Grambling football searching to replace Bacone College after school announces closure


You make a lot of good points. But we need to realize that most of our HBCU's do not have to funding to compete on the national level. Trying to run D-1 programs on D-3 funding, but most of us think, just slap the label on it and we can compete. You need someone with vision and most of the SWAC and HBCU's are lacking funding and vision. Also, where I live, most of kids are being coached by white coaches at white high schools and they are sending those kids to PWC's, with an HBCU is being an after thought. I mentioned an HBCU and the kid laughed and said, I am not going to that inferior school. Also, our coaches are doing a bad job of recruiting. I do agree that we need to promote the teams over the bands and that would help us. The bands are nice, but lets build our teams first.

Funding isn't necessarily the main issue. Jacksonville State spent 4 mil on football a couple of years ago. AAMU spent 3.2 mil in the same year and made $515,000 off a guarantee game with Auburn and another 250k from MTSU (do the math).

Jacksonville State went undefeated in the OVC and almost won the FCS national title the year before, while AAMU could barely win 3 and 4 games.

The difference was coach hires. Jax State hired a respected HS football coach that had connections. We hired Spady... a guy that got turned down for other SWAC jobs.

A lot of our problems has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with poor decisions. We would be in better condition with better decision making
 
Funding is definitely a issue you see what happened when they hired Broadway and gave him the support he needed. We not even close to being on the level as regular conferences so keep Jax State out of it maybe the team to compare is Valley or someone but not Jax State. All out of conference PWO we gets smoked really bad. Funding matters when you don’t have the facilities to sell a kid in recruiting and when you have to share stuff with other sports funding matters. That 750k you was talking about from A&M went back to general funding so Football slaved for the rest of the school. Look at the logistics of everything before you speak that funding isn’t a issue cause it really is. Our Best HBCU would loose to average FCS and DII programs easy
 



Funding isn't necessarily the main issue. Jacksonville State spent 4 mil on football a couple of years ago. AAMU spent 3.2 mil in the same year and made $515,000 off a guarantee game with Auburn and another 250k from MTSU (do the math).

Jacksonville State went undefeated in the OVC and almost won the FCS national title the year before, while AAMU could barely win 3 and 4 games.

The difference was coach hires. Jax State hired a respected HS football coach that had connections. We hired Spady... a guy that got turned down for other SWAC jobs.

A lot of our problems has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with poor decisions. We would be in better condition with better decision making

What other SWAC jobs did he get turned down from?
 
Funding is definitely a issue you see what happened when they hired Broadway and gave him the support he needed. We not even close to being on the level as regular conferences so keep Jax State out of it maybe the team to compare is Valley or someone but not Jax State. All out of conference PWO we gets smoked really bad. Funding matters when you don’t have the facilities to sell a kid in recruiting and when you have to share stuff with other sports funding matters. That 750k you was talking about from A&M went back to general funding so Football slaved for the rest of the school. Look at the logistics of everything before you speak that funding isn’t a issue cause it really is. Our Best HBCU would loose to average FCS and DII programs easy

I didn't say it wasnt an issue...I said its not always the MAIN issue. Big difference. Some of our schools arent spending wisely the funding we do have. There is a lot of poor decision making that couldn't be overcome by funding. Thats all Im saying.
 
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Funding isn't necessarily the main issue. Jacksonville State spent 4 mil on football a couple of years ago. AAMU spent 3.2 mil in the same year and made $515,000 off a guarantee game with Auburn and another 250k from MTSU (do the math).

Jacksonville State went undefeated in the OVC and almost won the FCS national title the year before, while AAMU could barely win 3 and 4 games.

The difference was coach hires. Jax State hired a respected HS football coach that had connections. We hired Spady... a guy that got turned down for other SWAC jobs.

A lot of our problems has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with poor decisions. We would be in better condition with better decision making

Brother I remember when Fobbs was hired. There were folks from GSU who said he was never a head coach or assistant coach but was always a position coach. Some of those same people right now love him and some of the same people still hate him. SMH....

The SWAC is filled with recycled coaches.
 
Brother I remember when Fobbs was hired. There were folks from GSU who said he was never a head coach or assistant coach but was always a position coach. Some of those same people right now love him and some of the same people still hate him. SMH....

The SWAC is filled with recycled coaches.

Coaching hires are generally a crap shoot, especially 1st time HCs... but some guys are no-brainer hires and others are no-brainer rejections. Fobbs had extensive experience in the region Grambling recruits and played under Robinson. Instant recruiting connections. Knows where the players are. Knows what it takes to win. Can get quality assistants (which is the main ingredient).

Respected coaches can get other respected coaches to work under them.
 
At the end of the day there is only one hbcu program in college football today that could only stand toe to toe with some of the top 10 programs in FCS other than that nobody else can compare. If you play the schedule that these players play every year then you will be able to compete at a high level. HBCU don’t get the same recruits as the other programs cause of the national exposure that those programs get. If you look at it Carson Wentz at North Dakota State we wouldn’t come close to getting a player that caliber. So it sounds good but NC A&T will be dominate because they get top players.

HBCU Football is at it lowest cause all they do is play within the circle
No sir. It’s at the lowest because of the way we recruit and the once historical losers near the bottom of the pecking order (pw-fcs) now get those same players. For PV, it should look at the shsus, sfas, acus, wtxams, lamars, hbus, et al. Their recent history of success is a strong testament backing that fact.
 
No sir. It’s at the lowest because of the way we recruit and the once historical losers near the bottom of the pecking order (pw-fcs) now get those same players. For PV, it should look at the shsus, sfas, acus, wtxams, lamars, hbus, et al. Their recent history of success is a strong testament backing that fact.

True. Competition for talent where are schools are located is far more intense than an ND State. Now, ND State kills a lot of folks in Division I (FBS & FCS) in player development. Boise State does too. Think about it, they're not getting "elite" talent ... so you coach'em up like crazy.

@Olde Hornet when you say high school coach ... are you referring to a coach at the HS level that has some collegiate experience, or a high school coach that just simply won on the HS level? A lot of HS coaches get their foot in the door in the college ranks as being from talent-laden areas (ex: former Southern player Jabbar Juluke). Jabbar's from NOLA and coached at Karr. La Tech brought him on as an in to NOLA high school talent, he moved up to LSU and Texas Tech before going to UL-Lafayette.

With the rules of Division I football, it's foolish to bring in a high school coach as your college program's head coach that hasn't worked in a Division I program before. Now, if you want to bolster relationships with coaches in your state, then I can see you bringing in a popular winning HS coach and putting him on the staff.
 
Brother I remember when Fobbs was hired. There were folks from GSU who said he was never a head coach or assistant coach but was always a position coach. Some of those same people right now love him and some of the same people still hate him. SMH....

The SWAC is filled with recycled coaches.

Who?
Fobbs is not recycled. First time HC
Odums is not recycled. First time HC
Hughes at JSU is not. First time HC
Maynor at AAMU is a first time SWAC HC. So he can classify as that maybe
Hill-Eley at Ala State is a multiple school HC. I guess he goes there
Fred McNair is not. First time HC
Eric Dooley is not. First time HC after being an OC in SWAC
Hayward at TxSU was brought out the mothballs as a HC. FBS HC experience
New hire at UAPB from Alcorn is a first time HC
Dancy at Valley is young First time Head Coach

So really only the Bama's hired coaches with previous Head Coach experience to be considered recycled. Hayward never got to coach Pittsburgh due to that woman situation. Plus he was gone so long from the game. He aint recycled. Everybody else got their first HC jobs at our schools.

.
 



Who?
Fobbs is not recycled. First time HC
Odums is not recycled. First time HC
Hughes at JSU is not. First time HC
Maynor at AAMU is a first time SWAC HC. So he can classify as that maybe
Hill-Eley at Ala State is a multiple school HC. I guess he goes there
Fred McNair is not. First time HC
Eric Dooley is not. First time HC after being an OC in SWAC
Hayward at TxSU was brought out the mothballs as a HC. FBS HC experience
New hire at UAPB from Alcorn is a first time HC
Dancy at Valley is young First time Head Coach

So really only the Bama's hired coaches with previous Head Coach experience to be considered recycled. Hayward never got to coach Pittsburgh due to that woman situation. Plus he was gone so long from the game. He aint recycled. Everybody else got their first HC jobs at our schools.

.

I wouldn't call those coaches "recycled" however, the bulk of most of their resume's are limited to HBCUs. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does factor in recruiting. It doesn't help the perception that we're willing to branch out into the greater society (which we are not...fight me over it).
 
Broadway was a good coach he coached at Power 5 schools and had a vision at HBCU’s which made him successful. A&T was a laughing stock before he got there but same thing could be said for all these schools at one point each school had its run. And my reference to Wentz is that he was developed and not a transfer from a FBS or Juco. Now a days we wanna use transfers for everything which I get it but why can’t we go sit in the homes of kids and walk away with their commitments? Because we don’t have the top facilities or the national exposure. We throw around “ this school just won the Black College Championship” but really what is it does it give you notoriety out side of the hbcu ranks? Can you go to a place and sell your brand nationally without them saying “HBCU’s have really good bands” I mean you play all league games and no playoff exposure isn’t by default it’s to hide our old school coaching from the rest of society and modern civilization. I’m glad Hampton realized what Tennessee State realizes a long time ago and that is if we wanna be a brand we have to create our own brand outside the brand. They the only HBCU with indoor facility and compete on a high level in recruiting and against its competition and not. Valley and Delaware States every week.

Funding isn't necessarily the main issue. Jacksonville State spent 4 mil on football a couple of years ago. AAMU spent 3.2 mil in the same year and made $515,000 off a guarantee game with Auburn and another 250k from MTSU (do the math).

Jacksonville State went undefeated in the OVC and almost won the FCS national title the year before, while AAMU could barely win 3 and 4 games.

The difference was coach hires. Jax State hired a respected HS football coach that had connections. We hired Spady... a guy that got turned down for other SWAC jobs.

A lot of our problems has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with poor decisions. We would be in better condition with better decision making

Decision making, coach hiring and funding along with a good infer-structure all works together. I saw West Georgia from the Gulf South and they would beat most of the SWAC. I keep telling people that we are D-1 teams with D-3 funding and structure.
 
Who?
Fobbs is not recycled. First time HC
Odums is not recycled. First time HC
Hughes at JSU is not. First time HC
Maynor at AAMU is a first time SWAC HC. So he can classify as that maybe
Hill-Eley at Ala State is a multiple school HC. I guess he goes there
Fred McNair is not. First time HC
Eric Dooley is not. First time HC after being an OC in SWAC
Hayward at TxSU was brought out the mothballs as a HC. FBS HC experience
New hire at UAPB from Alcorn is a first time HC
Dancy at Valley is young First time Head Coach

So really only the Bama's hired coaches with previous Head Coach experience to be considered recycled. Hayward never got to coach Pittsburgh due to that woman situation. Plus he was gone so long from the game. He aint recycled. Everybody else got their first HC jobs at our schools.

.

Thanks for the clarification.
 
Decision making, coach hiring and funding along with a good infer-structure all works together. I saw West Georgia from the Gulf South and they would beat most of the SWAC. I keep telling people that we are D-1 teams with D-3 funding and structure.

Some of those teams are real lax with admissions also to get talent in we can’t get.
 
Decision making, coach hiring and funding along with a good infer-structure all works together. I saw West Georgia from the Gulf South and they would beat most of the SWAC. I keep telling people that we are D-1 teams with D-3 funding and structure.

If you're referring to football infrastructure, I have to disagree with you. Just off of the top of my head, Southern U, PVAM, Bama State, Grambling and now UAPB (pending) has invested money to their facilities (that's half of the league). Not to slight any other school(s) that I may have missed just a quick list from memory. Quite a few teams have made an effort to upgrade coaching as well.
 
The SWAC will evolve to totality in betterdom from top to bottom when WE start recruiting and RETAINING these TAGers, like Mr Thomas.

 
If you're referring to football infrastructure, I have to disagree with you. Just off of the top of my head, Southern U, PVAM, Bama State, Grambling and now UAPB (pending) has invested money to their facilities (that's half of the league). Not to slight any other school(s) that I may have missed just a quick list from memory. Quite a few teams have made an effort to upgrade coaching as well.

Infrastructure can include things like support staffing as well. Does football has it's own S&C coach? Does the head coach have to setup recruiting visits and handle logistics? Who manages the program budget? etc...
 
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