h, and yes, thats frustrating. Just because I want the program to succeed at the level that all the people who came before set the bar at. But it is hard

Everton have made a second massive move for Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, according to Dutch journalist Marcel van der Kraan. Koeman was installed as the favourite to succeed the sacked Roberto Martinez on Merseyside earlier on Thursday and De Telegraaf writer Van der Kraan believes the Saints boss faces a huge decision in the next 24 hours.Koeman has been in talks over a new contract on the south coast, with his current deal set to expire in 2017, but reports in the Netherlands have claimed Koeman is on his way to Everton for talks along with his agent Rob Jansen. Koemans Southampton side qualified for the Europa League for the second season running Van der Kraan told Sky Sports News HQ: Everton have come out all guns blazing to try and get the man they wanted in the first place.When Ronald made it clear that Southampton was his priority and that his heart was there, he wasnt going to go. But, as happens more in football, sometimes when you say no the more they want you, and they have now come back in for him, and it looks very, very positive.They know that, when you look at the situation at Southampton, Ronald Koeman has a great set-up. Hes been boasting about the training facilities and the team hes built there and got into Europe twice in a row. You cant really say it can get any better.So for Everton to convince him, and come in for him a second time, means they have to offer him a massive package, with great prospects on the transfer market, otherwise there would be no point trying to speak to him at this moment. Koeman favourite for job Ronald Koemans odds to be the next Everton boss have been slashed They have other people on the horizon. I understand that, up until the weekend, Sevilla manager Unai Emery was a top candidate, and Frank de Boer has never been away from the table.But Koeman is the man Mr [Farhad] Moshiri [Evertons owner], really wants and hes made that clear. The next 24 hours could be very decisive. If I was putting my money on anything, it would be on Koeman heading north.Koeman took Southampton to a sixth-place finish last season and a second season in the Europa League, while Everton languished in the bottom half of the table and finished 11th.But Van der Kraan believes Koeman may feel he has taken the Saints as far as they can go with a limited budget, while Everton are anticipated to spend heavily with the investment of new owner Moshiri. Everton have also been interested in Sevilla boss Unai Emery He said: Significant transfer funds could absolutely be a decisive factor. At Southampton, hes built a good team, bought all the right players. He has a good eye for players and knows the European market very well.So that could make a major difference for him to go. He needs to improve a lot of things at Everton to even match, let alone improve, what hes got at Southampton.Ronald made it clear in his last column in De Telegraaf that, when he looks back at the last two seasons, he has really got the maximum out of the players that hes bought.He has had to work with a smaller package than clubs like Manchester United and hes put them into European football twice, and maybe he is got more out of them that anyone else could. Also See: Koeman would consider top job Koeman contract talks going well Koeman favourite for Everton job Koeman slams Utd over Van Gaal Clearance Wholesale Jerseys . Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz were sent to Toronto on Saturday as the Maple Leafs traded defenceman Jesse Blacker and draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks. Cheap Wholesale Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. http://www.cheapjerseysnflstore.com/ . Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. Nike NFL Jerseys China .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Cheap China Jerseys .J. -- Pitcher Carl Pavano is retiring after 14 major league seasons. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Texas and Stanford are both volleyball royalty, but theyre not the teams everyone expected to be in the last match of 2016. The Cardinal lost seven times this season; the Longhorns lost four. Neither team was ranked No. 1 at any point during the year, and neither won its conference title.Yet, you get the sense that we really will be seeing the best two teams as of right now when they meet for the national championship Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/WatchESPN).The AVCA polls top ranking stayed in the Big Ten all season, with Nebraska being No. 1 for 12 weeks, Minnesota two weeks and Wisconsin one week. Did the grind of Big Ten play wear out NCAA tournament top seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Minnesota? Perhaps, but whats certain is that the No. 4 Longhorns and No. 6 Cardinal definitely wore them out in Thursdays semifinals.Texas swept Nebraska, and Stanford beat Minnesota 3-1. Now, well see who has more firepower when they face each other for the 27th time in the programs history; Stanford leads the series 18-8.Each team had scares during earlier rounds this year, with Texas facing two match points against BYU in the regional semifinals and Stanford being down 2-0 to Wisconsin in the regional final. But its as if every test that the Longhorns and Cardinal faced along the way was a needed step to getting here.Stanford is the top blocking team in Division I at 3.4 per set. Texas, meanwhile, is second in hitting percentage at .311. So that right there is a very intriguing matchup. Nebraska is a strong blocking team, too, yet the Longhorns successfully challenged that in the semifinals. Stanford should provide a bigger obstacle, literally.The Cardinals size certainly was tough for Minnesota to deal with, including 6-foot-8 junior Merete Lutz, and 6-6 freshmen Kathryn Plummer and Audriana Fitzmorris. But Texas hitters Ebony Nwanebu, Paulina Prieto Cerame and Micaya White are all major threats against even the best block.Stanford will be playing in its 15th NCAA championship match; the Cardinal have won six titles, but none since 2004. For Stanford, appearing in the final four used to be about as common as the calendar changing to a new year. It has been more difficult in recent seasons, which coach John Dunning acknowledges. At the same time, he understands exactly why so much is always expected from the Cardinal.Stanford gives us the resources to have a chance to be great, Dunning said. And thats all I could ask for. Its up to us to go out and find the players who fit at Stanford and will be happy there.Weve been to 20 of the final fours, and thats a lot of success. In the last six or seven years, we havent been here as much, and yes, thats frustrating. Just because I want the program to succeed at the level that all the people who came before set the bar at. But it is harder, because there are so many good teams.Kerri Walsh Jennings, who helped lead Stanford to two NCAA titles in thhe 1990s, said shes thrilled to see the Cardinal playing in the national championship match for the first time since 2008.ddddddddddddIts such an amazing program, Walsh Jennings said. It just shows the level of collegiate volleyball that Stanford has come up short the past few years. Im not surprised that they can do what theyve done with freshmen, though, because Ive seen leadership and greatness at all ages. It says something about how the freshmen feel empowered that they can do that.Stanfords rookies, including AVCA National Freshman of the Year Plummer, say the connections with the past are strong enough that they energize the current Cardinal athletes.I was reading the emails that former players sent to us, Stanford freshman setter Jenna Gray said. And the one that probably got me the most excited was from Bryn Kehoe, the setter who led them to a national championship as a freshman [in 2004]. Its crazy, because the All-Americans are up on the wall in our locker room, and now theyre talking to us.Texas has not won as many championships (two, in 1988 and 2012) nor been in as many final fours (12) as Stanford, but the Longhorns consistency in the past decade in particular has been tremendous. Texas has made the final four in eight of the past nine seasons and is playing in the final for the sixth time overall. As with Stanford, the Texas alumni have been reaching out to current Longhorns with good wishes.It just lets you take a step back, Texas senior setter Chloe Collins said, and be like, Wow, Im a part of this big university and representing them in a way that I never thought I could.The pressure that comes from that, though, perhaps got to the Longhorns at times this season.They wanted it so bad, Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said of a chance at winning a title, and they didnt know how to get it. We [coaches] were just confident in what we were doing with them.Its important to be able to create leadership within our team that is able to speak when were not in the locker room, and on the road, and those kind of things. You have to be very real with them, and you have to be honest with them.Elliott and Dunning are both in their 16th seasons at their respective schools; Dunning also coached 16 years before that at Pacific, where he won two NCAA titles to go along with his two at Stanford. Both coaches have watched how much the sport has grown and changed.Ive seen it from like the very embryo kind of stage -- at least on the college and high school scene -- through now, Dunning said. And its remarkable. It doesnt surprise me at all, the parity we have right now.In the end though, the 2016 final has come down to two programs that have, for the most part, defied parity and stayed at or near the top. Now they are back on familiar turf: playing for a championship. ' ' '