Tom Brennan to Speak at Great Southern Wood Basketball Breakfast

(MOBILE, Ala.)-Former University of Vermont head basketball coach, Tom Brennan, will be in Mobile as the guest speaker at the Great Southern Wood Basketball Breakfast on Saturday, December 16, 2006.

The breakfast is scheduled for 9:00 AM at the Mobile Marriott hotel. The annual breakfast, sponsored by Great Southern Wood and presented by the GMAC Bowl, will tip off a day of activities that culminates with the Coors Classic Basketball Doubleheader at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center.

Brennan graduated from the University of Georgia in 1971, where as a senior he received the men’s basketball team leadership award. He began his coaching after graduating in the fall of 1971 as a graduate assistant at Georgia under Ken Rosemond. Brennan was also an assistant under college basketball legends Rollie Massimino at Villanova, Bill Raftery at Seton Hall and Bruce Parkhill at William & Mary.

From 1982 to 1985, he was head basketball coach at Yale University.

His most notable tenure, however, was his stint as the head basketball coach at the University of Vermont from 1986 to 2005. In his 19 years as the head coach of the Vermont Catamounts, Brennan never lost a Vermont native via scholarship to another Division I school. He retired from his Coaching position in March of 2005 and was replaced by current head coach Mike Lonergan.

Brennan also co-hosts a morning radio show in Burlington, Vermont called the “Corm and the Coach Show” on WCVP-FM 101.3 and WCVR-FM 102.1. The show scores higher ratings than both Howard Stern and Don Imus. Brennan delivers Saturday Night Live-style sports reports and weighs in on basketball, politics, entertainment, local news and psychology. The Coach’s repertoire also includes live, pre-dawn wake-up calls to his players and coaching colleagues. In 1996 and 2000, his radio show received the Vermont Associated Press award for the state’s top radio sports feature. In the 2003 and 2004 off-seasons, he also was a co-host on several ESPN national radio shows. The radio show has made Brennan among the most recognized and popular personalities in all of Vermont. Brennan is often said to be Vermont’s most famous personality, even more so than former governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean.

For more information about the Great Southern Wood Basketball Breakfast, or to purchase tickets, contact the GMAC Bowl office at 251.635.0011.

The Coors Classic Basketball Doubleheader will feature The University of South Alabama vs. Ole Miss and The University of Alabama vs. The University of Southern Mississippi. The Doubleheader will be held on Saturday, December 16, 2006 at the Mitchell Center at the University of South Alabama and will televised regionally on CSS. Tip-off for the first game is scheduled for 5:15 PM. Single tickets will go on sale on November 13, 2006, and can be purchased online at www.mitchellcenter.com or by calling 251.434.0033.

The 8th Annual GMAC Bowl will be played on Sunday, January 7, 2007 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, and will feature a team from Conference USA and either the MAC or the WAC. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM CST. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN. For more information about the game, or to order tickets, log on to www.gmacbowl.com, or call 251.635.0011.