Some 13 months ago, Terrence Graves stood at a podium in front of Southern stakeholders and assembled media and explained why he thought Southern chose him to be the Jaguars coach despite being a three-decade assistant.
“Why Terrence Graves? I’m glad you asked,” he last December after he was named head coach mere weeks after he led Southern to a victory in the Bayou Classic as an interim coach. “I’m prepared. I’m qualified. I’m certified. I’m destined, and I’m a winner. I’m a builder of champions.”
On a still Saturday night in Baton Rouge last Saturday, Graves delivered on that promise. The Jaguars 31-9 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Mumford Stadium clinched the SWAC West title.
Not only did the victory put Southern back in the conference championship game for the second time in four years, but it also validated all the work Graves had done in 32 years of football to prove he could lead a team despite not fitting the mold.
Prior to being hired at Southern, the road head coach started in 1993 as a defensive back coach at Winston-Salem State before serving four different stints as an assistant at Southern in various roles, from a graduate assistant to a co-defensive coordinator.
“For 32 years, I’ve heard all the ‘well, he doesn’t have any experience; it’s at an HBCU; he’s not a celebrity; he’s not this or that,’” Graves told The Advocate newspaper.
But Graves indicated that he knew the Southern team he inherited after Eric Dooley was fired before the Bayou Classicin 2023 was good enough to compete for championships right away despite the team being picked to finish fourth in the SWAC West behind favored Alcorn State, 2023 division champion Prairie View, and Grambling State.
Road to SWAC West title wasn’t easy, but Graves believed
While the Jaguars didn’t always make it easy throughout the regular season — starting 2-3 and trying to navigate uncertainty at quarterback — Graves guided the team to five wins (three in overtime) over its last six games to take the division.
“I thought we would probably have two fewer losses, but I really thought we had a good enough team. If we got the right pieces, I thought we had a chance of competing for a SWAC championship,” said Graves.
“I told the administration, my athletic director (Roman Banks) … I told them all I really thought we had the pieces in place.”
And just why did Graves believe?
“I’m a football coach and a winning football coach,” he said. “I stand on that. I’ve got nine championship rings, and I put them up against anybody. I know I’m prepared. This is my calling.”
