Wholesale Fire Sale - Everyone Must Go

By Craig R. Turner
bluedeathvalley.com
December 18 , 2009

First it was Kermit Blount at Winston Salem State. A week later it was James Webster at Tennessee State. Then just hours later, longtime Bethune Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt was shown the door.

This week Pete Richardson, who pulled Southern University out of the toilet and made them a SWAC powerhouse, was summarily let go after 17 years on the job.

When looking at the complete list, add these other programs that have decided to move in a new direction: Clark Atlanta, Livingstone, Alabama State, and Mississippi Valley. Not to mention the numerous coordinators and position coaches that have been kicked to the curb in the last month at Jackson State, Howard, Hampton, and Alcorn.

Now rumors are flying rampant that North Carolina Central might be looking to make a change either at the top with Moe Rison before the holidays or at least forcing him to vastly revamp his current coaching staff now that the Eagles are moving into the MEAC full time.

I don’t see NCCU buying out any contract with Moe Rison but I believe he is on a very short leash with the upgrading of the schedule the Eagles will be making the next two seasons. The usual two or three Edward Waters of the world will no longer be there to beat up on and pad the win total. There are no off weeks in the MEAC. WSSU found that out in the short time it attempted to step up on a full time basis and so will NCCU.

Every coaching situation is different from year to year, but never have I have seen so many long time head coaches with so much history of success at their institutions fired in one season.

Firing experienced successful head coaches is a very iffy proposition at best, a fact that the Aggies can truly attest to. A&T had some mild success with George Small immediately after the firing of Bill Hayes in 2002, but Small could not sustain Hayes’ in-state recruiting base and fell into quick disfavor with the fans and Alumni with back to back 4-7 seasons despite essentially having the same team that won the MEAC title in 2003.

A&T went with a FBS assistant experiment when Lee Fobbs came to town in 2006 from Texas A&M and quickly sent the program into total chaos with a 22 game losing streak.

That cost not only him his job at mid season in 2008, but also the job of former A&T Athletics Director Dee Todd some months before.

It wasn’t until A&T named Wheeler Brown, a real football guy, as its athletics director that the football program finally got back on track. Brown made a move rather quickly to replace Fobbs with Alonzo Lee who quickly won over not over the fans and players but also his share of games with untested freshmen and sophomores. Now expectations for A&T football for 2010 are quickly rising.

Of the schools that have decided to part ways with their long time coaches, they really have not spelled out a clear cut idea of what type of coach they want, nor where they expect the program to go. Instead, they have just stated they were tired of what they already had in place.

WSSU has brought Bill Hayes back from FAMU to become their AD in the midst of a huge financial deficit and letting go longtime friend and protégé Kermit Blount.

Does that mean that Hayes will go with his former quarterback and Fayetteville State offensive coordinator Connell Maynor who appears to be the logical young choice for the long haul or does he now turn to former Legendary Pete Richardson to get the Ram fan base quickly energized despite his being long in the tooth in terms of age?

My hunch here is that WSSU won’t take too long to get back to respectability if Hayes is allowed to call the shots.

How will Bethune replace an Alvin Wyatt who did so much with so much less in the way of a budget? Wyatt stacked up an incredible amount of wins and two MEAC titles and literally gave his life and soul to his alma mater, putting his program first over his own personal interest.

Realistically, unless the BCU administration promotes from within where they have some knowledge of a candidate who has proven he can work with such a tiny enrollment and alumni base, BCU had better prepare for a down period until the transition is made among both the staff and players.

There is an old story that has been floating around for a long time and I will try to paraphrase it a bit to make it family friendly.

Once, a mouse was walking and accidently fell into some fresh cow manure and starting screaming for help to get him out of the mess. A cat came wandering by and heard his cry and began to dig the little guy out. Once the cat had finished digging the mouse out, the mouse thanked the cat and the cat promptly ate him in a single gulp.

The moral: Sometimes you may be better off in dealing with the mess you’re in than asking a total stranger to provide a bail out that just might make things a lot worse.