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November 20, 2004
Losses hit JSU bottom line
By Mark Alexander
[email protected]
One of Brian Green's memories of attending Jackson State University home football games as a teenager was the crowds.
"I remember it was usually packed," said Green, now the Tigers' starting quarterback. "It's not like that anymore. I think it's at an all-time low. I don't know what the deal is."
The deal is that Jackson State isn't winning like it once did. The Tigers, once a Southwestern Athletic Conference power, have won just six of 22 games in the past two seasons entering today's Capital City Classic against Alcorn State University.
Regardless of how it fares today, JSU will post consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 34 years. Both seasons have come under coach James Bell, whom many fans blame for the Tigers' lack of success.
The losses on the field have translated into losing at the turnstiles for a program that traditionally has been a national attendance leader in NCAA Division I-AA. In 2001, the average announced home attendance for games at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium was 29,068. The average attendance for three games this season: 13,503.
The homecoming game against Alabama A&M two weeks ago drew only 14,511 on a sun-splashed afternoon.
Fewer fans means less revenue, and football income accounts for about 30 percent of JSU's $4.6 million athletic budget.
"It's important that we put a good product out on the field that our fan base would like to come see," Jackson State athletic director Roy Culberson said. "We still need our fan base to support the team and our athletic program."
The decline in attendance likely will continue under Bell, predicts Calvin Younger, president of the Blue Bengals, JSU's chief athletic booster club.
"It has a lot to do with the wins and losses, but I think, from what I hear from people, it has more to do with coach Bell," Younger said. "I've had a lot of people tell me they're not going to the games because of him. And they say they're not going back as long as he's the head coach. They've already made their minds up."
That brings up a question that has been asked all season: Can JSU President Ronald Mason Jr. afford to bring Bell back next year? Bell has one year remaining on a guaranteed three-year contract paying him $85,000 a season.
Culberson said a decision will be made next week. While football-crazed JSU fans and alumni are anxiously awaiting, Mason said he will approach it like any of the dozen or so decisions he makes every day concerning the university.
"Perception-wise, it (the football coach) is a big decision," Mason said. "Frankly, athletics is only about 1 percent of the university's budget, so for me it's not emotional at all. It's just a business decision."
Culberson said he adjusted the budget once this year because of the smaller crowds. In September, JSU's season-opening game was moved from Orlando to Hampton because of the threat of Hurricane Frances. The athletic department took a $200,000 hit and has not been able to recoup the loss.
Culberson said he will make other adjustments because of the smaller crowds.
"We can't operate with a deficit, and we can't close the year with a deficit," he said.
Culberson hopes 35,000 fans attend today's game so the budget can get a boost. Last year's Capital City Classic drew 45,000 fans, netting nearly $100,000 per school. The schools split the revenue, per the guidelines of the contract.
It's not unusual for JSU's attendance to be lower in even-numbered years. The Tigers generally have more home games in odd-numbered years. And some of their better-drawing games are at home those years, including Southern University. Last year's JSU-Southern game drew an announced crowd of 46,794, or 6,283 more than the combined announced attendance of the Tigers' three home games this season.
Still, JSU, which has led Division I-AA schools in attendance 13 of the last 26 years, is in line for one of its lowest home attendance numbers during that time span.
JSU has seven home games scheduled for next season. Mason said attendance isn't the only factor that will figure into whether Bell coaches those games.
"We evaluate the whole program from grades to facilities to attendance to won-lost records," Mason said. "Won-lost is one factor. I do know that it takes time to build a championship program and sometimes you have to take one step back and take two steps forward."
Bell inherited a program that posted three consecutive 7-4 records with Robert Hughes as the coach. Fifteen starters, including record-setting quarterback Robert Kent, returned in his first year as coach. Still, JSU finished 2-10 in Bell's first season, the worst mark in program history.
The Tigers enter today's game with a 4-6 record overall and 3-3 mark in the SWAC. They have won three of their last four games.
Mason and Culberson said they like what Bell is doing off the field to improve the program. The teams' cumulative grade-point average has risen from 2.35 to 2.63, and he has raised $150,000 in private donations to renovate the football complex.
"I'll tell you that I like James Bell, and I like the fact that he treats the players like intelligent men and not like they're just at Jackson State to play football," Mason said. "And I also like the progress he's made with the program overall, but we'll still evaluate at the end of the season and we still have to hear the performance review from the athletic director, and that's a lot. We'll make the decision when it comes time to make a decision. We don't spend all day every day thinking about football."
When asked about the speculation surrounding his job, Bell said in a previous interview, "I can't worry about that. There's nothing I can do about all the speculation. People are going to say what they're going to say, and do what they're going to do."
For the first time this season, Mason visited JSU's practice Wednesday, staying for about 30 minutes. He shook hands with Bell and the two spoke for a couple minutes.
Mason also visited practice the last week of the 2002 season, for the first time, and Hughes was fired the following week.
Will history repeat itself? Or will Bell stay another year?
"I'll assure you there's a lot of people waiting to see what happens," Younger said.
