Athletics

 Former Charlotte 49ers defensive back Desmond Cooper has signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars to become the first UNC Charlotte football player to sign an NFL contract.

 Cooper signed the contract shortly after the conclusion of the Jaguars two-day mini-camp.

Rising red-shirt junior defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi (Greensboro, N.C./Ragsdale High School) will receive the Jon Richardson Football Scholarship. He is the second recipient of the scholarship. Last year, center Thomas La Bianca was named as the inaugural recipient.

The scholarship, donated by Jerry and Rosalind Richardson in tribute to their son, is designated for a 49ers football player from North or South Carolina who best displays five characteristics intrinsic to the development of a successful student-athlete: hard work, harmony, teamwork, listening and respect.

Charlotte 49ers will host Homecoming this fall on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Richardson Stadium, against Conference USA opponent University of Southern Mississippi. This will be the 49ers’ first Homecoming date against a conference rival.

Southern Miss holds the Conference USA record with five league titles. In fact, the Golden Eagles shared the first-ever C-USA title with Houston in 1996. Their most recent league championship came in 2011. Southern Miss has produced such NFL greats as Brett Favre and Ray Guy.

Fans of the Charlotte 49ers will have several opportunities to meet coaches Brad Lambert, Mark Price and Cara Consuegra during the 2015 49ers Coaches Caravan.

Stops are scheduled in Raleigh on Thursday, April 30; Hendrick Motorsports in Concord on Thursday, May 14; and DB’s Tavern in the Ballantyne area on Wednesday, May 20.

The cost is $20 per person, per event. Register online.

For more information, call 704-687-4950.

The Charlotte 49ers football team played its third annual Green-White Spring Game Saturday evening — the first game held under the lights installed at Richardson Stadium earlier this year. 

“The lights were pretty cool,” said 49ers head coach Brad Lambert about the lights, which were turned as part of a halftime ceremony.   “That was a good time to do it as well because I didn’t want guys to slow down from the half. It was pretty cool for them.  It’s about as close you can get to a game for the guys and then we were under the lights.”

The Charlotte 49ers 2015 Green-White Spring Game will start at 6 p.m., Saturday, April 18, at Jerry Richardson Stadium. The game will wrap up the 2015 spring practice season under head coach Brad Lambert.

It also will be the first game played under stadium lights added earlier this year.  The lights will allow more flexibility in scheduling game times and make the Charlotte 49ers available for greater television exposure through Conference USA’s television package, according to officials with the Charlotte 49ers.

Mark Price, an assistant coach with the Charlotte Hornets, was introduced as the Charlotte 49ers head men’s basketball coach Thursday.

 “I’m extremely excited about joining the Charlotte 49ers as the new basketball coach,” Price said. “I’m excited to get to know the current players as we move forward and start a new era. I’m looking forward to putting a team on the court that plays an exciting brand of basketball that our students and fans will enjoy watching.”

Highlights from the recent Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball game against Southern Mississippi; the team led by 15 at the half and extended their lead for a 28-point victory.

The Charlotte 49ers have announced their 12-game 2015 football schedule. It will mark the 49ers first season as an FBS program competing in Conference USA.

Judy Rose, the University’s director of athletics, is among the first members appointed by the NCAA Board of Directors to the Division I Council, which is the newest level of leadership in Division I.  She is one of 27 athletic directors named to the 40-person council, which holds its first meetings today in Washington, D.C.