Savannah State has big plans for football

Photo: Savannah State University head football coach Robby Wells.

Wells, who was hired last Saturday, said one of his tasks is to get SSU up from 24 scholarships to 63, the maximum number allowed by the NCAA for teams in the Football Championship Subdivision. SSU intends to offer 63 scholarships "in a couple of years," he said.

If the goal is reached, Wells said the Tigers will need to "maintain it for at least three years so that we can go out and get a guarantee game against one of the big guys, such as the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech or somebody like that. That way, we're going to get a big paycheck when we go to play them.

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It's not my style to be overly critical of HBCUs when they are attempting to better their situation. However, the hiring of inexperienced SSU head football coach Robby Wells is totally laughable. Based on his sermon of playing Georgia and Georgia Tech in the next few years, did he fail to check that Savannah State is stuck at the very bottom position of the Football Championship Subdivision without a conference or substantial fan base?

It appears the interim athletic director, Paula Jackson, has already delegated her responsibilities for athletic fundraising over to the new football coach to raise the needed funds to support 63 football scholarships. So, when Wells fails to raise the needed revenue, it is all on his back and not hers. It takes more than being of a particular race to be highly successful in the competitive world of major college athletics as Wells will soon learn.

It has been proven countless times that operating a NCAA Division I-AA football program successfully requires experience, planning, appropriate staffing and financing. Savannah State has allocated none of the above to the endeavor and this has been the basis for the failure of the past nine head football coaches in the last 13 years.

Robby Wells may become number 10 shortly as he will quickly learn that 0-22 won't cut it at any 1-AA institution. He will soon learn to never make promises that his SSU administration will fail to write the check to support, i.e., 63 scholarships for football.

Coach Wells comments will keep you chuckling as you know the real deal with SSU administration. We have hear it all before. The university's last winning season was in 1998.

The question is should Savannah State stop waisting money and drop Division I football all together and shift these needed funds to academic endeavors? That's the question their alumni need to ponder.

-beepbeep