2023 A Look Back: Comeback Player(s) of the Year Award

Raise your hand if you’ve been paying attention to Western Carolina University athletics this academic year. 

WCU men's basketball picks up steam

It’s a great time to be a Catamount basketball fan, certainly the best in a while. 

WCU basketball facilities enjoy new improvements

A long-range list of upgrades to Western Carolina University athletics facilities tipped off this fall with a project in support of the Catamount men’s and women’s basketball programs featuring renovated locker rooms, polished and refined players’ lounges with nutrition areas and an updated film room. 

Time to register for youth basketball

Registration for youth basketball with the Jackson County Parks and Recreation Department is open through Saturday, Sept. 30.

Catamounts hope to continue basketball turnaround

By Todd Vinyard • Contributing Writer | Western Carolina University basketball has been using the hashtag #ItsComing on social media this season to describe year two under head coach Mark Prosser. After a Catamount season featuring an improvement of eleven wins from seven to 18, maybe they might want to prepare for #ItsHere.

Oregon State’s Alex Gary named WCU athletics director

By Todd Vinyard • Contributing Writer | Alex Gary, a former student-athlete on the Western Carolina University baseball team who is currently serving as senior associate athletics director for development at Oregon State University, is the next director of the Catamount athletics program.

This must be the place: I never saw the end of the tunnel, I only saw myself running out of one

For my generation, Kobe Bryant was the torchbearer and living link between Michael Jordan and LeBron James. He was basketball in the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

Kobe was also a figure who genuinely transcended the sport, one who rose to the top of the mountain of pop culture and media celebrity, something that came to fruition just as the internet age and social media became an integral part of our daily lives. 

A life in coaching: WCU’s Hunter earns career 700th win

By Todd Vinyard • Special to The Smoky Mountain News

Western Carolina University head basketball coach Larry Hunter’s team had beaten Samford 88-71 on Feb. 3 for a significant Southern Conference victory, and he had become one of only 40 other NCAA men’s basketball coaches with 700 career wins. Despite the milestone, Hunter followed his postgame routine of 46 years in coaching — finish the work of game day and prepare for the next game.

Admit it Tar Heel fans, you were squirming

I was all set to write another column on Donald Trump, who somehow seems more unhinged with each passing week, but when I sat down to write it, I had an epiphany: it is opening day of baseball season, spring is the air, and the NCAA basketball championship is just hours away. Simply put, I am in too good a mood to write about Trumplethinskin. This week, I would rather eat a bowl of thumbtacks than spend one more minute thinking about him.

It’s a great plan, just work on the free throws

op frI was in my early twenties before I knew what I wanted to do with my life. My son, Jack, is 10 years old and he already knows what he wants to do with his. He wants to play point guard in the National Basketball Association, specifically for the Charlotte Hornets. His favorite thing in the world is going to see the Hornets play basketball at Time Warner Cable Arena, where he can root for his favorite team while imagining himself on the court pulling up for a three-pointer at the top of the key, or “breaking someone’s ankles” with a wicked crossover dribble before finding a wide open Frank Kaminsky all alone under the basket for a thunderous alley-oop dunk.

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