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Deacons' Aminu enjoys the college life
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Brad Mills led Winston-Salem to second-place finishes in 1990 and 1991.
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Published: October 29, 2009
Old-gold highlighters and other notes:
Jeff Teague and James Johnson left early for the NBA. Al-Farouq Aminu, the top Wake Forest prospect on many scouting lists, returned for his sophomore season.
Aminu's parents, older brother Alade (a Georgia Tech forward cut Oct. 8 by the Miami Heat) and the Deacons' NCAA crash against Cleveland State influenced the decision.
"That left a sour taste in my mouth, getting knocked out in the first round," Aminu said. "That was a big part of it. Also, my mom and dad, they know if I had gone only one year, it would be tough to try to come back and get your degree. So, the more schooling I get, the better, in order to get my degree….
"Also, my brother thought I'd be a better player, a better person, just all-around better. He really valued college. He thought his years at Georgia Tech were just great. He thinks that one year is just not enough."
Aminu concedes that NBA visions sometimes fill his idle head. "When you've got a long class period, it kind of goes through your mind," he said, "but at the end of the day you want to be with college kids, your best friends in the dorm, things like that. You don't have to worry about things like being an adult."
Mills has CL ties
When the Houston Astros lost 42 of their last 67 games and finished fifth in the NL Central, owner Drayton McLane and his executives interviewed 10 managerial candidates. After all the talk and Manny Acta's rejection of a two-year offer, Houston chose Brad Mills, who guided the Winston-Salem Spirits to second-place finishes in 1990 and 1991. Acta signed a three-year contract with Cleveland.
Mills, 52, grew up in California and played for the University of Arizona. College roommate and Montreal teammate Terry Francona hired Mills as a coach in Philadelphia. They were fired by Ed Wade (the general manager who hired Mills in Houston) and were reunited in Boston, where Mills served six years as the bench coach.
Mills, a journeyman third baseman, played 106 games for the Expos before a knee injury ended his career. He spent 11 seasons as a minor-league manager, six with the Cubs, then affiliated with Winston-Salem. The family's Carolina League ties grew in 2008, when son Beau Mills knocked in 90 runs for Kinston and won the league's MVP award. His stats declined a bit (.267, 14 homers, 83 RBI) last season at Akron, Cleveland's AA farm club.
Brad Mills hardly inherited a picnic, unless you mean an ant-infested picnic. Old uncles would be more like it. Houston suffers from aging and a shortage of hot prospects.
Odds and ends
Wake Forest's make-or-break football matchup Saturday: Jacory Harris, the Miami quarterback. He has been intercepted an ACC-high 10 times, including seven in the past four games and three in the loss to Clemson.
Coach Randy Shannon's analysis: "Bad decisions."….
Martinsville Speedway awards grandfather clocks as trophies. The tradition took a hit several years ago when the clock manufacturer next door in Ridgeway, Va., was moved to Michigan. The speedway has teamed up with the Southern Virginia Higher Education Center to let high-school and community-college students in wood design produce the clocks. The students, including some from Hillsborough, N.C., will deliver the goods before the Goody's 500 next March….
North Carolina's football team will visit Virginia Tech tonight still searching for an identity.
No wonder. Last week, the Tar Heels wore dark blue Connecticut uniforms.
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