Melvin Spears has been named head coach offensive coordinator of the Alabama State Hornets, effectively setting the stage for his next head coaching job and a chance to once again transform the SWAC into his personal passing drill.
“I kind of backed into it,” Spears said. “Coach (Reggie) Barlow wanted to shuffle his staff and wanted to have a more vertical-type passing game. My name comes up anytime you hear that.”
We all hope for the new year to bring in positivity to replace the drama of the year before. Unfortunately, the Montgomery Advertiser opens up it’s coverage of Alabama State in 2010 with a scathing editorial about the long-standing flap over Joe Reed’s name being removed from the ASU Acadome.
I mistakenly thought that naming the building during Joe’s lifetime, while he could still smell the roses, was in part an expression of gratitude for his having done so much for the advancement of his alma mater. Following the removal, I waited through a thunderous silence for ASU alumni voices of protest and or marches against this heinous act. I am still waiting. I understand that were it not for Joe’s successful and bold consultation with the late Gov. George Wallace, the Acadome would not even exist.
Always nice to see black college sports joining the discussion on great local sports stories. Coming in at number eight on the top ten list of Alabama’s top ten sports moments of 2009, it’s the Alabama State Hornets winning the SWAC basketball title.
8. Alabama State wins SWAC/ plays in NCAA play-in game: Alabama State head coach Lewis Jackson led the Hornets to a SWAC conference title with a 16-2 record in league play during the regular season and a victory over Jackson State in the conference title game. The Hornets played in the NCAA play-in game against Morehead State in Dayton, Ohio and lost 58-43.
Sources close to Alabama State University have disclosed to the HBCU Sports Blog one of the most obvious rumors in the history of black college sports: the Hornets 21-0 loss to Tuskegee in the Turkey Day Classic spells the end for Reggie Barlow’s tenure as head coach.
Reggie Barlow knows that his time as Alabama State head football coach are numbered. And with a terrible economy putting the squeeze on six-figure jobs throughout the country, why not pine for another gig before the ax drops?
“After talking with them, they told me that none of that was true, basically, and that they’re behind me,” said Barlow, who is 12-20 overall with only next Thursday’s Turkey Day Classic matchup with Tuskegee remaining in his third season.”Now, I understand that can change. And if they felt like the best way was for me to step back, I’m not so prideful that I couldn’t accept that. But as for right now, I feel comfortable in what I’ve heard from them.”
Pride has never fed anyone’s family, and it is a good look for Barlow to say he loves the program so much that he wants to be a part of turning it around. Either he has a really good agent, or the ASU administration is a lot craftier than we think they are.
Is Jackson State so bad, that if your squad loses to them, it’s apparently worth slashing the coaching staff’s tires?
At Alabama State, the fans might be classless enough to make this true.
Before I get into it, be sure to check out the banner to your left on Artur Davis’ Magic City Classic ticket giveaway….and get involved in the campaign, Alabama.
Now for the football. The assumption crafted over the last few years is that the SWAC Eastern Division is commonly Jackson State territory. No matter how bad they are out-of-conference or out-of-division, the East is JSU’s to lose.
Things started going down hill for Hornets football in 2005, when ASU lost the Turkey Day Classic to Tuskegee 28-27. How fitting that two years later, a controversial win by the Hornets in the Turkey Day Classic would be the beginning of the return of Hornet football.
Since defeating the Golden Tigers in the 2008 TDC, the Hornets have opened up the 09′ regular season 3-0 for the first time since 2007. And their offense, while largely untested against out-of-conference competition, is looking like a unit that could upset the SWAC Eastern Division pecking order.
Several black college football teams are going into the 2009 preseason with questions at quarterback. Let’s take a look at a few of the high profile quarterback duels taking place throughout black college football, and project the likely winners of each.
Delaware State University - The battle to replace Vashon Winton is on in Dover. Coming into 2009, the logical choice for the starting QB gig would be Anthony Glaud, who threw for more than 500 yards in 2008 along with two touchdowns and three interceptions in sport duty for the Hornets.
But challenging Glaud will be Nick Elko, a redshirt freshman who came to DSU after a record-setting senior season as one of the top passing prospects in the state of Maryland.
Alabama State University – The Hornets have not had a reliable quarterback since Tarvaris Jackson, and its not a good sign when the frontrunner to start in 2009 is a player who missed all of 2008 with academic problems. The race has come down to junior Chris Mitchell, senior Anthony Speight, who appeared in eight games last season and finished with five touchdowns and five interceptions, and sophomore Devin Dominguez, who threw only five passes last year.
Shaw University - In normal circumstances, there would be no question about who the starter would be for the Shaw Bears. Travis Robinson threw for more than 1500 yards, 20 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in the Bears’ second-consecutive CIAA football championship-winning season. But then entered Brandon Landers, Grambling’s third all-time leading passer, who left GSU after becoming academically ineligible just prior to the 2008 season.
Of all of the black college quarterback battles, this one may be the most intriguing.
I’m sure there are plenty of other battles that I have yet to read or receive email about, so feel free to send it all on to jarrett-at-hbcusportsblog-dot-com.
Today’s Montgomery Adviser features a great story on how Alabama State University Athletic Director Monique Holland is pulling out all the stops to build a culture of compliance around the sports program. But there’s one paragraph in the article that stands out as the primary reason why Hornets athletics is in its current state of trouble.
There has been no shortage of coaches — both former and current — who complained to top university officials about the lack of oversight and monitoring. Three successive football coaches wrote letters to the school’s Board of Trustees and president asking for improvements.
Those pleas often went unanswered or completely ignored. Not any more.
Think about that for a second, and then consider if your school is in that same category of academicians and administrators looking down upon, ignoring, or underestimating the value of a smoothly-run sports program. To think that ASU could’ve avoided national embarrassment, and a near death sentence in the way of recruiting and promotion just by having the president and Board of Trustees paying attention.
