Cornelius joins staff

In our ongoing efforts to provide subscribers with the best coverage of men's AND women's sports at the University of Tennessee, Rocky Top News and InsideTennessee.com proudly announce the hiring of Maria M. Cornelius.

Maria will cover the Lady Vols' 2004-05 basketball season, beginning the first day of practice Oct. 16. She will attend practices and home games; listen in on Coach Pat Summitt's weekly press conferences; provide pre-game stories and post-game columns; interview players and assistant coaches throughout the season; and cover the post-season SEC and NCAA tournaments. Her features and columns will appear several times a week on the Web site and monthly in Rocky Top News.

The Lady Vols have a devoted following throughout Tennessee and across the nation. In recognition of this devotion we have decided to bring Cornelius on board to cover the program. Cornelius, 42, is passionate about sports and brings her devotion to her work. She has written extensively about the Lady Vols for newspapers and sports magazines.

She worked for 14 years for The Knoxville News-Sentinel as an award-winning reporter and news editor and wrote a Web-exclusive column on the Lady Vols that was distributed across the country. Born in Massachusetts and raised in North Carolina, Maria has claimed Tennessee as her home state since 1982. The 1987 graduate of the University of Memphis has lived in Knoxville for more than 16 years.