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Winston-Salem State to Welcome Back Bill Hayes?

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Bill Hayes might be coming back to Winston-Salem State University to fill its vacant athletic director position, according to John Dell’s report with the Winston-Salem Journal.

Bill Hayes, who led the WSSU football program to its greatest heights in the late 1970s and early 1980s, is being targeted by Chancellor Donald Reaves for the AD’s position, several sources said.

Reaves was hoping to introduce the new athletics director today at “Meet the Rams,” a fall-sports pep rally at Bowman Gray Stadium scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. However, those plans fell through when Tim Grant took himself out of contention earlier this week.

Hayes, currently the AD at Florida A&M, said Thursday night that he hasn’t been contacted by WSSU officials.

It wouldn’t be totally out of the realm of possibility for Hayes to jump back to WSSU from Florida A&M. He would come back to a program with great room to mold public support, a very publicized transition to Division I to captain, and the unshakable support of Ram land.

For a year and a half, at least.

On the other hand, things are going pretty good for Bill Hayes in Tallahassee. He makes good money, he went and got Joe Taylor to turn the Rattler football program around, and he has tolerant media coverage that won’t feed into the ramblings Rattler faithful who call for any and every athletic director to be fired. Aside from having to put out another call for a men’s track and field coach, life doesn’t seem too bad for Hayes from the outside looking in.

But notice, Hayes never said that he wasn’t interested in or would not take the job….Stay tuned.

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Saint Paul's Cancels Season Opener, Forgot to Order Equipment

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

At some point, HBCU’s are going to get tired of being the butt of jokes, the answer to a random trivia question of dubious college sports lore, or just plain ignored.

St. Pauls College had to cancel today’s game against West Virginia Wesleyan because they had no helmets and pads to compete in.

(West Virginia Wesleyan Athletic Director Ken) Tyler said St. Paul’s AD Leroy Bacote called him with the news Thursday, less than 24 hours before the Wesleyan team was scheduled to travel 341 miles to play the game in South Hill, Va.

Division II St. Paul’s had ordered helmets and pads — but the shipment hadn’t arrived yet.

“He couldn’t guarantee that they would be there in time,” said Tyler, adding that the game would not be rescheduled.

Tyler said he asked Bacote how the team practiced without helmets and pads and was told the players did calisthenics in shorts and T-shirts.

Bacote declined comment Friday when reached at his office.

I’m sorry, but that athletic director and the majority of his staff needs to be fired immediately. Replace him with folks at a local high school. To have waited this long to order equipment wreaks of incompetence and plain laziness.

Usually, this space is reserved for the other side of the discussion on why black college are so behind their counterparts in collegiate sports. You know, the cultural and socio-economic side of the story?

Not today. Fire these jokers right now. This is a team that sent a player to the NFL just a few months ago. They couldn’t call on local high schools, athletic apparel companies, alumni, somebody to help them out of canceling their own season opener?

I’ll be talking about this on the show tonight, and it is my pledge to you that I will continue to talk about this topic every week until the athletic director is fired. Tune in at 8 p.m. if you are interested in hearing me go off.

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Walter McCoy Resigns as FAMU Track and Field Coach

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Just a week after he was introduced in his new gig, Walter McCoy is out as track and field coach at FAMU. McCoy resigned amid an arrest for employment fraud earlier this week, and the announcement came from FAMU administration on Thursday night.

To most observers of black college sports, a track and field controversy may not be a big deal. But in the state of Florida, which regularly grows Olympian sprinters like orange trees, this is a huge deal. With the resurgence of football, the construction of a new athletic facility, and the continued dominance of cross-the-street rival Florida State University in track and field, the Rattlers would like nothing more than to add competitive track and field to their surging athletic profile in the MEAC and beyond.

Many fans were upset about the hiring of a former Bethune-Cookman T&F coach in the first place, so this may come as a relief to a group of Rattler supporters. But, it certainly is not a good look when FAMU has to go out and find its third men’s track coach in less than a year.

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Problems on Grambling Offensive Line?

August 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Grambling running back Frank Warren was expected to do great things in 2008, but conditioning was one of the early reasons given for what ultimately turned into a sophomore slump that yielded just 546 yards and four touchdowns on the season.

Greg Dillon came into his own last season, but his early problems with turnovers and quick decisions were the stuff of media wonder.

But now we know what may have been the true culprit for both sore spots of the Grambling offense; a suspect offensive line.

Rod Broadway and Co. have been focused on keeping Dillon in the pocket, further exposing fundamental problems in blocking.

“We’ve got to do a better job of protecting him,” Broadway told me. “We’re passing blocking and we’re getting pushed into the pocket. It’s hard throwing out of a well.”
Meanwhile, Cornelius Walker and Frank Warren haven’t been able to find another gear in the ground game.

“The running backs are going to have problems if we don’t block anybody,” Broadway said. “I don’t care who you have running the ball, if you are not blocking, it will be hard to get yards.”

Obviously, Grambling can find success in spite of a porous offensive line, and it doesn’t seem like other teams in the SWAC can do much about it.  Only four teams – Prairie View, Jackson State and Grambling, yielded fewer than 120 yards rushing per game last season.

But it does make for an interesting story line for the Tigers’ quest to repeat as SWAC football champions in 2009. If Greg Dillon is discouraged from running out of the pocket for his life, does it mean even more turnovers on forced throws or fumbles?

Time will soon, and very convincingly, give us the answers.

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