Reba McEntire announced today (July 20) that she will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of her Grand Ole Opry debut with two shows on Sept. 22.
Reba shared the announcement via a Twitter video that inclued a short anecdote about her debut on the Opry in 1977, where she was upstaged by none other than Dolly Parton.
“First time I ever sang on the Grand Ole Opry was September 17, 1977,” says Reba in the video, “and I was supposed to sing two songs, but they came to me when I got there and said, ‘We’re gonna have to cut you down to one song because Dolly Parton just pulled up into the driveway, and she’s gonna take one of your songs.’ I said, ‘Okay, she can take both of them. Can I meet her?’ That was a big event in my life because Mamma and Daddy always listened to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio, 650 WSM. And now here comes the anniversary 40 years later. September 22, I’m going to go back and sing at the Grand Ole Opry. Won’t you come out and help me celebrate?”
Bridgette Gordon – Lady Vols / Credit: UT Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Bridgette Gordon, who helped Tennessee capture two of its eight NCAA titles in the sport as a student-athlete, has returned to her alma mater as an assistant, UT Head Coach Holly Warlick announced on Thursday.
Gordon, a 1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalist, comes to Rocky Top from Wichita State, where she spent seven seasons, including the last three as the recruiting coordinator. Gordon, who served as associate head coach a year ago, helped WSU land the highest-ranked recruiting class in program history when Blue Star Basketball rated the 2012-13 signing group at No. 47 in the nation.
In addition to her work as a gifted recruiter, Gordon helped the Shockers make their first three appearances ever in the NCAA Tournament while capturing the program’s first three regular- and post-season conference championships. The Shockers advanced to postseason play five times during her stint in Wichita.
“Though there was urgency to fill this position, I took my time and turned over every stone to find the best fit for this program,” Warlick said. “Bridgette checks all the boxes in terms of who I wanted. I am so excited to welcome her back to Tennessee as a member of our staff.”
“Everyone we visited with about Bridgette spoke highly of her reputation as a coach and person. She has great relationships with her players, college administrators, AAU and high school coaches, university donors and the community. One veteran college athletics administrator told us ‘the game needs Bridgette Gordon in it.'”
“Bridgette is not only a fantastic recruiter, but she also is an experienced floor coach who holds players accountable. She has a great love for Tennessee, coaches with passion, cares about people, embodies loyalty and is invested in the history and future of this program. I can’t wait to hit the ground running with Bridgette on our staff.”
Gordon, who has 14 years of experience in the coaching ranks and another as a WNBA scout, expressed her joy in returning to campus as a member of the Warlick’s staff.
“First, I would like to thank God for blessing me with this opportunity,” Gordon said. “I am grateful to Holly and the UT Athletics administration for the opportunity and for having faith in me to continue building the rich tradition of the Lady Vol program.
“This opportunity is reminiscent of a call I received over 30 years ago, of being offered a scholarship. I had always dreamed of being a Lady Vol. After playing and being part of this rich tradition, I have continued to dream about coming back as a coach and helping Holly continue to add to the Lady Vol legacy. Another dream has come true!
“I’m overwhelmed and grateful, because Knoxville is a special place. I spent the best four years of my life here. The fans have always been so faithful and supportive. There is no place like home, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. It’s heartfelt, because it has only been a year since we lost Pat, and I know she would be proud of me.
“I look forward to assisting Holly, Dean and Sharrona as we continue to shape this wonderful program, but most importantly I am ecstatic about meeting and working with this awesome group of Lady Vols.”
Gordon’s influence helped establish several Wichita State student-athletes as dominant forces in the Missouri Valley Conference. She helped guide Jessica Diamond to a pair of first-team all-conference selections, Haleigh Lankster to 2011-12 MVC Defensive Player of the Year accolades, and Alex Harden to 2013, 2014 and 2015 MVC Tournament MVP honors as well as back-to-back MVC Defensive Player of the Year and 2015 MVC Player of the Year distinction. Harden developed into a 2015 WNBA Draft pick.
Prior to her tenure at WSU, Gordon spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Along with being an assistant coach, she was GSU’s recruiting coordinator her final two seasons with the Panthers, where she helped land the No. 52 ranked class in the nation. Georgia State improved its win total in each season Gordon spent on the bench.
Before her stint in Atlanta, Gordon served one year as a regional scout for the WNBA in 2006-07. She traveled the country rating the top 50 seniors in the nation and evaluated underclassmen for future WNBA consideration.
From 2001-06, Gordon was an assistant coach in her hometown of DeLand, Fla., at Stetson University, and spent her last two seasons with the Hatters as the recruiting coordinator. In 2005, she helped lead the squad to its first conference tournament championship and the initial NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
Gordon enjoyed a stellar collegiate playing career at Tennessee from 1985-89, helping lead Tennessee to its first two NCAA National Championships as a sophomore (1987) and as a senior (1989) along with two other Final Four appearances. That accomplishment made UT the first school in women’s basketball to advance to four consecutive NCAA Final Fours.
With Warlick serving as an assistant to Pat Summitt on those Tennessee teams, Gordon was a four-time All-SEC First Team performer and two-time Kodak All-American. Her number 30 is hanging from the rafters at Thompson-Boling Arena, and she is a member of the Women’s Basketball (2007), Tennessee Sports (2012), University of Tennessee Athletics (2001) and DeLand (Fla.) High School Halls of Fame.
Gordon was named NCAA Final Four MVP, SEC Female Athlete of the Year and SEC Player of the Year in 1989 and was the SEC Tournament MVP in 1988 and 1989. She collected SEC Freshman of the Year accolades in 1986 and later was named to the NCAA 25th Anniversary Team and the Team of the Decade (1980s).
Finishing her college career as UT’s all-time leader in points (2,462) and steals (336), Gordon remains second in both categories through the 2016-17 season. The 1989 UT graduate possesses a B.S. in political science.
On the international stage, Gordon earned her Olympic gold medal in 1988, prior to her senior year of college. She traveled to Seoul, South Korea, and helped the USA take the top spot on the podium. She was the fourth-leading scorer and one of two collegiate members of Team USA who brought home gold medals. Gordon’s .571 field goal percentage was second on the squad that went 5-0 to achieve its “Sole Goal” of “Seoul Gold”.
Following her collegiate career, Gordon played professionally in Italy, where she was a perennial all-star and won seven Italian Championships and two European Cups (1994 & 1996), and Turkey, before a two-year stint with the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs.
GORDON’S COACHING CAREER
Tennessee
Assistant Coach (2017-Present)
Wichita State
Associate Head Coach (2016-17)
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2012-16)
Assistant Coach (2010-12)
Georgia State
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2008-10)
WNBA
Regional Scout (2006-07)
Stetson
Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator (2001-06)
GORDON’S COLLEGE PLAYING CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Tennessee (1985-89)
1988 U.S. Olympic gold medalist.
Helped lead Tennessee to its first two NCAA National Championships in 1987 and 1989 and played in a (then) NCAA-record four consecutive Final Fours.
Two-time Kodak and Naismith All-American and four-time All-SEC First Team selection.
Named 1989 NCAA Final Four MVP, SEC Female Athlete of the Year and SEC Player of the Year.
1986 SEC Freshman of the Year after becoming first freshman to lead the Lady Vols in scoring.
Named SEC Tournament MVP as UT won trophies in 1988 and 1989.
Named to NCAA 25th Anniversary Team and Team of the Decade (1980s).
Lady Vols were 115-21 during her four seasons on Rocky Top.
Finished her career as the NCAA Tournament leader in scoring and field goals and set a record by connecting on 17 free throws in a single game against Long Beach State in 1989.
Still ranks second at UT in career points (2,462) and steals (336).
One of six Lady Vols to have her jersey (30) hanging in Thompson-Boling Arena (Jan. 17, 1990).
2012 Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
2007 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee.
2002 DeLand (Fla.) High School Hall of Fame inductee.
Josh Abbott announced on Twitter today (July 20) that he is engaged to girlfriend Taylor Parnell.
Josh and Taylor welcomed baby daughter Emery Farryn Abbott into the world earlier this year on May 5, 2017.
For his proposal, Josh dressed Emery in a pink onesie with the embroidered message: “Mommy will you marry Daddy?” According to Josh’s tweet, “She said ‘yes!'”
The Josh Abbott Band will release their new album, Until My Voice Goes Out, on August 18.
“This album is about appreciating the moment and your family and your friends, and living life the right way,” Josh says. “It’s really all about finding clarity and focusing on what’s important.”
The 5-bedroom, 4.5-bath, French Farmhouse Manor-style home sits on 1.73 acres in Nashville’s Forest Hills area. The 5,906-square-foot home, which was built in 2007, features a gourmet kitchen, breakfast bar, spacious master bedroom with spa-like bath, private patio, stone fireplace, wine cellar, media/music room, 3-car garage and more.
With his new single, “More Girls Like You,” cracking the Top 20 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, Kip Moore is gearing up for the release of his third studio album, Slowheart, on Sept 8. The 13-track offering features 11 songs that Kip co-wrote, including “More Girls Like You,” which is No. 18 on the chart after 22 weeks.
“I definitely feel like with this record as a whole, you’re definitely going to get a very clear understanding of where it’s all gone from one record to the other and where I was at at this particular stage of my life and the things that affected me to write this record,” says Kip. “You’re definitely going to get a sense of where I’ve been at for the last year, year and a half in my life as this goes.”
Kip is playing some of country music’s biggest festivals this summer. He’s also scheduled to tour the United Kingdom in the fall, including stops in Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and London.
Slowheart Track List With Songwriters
“Plead the Fifth” – Luke Dick, Josh Kear
“Just Another Girl” – Kip Moore, Westin Davis, Ben Helson
Only the Brave is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a group of elite firefighters that lost their lives in the tragic Yarnell Hill wildfire that devastated parts of Arizona in 2013. The movie, which stars Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Taylor Kitsch, Jeff Bridges and Jennifer Connelly, opens nationwide on Oct. 20.
Many defensive coaches look upon the triple option offense with disdain.
To stop it, you must play assignment football. You must be disciplined. You must fend off cut blocks. You must have eye discipline.
When John Chavis was Tennessee’s defensive coordinator, he despised going against the triple option.
But Brady Hoke, UT’s defensive line coach, has a different outlook.
“I embrace it,’’ Hoke said in a recent interview. “I love it.’’
When Hoke as head coach at Ball State, he faced Navy’s triple option twice. At San Diego State, he went against Air Force’s flex bone each year and battled Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl. When he was defensive line coach at Oregon State, he faced the Beavers’ triple option every day in practice.
Tennessee’s opening opponent Sept. 4 is Georgia Tech, which runs an innovative triple option under the guidance of coach Paul Johnson. The Yellow Jackets went 3-0 against SEC teams last year and can bedevil a defense.
But Hoke is eager for the challenge.
“I enjoy preparing to play this type of offense,’’ Hoke said, “and I enjoy it because I think it truly is the essence of reaction, reading keys and doing your job.
“If you get undisciplined with your job, that’s when you get hurt. … It becomes a toughness game.’’
But often times defensive coaches complain about cut blocks from triple option teams.
Not Hoke.
“When you get chopped is when you’re not doing your job or you’re slow doing your job or your eyes aren’t where they’re supposed to be and you’re not reacting to that key,’’ Hoke said.
“Guys that get chopped are the ones that take their eyes back to the guy that’s going to chop them and then you get chopped.
“I love playing those guys. I think it tells you a lot about where you’re defensive line is at because you’ve got to be a tough-minded son of a gun to play that kind of team.’’
Alabama coach Nick Saban hoped he had a tough-minded team when the Crimson Tide hosted Georgia Southern in 2011. Bama had the nation’s top-ranked run defense, but the FCS opponent shredded the defense for 302 yards on 39 carries, 7.7 yards per attempt, in Alabama’s 45-21 victory. The score was 24-14 at halftime.
“Very few teams run it,’’ Saban said of the triple option. “So your players get very little experience at playing against it. They have very little understanding.’’
The triple option is so unique, Saban said “you cannot prepare for it in a single week, nor can you get the kind of scout team look that you need to get to prepare for the speed of that kind of offense and the way those people execute it.’’
Saban said the week before the Georgia Southern game in 2011, he brought in people to teach his staff the offense so Bama could teach the players how to defend it.
“Obviously the way we played against it was not very good,’’ Saban said.
The way Georgia played against Georgia Tech last year was not very good as the Yellow Jackets prevailed 28-27. Tech also beat Vanderbilt 38-7 and Kentucky 33-18 in a bowl game last season.
“If you’re not disciplined, you’ll get ran out of the stadium,’’ said Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith.
But if you disciplined, chances are you can contain the triple option, no matter how many variables are thrown at you.
And Hoke hopes to put a disciplined defense on the field Sept. 4.
“I’m excited about (playing against Georgia Tech),’’ Hoke said. “It’s going to be a heckuva football game.’’
As Kelsea Ballerini gears up to release her sophomore album in the coming months, she’s staying busy as part of Lady Antebellum’s You Look Good World Tour, as well as a string of television appearances, including Good Morning America and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on July 25.
During a brief reprieve in Nashville on July 18 before getting on the road again with Lady A, Kelsea spoke with media members and revealed a few details about another landmark occasion: her upcoming wedding to singer/songwriter Morgan Evans. The couple got engaged over the Christmas holidays.
“We are so focused on music, and I think meeting each other and falling super in love with each other was a big surprise for both of us,” said Kelsea. “And I think we’re kinda like . . . we’re so stoked to get married, but the actual wedding part isn’t really what we care about. So we have a wedding planner. She did Carrie [Underwood’s] wedding. Her name’s Jane, she’s amazing. I was like, ‘I want this amount of people and I don’t want it to be in Nashville or Australia. I want it to be neutral. And we’ll be there.’ It’s at the end of the year, and we’re both gonna keep, you know, sprinting until then and then get married and take December off. I don’t have my dress or anything.”
The purse for the ninth annual Knoxville Challenger is being increased 50 percent to $75,000 and promises to once again display an array of promising up-and-coming stars.
The event is set for Nov. 7-12 at the GoodfriendIndoorTennisCenter with qualifying held two days before the main draw begins.
The field has included such talents as John Isner, James Blake, Sam Groth, Donald Young, Steve Johnson, Jack Sock and local products and/or Tennessee players Rhyne Williams, Tennys Sandgren, J-P Smith, Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis. Reese and Libietis won the Challenger doubles title in 2014.
Tournament chairman Adam Brock pointed out you often see 15 to 20 players that came through Knoxville that will play in one of the four men’s events.
Not only did the most recent Wimbledon have over 20 Knoxville Challenger participants in the field, but former Challenger winner Adrian Mannarino of France defeated No 15 seed Gael Monfils in the third round in a five-set upset.
This year, the Challenger will exceed $1 million in donations to the HelenRossMcNabbCenter, which benefits those with mental illness and addiction.
The Challenger had 66 sponsors in its first year and netted about $64,000. Last year, it had 227 sponsors and netted a record $164,335. The eight-year total is $920,882.
The financial success of the tournament has been astounding. When the event was renewed in a different format in 2009 (it had been held off and on for several years before that) the USTA had 29 Challenger events nationwide. Now there are 16, and only one turns a profit.
“The reason, unquestionably, is the collaboration with Helen Ross McNabb, a non-profit,’’ said Howard Blum, a Challenger board member and former tournament chairman.
Not only has the tournament done well financially, it often draws in excess of 600 patrons for night and weekend sessions.
Blum said the partnership with the University of Tennessee (which allows the tournament to be held at its indoor courts), a productive committee and a bevy of benevolent sponsors have sparked the success.
The USTA provides 60 percent of the total purse. That figure was $30,000 the past nine years. It will increase to $45,000 this year. That means local organizers are responsible for $30,000 this year, up from $20,000.
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