Metro Sports Report

Wes Washpun will transfer to UNI

Wes Washpun is coming home to continue his college basketball career after spending one season at the University of Tennessee.

Washpun, an all-state point guard from Cedar Rapids Washington, has accepted an offer to join the University of Northern Iowa basketball team next season.

Washpun will have to take a redshirt season in 2012-13 due to NCAA transfer rules, then will have three years of eligibility after that.

Deam named Jefferson activities director

Osceola Clarke High School Principal Kim Antisdel tried to give Chris Deam a night off last month, but she failed.

"We had a contest here a couple of weeks ago and I told him, 'You know, you have a lot of late nights, I'll take the contest on Saturday,'" Antisdel said Monday. "And I'll be darned if I was sitting in here and he shows up and I said, 'What are you doing here?'

"He is so very, very attentive to his job and to the kids and is a strong supporter of our activities, whether it's music or arts or sports or whatever it is. Chris is always here in the building."

Deam, 36, was announced Monday as the new Activities Director and Associate Principal at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School, succeeding Scott Kibby.

Don't count on athletic scholarships

For every Marcus Paige there are hundreds and hundreds of athletes toiling on the playing fields who will never get a penny of financial aid at the next level.

Paige excelled as a Linn-Mar basketball player and earned a full-ride scholarship to North Carolina. He should be applauded for his skill, determination and will to improve. Plenty of others have the same outlook but will never get that call from a major-college coach to accept a tender.

Perhaps that is why the best message a high school coach can give his athletes is that an extremely small percentage of them will realize the dream of a scholarship. This also is an important message for parents, especially those who may live vicariously through their child and believe college will be paid for by some athletic ability.

MacDougall accepts spot with UNI basketball

Ben Jacobson looked Matt MacDougall in the eye last Thursday and offered him a spot on the University of Northern Iowa basketball team for next season.

MacDougall didn't need any time to think it over. "I accepted on the spot," he said Monday night.

MacDougall, a 6-foot-4 guard from Cedar Rapids Prairie, will join the Panthers as a preferred walk-on, which means he's guaranteed a place on the team but will not receive a scholarship next season.