Former Tuskegee athletic director Anthony Holloman has been named Vice-President of Institutional Advancement at South Carolina State University. Holloman, who has a history of exemplary fundraising at Tuskegee and Tennessee State, will begin his tenure at S.C. State on January 16.
Holloman had served as TU athletic director since October 2008, when he replaced Stacy Danley, who was fired after one year at the helm.
And I’m obviously asking that in an exaggerated kind of way, because clearly some people attended yesterday’s Pioneer Bowl. But between the slipshod planning by the CIAA and SIAC for this event and the overwhelming performance of Tuskegee over Elizabeth City State in their 21-7 win, it may have been appropriate for just a few folks to travel to South Carolina for a bowl game that never should have been played.
At least, that’s the story this slideshow tells. Maybe one of the reported 1,892 fans in attendance can tell me a different story.
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.
The Pioneer Bowl was canceled in 2008, with both conferences citing a desire to develop better planning for the event. Translation – the price wasn’t right; either for the conferences, or for the City of Columbia.
So, the Pioneer Bowl is back on, and features a conference champion in Tuskegee and a would-be champion in Elizabeth City State. The match-up seems good enough, but the timing, Lord the timing. The CIAA and SIAC officially have two weeks and three days to fill up an 11,000 seat stadium with fan bases out of Alabama and North Carolina in early December.
Yeah. Good luck with that. If we’re lucky, we might get an update to the Pioneer Bowl website by the end of the day.
Tuskegee fans have paraded in and around my email all night to bring spices and seasoning for this morning’s serving of crow. I knew it would be close, I knew it would be an instant classic. But I never would’ve expected Tuskegee to defeat Albany State 21-19 and position itself for another SIAC conference title.
The dynasty may be dead, but the talent and timing of the Golden Tigers is alive and well. TU’s final drive was a slick balance of running and passing – deft playcalling that resulted in 90 yards in eight plays in just one minute and 28 seconds. This without their starting quarterback Jeremy Williams, who left the game in the second half with an injury.
You could say that everything FAMU-SCSU was to the MEAC, Albany State-Tuskegee may be to the SIAC. There is no question that the Rams are on the path that Tuskegee tread just a season ago; a dominant quarterback leads a dynamic offense paired with an opportunistic defense. The SIAC suffers as a result, but this time, the Division II playoff picture will be shaped by their inclusion.
But there’s just one thing. ASU has to beat Tuskegee to take one step closer to a perfect reality.
The Tuskegee Golden Tigers have lost more games this season than they did in their previous two.
The Morehouse Maroon Tigers were picked by many to upset the SIAC football championship this year.
The Tuskegee-Morehouse Classic is make or break time for both of these programs. The winner of this game has a chance to carry the momentum on the road against Albany State in the coming weeks. The loser will fall back in the chase of the Rams, with only the promise of next year’s opportunity.
The Circle City Classic is now in the books, as Alabama A&M made second-half light work of Tuskegee, 35-15.
But in yesterday’s preview of the Circle City Classic in the Indianapolis Star, yours truly had a quote in the story. Hopefully, I did as much good in talking up black college football as black college football alums Robert Mathis and Antoine Bethea.
Let me know what you think about my quote, and the story. The story, in my opinion, is really spot on in capturing what is exciting and appealing about black college football. Cheers to Jeff Rabjhons for putting the work in on the story and the history of black college football classics.
And jeers to Rabjohns for citing the blog as hbcusports.com.
I’ve long said that Dr. Benjamin Payton is one of the visionary black college presidents when it comes to developing athletics. And he’s made another innovative move that I hope resonates throughout black college football with the announcement of Anthony Holloman as the new athletic director of TU.
“Mr. Holloman has developed significant fund raising experiences that are important requirements for this new role” said Payton.
This is what the direction of black college sports always should have been. For far too long, programs have named former athletes, unproven, recycled executives from other programs, and great minds from generations ago to run the show. Holloman is the exact kind of individual that Tuskegee and every other black college athletic program in the United States needs to move into the future of collegiate marketing and development.
In a word? Yep.
That’s the thing about dynasties. There’s far more work in maintaining them then creating them. One season of perfection was just that for the Golden Tigers; a black college football “national championship,” an amped-up fan base in Alabama, and the hatred of the entire SIAC.
