After North Carolina Central’s 26-3 win over Howard Friday night, ESPN cameras caught players from both teams in a heated exchange that the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is currently investigating.
It was one of several postgame altercations at HBCU football games in the CIAA, MEAC and SWAC over the weekend that resulted in suspensions, fines, and changes in protocol.
During Monday’s MEAC coaches’ videoconference, NC Central coach Trei Oliver and Howard coach Larry Scott were ready to accept accountability for their football teams’ actions.
“I’m very disappointed and embarrassed about our involvement in the altercation,” Oliver said in his opening statement. “There’s no room for that, no reason for fighting. You have 60 minutes. You play hard for 60 minutes, you compete, shake hands, and let’s be done with it.”
Scott said that the lesson his team would learn from Friday’s incident is good sportsmanship.
“At this level, it’s going to get hot, it’s going to get competitive. At the same time, there’s a class about who you are and who you represent,” he said. “Always carry yourself in that fashion first and foremost and we always talk about the character and class that it takes to have great sportsmanship. That’s what we have to keep at the forefront, no matter what end of the stick you’re on.”
Postgame fight between North Carolina Central & Howard University pic.twitter.com/0GFgDLdTSt
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Scott added that sportsmanship is essential to a long career in sports.
“At the end of the day, I think we want to talk about being competitive within the white lines, keep it about the game and the game only,” he explained. “You’ve got to be able to tip your hat and have class whether you’re on the winning side of it or the losing side of it. You have to have sportsmanship in this business if you want to be in football and continue to play football.”
Both teams have one regular season game left—Howard at Morgan State and North Carolina Central at Delaware State—so any MEAC punishment could possibly affect those contests.
Over in the SWAC, Alabama State coach Eddie Robinson Jr., whose team was involved in a postgame fight with Jackson State on Saturday that resulted in a combined 16-player suspension and $25,000 fine for both sides, explained there is no place for such behavior.
“We know the energy involved in these types of games. You have to understand that you have 60 minutes to play a physical football game,” said Robinson. “At 60 minutes and five seconds, you go back to being a normal person. That’s something we’ve talked to all the guys about being in control of yourself at all times.”
In addition to the one-game suspension issued by the SWAC, Robinson indicated that some unnamed Alabama State players will be suspended by the program indefinitely for their actions.
“Some kids won’t be playing Hornet football anymore,” he said. “We kind of have to have zero tolerance about that. It could be short-term, or it could be long-term. You can’t put your personal interest ahead of what the team and university goes on.”
T.C. Taylor, who learned that seven of his Jackson State players will be out for its upcoming game at Alcorn State on Saturday, indicated that he and his staff regularly emphasize to the team not to be involved in non-football confrontations.
“As coaches, we just have to continue to preach discipline to our players and talk about the importance of that,” said Taylor.
In reaction to the series of postgame alterations, the SIAC adjusted their protocols ahead of the league’s conference championship game, which called for both teams to immediately leave the field following the game and coaches to engage in a handshake.
Celebration Bowl executive director John T. Grant told HBCU Gameday that the loser of the game must go to the locker room while both coaches shake hands before the winning team remains on the field to celebrate.
“This is something we can’t sweep under the rug,” Grant told the website. “People are seeing this. “ESPN is carrying these games.”
While coaches should still be able to interact after games, Taylor said he doesn’t agree that players should be barred from meeting on the field afterward.
“We have to be good as a conference and great as a conference and understand the sportsmanship side,” he said. “It’s friends and family playing against one another or former teammates. I don’t want it to be a deal where we’re saying we’re not allowed to come across and greet one another.”
