It seemed like just yesterday that half of the Hampton University athletic department had been fired, and the promise of bigger and better things were being ushered in along with hastily-hired assistant coaches.
And with football in the books and basketball struggling in a mighty way, it may be fair to ask the obvious question, what happened to Hampton athletics?
Football posted a second-straight season of mediocrity under as many coaches. The Pirates were embarrassed by Norfolk State in the Battle of the Bay, but did spoil Florida A&M’s bid for the FCS Playoffs at-large bid.
5-6 was the final tally, and what was once seemingly a privilege – contention for a MEAC championship – now seems a distant goal for the team under first-year coach Donovan Rose.
And basketball has provided very little relief for what’s ailing the Pirate sports fan. First-year coach Edward Joyner has guided the team to quality wins over Wyoming and Monmouth, but has fallen short in several close contests. A road loss to Towson last night, combined with close losses to Howard, Delaware and William and Mary have the Pirates an overall 2-9 and third worse in the MEAC behind Norfolk State and Florida A&M.
So what are the trends that indicate a starting point for such a precipitous fall from sports glory? After all, it wasn’t long ago that the Pirates were the talk of the black college sports universe in both money-making sports. To start, you have to look at what the problem isn’t; it isn’t like Hampton is easily out recruited. It isn’t like Hampton has no ties to professional alumni and coaches, and it isn’t like the school is without an engaged fan base.
So what is it? You could blame Dr. William Harvey and Lonza Hardy for the inconsistent way in which they’ve handled hiring and firing coaches, and you would be right to do so. From year to year, it does very little good for a coach, his players or fans to believe that he is on the hot seat. Eventually, all sides will feed into the “ship em’ in, ship em’ out” attitude that seems to have crept into the HU administrative attitude.
I’ve long maintained that a healthy Hampton program enhances the conference at large. The Pirates success of yesteryear made it chic to get media coverage and television coverage for black colleges in the mid-Atlantic. But it almost seems like the bottom is falling out of their proud tradition in a short period of time.
Or maybe it collapsed under the weight of its own administration.
