NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- At one point earlier this summer, Tennessee State University football coach Rod Reed moved his team’s practice to the TSU indoor facility and asked the building manager to turn off the air conditioning to make it hot.
With early-season games scheduled in locales like Memphis and Tallahassee, Fla., Reed knew the Tigers would be facing some miserably hot weather — and since Mother Nature wasn’t providing the proper conditions for his team to prepare, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“For a while, it seemed like the temperature was never going to get out of the 80s,” Reed said, referring to the unseasonably cool temperatures this summer in the Mid-South. “That makes players comfortable at practice, but it doesn’t get us ready for what we’re likely to face during the season. We need to be ready.”
If the past three seasons are an indicator, Reed’s team will be ready — even if it takes some extra handiwork with the thermostat.
After a 3-8 campaign his first season in 2010, the Tigers improved to 5-6 in 2011 and then started last season 7-0 on their way to a mark of 8-3.
Now as he prepares to enter his fourth season with improved depth at every position, Reed seems to be focusing on the little things in hopes of taking TSU to the next level.
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