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4C SPORTSWIe Cfiarlatte Tuiesday, December 23, 2003 For the Week of Dec. 23 through Dec. 29, 2003 SOUTHERN JAGUARS FINISH ON TOP Photo by Jake McDonald FINALE; Albany State QB Uyl Joyner (I.) and LB Walter Curry (r.) hold up Pioneer Bowl MVP awards. T SWAC CHAMPION EASY CHOICE AS NO. 1; PRAIRIE VIEW CHOOSES FRAZIER BCSP Photo FRAZIER: Leaving Bowie State to become new head football coach at Prairie View. UNDER THE BANNER WHAT'S GOING ON IN AND AROUND BLACK COLLEGE SPORTS PRAIRIE VIEW FIRST: Pralne View A&M University is the first black college this year to fill its head football coaching vacancy nam ing Bowie State head coach Henry Frazier Monday as its new head man. Frazier, a former quarterback at BSU who led the Bulldogs to their only CIAA title in 1989, took over at his alma mater in 1999 after a successful five-year run as head coach at Central High School in the Washington, D. C. area. As head coach at Bowie State, he returned the Bulldogs to respectability, compiling a 26-23 record in his five years, including winning the CIAA East Division title and earning a spot in the conference's championship game in 2002. This year his Bulldogs finished 6-4 overall and in second place in the CIAA East Division at 5-2. Frazier is replacing Prarie View graduate C. L. Whittington, who was let go after completing his first year on the job. Whittington's team this year finished at 1-9 overall, and at the bottom of the Southwestern Athletic Conference's West Division with an 0-7 record. DEBACLE AT FAMU: The pressure is mounting at Florida A&M. A series of stories published in the Tallahassee Democrat and the St. Petersburg Times have chronicled a number of troubles involving both the school and its athletics department that are bringing into serious jeopardy whether the Florida school is ready to make the jump to Division lA football that it got NCAA approval for this summer. Among the controversies is the school's internal books which are reportedly off some $1.8 million. Charges of mismanagement and even theft are swirling amongst some former employees and adminis trators. The school is also reportedly late turning over cru cial financial records that's caused the stale's financial chief to hall pay to FAMU's presidents and 18 top admin istrators. Add to that, Florida A&M athletics and its TV partner. New York-based Urban Broadcasting Company, are apparently at odds. UBC president Peggy Dodson, who signed a five-year deal with FAMU which was to bring $1.5 million to the school this year and as much as $7.5 million over the life of the contract, says the school did not meet its contractual obligations and is threatening to sue. UBC produced six FAMU football games this sea son and was also scheduled to produce a number of bas ketball games. Dodson has said she will not do any more games until FAMU lives up to its obligations. FAMU for its part, says they have lawyers reviewing both sides of their contract. The school says it has not been paid a penny so far, and according to other published reports, neither have the vendors who produced the six games for UBC this fall. The Rattlers also were given a deadline of March 15 by the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference to either return its football program to the conference or have all sports expelled from the conference by June 30. FOILED AGAIN: Grambling State quar terback Bruce Eugene has again come up short in voting for the Sports Network's Walter Payton Award given to the best offensive player in NCAA Division I-AA football. Eugene, who finished third in 2002, was announced Friday as the second-place finisher this year behind Colgate running back, Jamaal Branch. Payton Award vot ing is open to I-AA media and sports information direc tors. From the SWAC, only the conference office partici pated in the voting. Eugene passed for 3,805 yards and 35 touchdowns this year while leading Grambling to a 9-3 overall mark and a 6-1 finish behind Southern in the SWAC West Division. Eugene passed for 4,042 yards and 40 TDs last year while leading GSU to its third straight SWAC title. Ironically, Eugene did not make either the first or second team in All-SWAC voting this year. SWAC Offensive Player of the Year, QB Quincy Richard of Southern and Alcorn State junior QB Donald Carrie were SWAC first and second team selections. ©AZEEZ Communications, inc. VOL. X, NO. 20 Alhany State daminates Pioneer Bewl LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor The touchdowns came fast and furious for SIAC champion Albany State as they closed out the 2003 black college football season with a dominating 52-30 win over CIAA champ Fayetteville State Saturday at the sixth Pioneer Bowl at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. An announced crowd of 5,014 watched the Golden Rams put on a show of speed and offen sive firepower, scoring on five of their first six possessions en route to a 49-10 halftime lead, and then cruising to the win. the SIAC's fifth in six Pioneer Bowl games. The win caps a strong 10-2 campaign for James "Mike" W-hite's squad that saw the Golden Rams win their first SIAC title since 1997 and solidifies their No. 6 ranking in'the final Black College Sports Page Top Ten. "Coach White kind of loosened them up with a couple of trick plays early on, and after that they didn't know what to look for." said Albany Slate QB Uyl Joyner, who threw for 255 yards and two TDs and also ran for 45 yards and two scores to win the offensive MVP award, Running back Antonio Atkins opened the scoring with a seven-yard run barely three min- Photo by Hal Lamar VICTORS: Albany State head coach James White (I.) holds the Pioneer Bowl champi onship trophy with Albany State President, Dr. Portia Shields (c.) while SIAC Commissioner, Dr. William tide (r.) looks on. utes into the contest that was set up by a halfback option pass. After getting the ball back on downs, ASU scored on their next possession as wide receiver Alvin Jackson completed a 27-yard pass to fel low wideout Dontre Williams who fumbled the Overheard at the Pioneer Bowl - New SIAC Commissioner. Dr. William Tide, said Langston, Stillman and Lincoln (Mo.) are just three of as many as eight institutions that have applied for membership in the conference. "We're just that popular right now," said Lide. Lide said the conference has redeveloped its process of membership so that they can bring in the best schools that will help exemplify what they are tiying to do to enhance the conference. He said by- March a decision should he made on how many of the institutions will join the conference. A new system is in place, he .said, for schools to join the SIAC as 'provisional members.' Schools can be brought in without being a full member without being able to compete in championships. Lide said the conference is also considering going to a divisional set-up with an SIAC Championship Game to produce a champion. "That could happen as early as next year," said Lide. - Fayetteville State head coach Kenny Phillips was one of four finalists for the head coaching job at Prairie View that went to Bowie State head coach Henry Frazier. The two others in the final group were Miles head coach Wade Streeter and Alabama State interim head coach Charles Coe III. Southern undisputed No. 1 LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor Southwestern Athletic Conference champion Southern (12-1), a last-second two- point loss to Alcorn State from a perfect 13-0 season, is the easy choice as the 2003 BCSP national champion. Pete Richardson's Jaguars were the most efficient and dominant team all 'season long, downing No. 2 Grambling State 44-41. No. 3. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion North Carolina A&T, 35-16, and getting two wins including the SWAC Championship Game win over East Division champ, Alabama State, our fifth-ranked team. The only team the Jaguars did not defeat in the top five was MEAC runner-up Bethune- Cookman (9-3), who finished fourth. The Jags averaged over 41 points per game while winning their regular season ^ames by a 28-point margin. B-CC, the defending MEAC champ, start ed the season as the BCSP No. 1 and held it for six weeks until their loss at home to Morgan State. Southern then took over at the top spot and held it for three weeks until their loss to Alcorn State. Grambling, the defending SWAC and national champion, began the season at No. 2. The G-Men opened the season with a loss to Div. lA San Jose State and later lost to I-AA No. 1. McNeese State, but became the BCSP No. 1 following Southern’s loss. The Tigers held that position until their 44-41 loss to No. 2 Southern at the Bayou Classic that ended regular season play. There were two big surprise teams in 2003, North Carolina A&T and Alabama State. The A&T Aggies (10-3), under new head coach George Small, surpri.sed everyone by running roughshod through the MEAC before a meaningless loss to South Carolina State to end the regular season. The Aggies got the automatic bid to the I-AA playoffs where they lost to Southern Conference champ, Wofford. A&T was picked by conference coaches in the preseason to finish sixth coming off a 4-8 2002 record and the firing of longtime head coach Bill Hayes. Alabama State (8-5) hired Coe on an inter im basis on August 1 after a tumultuous sum mer of allegations that led to the suspension of head coach L. C. Cole. Picked to finish fifth (see, last) in the SWACs East Division, Coe led the Hornets to wins over Florida A&M to open the regular season, and over in-state rival 'Diskegee to end it, and between led his troops to the division title eeking past Alabama A&M and Alcorn State and earning a spot vs. Southern in the SWAC Championship Game. In between, Coe missed two games with open heart surgery. Albany State (10-2), which got its first SIAC title since 1997 and went on the win the Pioneer Bowl over CIAA champ Fayetteville State, begins the second five at No. 6. The Golden Rams are the only Div. II team in the Top Ten. Alabama A&M (8-4), Hampton (7-4), S.C. ball at the one-yard line. Zontavius Johnson recov ered the fumble in the end zone to give the Golden Rams a 14-0 lead. FSU's first three offensive drives resulted in a minus-six yards of offense. The Broncos' only first half touchdown came when linebacker Lemuel Watkins picked up fumble by Joyner and relumed it 31 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7 with 8:46 left in the first period. Two minutes later, Joyner scored on a two-yard mn and a little over another two minutes after that, Jackson caught a 48-yard scoring pass from Joyner and the Golden Rams were up 28-7 with four minutes left in the first quarter. Atkins, who led all rushers with 87 yards, con tinued the onslaught as he got his second TD on a four-yard run to open the second quarter scoring. After FSU went ihree-and-out, Jackson returned a Ross McKernan punt 48 yards to the FSU 1-yard line setting up Joyner's second short TD run and a 42- 7 lead. McKeman's 28-yard field goal with :56 left in the half appeared to stem the tide but Williams returned the ensuing kickoff 57 yards to set up Johnson's 40-yard TD reception from Joyner just 37 seconds before the half to create the 49-10 haltime score. Reserves mopped up for the Golden Rams throughout most of the second half as FSU scored three meaningless touchdowns. "I thought Albany State came out and played with a little more intensity than we did," said FSU head coach Kenny Phillips. "It’s probably one of the flattest football games we've played in the entire year. At halftime I just told them we have to go out there and do the things we've been doing the entire year. We need to play with a little bit more passion. We spotted them 49 points and that's a tough, uphill battle when you're playing against the top defensive team in the country." ASU linebacker/defensive end Walter Curry, the SIAC's defensive player of the year, showed his mettle getting two sacks among seven tackles that earned him the game's outstanding defensive player award. FINAL BCSP TOP TEN 1. SOUTHERN (12-1) - Pete Richardson's SWAC champions iast-second, two-point loss away from perfect 13-0 season. Jags got wins over three teams in top five to earn 2003 black college bcsp Photo national title. RICHARDSON; His Jags Operated with machine- 2. GRAMBLING ST. (9-3) like precision putting up - ned for first in SWAC 3^™' West after close loss to Southern. 3. N. C. A&T (10-3) - Surprising MEAC champ, first round I-AA playoff participant. 4. BETHUNE-COOKMAN (9-3) - Tied for second in MEAC earned second straight I-AA playoff berth. 5. ALABAMA STATE (8-5) - SWAC East Champion battled Southern for SWAC title. 6. ALBANY STATE (10-2) - SIAC champ and Pioneer Bowl winner 7. ALABAMA A&M (8-4) - Third in SWAC East. 8. HAMPTON (7-4) - Tied for second in MEAC 9. S. C. STATE (8-4) - Ted for second in MEAC 10. ALCORN STATE (7-5) - Tied for first in SWAC East. (TIE) TENNESSEE STATE (6-5) - Season over. State (8-4), Alcorn State (7-5) and Tennessee State (6-5), round out the final Top Ten. BCSP Notes Wallace Jackson Update Former SIAC Commissioner Wallace Jackson, the driving force behind the creation of the Pioneer Bowl, is alive and relatively well in Atlanta. Two years ago while working as a substitute teacher in Atlanta. Jackson suffered a stroke which has rendered him unable to speak or swallow. His sister. Louise Jackson-Williams. who moved back to Atlanta to care for him. says notwithstanding his ailments. Jackson is active, reading newspapers, keeping up with his alma mater the University of Georgia and happenings with his beloved Pioneer Bowl, "He even had on his Pioneer Bow] hat when he visited the doctor the other day." Williams told Atlanta columnist Hal Lamar last week. She said what Jackson really longs for most is hearing from his old friends. Although he cannot respond verbally (he uses his touch-tone phone to communicate), he would love to receive cards, wellers and other expressions of support. You can write to Wallace Jackson at: 312 Green Haven Drive. Atlanta. Ga. 30317 or call him at 404-377-9895 or 404-377-1130. Hearing from his friends would just make his day," says his sister. Grid Coaching Vacancies There are now three black college football coaching vacancies after Prairie View announced their new coach this week (See, UNDER THE BANNER). In the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference, the only vacancy current ly is at Delaware State where Ben Blacknall was let go after seven games with his Hornets winless at 0-7. Butch Posey finished out the disappointing 1- 10 season for DSU going 1-3 as inter im head coach. Posey is reportedly not among three finalists who completed interviews last week. DSU Athletic Director Dr. Hallie Gregory confirmed late last week that the school interview longtime NFL and Division I assistant A1 Lavon and for mer Morehouse head coach and Tuskegee grad Frank Hickson last week. Gregory did not give the name of the third person interviewed. A source close to DSU says the school, is in deep discussions with a successor and should have an announcement before the school breaks for the holi days on Dec. 23. Arkansas-Pine Bluff Athletic Director Craig Curry was still get ting resumes as late as Thursday in his effort to replace Lee Hardman, who resigned' after the Golden Lions fin ished 4-7 this season. Hardman had coached the Golden Lion for 10 sea sons compiling a 57-42 mark. Curry said he has a strong crew of more than 40 who have applied and he hopes to narrow it down to a short list and get with the chancellor to make a decision in the first week of 2004. He said his first priority is somebody with head coaching experi ence. After that he’ll look for an expe rienced coordinator and then for an assistant at a solid program. Grambling State Offensive Coordinator Melvin Spears is among those in the running. Texas Southern is trying to replace BUI Thomas, who led the Tigers to a 5-6 overall finish and third place in the SWAC West before resigning at the end of the season. Efforts to reach TSU Athletic Director Alois Blackwell were unsuccessful. Former Howard head coach Steve Wilson, now defensive coordi nator at Bowie State, has reportedly applied for the Texas Southern job but may be in line to replace Bowie State head man Henry Frazier, who was named Monday as the new coach at Prairie View. Back at Langston Greg Johnson is back as the new head football coach at Langston University. Johnson will replace Harold Johnson, who was fired early in December after two successive 2-8 seasons. The new coach is very famil iar with the school as he served as head coach for six seasons from 1991-96 compiling a 35-30 record. He left to take the head coaching position at Prairie View and has been the defen sive coordinator at Jackson State for the last two seasons. A native of Oklahoma, Johnson’s 1994 team reached the NAIA semifi nals and will now lead the program’s transition to NCAA Division II and possible membership in the SIAC.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Dec. 23, 2003, edition 1
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