Bloomington North Graduate JaQualon “JQ” Roberts to Continue his College Basketball Career at Davidson JaQualon Roberts announced on his X (formerly Twitter) account at 3:24 p.m. on Friday his intention to play basketball at Davidson, having entered his name in the transfer portal after two years at Vanderbilt. The specific time was not by accident. ’24’ is the number worn by one of his childhood heroes, Kobe Bryant, and the one Roberts will carry with him to the Wildcats. And ‘3’, ‘It’s always been just us three,” said JaQualon’s mother, JaQuita, including daughter Javenique, a track standout with the Cougars. Family, faith and education have always meant a lot to the trio. So has basketball when it’s come to JaQualon’s career. The Bloomington North grad went through a big coaching change at Vandy and saw his minutes and production drop last year. He needed a fresh start. “I looked at a lot of different factors,” JaQualon said. “I know how much a Vanderbilt degree means to me in the future, but ultimately, I wanted a better opportunity to play and not guessing if or when I was going to get in the game. “I wanted an opportunity to showcase what I can do and help a team win and win championship. I wanted to go back to the free feeling of being able to play for a coach who instills confidence in me and understands the value I bring to the team.” Roberts was the H-T Boys Basketball Player of the Year as a senior, and after a last run with the boys track team at North, headed to Nashville, where the Commodores were coached by Jerry Stackhouse.
Last year, Roberts looked strong as the season closed out, averaging 9.0 points and 3.7 rebounds over the final three games. He played in 26 games while making four starts, putting up 2.3 points and 2.3 rebounds. But Stackhouse was let go after Roberts’ freshman season, replaced by Mark Byington, who led the team to the NCAA Tournament. Roberts, the only scholarship player who stayed, saw his playing time shrink in the process. Even as his role decreased, he had to constantly prepare to be ready to play, even as infrequent as that was Now listed at 6-foot-8, 230 pounds, Roberts appeared in 21 games but averaged just 4.6 minutes, 1.0 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. He had four blocks and was 8-of-11 at the line and 6-of-9 from the field. His best outing came in a win at then No. 12 Texas A&M. “I felt my time at Vanderbilt was good,” JaQualon said. “Coming in as a freshman and not knowing anything about the college experience and then learning from two different coaches and two different playing styles helped improve my game.
“The adversity that comes with it, throughout the years made me mentally tough, more than I already was. Ultimately, I was able to take some good out of the situation I was put in. When I get in a game, I play 110% and I played that way throughout the last two years.” Stackhouse brought a lot of Xs and Os, Roberts said. “Write something on the board and be able to execute it. We were also a defensive-minded team, pretty physical. Coach Mark was more of an offensive-style coach, using a flow offense, 1 through 5. He truly does utilize his 5s on the perimeter. It was fast paced.” The SEC was brutally tough last year, as indicated but the number of teams who played deep into the tourney. And Roberts likes how he was able to bulk up and raise his level of physicality the past two seasons. “You saw glimpses and flashes when he did play that we all knew from high school and AAU,” JaQuita said. “And getting on Sportscenter Top 10 as a freshman was wild. Then last year, he has some amazing moments like the Texas A&M game.” But it was time to move on.
When Roberts put his name in the portal, he had no shortage of suitors and he carefully went through each one, gauging their knowledge of his game, coaching and playing style and the schools themselves. Visits, Zoom calls and virtual visits filled up their free time once the portal opened. “It was a big decision for sure,” JaQuita said. “It was a process. We had a lot of people waiting. He was being heavily recruited, and I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s such a good kid. But we were surprised how many schools pursued him. “We took our time and wanted to make sure the process was done with integrity and respect. Each time we narrowed a school; we called them directly and thanked them.” Davidson, coached by Matt McKillop ― who took over from his dad three years ago ― is a member of the 15-team Atlantic 10 that has two other Midwest members in Saint Louis and Loyola Chicago, so he’ll have a few opportunities to play close to home each year.
The Wildcats, 17-16 last year, recently announced its most famous Wildcat, NBA All-Star Steph Curry, would help create an eight-figure fund to support the men’s and women’s basketball teams and act as an assistant general manager. NIL concerns were not near the top of the Roberts’ concerns; rather, with the school of 2,000 being a great academic fit, JaQualon said. Davidson had been one of the many original suitors when Roberts was coming out of high school. Plus, Vandy teammate Grant Huffman was a grad transfer from Davidson and offered welcome insights. Roberts likes his fit as a 4 in Davidson’s system, feeling he can play multiple spots with his athleticism and ability to handle the ball.
“It was a long process,” JaQualon said. “First, I was looking for an opportunity to play and to be able to use my skill set, so that transparency with the coaches, to let me know what I have to do better, what they need to see from me in the future. “Then getting a feel for the coaching staff, how they like to play, how to they approach recruits, are they well educated in what I can do or had they just heard about me and saw a few clips. What was their priority level and interest level with me. The last thing was just a gut feeling in choosing a school I could live with since I’m going to be there a while.” “Ultimately, we wanted him to make the decision in his heart,” JaQuita said. “Our family, we walk by faith. It opened up opportunities for a lot of schools. Even today, people are calling.”
Bloomington North Graduate Adian Steinfeldt Leaves the Marshall University Football Team after One Season One year was enough for Aidan Steinfeldt. After working under two head coaches and three different position coaches in that short span with Marshall’s football team and seeing older, more experienced players gobbling up all the playing time in the immediate future, the freshman tight end from Bloomington North put his name in the transfer portal Last Week with four years of eligibility remaining. “I had to learn two offenses,” Steinfeldt said. “It’s been pretty crazy.” That was just part of it. “I wasn’t sure how bright the future is for me to see the field, so it was time for a change and test my worth in the portal and see how it ends up,” Steinfeldt added. Steinfeldt was an All-State tight end with the Cougars his senior year, named to the state’s Top 50 list and a Mr. Football winner at tight end. He left as North’s all-time leader in receptions, yards and touchdown catches. Listed at 6-foot-2, 243 pounds, Steinfeldt was redshirted but gleaned plenty of positives out of his time in Huntington, WV.
“I’ve loved my time here at Marshall,” he said. “Definitely a change of pace from Bloomington. The phrase the coach last year used was, ‘A championship is something nobody can ever take away from you.’ And last year, we won the Sun Belt for the first time. “So it was a good takeaway seeing a new team from the portal when I was an early enrollee get to a championship level. All the extremely hard workouts leading to the last game and we made history.” Steinfeldt also got a lot out of his practices, going up against Sun Belt Player of the Year, Mike Green, an edge rusher who led FBS with 17 sacks and is a potential first round pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. “Every drill and technique we did opened my eyes,” Steinfeldt said. “The importance of hat placement and steps. At this level, you need to perfect those to excel. “I’m not bigger than everyone anymore. Last year, working against Mike Green, I realized I’m not faster, not stronger and not more athletic, so I’ve got to lock into technique to take him on in practice.”
That said, the landscape of college football is becoming just as hard to navigate, with NIL altering the coach-player relationship. Does a coach play the best guy or the one who is being paid the most, Steinfeldt wondered. The coaching churn also takes a toll. Steinfeldt said last year’s starters had eight different position coaches in his time there. But even a change of schools is not going to allow Steinfeldt to escape that. All options are on the table, but he wants to find the right offense that uses tight ends in ways where he can be most productive. He’s the only Steinfeldt left playing after an injury early last year ended the career of older brother Aaron, who had left Indiana to play at Albany. “The door is open, for sure,” Aidan said. “I’m open to whatever suits me best. I’d like to be close to home, but football is my life now, so I can’t pass anything up. I’m just looking for the best situation.”
Danny Tieken who coached High School Football for Four Decades Passes Away at Age 69 Danny Tieken piled up a lot of yardage. His hall of fame football coaching career took him from Evansville to Dugger, Mitchell, New Albany, Brown County, Bloomington North, Eastern Greene, Evansville North, North Central and finally back to Eastern Greene. Long drives on the field as head coach and brilliant offensive coordinator were combined with long drives back and forth on the road to work for 44 years to fulfill his twin passions as an English teacher and coach. He finally had to give up working the sidelines on his fourth attempt to retire. It was no good. Coaches kept calling him back. He kept answering. The desire never waned, but those health issues finally caught up to him. Tieken passed away in his home in Dugger on Tuesday. He was 69. “Even in his last 24, 48 hours, he was texting me, ‘I wish my body would let coach one last time,'” said Tecumseh coach Joey Paridaen, who worked with Tieken at Eastern Greene and Evansville North. “He always wanted to be around the game.”
Tieken was added to the Wabash Valley Coaches Hall of Fame and accepted one last coaching assignment last year as an assistant to the organization’s annual all-star game. It was tough to let go of the game and tough for coaches looking for a helping hand as well. “It was that he cared,” former Eastern Greene head coach Travis Wray said. “He was an offensive savant. The guy can coordinate an offense and coach the heck out of quarterbacks. “He loved the guys he coached with, and he loved the kids. He was at it for over 40 years, and I would be shocked to find more than 20 kids … who have something bad to say about him. And as a coach, that’s what you want. He coached hard and he coached everybody the same way, even his sons.” Tieken’s three sons, Josh, Jake and Nate, played at Bloomington North. He had two daughters, Tai and Conner. He also leaves behind one brother, Mark, of Brownsburg and Susan of Evansville. Tieken was born in Evansville on July 15, 1955, the son of Sylvester Tieken and Mary Mosby Tieken.
Tieken’s football career started in the early 1970s at long-gone Fort Branch High School where he was a defensive lineman under Hall of Fame coach Jack Jewell. Soon after, Tieken’s coaching career started with the Princeton middle school program. After graduating from Southern Indiana, his work at the high school level began at Evansville Mater Dei. He soon got his first head coaching job at Union (Dugger), getting off to a 5-0 start in 1986 after the Bulldogs had gone 0-9 the year before. He was at Mitchell from 1990-93 as head coach and New Albany as an assistant the next six. He came to Brown County in 2002, which was had just ended a 30-game losing streak the season before. He went 13-18 there, but not before delivering the school’s first winning season (7-3 in 2003) since 1995. He was let go in 2004 and got a call from then-new North football coach Scott Bless, whose hiring in June had him scrambling a bit to get a staff put together. “Someone gave me his name, and I called him,” Bless said. “The story was he they had the family van packed up ready to leave for vacation and happened to step back in the house as the phone is ringing and he happened to answer it. “A minute later and I’d have missed him. Obviously, it worked out.”
Two years later, North (0-10 in 2004) had a winning season. In 2008 and 2009, the Cougars were playing for sectional titles. In 2010, powered by running back D’Angelo Roberts, they won the first sectional and regional titles in school history before running into Tre Roberson and Lawrence Central. Tieken was the fiery assistant who always had his players’ backs. “Passionate is the word the comes to mind,” Bless said. “And not just as a coach. He was a passionate teacher and a passionate individual. He loved the game of footbal and loved his players and students, too. “You could tell when he told stories about his students.” After nine years on the Cougars’ staff, Tieken moved on to Eastern Greene, where one of Tieken’s former players at Mitchell was on Joey Paridaen’s staff when he was hired in 2014. “I was fortune enough to meet coach Tieken through coach Wray,” Paridaen said. “We were hired together and we were starting to assemble a staff and he gave me his name. I hadn’t known Danny before that but when I found out he was a Ft. Branch guy and was from the area I grew up in, it was just an initial connection.”
With Tieken’s help, the T-Birds had their best season in school history in 2017, going 14-1 and making it all the way to the Class 1A title game. It’s probably not coincidental North and Eastern were at their best when Tieken was on staff. “You talk about a guy who cares about football and the kids and the team,” Paridaen said. “I don’t think you’ll find a person who did that more than coach Tieken. “What I’ll remember is that he just wanted to be around the game, around the kids and continue in any way he could. Obviously, he had head coaching experience and play calling experience. He didn’t care what position he filled, he just wanted to be involved.” When Paridaen left to take over at Evansville North, Tieken went with him, making the long drive every day for two years, coaching quarterbacks and offering his observations on the offense from the booth on game day. He then decided to stay closer to home, working at North Central for its sectional champion in 2021. When Wray took over for a second time at Eastern in 2022, he lured Tieken back as OC until Tieken finally stepped away after the 2023 season.
“Danny was so much more than a football coach to so many people,” Wray said. “Even for myself, he was a father figure. He brought a lot of intensity to everything. Even in the last year, he was fiery even though he’d slowed down a bit. “Sitting and talking to his wife (Nikki) the last few days, she said ‘I knew he had an impact, but I didn’t realize how much.’ You can’t talk to any coach about him and not have them say, ‘I know him.’ At Eastern last year, our motto was ‘Legacy’. What have you done to build your legacy? He’s got a pretty darn good one.” There will be a celebration of life at a later date. Arrangements were entrusted to Newkirk’s Funeral Home.
Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball Player Bryson Tucker stays in the Big Ten Transferring to the University of Washington Bryson Tucker is now officially leaving Indiana, but he’s staying in the Big Ten. The 6-foot-7 forward is headed to Seattle to play for Washington for his 2025-26 sophomore season according to reports. Indiana traveled to Washington in 2024-25, meaning Tucker and the Huskies are likely to be coming to Bloomington next season. Playing for second-year coach Danny Sprinkle will provide Tucker a fresh opportunity to tap into his undeniable potential. Tucker arrived in Bloomington as the lone member of Indiana’s 2024 high school class after he committed to Mike Woodson last spring. The McDonald’s All-American played 23 games in a reserve role. In 16.5 minutes per contest, he averaged 5.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.6 assists. His best performances came before the calendar turned to 2025. He posted 16 points and six rebounds in a win over Minnesota, 14 points in a win over UNC Greensboro, and 12 points and six rebounds in a win over Eastern Illinois. Tucker shot 37.8% (48-of-127) from the floor overall, including 15% from three. He made 72.2% (26-of-36) from the free throw line. Tucker did not appear in any games after IU’s Feb. 14 home contest vs. UCLA. With Woodson rarely available to the media by that time, no explanation was ever provided. Of the seven 2024-25 Indiana players who entered the transfer portal, six have now found a new home: Malik Reneau –> Miami (Fla.), Gabe Cupps —> Ohio State, Jakai Newton –> Georgia State, Myles Rice –> Maryland, Mackenzie Mgbako –> Texas A&M, Bryson Tucker –> Washington and Kanaan Carlyle who has not announced his future plans.
Indiana University Football Loses a Pair of Defensive Lineman to the Transfer Portal The college football spring transfer portal window is open, and Indiana has lost a couple key depth pieces along the defensive line. Defensive lineman Marcus Burris might be IU’s most significant loss since the end of the 2024 season. He has been a regular in the IU defensive line rotation the last two seasons. A former 4-star high school recruit who started his career at Texas A&M, the 6-foot-5 and 285-pound Burris transferred to Indiana to play for Tom Allen ahead of the 2023 season. He played in all 12 games with eight starts that season. In 2024 for Curt Cignetti and the new staff, Burris appeared in all 13 games with three starts. Burris produced 34 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks in his two seasons at IU.
Indiana brought in two key transfers at defensive tackle this offseason who appear to be contenders for starting roles in 2025 — Hosea Wheeler from Western Kentucky, and Dominique Ratcliff from Texas State. Tyrique Tucker is also back and clearly in the mix. Their presence likely influenced Burris’ decision as he enters his final season of eligibility, along with another now former IU defensive lineman who entered the portal this spring. Robby Harrison has also left the program. Harrison announced on Friday he is transferring to Western Kentucky. He had appeared in 10 games over two seasons after transferring in from Arizona State. With the two depth pieces now out of the program, look for IU to place a heavy emphasis on making spring portal additions along the defensive front.
The Indiana Fever pick up Alliyah Boston’s Fourth Year Option The Indiana Fever exercised the fourth-year option on Aliyah Boston’s rookie contract. Boston has played two years with the Fever and has been an All-Star both years. She averaged 14 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game last season while shooting 52.9% from the floor. Boston, the former No. 1 overall pick and Rookie of the Year, helped lead the Fever to its first playoff berth since 2016 last season. With the Fever picking up the fourth-year option, Boston has two more years on her contract. She’ll become a restricted free agent after the 2026 season. The Fever were active in the offseason this year, adding All-Star DeWanna Bonner, former All-Star Natasha Howard, Sophie Cunningham, Brianna Turner, and two-time WNBA champion Sydney Colson. The Fever get their season started on Saturday, May 17 against the Chicago Sky at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.