The Championship Subdivision News Log

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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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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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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Last Thursday’s Alcorn State – Univ. Arkansas-Pine Bluff football game has been cancelled and will not be concluded.

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The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced today that the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff football player LB Freddy Fairchild has been reprimanded for unsportsmanlike conduct toward a Conference official prior to Saturday’s University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff – Alabama A&M football game. Additionally, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff has been fined $1,000.

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Arkansas-Pine Bluff had put together a couple of lengthy drives. Mickey Dean was finding small holes to dart through. And, most importantly, it was keeping ultra-dangerous Scott Buisson from finding creases to run or pass through.

No, the first half of Saturday’s season-opener against Arkansas-Monticello didn’t go exactly as planned for the Golden Lions. But there were enough positives to go into halftime with upbeat spirits and a three-point lead.

But that’s when time seemed to travel back to last year’s loss to the Boll Weevils, when UAPB lost its starting quarterback and a series of turnovers led to Buisson making big plays that eventually buried the Golden Lions.

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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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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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The Southwestern Athletic Conference announced its 2009 Football Preseason Honors Tuesday, headlined by Southern QB Bryant Lee voted the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, and Grambling State DL Christian Anthony voted Preseason Defensive Player of the Year. Grambling State, the 2008 SWAC Champion, was picked to repeat.

All preseason honors and predicted order of finish were voted on by the league’s coaches, sports information departments and selected members of the media.

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Three summers ago, the athletic directors of all 10 Southwestern Athletic Conference schools agreed to move to a seven-game conference football schedule, rather than the nine-game schedule that had previously been used.

The thinking was the creation of more nonconference openings would allow SWAC schools, which compete in the Football Championship Subdivision, to schedule games with schools from the Football Bowl Subdivision, games which usually come with a sizable payout.

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The Southwestern Athletic Conference has announced its four-game Thursday football schedule for the upcoming 2009 season.

All televised Thursday games will be shown live on ESPNU, beginning on Oct. 1 with Univ. Arkansas-Pine Bluff hosting Alcorn State at Golden Lion Stadium. In 2008, the teams played on Thursday night, with the Braves taking a 13-3 home win on Sept. 18.

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After winning only three games last season, it would seem that the Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team would need to make a few changes for the coming season. After the first day of spring practice on Monday at Golden Lion Stadium, it appears the Golden Lions are doing just that.

After a season that saw UAPB finish 9th out of the 10 team Southwestern Athletic Conference in total offense in, that side of the ball could be a point of emphasis this spring.

On Monday changes could be seen.

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Russell Athletic, a major supplier of sports apparel to collegiate and professional sports teams, is facing an all-out blitz from campus activists.

Twenty-five U.S. colleges have cut ties to Atlanta-based Russell over alleged abuse of workers’ rights at its plant in Honduras. Russell supplies game uniforms and accessories to schools across the country, including four historically black college leagues: the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Southwestern Athletic Conference and the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

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This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

Not even close.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff was a minority within the SWAC with a returning starter at the most important position on the field - quarterback. And Jonathan Moore was a senior at that.

The Golden Lions had seven returning starters on offense, including a pair running backs with plenty of accolades. Senior Martell Mallett was a 1,000-yard rusher in 2006 and junior Mickey Dean was the 2005 SWAC freshman of the year.

So how the UAPB offense is ranked No. 117 out of 118 Division I-AA teams, averaging 8.8 points a game, is somewhat a mystery to first-year coach Monte Coleman.

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Just before last Saturday’s game against Southern, Trae Rutland scanned the crowd at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium and soaked in the atmosphere of more than 40,000 people.

Rutland approached Michael Mosley, the newcomer on the team who had two weeks prior taken his quarterback job and said, “Look at this. This is the time to step up.”

Rutland didn’t know it when he said it, but it turned out, he would be the one who had a career game and lead Jackson State to 16 fourth quarter points in an eventual 35-28 loss.

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PINE BLUFF — The trick is to convince yourself they’re not watching, even when you know they are.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff seniors Tim Turner and Ledarius Anthony have had practically every move they’ve made on the football field this season scouted, evaluated and analyzed. They’ve had strangers ask them about their families, their grades, their backgrounds and whether or not they have children.

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Don’t tell Monte Coleman that his team doesn’t have anything to play for. After Coleman’s Golden Lions started the season 0-5, the first-year UAPB coach said his team is still in the thick of the Southwest Athletic Conference hunt.

“Nobody has given up. It’s about the big picture right now,” Coleman said. “The big picture is all we have to do is win our (SWAC) Western Division games and we can make it to the show. The thing I’m trying to convey is…take it one game at a time.”

And that starts today when UAPB will host Jackson State. And while the Tigers are not in the same division as UAPB, Coleman still knows the importance of a victory for his team.

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LORMAN — Ernest Jones is ready to get his first win as an Alcorn State head coach.

So what better way to get it than under the lights at Jack Spinks Stadium with a television audience watching?

That’s exactly the scenario Jones hopes plays out when the Braves (0-3) take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff (0-3) in a primetime matchup at 6:30 p.m.

The game will take place on ESPNU, which is available to subscribers of Dish Network and DirecTV.

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