COLLEGE FOOTBALL
WR Cowan suspended
Arkansas junior receiver D’Arthur Cowan has been suspended from all team activities this summer while maintaining full academic support and guidance, Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema said Thursday through a UA spokesman.
Bielema posted on his Twitter account that Cowan “will concentrate on his academics and putting himself in a position to move forward academically for eligibility and graduation.”
Bielema tweeted that Cowan’s suspension is the Razorbacks’ “only setback to this point” in the summer.
Cowan has 7 catches for 40 yards in 12 career games for the Razorbacks. He was held out of the first two weeks of practice last spring to concentrate on academics, Bielema said at the time. Later in the spring Cowan went through a few practices.
Cowan, who came to Arkansas from Olive Branch (Miss.) High School, underwent surgery for a broken foot last August after being injured in fall camp. He played in the final 6 games and had 4 catches for 26 yards.
As a freshman two years ago, Cowan played in 6 games and had 3 catches for 14 yards and returned 10 kickoffs for 176 yards.
— Bob Holt
TRACK AND FIELD
Pullen arrested
Arkansas triple jumper Clive Pullen, who ended his freshman season for the Razorbacks by failing to advance at the NCAA West Preliminaries where he finished 34th with a best of 48-10, was arrested Thursday and charged with shoplifting, then released on a $565 bond.
According to a Fayetteville police department report, Pullen was arrested at the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Fayetteville after being detained by the store’s lost prevention for allegedly stealing fish and clothes.
Pullen, from Kingston, Jamaica, finished in the ninth in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor meet.
BASEBALL
UA-Fort Smith hires new coach
Arkansas-Fort Smith hired Todd Holland, the former coach at Cameron University, as its new baseball coach Thursday.
Holland, who is the fifth coach in the school’s history, succeeds Dale Harpaneau, who coached the Lions for the past 16 seasons and resigned to pursue other opportunities. Holland has a career record of 304-251 in 11 seasons at Cameron, including seven winning seasons. His best season came in 2009 when Cameron went 42-15 overall and 32-12 in the Lone Star Conference. After a 33-16 season in 2011, Cameron has gone 53-87 the past three years, including a 19-60 record in conference games.
He takes over a team that went 25-26 overall and 14-16 in the Heartland Conference, losing to eventual conference tournament champion St. Edwards and Newman in the conference tournament.
FISHING
Wheeler leads BASSfest
Jacob Wheeler, 23, of Indianapolis, leads the Bassmaster BASSfest at Chickamauga Lake in Dayton, Tenn.
Wheeler pulled in 29 pounds, 13 ounces in five fish to lead by 6-12 over Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich. His two-day total is 52-3.
Wheeler took the lead despite the fact his front-deck electronics unit was out when he arrived at his first spot
“When you’re fishing deep, you need a graph,” Wheeler said in a news release. “Then I said, ‘You know what, I need to settle down.’ I decided to just use the back graph along with a [marker] buoy and fish slow and take my time. Then everything got into a rhythm and I was able to catch a few fish.”
Greg Hackney of Gonzalez, La., is in third place with 44-13 and Matthew Herren of Trussville, Ala., is fourth with 43-14 and Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas, is fifth at 43-1.
Scott Rook of Little Rock is 25th at 32-2. Kevin Short of Mayflower is 70th at 21-9. Mike McClelland of Bella Vista is 81st at 20-3. Stephen Browning of Hot Springs is 100th at 15-9. Mark Davis of Mount Ida is 116th at 12-8. Billy McCaghren of Mayflower is 123rd with 9-11.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Carlisle promotes assistant
Carlisle has promoted assistant coach Jack Keith to head coach.
The Carlisle School Board approved the hiring Thursday night.
Keith replaces Brandon Barbaree, who resigned last month to become an administrator at Pangburn. He served as defensive coordinator at Carlisle for one season after a stint at Warren.