institutions as they play on a national platform.”

ESPN Events, a division of ESPN, also manages the season-opening MEAC/SWAC Challenge on Labor Day weekend, another game that showcases these two conferences. The 2018 Challenge will be in Atlanta for the first time, featuring Prairie View A&M University from the SWAC and North Carolina Central University from the MEAC. The game is Sept. 2, at Georgia State Stadium, and will be televised on ESPN2 at noon Eastern.

ESPN will televise 35 bowl games, including all 14 of ESPN Events’ owned and operated contests, over 17 days, beginning Dec. 15 and concluding on New Year’s Day. The games will set the table for the college football national championship, which will conclude the season on Jan. 7, 2019, from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.

Clark Atlanta University chooses a new men’s hoops coach, and it’s another ex-NBA player

George Lynch, who played at North Carolina and with five NBA teams, has his first head coaching job

9:49 AMWhen your last former-NBA player-turned coach wins 45 games in two years, it makes sense for you to go out and hire someone with a similar résumé.

The oft-used proverb “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” was obviously at play as Clark Atlanta University introduced former Philadelphia 76er George Lynch as its new head men’s basketball coach Monday. The hiring comes roughly a month after the departure of former New York Knicks player Darrell Walker, who left for the University of Arkansas, Little Rock in late March.

Lynch was a journeyman, playing for five NBA teams, including stints with the then-New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Lakers. Before taking the job with Panthers, the former small forward was coaching with a Detroit Pistons G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Drive.

The 12-year NBA veteran’s crowning moment, however, was as a North Carolina Tar Heel. Remember Chris Webber’s ill-advised timeout that cost the Fab Five the 1992-93 NCAA championship? Lynch helped force it.

20 years ago today Chris Webber called a timeout that he did not have, sealing a national championship for North Carolina. from CollegeBasketball

Look at that ball pressure! Wolverine fans have Lynch to blame for one of the biggest folds in basketball history. A senior at the time, the four-year player also took home All-Tournament and East Regional MVP honors that year as well as being drafted in the first round of the ’93 draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Having spent four years under the legendary Dean Smith, there’s no doubt the Panthers are hoping this translates to wins as soon as possible in Lynch’s first head coaching gig. Lynch, however, will have big shoes to fill after Walker’s short yet successful stint in Atlanta.

“It was an honor to take this interview and follow up coach Darrell Walker,” Lynch said at the news conference announcing his hiring. “He’s done a great job at leading the young men and the university. I’d like to continue their success in seeing these young men graduate and follow their dreams. That’s my goal.”

According to AJC.com, Lynch played under Walker for two seasons when he was an assistant coach with the Hornets. He turned to him about the Clark Atlanta job, which had more than 60 applicants.