thegooddoctor,
... and we know this mane! Dayum gooddoctor... give us some credit. Totten tried to explain it away at the media luncheon. Of course in the SMACK game, the Jags will have their own interpetation.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/080303/spo_vowels001.shtml
Vowels: My coaches ready
By JOSEPH SCHIEFELBEIN
[email protected]
Advocate sportswriter
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Days after first-year Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said he'd like to see an SEC school hire its first black head football coach sometime during his tenure, Southwestern Athletic Conference Commissioner Robert Vowels Jr. responded across town, saying he has plenty of candidates in his own conference.
"It boggles my mind when I hear people say they can't find qualified coaches," said Vowels, glancing at the conference's 10 black head coaches at his side Friday. "All folks have to do is look our way, or at the MEAC, the CIAA or the SIAC (other historically black conferences), and they'll have their coach. I don't understand the problem."
While the conference has for years been a graveyard for coaches, a slew of new, energetic hires in men's and women's basketball -- including Prairie View's Jerry Francis and Southern's Sandy Pugh -- has offered hope that the SWAC can become the cradle of new coaches.
Those coaches, however, coach on the Division I level, and there has yet to be a breakthrough hire.
In football, the SWAC and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference are Division I-AA, and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference are Division II. Those are tiers below Division I-A, which is the SEC's level.
Even so, Big 10 member Ohio State won a national title with Jim Tressel, a white head coach who built I-AA powerhouse Youngstown State.
SEC member Kentucky -- which had success on the field but problems off the field under Hal Mumme, the former coach at I-AA power Valdosta State -- interviewed Grambling coach Doug Williams in December before hiring Rich Brooks a few days later. Brooks had been out of football since Jan. 2001 but had been the head coach at Oregon and the NFL's St. Louis Rams.
"There's nothing more an African-American can do but do what we've been doing," Williams said. "It's not experience. It's opportunity. If we don't get the opportunity, you never know. I'm disappointed in the NFL, from head coaches to front offices, not only in I-A.
"But you can't become frustrated, because all that's going to do is hamper yourself."
m HOMETOWN RIBBING?: Richardson took Mississippi Valley State coach Willie Totten's news conference at T.J. Ribs on Tuesday in stride. And Totten, who plans to stage similar events in Jackson, Miss., and Biloxi, Miss., this week, said he meant no offense.
Southern and Valley open their seasons against each other on Aug. 30 in Jackson, Miss.
Richardson said Friday at the conference's media day, "I see Mississippi Valley having a press conference in Baton Rouge. That's almost unheard of. But that individual is excited about his program. They're trying to drum up excitement for the game in Jackson. That's the way it should be."
Totten replied, "Coach Richardson, when we came down to Baton Rouge, there was no disrespect to Southern University. We're putting this show on the road. That means we have our own press tour. (Athletic Director Lonza) Hardy came up with the idea, and I was in favor of it. We want to go around the state, around the country and sell Mississippi Valley. Mississippi Valley is a program that has been down, but we want to bring that back."
m DIVINE INTERVENTION: After seeing Rev. Run (Joseph Simmons) of the former pioneer rap group Run-DMC backing hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, Alcorn State coach Johnny Thomas got an idea.
With his team slowed by 10 season-ending injuries and already hampered by two that will keep players out of preseason drills, Thomas said, "On the way back to Alcorn, I'm going to be on the hunt for a minister, some personal divine confidant."
m GETTING FASTER: Instead of going to the team's voluntary afternoon spring conditioning drills, Southern senior cornerback Lenny Williams, named Friday as the SWAC's preseason defensive player of the year, ran at Episcopal High, using a speed workout he got from former LSU standout and NFL wide receiver Eddie Kennison. Both Williams and Kennison are from Lake Charles.
