Morgan Football & Coach Hill-Eley Latest Possible Victims of HBCU Resource Disparity

COACH DONALD HILL-ELEY

BALTIMORE, Maryland  --  Coaching a college athletic team is an extremely challenging job for anybody.  On average, a college football coach holds his job only four years before being fired, according to a USA Today report. The average tenure for a college basketball coach is even shorter at only three years, according to the New York Times.

But the smaller college football coaches who don’t make millions per year or lack the expansive budgets to fund and support a team perhaps face an even greater challenge than top talent such as Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who is reportedly earning $5 million a year.

The Baltimore Sun recently broke news that Morgan State University officials accidentally forwarded an e-mail to their head football coach, Don Hill-Eley, detailing their plans to dismiss him from his position by January, following a 3-8 season. It was the third straight losing season for Morgan State under Hill-Eley, results that university President David Wilson deemed unacceptable.

Hill-Eley told the Sun he knew expectations were high when he was hired by MSU President-Emeritus Earl Richardson two years ago. But, with the school’s spending plans for the football program unchanged, the coach said higher expectations for success became unrealistic.

“He said the expectations had changed," Hill-Eley told the Sun. "But the input didn't change, so how do you expect things to change on Saturday? It's about resources, bottom line.”

“They think that just because they have a stadium ...

READ MORE

Maynor: No reason for Rams to hold heads down

FLORENCE, Ala.  --  It all happened so fast.
After a long and mostly glorious season, Winston-Salem State couldn’t deliver on the biggest stage. Aggressive, talented and mistake-free Valdosta State had an answer for every challenge in the NCAA Division II football championship game.
The result was a 35-7 WSSU loss — the worst loss in Coach Connell Maynor’s three seasons. The Rams had a season-high six turnovers, also the most in Maynor’s 39-game tenure.

Despite the disappointment of falling short of a goal, Maynor put things in perspective for his players.

“You won the CIAA back-to-back years, and you win your region back-to-back years, and you were the second HBCU to play for the national championship, so you have no reason to hold your head down,” he said he told them.

“(We) fought for 60 minutes, and we didn’t come out on top. That’s OK. We’ll keep fighting, and we’ll learn from it, and we’ll get better.

“They were the better team….”

READ MORE

WSSU players still champions to local fans

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina  --  During the third quarter with about seven minutes to go, all the people inside Carolina’s Vineyard & Hops were on their feet yelling and cheering as the Winston-Salem State University Rams made it down to first-and-goal.

It was a chance for the team to get within seven points of the Valdosta State University Blazers, and a chance for the fans to gear up in anticipation of a hoped-for win.
A turnover by the Rams snuffed out that chance, but the fans who stayed on to the end of a 35-7 loss said that the team is still a championship one to them.

“I am disappointed, but I am so grateful they have come as far as they have,” said Victoria Cade, who graduated from WSSU in 1983. “They are still back-to-back CIAA winners with a 14-and-0 record.”

The bar was decorated with red and white balloons – the WSSU school colors – and pom-poms were on each table. The fans clapped and cheered as the game got under way, and not even a 14-point deficit early on could shake the enthusiasm.

“I am amazed that our team is strong enough to be in the playoffs,” said Sharon Correll of the class of ’82. “I wanted to be there, but I couldn’t.”

READ MORE

WSSU Rams fall: ‘Sometimes the bear wins’

FLORENCE, ALA - Nearly 4,500 fans who cheered for Winston-Salem State University for more than three hours Saturday left Braly Municipal Stadium dejected after Rams’ 35-7 loss to Valdosta State, who won the NCAA Division II National Championship in football.

Facebook Question of the Day: What is your favorite memory from the Rams' 14-1 season and their run to the national title game?  

Chancellor Donald Reaves said he wished the Rams had won the game that would have made WSSU the first historically black college or university to win a Division II national championship on the gridiron.

“This experience means an awful lot to our fans,” Reaves said as he stood with other WSSU fans on the field after the game.

“It was a tough game. When you get into a fight with a bear, sometimes the bear wins,” Reaves said. “These young men (WSSU players) brought this team a long, long way. They don’t have anything to be ashamed of.”

The Rams’ fans clapped and cheered when the ESPN reporter Paul Carcaterra congratulated WSSU for being the national champion runners-up. Most of the players then walked to the locker room. Some lingered on the field near their end zone to greet relatives and fans who attended the game.

WSSU’s contingent was among the 7,527 spectators ...

READ MORE  

Parrish McGrath Named TSU Interim Golf Coach

Nashville, Tenn. - Tennessee State University's Athletic Director Teresa Phillips announced Parrish McGrath will become the interim coach for both the men's and women's golf teams. McGrath had previously served as an assistant for the men and women's golf program since September of last year.

The announcement comes after the resignation of Chris Seibel who had coached the Tigers since January of 2011.

"It is sad to see a bright young coach like Chris leave who was a former student-athlete and who had begun the process of establishing solid golf programs," Phillips said. "But we are very excited that we do have an assistant coach in Parrish that can pick up where Chris left off. We are very optimistic that Parrish will maintain and grow both programs."

Seibel returned to his alma mater last year after competing for four seasons with the TSU men's golf team. As a senior, he was named the TSU Male Athlete of the Year and was selected to the 2010 All-OVC team

During Seibel's tenure, the Tennessee State's golf teams had three top-five finishes. In addition, the men's team placed first at the National Black College Invitational in Atlanta, Ga.

Under Seibel and McGrath's tutelage, golfer James Stepp was selected to the Ohio Valley Conference's All-Newcomer team last season as a freshman.

Prior to being appointed at TSU, McGrath worked at the Summerfield Golf Club in Riverview, Fla., for five years. During his stint at Summerfield he served as an assistant professional before stepping into the position of the head pro.

McGrath also worked at the Harpeth Hills Golf Club in Nashville, Tenn. (1992-96). He became a professional in 1993 and qualified for the FedEx St. Jude Classic PGA Tour Event in 1994.

"I would like to thank Teresa Phillips and senior woman administrator Valencia Jordan for allowing me the opportunity to continue my work with the men's and women's golf team as interim head golf coach," McGrath said.

"We have shown signs of improvement for both teams this fall which I see continuing this spring and for many years to come. We participate in the OVC- a very competitive conference- and we look to stake a claim as a contender each year. We aim to set the example of how TSU student-athletes perform on the course, in the classroom and in our community."

 

COURTESY TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

Odums approved as new Southern football coach

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana  --  Dawson Odums is no longer keeping the seat warm for Southern University’s next football coach.  He is the next football coach.

On Friday afternoon, the SU System Board of Supervisors approved Athletic Director William Broussard’s recommendation to remove the interim tag from Odums’ title, making him the long-term leader of a football program that will try again after many failed attempts to return to the top of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The board voted unanimously to approve the recommendation after hearing from Broussard, who reassigned Stump Mitchell on Sept. 14 and promised not to begin searching for a new coach until Southern’s season ended.

The search netted three finalists: Odums, Nevada assistant James Spady and Bethune-Cookman coach Brian Jenkins.

Spady, who was offensive coordinator at Grambling for three seasons, interviewed in person Monday. Odums had his final interview Tuesday. Jenkins pulled his name from consideration and got a contract extension at Bethune-Cookman.

In the end, Broussard settled on Odums, who led the Jaguars to a 4-5 record in their final nine games.

“He presented the most complete package for Southern University right now,” Broussard said.

READ MORE

Southern men shut down ULM

MONROE, Louisiana — Southern entered Louisiana-Monroe’s Fant-Ewing Coliseum with a losing record. But by the end of Thursday night’s game, the Jaguars looked more like an all-star team.

The Jaguars beat ULM 68-39 for their third straight win with some no-look passes, 3-pointer after 3-pointer and a defense that limited the Warhawks to 25 percent shooting.

“Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships,” Southern coach Roman Banks said. “That’s what I constantly tell this team. I think we have some athletic guys, and I think defensively we use our athleticism more than offensively.”

Southern (4-5) dictated most of the game, but it did allow ULM (1-5) to creep back midway through the first half after the Jaguars built a six-point lead in the first seven minutes.

The Warhawks strung together a 16-5 run, including seven straight points in the course of a minute and a half to take a 19-14 lead with 8:23 left in the half.

Southern center Madut Bol came off the bench, and his 3-pointer after ULM extended its five-point lead ignited a 15-2 run as the Jaguars rode a 32-21 lead into halftime. Ten of Southern’s 15 points during the run came from senior guard Derick Beltran, who led all players with 26.

READ MORE