Here are the press releases from the UConn Huskies football team involving the announcement of Joe Moorhead as the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach as well as Andrew Breiner being named graduate assistant football coach.

Joe Moorhead Hired As UConn Football Offensive Coordinator

STORRS, Conn. (January, 20, 2009) — Joe Moorhead, a 1996 graduate of Fordham University, has been named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Connecticut after serving in the same role at the University of Akron for the past two seasons.

He was an assistant coach at Akron for a total of five years (2004-2008) and was the wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in 2004 and ’05 and the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator in 2006.

Moorhead helped lead Akron to be just one of 17 schools nationally in 2008 to be ranked among the top 50 in rushing offense (45th at 165.7 yards per game), passing offense (46th at 231.50), total offense (40th at 396.97) and scoring offense (36th at 30.0 points per game). Moorhead was responsible for devising, installing and implementing a “multiple-no huddle” offensive scheme for the Zips.

Akron was the most improved school in the nation this past year in terms of total offense and was the sixth-most improved in scoring offense. In the Mid-American Conference, Akron was third in points per game and turnover margin (plus 0.5) and fourth in rushing yards per game.

In 2007, wide receiver Jabari Arthur was ranked 11th in the country in receptions per game with 7.2 and was 12th in receiving yards per game with 96.7. He broke five school receiving records in his career. He was named first team all-conference, played in the Hula Bowl and later signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL.

In 2006, as quarterbacks coach, he mentored Luke Getsy, who threw for 2,662 yards as a senior. Getsy left Akron with 24 different school records. Getsy was one of four Zips to play in a postseason all-star game that year and he signed a free agent contract with the San Francisco 49ers. Wide receiver David Harvey earned freshman All-American honors for the Zips that year.

The 2005 Zips won the school’s first-ever Mid-American Conference championship and played in the Motor City Bowl. Domenik Hixon set a school single-season record with 1,210 receiving yards under Moorhead’s watch. Hixon was a fourth round NFL Draft pick of the Denver Broncos and is currently a member of the New York Giants.

In 2004, Moorhead also coached the punt return team at Akron, which ranked fifth in the entire country and first in the MAC.

Moorhead was an assistant coach at Georgetown for four seasons from 2000 through 2003, where he had stints as the running backs coach, quarterbacks coach and the offensive coordinator, in his final year. The Hoyas were ranked third in the Patriot League in rushing in ’03.

He gained experience coaching in the BIG EAST Conference as a graduate assistant at Pittsburgh in 1998 and ’99.

As a collegiate performer at Fordham, he was a three-year starter at quarterback and was a team captain as a senior. He was a second team All-Patriot League pick as a senior and finished 13th nationally in total offense.

Following his collegiate career, Moorhead spent time in the training camp of the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football League after playing the 1996 season for the Munich Cowboys of the E.F.A.F.

Moorhead graduated from Fordham with a degree in English. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children: daughter Kyra (8), son Mason (6) and son Donovan (born February 2007).

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There should be no doubt after last night’s UConn Huskies women’s basketball game as to who is the No. 1 team country as they handily beat the North Carolina Tar Heels 88-58. The play of Lorin Dixon is to be commended as she stepped up her game in the absence of Caroline Doty. North Carolina had no answer for her speed.

Caroline Doty remains upbeat despite blowing out her knee for the second time in 16 months.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant has some extras from the win and last night and a look inside the numbers.

The UConn women exceeded expectations in last night’s win.

Lorin Dixon felt a little out of place in the interview room after the game.

Geno Auriemma gave Tiffany Hayes a bottle of vitamins as a joke to improve her energy.

Lorin Dixon is ready for the challenge of leading the Huskies for the rest of the season.

The UConn women proved their No. 1 ranking is no joke.

The conduct of Geno Auriemma after the win over Syracuse is being questioned.

The UConn men will need to improve their free throw shooting to have success in the Big East.

The UConn men are preparing to host Villanova tomorrow night.

Jim Calhoun is in Washington, D.C. for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

The UConn men are still in search of the perfect game.

The UConn men’s offense has been well balanced this season.

Donald Brown is preparing himself for the NFL.

Joe Moorhead will be named the new offensive coordinator for the Huskies later this week.

The UConn football team picked up two more recruits over the weekend.

UConn women’s hockey goalie Brittany Wilson was named the Pure Hockey Defensive Player of the Week.

The provisional rosters for the countries participating in the 2009 World Baseball Classic were announced yesterday and 15 members of the Boston Red Sox organization have made the list plus one coach.

The final rosters of 28 players (13 pitchers mandatory) have to be set by February 24th.

MLB.com has the full list of players for each country and each organization.

In his last blog post over at 38 Pitches, Curt Schilling examined the Jason Varitek situation and took a look at three different scenarios including taking a look at the World Series teams each year and their catching situation. This time around with the help of Gary Marbry, they examine all the way back to 1980.

And after all that examination, this is what Schilling had to say about everything.

Throw out what’s happened, it’s meaningless at this point. ‘Tek declined arbitration, the Sox walked away, Boras f’d this up in about 50 different ways but the facts are that ‘Tek wants to play here, he hasn’t signed yet, and this team doesn’t have it’s starting catcher for the 2009 season.

I’m hoping the past weekend was a good sign in that Jason has taken this on himself and met with Mr Henry to try and make that happen. I can’t imagine him wearing another uniform, I can’t imagine him not being the Captain on this team and retiring here.

I’m with Schill when he says he can’t imagine Tek wearing any other uniform than that of the Red Sox and not retiring with the Red Sox. While I’ve been conflicted as of late, I do think he’ll probably be back with the Red Sox for the next two years.

I see the Red Sox giving him a deal of either 2 years, $10-15 million or a 1-year contract with an option that would pay him the same amount.

It was supposed to be a matchup of the two highest scoring teams in all of women’s basketball tonight in Chapel Hill. And now after the game, there is no doubt as to who is the best team in women’s basketball.

Renee Montgomery scored 21 points to help lead the No. 1 UConn Huskies to an 88-58 win over the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels in front of 12,722 at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, NC. The win by UConn ends the 31-game home winning streak of the Tar Heels.

The Huskies improve to 18-0 while the Tar Heels drop to 17-1. UConn now remains one of two unbeaten team in women’s basketball. The No.6/8 Auburn Tigers (17-0) are the other.

Despite picked up 2 fouls in the first half, Maya Moore finished with her 9th double-double of the season and 20th of her career with 19 points and 12 rebounds and added 4 steals. Tina Charles also had a great game with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kalana Greene also hit double digits with 15 points.

To me though the key to the game was the play of Lorin Dixon, who got the start for the injured Caroline Doty, and Kaili McLaren who both stepped up their games to a whole nother level. With it being an up-tempo game, Dixon stepped right in and used her speed to her advantage. She had a career-high 14 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. And despite having just 2 points, McLaren had 4 rebounds and 5 assists on some great passes down low.

Italee Lucas led the Tar Heels with 15 points and Rashanda McCants added 13 points and 6 rebounds. Jessica Breland chipped in with 10 points and 6 rebound for Sylvia Hatchell’s squad.

The Huskies completely dominated the first half on both ends. They got out to a 15-4 lead on the strength of a 9-0 run behind six points by Moore using their defensive pressure forcing Carolina to turn the ball over. The Tar Heels then went on an 8-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 3 points at 15-12 but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the first half.

UConn dominated the glass in the first half holding a 30-15 advantage and just seemed to be quicker to the ball. Anytime Carolina tried to trap them, the Huskies would exploit with their speed, especially the speed of Dixon to beat it and get some easy baskets as they had 11 assists on 18 first half baskets on their way to a 40-36 lead.

You knew at some point that Moore was going to take over and she did scoring 13 of her 19 points in the second half to help the Huskies build their lead. Carolina never got closer than 16 points in the second half.

It was great to see Dixon and McLaren step up their games in the absence of Doty. Unfortunately, Tiffany Hayes didn’t and that will need to change. UConn needs her to step up to give themselves a third 3-point shooting option that could help spread out defenses even more.

This was the final non-conference game of the season for the Huskies and now they will continue on with their Big East schedule when they head to Cincinnati Saturday night to take on the Bearcats at Fifth Third Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM and the game will be televised locally on CPTV.

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Dunn’s price is falling: The Boston Red Sox could possibly have some interest in free agent slugger Adam if his price continues to fall. Dunn wants a contract of 4-years, $56 million or so but the market for him just isn’t there. “I think Dunn will get a max of $5 million per year,” one agent told Chico Harlan of the Washington Post. “Anything more than that and I’d be surprised.” Of course this would start up the Mike Lowell being traded talks again to make room for Dunn as he can also play first base. Personally, I don’t see this happening. [Hot Stove Talk]