ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis Cardinals fans in four states can get close-up meetings with some of their favorite players later this month. The Cardinals on Monday announced the schedule for the popular “Cardinal Caravan,” a 19-stop tour taking place Jan. 17 through Jan. 20. A combination of current and former players will make stops at various communities in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee.

There are actually five separate caravans that are part of the tour. Current players from the National League champions making the trips include Michael Wacha, Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly, Matt Adams, Shane Robinson, Seth Maness, Kevin Siegrist and Tyler Lyons.

A complete schedule is available on the teams’ website.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Diagonal vs. Lenox, ppd.

IKM-Manning vs. Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, ppd.

Nishnabotna vs. Rock Port, Mo., ppd.

West Nodaway, Mo. vs. South Page, College Springs, ppd.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Diagonal vs. Lenox, ppd.

IKM-Manning vs. Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, ppd.

Interstate 35,Truro vs. Creston, ppd.

West Nodaway, Mo. vs. South Page, College Springs, ppd..

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals added an outfield prospect to the 40-man roster, claiming 22-year-old Rafael Ortega on waivers from the Texas Rangers. The left-handed hitting Ortega, of Venezuela, was designed for assignment by Texas on Dec. 30. The Rangers had claimed him from the Rockies a month earlier.

Colorado signed Ortega as a non-drafted free agent in 2008 and he made his major league debut in September 2012, appearing in two games. Ortega batted .228 for Double-A Tulsa last year with one home run, 10 RBIs and nine steals in 13 attempts before a season-ending leg injury in late June.

The Cardinals have one spot remaining on the roster.

GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) — The small Iowa school that produced 138-point scorer Jack Taylor has set another NCAA record. Division Three Grinnell College player Patrick Maher broke the NCAA record with 37 assists Monday night in a 164-144 victory over College of Faith.

Maher snapped the record of 34 set by Grinnell assistant head coach David Arseneault back in 2007. Maher also had 19 points to help the Pioneers improve to 8-2. Taylor put Grinnell on the national map with 138 points against Faith Baptist Bible on November 20th, 2012. Taylor didn’t play Monday night because of a lower back injury.

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State remains the only school in the country with undefeated men’s and women’s basketball teams. Each squad is 13-0 and off to the best start in school history. Coach Fred Hoiberg’s men’s team is ranked ninth heading into Tuesday’s home game with Number 7 Baylor. The women are ranked 11th, their highest position since 2002, after winning 82-75 in overtime at Oklahoma on Sunday.

Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard says the strong starts by both teams is a unique situation that has excited the fan base.

AMES, Iowa- Louis Ayeni, who has had a major impact on Toledo’s running game in his four years at the school, has been named an assistant coach for running backs at Iowa State, head coach Paul Rhoads announced today.

Ayeni spent the last three seasons as Associate Head Coach/Run Game Coordinator at Toledo producing outstanding results. The Rockets qualified for a bowl game in three of the last four seasons and finished among the top five rushing teams in the MAC all four years.

The Woodbury, Minn., native helped place a Toledo running back on an all-MAC team and mentored a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last four seasons.

“We are very excited to have Lou join our staff,” Rhoads said. “He brings a tremendous amount of energy and passion to this position, both traits I see as essential to aid in the advancement of our football program. He is a dynamic and relentless recruiter which is also vital to our sustained success.”

The Rockets are coming off a 7-5 campaign in 2013 where they averaged 240.6 yards per game on the ground to rank second in the league and 14th nationally. Under Ayeni’s guidance, senior running back David Fluellen flourished, earning first-team All-MAC honors in 2012 and 2013 with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. His 3,336 career rushing yards ranks fourth all-time in UT history.

Ayeni came to Toledo from Northwestern, where he served as a graduate assistant for two seasons, working primarily with the offense.

During his playing career at Northwestern (1999-2003), Ayeni played running back before switching to safety prior to his senior season. He served as team captain in 2003. He graduated in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and a minor in sociology.

Despite being limited his senior year by injury, Ayeni earned respect as one of the most feared hitters in the Big Ten Conference. In four games his senior year, he totaled 22 tackles, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. He added “Player of the Game” and “Big Playmaker of the Game” accolades against Kansas, Purdue and Wisconsin.

As an offensive performer early in his career, Ayeni helped lead the Wildcats to a Big Ten Championship in 2000. As a true freshman in 1999, Ayeni led the team in kickoff return average and yardage, was third on the team in special teams tackles and was the Wildcats’ second-leading rusher.

Ayeni played for Tony Dungy and the Indianapolis Colts as a safety in 2004-05 before joining the St. Louis Rams and Mike Martz in 2005-06 as a linebacker.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads has hired a former consensus national coach-of-the-year to run his offense.

Mark Mangino, whose offensive wizardry at multiple schools has been a catalyst for winning, is Iowa State’s new offensive coordinator.

Mangino was the first coach ever to be recognized as both the national coach-of-the-year and the national assistant coach-of-the-year (Gene Chizik, David Cutcliffe and Guz Malzahn have since joined that prestigious list).

Mangino was assistant head coach (in charge of TEs) and recruiting coordinator at Youngstown State, his alma mater, last season. The head coach at YSU is Eric Wolford, one of Mangino’s former players.

“I am beyond thrilled to welcome Coach Mangino to the Cyclone football family,” Rhoads said. “He has an imaginative offensive mind, an ability to play to his players’ strengths, a track record of winning and a tremendous familiarity with the Big 12 Conference. In terms of calling plays and executing a game plan, he is top shelf. He has learned from a ‘Who’s Who’ of college coaches, effectively led his own championship program and is respected throughout the coaching ranks.”

Mangino’s Big 12 experience is vast having served as the head coach at Kansas (2002-09) and as an assistant coach / coordinator at Oklahoma (1999-01) and Kansas State (1991-98). Mangino spent three years away from the sidelines after departing KU as his wife successfully battled breast cancer.

Mangino’s playbook is varied and innovative. To open a bowl game one year, Mangino flanked out both of his tackles next to the wide receivers. His offensive approach is wide-open, aggressive, and most importantly, effective. The last four offenses Mangino led averaged more than 400 yards per game.

Mangino’s eight-year tenure at Kansas was a remarkable renaissance. Inheriting a program with six consecutive losing seasons, Mangino turned a two-win team his first season into Orange Bowl champions five years later.

His Jayhawk teams were 50-48 overall, played in four bowls and won three. He is the only coach in KU history to win bowls in consecutive seasons (2007 and 2008). Kansas was ranked a school-record 19 straight weeks between 2007-08, set home attendance records five years in a row and produced the top three total offenses in school history.

The magical season of 2007 was the pinnacle. Kansas climbed as high as No. 2 in the national polls, shared the Big 12 North Division title, recorded a school-record 12 wins and won 11 games in a row (including an upset of fifth-ranked Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl). Led by quarterback Todd Reesing, Kansas was second nationally in scoring (42.8), eighth in total offense (479.8) and scored 64 touchdowns versus only 46 punts in ‘07.

Mangino was showered with coaching honors in 2007, including 14 national coach-of the-year awards. Among those were the Bear Bryant, Eddie Robinson and Woody Hayes Coach of the Year awards as well as recognition from the Associated Press, the American Football Coaches Association, the Walter Camp Foundation, The Sporting News and ESPN.

While at Kansas, Mangino developed a “Character First” program to educate players on key life skills. He also contributed to the Lawrence community through Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Boys and Girls Club and Habitat for Humanity.

Mangino got his collegiate coaching start at Youngstown State (1985-86) working for Jim Tressel. After three years at Geneva College (1987-89) coordinating the offense and coaching the offensive line, Mangino was hired by Bill Snyder at Kansas State.

The Wildcats won at least nine games and played in a bowl game his final six seasons in Manhattan. A loss in the 1998 Big 12 Championship game is all that kept KSU from the national championship game. Mangino helped tutor quarterback Michael Bishop, the Heisman Trophy runner-up, that season.

Mangino then moved to Oklahoma and joined Bob Stoops’ first staff in 1999, working alongside Sooner offensive coordinator Mike Leach. Mangino was promoted to OC the following year and Oklahoma went 13-0, beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl and was crowned national champion. Josh Heupel, another Heisman Trophy runner-up, was Mangino’s quarterback that year.

The 2000 Sooners were seventh nationally in scoring (39.0) and 13th in passing (294.7) and Mangino won the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. In his three years at OU, the Sooners scored at least 40 points in a game 14 times. Mangino also coached 2003 Heisman Trophy recipient Jason White at OU as well as Outland Trophy winner Jamal Brown. OU’s record in his two seasons as OC was 24-2.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa coach Fran McCaffery has apologized for an outburst that got him ejected from Sunday’s loss to No. 4 Wisconsin.  McCaffery was called for back-to-back technical fouls and tossed from the game for arguing with officials with 12 minutes left. The Badgers rallied for a 75-71 win.

McCaffery says in a statement that he’s sorry for his emotional reaction. McCaffery says he has great passion and respect for the game and regrets that his actions put the program and the university in a negative light.  Athletic director Gary Barta says he has already met with McCaffery and that McCaffery “knows he crossed a line of acceptable behavior.”

Barta also says that McCaffery has his full support moving forward.

w/ Jim Field

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (415.3KB)

Subscribe: RSS

Atlantic/CAM returned from the Christmas break to place second on Saturday at the Des Moines Lincoln Dual Tourney.  The Trojans had a mark of 4-1.   they posted wins over Highland 54-18, Des Moines Lincoln 59-21 and Des Moines North/Hoover 54-18.  Atlantic/CAM beat Bondurant-Farrar 52-18 in the semi-finals, but were beaten 44-27 by Albia in the championship round.   Reid Nichols, Tyler Christensen and Jezidiah Phippen each went unbeaten in the matches on Saturday.