HBCUs play on different field than big conferences

By Matt LaWell, Rocky Mount Telegram

RALEIGH — Make no mistake, historically black colleges and universities are struggling to compete with larger schools on football fields and basketball courts throughout the country. They have been for nearly 30 years. And while coaches and athletics directors are acutely aware of the situation, no changes appear to be on the horizon.

Just last Saturday, for instance, Delaware State traveled to play at Kent State and lost, 38-7. South Carolina State lost on the road, too, 38-3 at South Carolina. Central (Ohio) State lost at Dayton, 40-0. And Norfolk (Va.) State lost at nationally-ranked Rutgers, 59-0.

And that is an average nonconference Saturday afternoon for many HBCUs.

A generation or two ago, many HBCUs were able to field competitive teams, teams that could stand up regionally, if not nationally. The late Eddie Robinson shined, especially, during his 56 seasons at Grambling, where he churned out one professional player after another and won eight black college football national championships.

But the landscape shifted while Robinson was busy winning games. During the early 1970s, integrated football teams started to play in the South, which led to full integration in big-time college football, which led to fewer black athletes playing for HBCUs out of necessity.

Now, Shaw football coach Darrell Asberry said, "The big difference with the historically black colleges is that, most of the time, we'll get the kids they overlook." Asberry said HBCUs often lose the top recruits "in the trenches" along the offensive and defensive lines.

"It's hard," Asberry said, "to find those guys when you're competing with the larger universities."

Recruiting the top athletes is only one area in which those larger schools from BCS conferences, even from mid-major conferences, are able to gain an advantage over HBCUs. Finances play an equally important role. Among the 331 Division I schools, only Delaware State operated during the 2006 fiscal year with an athletics budget ranked even in the top 200, according to the NCAA. Eight of the other 19 Division I HBCUs were ranked 300 or lower.

For many HBCUs, annual "classic" football games, including Elizabeth City State's anunal Down East Viking Football Classic, are the centerpiece on the sports calendar – and the make-or-break event for the entire athletics budget.

"It's a huge asset to our department," Southern athletics director Greg LaFleur told Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine late last year. "For Division I-AA schools like us, it is the biggest game you have. There's no other way you can generate that kind of revenue."

Facilites, too, play a key role, Asberry said. Because HBCUs operate with smaller athletics budgets, they are able to spend far less on stadiums and stadium renovations, scoreboards, locker rooms, weight rooms, even coaches' offices. And because they are able to spend less, they sparkle less in the eyes of recruits.

Years ago, none of that mattered to Asberry, who played and coached at Jackson State, and also coached at Albany State and N.C. Central before he moved last year to Shaw. He still talks about his playing career with a smile spread across his face. Though he didn't play for a larger school or a better-funded program, or in the more beautiful stadium, he said he doesn't regret any of his decisions.

"If I had to do it all over again, I would go back to Jackson State," Asberry said. "It taught me that when you don't have much, you have to work a little harder to get to where you want to be. That was a positive for me. And these kids understand you have to work a little bit harder to make it work.

"We don't complain about not having it, because nobody wants to hear you complain anyway."