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A home-and-away deal with Florida A&M is a possibility.
Jackson State is searching for a team from the Football Bowl Subdivision to complete its 2011 football schedule, athletic director Bob Braddy said this week.
The Tigers' schedule is set except for the season opener Sept. 3. Braddy said the school would like to schedule "a money game" with an FBS (Division I-A) program for that date. The school, Braddy said, is looking for a payout in the $500,000 range.
"We've got some feelers out," Braddy said. "The problem is the date." Most FBS schools already have their 2011 schedules set. Oregon State was interested in playing JSU, Braddy said, but the Beavers' opening was not Sept. 3.
Jackson State University's Sonic Boom of the South is one of eight marching bands that has been selected to participate in the Honda Battle of the Bands 2011 Invitational Showcase. The event, in its ninth year, is the only national scholarship program that highlights the cultural importance of music at historically black colleges and universities.
JSU will be awarded $20,000, plus a $1,000 grant it received for the pre-qualifying celebration tour. Since the program's inception, more than $1 million has been distributed to HBCUs. Participating bands will have the opportunity to perform for 12 minutes Jan. 29 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
Former Bethune-Cookman standout Stevie Baggs got a taste of the National Football League this fall, but found life north of the border more to his liking. The Canadian Football League's sacks leader last year, Baggs spent all of training camp and the preseason with the Arizona Cardinals before being released in the final cut of players Sept. 3.
The Cardinals initially asked the 28-year-old to hang around on their practice squad before doing an about-face and going with younger players. "My main objective was to see if I could go play in the NFL, and I proved to myself that I could do that," Baggs said. "I've been with several teams, but that was my first (NFL).
Free agent defensive end Stevie Baggs has come to terms with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on a two-year contract plus an option. Baggs, formerly of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders, was a final cut of the National Football League's Arizona Cardinals.
The Ticats gave Baggs a $50,000 signing bonus with a weekly salary of $5,000 ($400,000 over 3 seasons). The Roughriders were in play for Baggs' services, offering the same weekly salary, but a signing bonus of just $25,000. The Alouettes were also in the running, having contacted Baggs three times and had a compensation package similar to Hamilton's.
Stevie Baggs will not tell you the name of the New York Giants scout that he swears told Baggs he should forget about playing football because he was pigeon-toed. But he can rattle off a list of athletes like him: Bullet Bob Hayes, Dominique Wilkins, Jackie Robinson, Ed Reed …
“Pigeon-toed,” the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive end said, as he peeled away from a sideline scrum at Ivor Wynne Stadium for a separate 1-on-1 interview. “All of them. I’ve researched this. I’m serious. [Saskatchewan Roughriders linebacker] Barrin Simpson is, too. It doesn’t hinder me at all.”
In seven games with the Ticats, Baggs has 23 tackles, five sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and three fumbles recoveries, as well as two touchdowns.
HAMILTON, — Stevie Baggs could be in Arizona, he might be making National Football League money but it’s doubtful he could be having more fun than he is with the Ticats. “The biggest thing I see here is that its actually a team and guys get along off the field,” said Baggs after being named the CFL’s defensive player of the month, Tuesday. “It’s not about egos. It’s not about who is the better player, who does this or that. I feel a genuine camaradarie among the guys and that’s something that’s different here.”
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats cleaned out their lockers at Ivor Wynne Stadium on Tuesday while still processing how their once promising season came to an end. Hamilton lost to the Toronto Argonauts 16-13 on Sunday in the Canadian Football League East Division semi-final. The Ticats made a number of mistakes during the game, which allowed the Argos to steal a victory even though they did not complete a pass longer than 12 yards. Hamilton players addressed some of the issues that contributed to the disappointing result on Tuesday. Here is a list of the miscues and what the players had to say about each one:
Southern A.D. Greg Lefleur has some difficult days ahead.
At the end of a disastrous Bayou Classic, inside a largely empty Superdome that had all the buzz and life of a library, Southern right tackle Lee Almanza nosed his way through a crowd of players and found his buddy, center Ramon Chinyoung.
Almanza, a junior, threw an arm around Chinyoung, a fifth-year senior. After three seasons, the two Houston natives had grown close. Almanza said something nice to Chinyoung, offering words of sympathy to a player who didn’t want his college career to end like this — with a lopsided 38-17 loss to Grambling, the Jaguars’ third straight defeat at the Bayou Classic; and a 2-9 overall record in Stump Mitchell’s first season at SU, the worst in school history.
Four games into this young basketball season, the Southern women have won twice and lost twice. The Jaguars (2-2) face Miami (5-1) at 6 p.m. today in Coral Gables, Fla., and naturally, they’d love to upset an Atlantic Coast Conference team on its own home floor. Win or lose, however, 11th-year coach Sandy Pugh would love to see a little more consistency from her team, even if Southern is nursing an injury or two.
Saturday afternoon at the Bayou Classic, early in the third quarter of a game Grambling thoroughly dominated in a 38-17 victory over Southern, the Tigers swiftly and easily knifed their way to the Jaguars’ 16-yard line.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. — Kelvin Martin and Kenny Mitchell each scored 15 points to lead Charleston Southern to an 89-54 victory over Southern University on Saturday in the Chicago Invitational Challenge men’s college basketball tournament. Jamarco Warren added 14 points and Sheldon Strickland had 12 for the Buccaneers (3-4), who raced out to a 53-22 halftime lead.
NEW ORLEANS — When you put 40,000 fans in the Louisiana Superdome, it’s like dressing a kid in his father’s sports coat.
Saturday afternoon, the Dome hosted the 39th edition of the Bayou Classic. The game wore the same famous pageantry as usual, blaring bands and all. Problem was, it all seemed oversized. The empty seats in the crowd of 43,494 — the lowest attendance figure in Classic history — told the story of a blowout waiting to happen.
SWAC Championship, Dec. 11-Texas Southern vs. Ala. State
Texas Southern men's basketball coach Tony Harvey was understandably fatigued when he and the team returned to Houston on Saturday. The Tigers had completed a six-game road trip to open the season, ending it with Friday's 84-60 loss at No. 4 Kansas State. They made stops in four states. And they did so with three key players out.
Senior forward Travele Jones and senior guards Harrison Smith and Justin Ray are ineligible because of compliance issues. The loss of Jones, the preseason Southwestern Athletic Conference Player of the Year, is especially painful, as he was the team's leading returning scorer (13.7 points per game).
After leading TSU to an 8-3 regular-season record and its first berth in the SWAC championship game, football coach Johnnie Cole stands to receive a raise and an extension of the four-year contract he signed after being hired in December 2007.
Athletic director Charles McClelland said Friday that the two sides would sit down after the Dec. 11 SWAC championship game to discuss the situation.
Dr. Meyers was strong advocate for athletics at NSU
Dr. Christopher Brown II
The preferred candidates to lead Alcorn State University and Jackson State University say they are aware of the daunting budget situations they would face as leaders of Mississippi's two largest historically black universities.
The state College Board announced Monday it had selected former Norfolk State University President Carolyn Meyers as JSU's potential new leader and Fisk University Vice President Christopher Brown to take the helm at Alcorn. Each will visit the respective campus next week to meet with alumni, students, faculty and staff before the appointments are finalized.
Reached by phone Monday, Meyers and Brown both said they were "humbled" by the selection.
NORFOLK, Va. - The Norfolk State University band has had a strong following in the stands on Saturdays during football season. Suited for Saturday war games, a wave of Spartans defended a piece of territory called Norfolk State.
The football team sweeps the gridiron with punishing precision. Observing enemy weakness, citizens of Dick Price Stadium welcome conquest. But among the cheers for the action on the field, is an infectious love of rhythm and music, a marching band that is called the Legion.
NSU's marching band is an army of 250 who play it fast and loose. "Here at Norfolk State, if this band is not right our fans will have a fit! They would have a fit, " said an NSU fan.
Washington, D.C. - There had to be times during Saturday afternoon's game when Howard Coach Kevin Nickelberry looked up into the stands and wished he could put President Obama or Education Secretary Arne Duncan in the game.
Nickelberry could have used Obama, who looked none the worse after taking an elbow to the mouth in a basketball game Friday and receiving 12 stitches in his lip, and Duncan, the former Harvard standout. The Bison, who have been savaged by injuries this season, were desperate for bodies when two players fouled out of the game.
Though undermanned, Howard was undaunted. The Bison put up quite a fight against Oregon State before finally succumbing, 84-74, before 1,827 at Burr Gymnasium.
A home-and-away deal with Florida A&M is a possibility. 
