The Morning After the Florida Classic

by beepbeep

Florida A&M University 2007 football season was terrible, uninspiring and certainly not entertaining unless you were expecting to watch a horror flick.

I'm not going to waste the winter, spring and summer months dissecting why the Rattlers were so bad. It really doesn't matter, as ultimately the head coach is totally responsible. So, look no further than the top guy, the all-pro, the talent selector, recruiter, X and 0 man for all the answers. I'm sure the excuses will be plentiful and it won't change the outcome--the Rattlers are 16-17 the past three years. If you want to add the 2004 1-A season to the mix, make that 19-25.

For ole Rattlers like me, that more than I can stomach.

FCS No. 5 ranked Southern Illinois University of the Gateway conference recently had the same problems as FAMU.

This is the 10-1 Salukis program that trampled former three time MEAC champions Hampton University yesterday 45-27 (in Hampton, VA), on their way to the 2007 NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. Southern Illinois will be making their fifth consecutive appearance in the playoffs as the #4 Seed and their only loss this season came from Gateway foe, No. 1 ranked FCS Northern Iowa (#1 Seed), the Gateway conference champions. The Salukis also beat Division I FBC Northern Illinois.

Prior to the hiring of head coach Jerry Kill in 2001, Southern Illinois had 11 consecutive losing season. The Salukis had never won a gateway conference championship and now, they've won three straight. They had been to the playoffs only once in school history and now its five straight playoffs appearances. In 2005, the Salukis beat Eastern Illinois to win their first playoff game since 1983. The Salukis spent 10 weeks atop the I-AA polls, and Kill was named the winner of the Eddie Robinson Award honoring the Coach of the Year in I-AA in 2004.

But it wasn't always that way.

Kill first season was 1-10; his second 4-8 before the over achiever's resurrection of Saluki football with consecutive playoff campaigns beginning in 2003 with 10-2, 10-2, 9-4, 9-4, and 10-1 in 2007. In 2004, his squad was remarkable with the defense ranked #1 in the nation in points allowed, while the offense ranked #3 in points scored. The team set a record for consecutive home wins with 12 and broke numerous statistical records on offense and defense.

Southern Illinois 2004 season came on the heels of a exceptional 2003 campaign in which SI shocked the world of I-AA football by winning its first 10 games and advancing to the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Kill was runner-up for the Eddie Robinson Award in `03.

Raised in a working class family, Kill became the first member of his family to graduate from college, earning a teaching degree with a minor in biology for Division II Southwestern College, Kansas. His head coaching gigs were at Division II Saginaw Valley State (Mich) and Emporia State (Kan).

Much closer to home, Grambling State's Melvin Spears once had similar problems like FAMU.

After Spears firing, Rod Broadway who built North Carolina Central University into a Division II powerhouse in four years, steps in with vision and experience. In one season, Coach Broadway moved Grambling State forward with an undefeated conference record 8-0 SWAC and two competitive losses to Football Bowl Championship division Big East Conference Pittsburg (L 34-10) and Louisiana -Monroe (L 28-14) of the Sun Belt Conference. The Tigers will face Jackson State for the SWAC Championship on December 15, after playing Southern University next weekend in the Bayou Classic.

Not bad for a coach that is using the other guy's players. Broadway has the opportunity to end the season at 10-2, with an FCS No. 18 ranking or higher if the Tigers take care of business with Southern (Bayou Classic) and Jackson State in the conference championship game.

Under Spears, Grambling State was 3-8 in 2006.

"I'm really proud of these kids," Broadway said. "We have some good kids that wanted to be a championship-type football team. They've done a good job of listening, learning and buying in. "You should have a chance to be successful here. Not being critical, but we've got to recruit a better athlete than what we have. If we can do that, we can be really successful in this league."

When Prairie View A&M University went searching for a program change, it reached down to Division II and East to Bowie State University. There, it selected Henry Frazier III to resurrect a program that had 20 head coaches over the past 31 years, without a winning season. In fact, PVAMU holds the modern era NCAA Division I record with 80 consecutive losses.

Frazier believed he was given the opportunity to head the best Division I program in America. Never mind the fact that Prairie View last winning season was when Frazier was in third grade and that the school had the second smallest budget in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

None of that fazed Frazier and he steadily improved the program, moving from a 3-8 record in 2006 to the school's best record in 41 years at 7-3, 6-3 SWAC.

Prairie View second place finish behind Grambling State in the West Division is a tremendous improvement for the program and a confidence builder that you can move mountains with solid coaching, hard work, vision and initiative.

No one questions the facts that having good facilities, administrative support, commitment of the fan base and top student-athletes can help the advancement to the top quicker.

Take for example, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe Norfolk State University.

For ten years, the Spartans faithful laid the foundation with top-notch facilities, financial and fan support and increased scholarships in their methodical transition from Division II, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association to Division I, MEAC. For seven years, NSU won nothing more than the rights to be on every one's homecoming schedule.

This all changed when the University president went outside the box and hired Pete Adrian three years ago. Adrian had 38 years of coaching experience, 33 at the collegiate level. At Rhode Island, he was on staff for three Yankee Conference championships and NCAA playoff teams.

Coach Adrian has been named one of 16 finalists for the 2007 Eddie Robinson Award, given annually by The Sports Network to the national Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Coach of the Year. His Spartans are tied for second in the MEAC with SCSU, with a slight outside chance of going to the FCS playoffs.

After taking over a program that won two games combined in 2003 and 2004, Adrian has turned NSU into a winner in just three years. After consecutive four-win seasons his first two years (2005 and 2006), Adrian guided the Spartans to a 8-3 record in 2007. Under Adrian’s guidance, NSU clinched the program’s first winning record in the Division I era (since 1997), won a program-best six MEAC games (6-2 record), a final Top 30 FCS ranking (#28)and lead the program in its first FBS Division I game against #5 ranked Rutgers.

I don't know about you--Rattlers, but it has been so long that I cannot recall the last time a FAMU football team was ranked in the Top 25 in the division nor loss 25 games over a four year span. I find no peace in measuring the Rattlers against North Carolina A&T State University and their 27 consecutive losses or having our beloved Rattlers viewed as a conference and FCS cupcake. What are (Mighty) Rattlers without the mighty but just plain old garden snakes with no bite.

Even a patient person runs out of patience--just ask a Prairie View, Aggies or Rattlers fan.