The Championship Subdivision News Log

Six members of the defending SWAC champions from Prairie View A&M, including their all-conference backfield of quarterback K.J. Black and running back Donald Babers, are part of the 2010 BoxToRow.com/BASN HBCU Preseason All-American team.

The preseason team is made up of 27 of the top Black college football players in the country. The voters are comprised of some of America’s top writers and media members who cover HBCU football.

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NEW YORK – The Hampton University athletics program was tabbed as the top-ranked NCAA Division I Historically Black College & University (HBCU) program on Monday, based on the final standings of the 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup.

The Directors’ Cup is presented annually to the best college programs in NCAA Divisions I, II, III and the NAIA. The Pirates wound up 125th in the overall rankings with 131.88 points. Most of those points came thanks to the women’s basketball program, as well as the indoor and outdoor track & field teams.

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Open Letter to the HBCU Conferences - Please Post & Pass Along

The following letter was sent to each of the HBCU Conference Commissioners on Thursday 24 June 2010 . As an Alum & Fan I was concerned about the direction in which HBCU sports were headed. As a business man I am disappointed with the process and conduct as a whole in regards to the way that ” our business” was being managed. With that in mind and in an effort to assist with the correction of our path I reached out to the leaders of the CIAA, MEAC, SIAC, & SWAC. This gesture was to offer assistance in creating an aggressive plan that will benefit ALL HBCU’s athletically and academically!!! I am pleased to say that I have gotten positive, open-minded responses from most of the commissioners and we are now into the next phase of planning a summit.

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As unassuming off the field as he was dramatic on it, Sammy White is finally finding recognition for a too-often overlooked football career.

A three-time SWAC champion, twice both All-SWAC first team and NCAA Division II All-America, a three- time NFL All-Pro, then a five-time league champion over an 11-year stint as assistant coach at Grambling State University, White was apt to let his actions do the talking.

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On paper, it seemed brilliant and simple.

The Legacy Bowl would pit the champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference – against each other. Airing on ESPN, it would guarantee a $3 million payout to be split by the conferences. It would also end the arguments, such as when South Carolina State edged out Prairie View A&M for the Sheridan Broadcasting Network’s Black National Championship – neither team played each other (in fact, the MEAC and SWAC rarely play each other).

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Heritage Bowl, pitting schools from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) will be restored under the name of the “Legacy Bowl".

This report comes to College Sporting News through sources on TSPNSports.com, who heard the initial report on the Jaguar Journal radio show out of Baton Rouge, La.

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Turns out, Grambling’s defense hasn’t been spared from a turbulent offseason of change.

The unit is being led by defensive backs coach Sam Washington during its initial spring drills, as fourth-year coordinator Clifford Yoshida continues on family leave. In quick succession, he lost his wife suddenly and then his mother fell gravely ill since GSU closed out the 2009 campaign with a second consecutive win against Southern in the Bayou Classic.

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When we last saw Grambling defensive back Nigel Copeland, he was shutting down Southern’s celebrated receiver Jaumorris Stewart — who finished the season-closing Bayou Classic with just three catches.

Stewart came into the game leading the Southwestern Athletic Conference in receptions, yards and touchdowns.

“My last game was in the New Orleans Superdome,” Copeland said. “I will never forget it. I cried like a baby when it was over.”

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The stadium has been the site of many historical games and events, but now it’s use and appeal is slowly fading away

It is a Saturday afternoon in early October and some 11,000 football fans are sitting in the stands of Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium under a dark, hovering sky. On the field below, the Jackson State Tigers are in the midst of a conference battle with the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and have just secured a 7-3 halftime lead.

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A zippy guard — listed as a junior in your program — sinks the shot that sends Grambling to overtime against Jackson State. When it’s over, he’s posted a career-high 29 points, and added four rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Great news for the men’s team. Terrible news for the football team.

That guard is one Greg Dillon, MVP quarterback of the 2008 Bayou Classic and Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game.

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The Grambling State University Tigers will take on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs in the first ever meeting on the gridiron between the two teams in the 2010 Port City Classic on Saturday, Sept. 4th, 6 p.m., at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, La. The two teams announced the game in a joint press conference in conjunction with the Shreveport mayor’s office Tuesday morning.

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Former NFL greats Walter Payton, Jerry Rice and Deacon Jones and coaching legend Eddie Robinson will be among the inaugural induction class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame that will include 8 players, two coaches and a journalist.

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I grew up less than ten miles from my father’s alma mater, South Carolina State University, so when football season rolled around, many of his college buddies would tend to congregate at our house any weekend there was a home game. A few of them had played football for the historically black college back in the 1950’s and 1960’s, which gave them an endless supply of war stories to draw upon as they handicapped each game. There was a certain reverence, though, when they spoke about the annual contest against Grambling State University and “Ed-die”, the Tigers eternal coach who was then on the cusp of becoming college football’s winningest coach.

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NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Bayou Classic - always so much more than a football game with its job fair, battle of the bands and fan festival - brings joy not only to the fans but to the city.

There are the thousands of people filling the city’s hotels and restaurants and the reunions and parties that fill many neighborhoods.

And never has the almost weeklong round of festivities come at a better time for the alums of Grambling State and Southern University.

The football teams square off Nov. 28 in the Superdome, giving the hard-pressed students, faculty and alumni a welcome chance to cheer for their schools - rather than fume about them.

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The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced today the Grambling State Marching Band and the Prairie View A&M Marching Band have each been issued a public reprimand for their actions during last Saturday’s Grambling State-Prairie View A&M football game.

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Recipients to be Honored during MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney

The MEAC/SWAC Challenge announced today the two winners for this year’s Walter Payton Achievement Award. The award is given annually to a player from each of the schools participating in the MEAC/SWAC Challenge presented by Disney.

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NEW YORK – For the third straight football season, Black Athlete Sports Network and DWCommunications, LLC – the company that produces “From The Press Box To The Press Row” – will put out an HBCU All-America team (pre-season and post season) and a weekly top 10 poll voted on by members of the media who cover HBCU football.

A new historic poll was released today with the debut of the Boxtorow.com/BASN HBCU FCS Coaches Top 10 Football Poll presented by Classics Sports Radio Network.

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Grambling State football Head Coach, Rod Broadway, will be the first to tell you that all thoughts of last years Southwestern Athletic Conference and Black College National Championships have been stored away for the winter as 90 Tigers reported for the first day of the 2009 camp with one goal to win a championship.

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Auburn defensive lineman Jomarcus Savage may end up at Grambling, according to an article in the Huntsville Times on Wednesday.

Savage, one who of three players who left the Auburn program last month, told the Times that he would likely sign with Grambling and should reach a firm decision later in the day.

The native of Huntsville, Ala. would have four years of eligibility remaining should he transfer to the SWAC school.

College Sporting News

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - In the Southwest Athletic Conference, there are the battles both on the field and away from the gridiron.

Teams such as Jackson State and Prairie View would love to challenge themselves in the FCS playoffs, even at a time when commissioner Duer Sharp has proclaimed that the SWAC has no desire to return to the playoffs.

And then there are teams such as Grambling, Southern and Alabama State that would prefer to play nationally-televised, regular-season games on the opening weekend of the playoffs, rather than make themselves available for the postseason.

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