I wonder what James J Griffin Jr. and James Harris are thinking? These on-air personalities had the privilege of working in 1982 at what was then KTLD—Tallulah (LA) with maybe, simultaneously, the worst and best country music disc jockey in the history of radio. That would be me! I was horrible if you liked country music…great if you couldn’t stand country, probably reveling in my cutting off country music classics in mid-twang for, what I perceived to be, the betterment of my show. Mr. Griffin once invited me to be a fill-in soul disc jockey at the FM sister station. For some strange, inexplicable reason, I was never invited back!
I’d imagine James and James are not thinking about “Soul Fine” (my on-air name during my 1 soul show). But as big sports fans and alumni of Southern University, I hope they’re outraged. I know I am. A great man and terrific football coach, Pete Richardson,
was fired by Southern earlier this week. How tragic.
Richardson had a great record at Southern—134-62 in 17 years at the helm of Jaguar-nation. This includes 4 Black national championships, 5 SWAC championships and, most impressively, a 12-5 record in the Bayou Classic. In fact, he defeated Eddie Robinson in the first 5 years that Richardson coached against the legendary coach. On any list of great SWAC football coaches, once you mention “Coach Rob”, Ace Mumford, and a few others, Coach Richardson’s name has to appear. In addition to producing a winning program, Coach Richardson always carried himself with class and dignity.
But, in the what have you done for me lately world of sports, I guess Richardson hasn’t done enough. The last 2 years, Southern has been a 6-5 team. In the last 5 years, the Jaguars have also had 2 losing season. They’ve not won the SWAC since 2003. Grambling has controlled the Bayou Classic, winning 4 of the last 6 games. Admittedly, in the Jaguars last game of the year vs. Texas Southern, Coach Richardson was subject to very harsh but fair criticism of his coaching. (In the waning moments of the game, the Jaguars were confused as to how many time-outs Texas Southern had remaining. The scoreboard initially said TSU was out of time-outs. Then it said 2 time-outs. Clinging to a 2 point lead, Southern ended up kneeling down prematurely and had to punt the ball away. TSU scored and won the game. How in the world Richardson and his staff were not 100% certain how many TOs TSU had left is beyond me. If they didn’t know, then don’t snap the ball until you’ve unequivocally clarified the time-out situation with the officials. Mind boggling. On the surface, this, comparatively, makes LSU coach Les Miles look like a genius in the final 26 seconds vs Ole Miss.)
Why has the Southern program been average to mediocre for much of the last 5 years? The biggest reason is facilities, or lack thereof. Secondly, the Southern athletics administration, or lack thereof. Thirdly, Southern fans, like most fans, are front-runners. Richardson, himself, comes in a very distant fourth.
Throughout his entire tenure, Richardson has had to work with sub-standard facilities. Most high schools in Louisiana are more impressive. In the early part of the decade, “Coach Pete” was promised a major upgrade. Just this year, Southern football has moved into new offices, locker rooms and there’ve been other improvements. Whereas other programs in the SWAC (and IAA programs in Louisiana that Southern recruits against) already had better tools to work with and were making improvements, Southern just withered away, putting Richardson at a major disadvantage.
Greg LaFleur is a talented guy. But, the Southern AD really doesn’t run his program. That would be the Southern Board of Supervisors and, most prominently, their Chairman, Tony Clayton. This is a perfect prescription for athletics department/football disaster. Want to know why LSU was a very average football/athletics program for much of the last 25 years of the last Century? Because its Board of Supervisors meddled, were high profile, often making LSU athletics a 3-ring circus. Then Mark Emmert came in. Nick Saban was hired and given everything he demanded, quickly. Skip Bertman became AD and was given the resources to make things work. There was clear leadership by qualified, full-time, athletics or athletics oriented people. You didn’t hear anything from Board of Supervisors members anymore. And LSU has won, big. And, by and large, operated efficiently. You want Barnum and Bailey. It’s moved from South Baton Rouge to the Bluffs. Clayton is the ringleader.
How bad is it? This year, Southern played a home game against arch-rival #2, Jackson State, in Mississippi. The Jaguars moved a home game to Mississippi in order to make money! Are you kidding me? Can you imagine LSU moving a home game vs Ole Miss to Mississippi (in the extraordinarily ridiculous hypothetical situation) if it would generate a lot more dough? Sure, times are tough. But, under no circumstances can you relinquish a home conference game and move it to your opponent’s place. This made an absolute mockery of Southern football.
Southern fans have stopped showing up. The team is so-so. So, fickle fans are staying away. And, yes, the economy has not helped out. Football is big business on the college level. I’d imagine there’s been a precipitous drop in revenue. Pete Richardson becomes the fall guy.
Some great names are affiliated with Southern University sports: Mel Blount, Lou Brock, Roger Cador, Harold Carmichael, Marino Casem, Tombstone Jackson, Avery Johnson, Ben Jobe, Butterbean Love, Rod Milburn, A.W. Mumford , PETE RICHARDSON, Isiah Robertson, Ricky Weeks, Aeneas Williams and many others come to mind. There is a proud tradition, many great memories, many great moments. The last week has been a nadir. Right now, Southern University and Southern University sports have been greatly tarnished.
There’s an old country/crossover song by Johnny Paycheck. It was one of the few songs I enjoyed listening to as a disc jockey in Tallulah. I’m sure not too many folks at Southern are playing “Take This Job And Shove It”. Pete Richardson would have been perfectly justified in telling the Southern higher-ups several times throughout the years this message. But, he’s too classy and soldiered on. How ironic. With indefensible neglect, Southern’s Board of Supervisors created the perfect, ideal conditions for Richardson to fail. Then, as any coach would struggle under these trying conditions, Richardson did and he’s fired for his hire-ups malfeasance. Pete Richardson deserves a lot better. This is a disgrace, an absolute travesty.
************************************************************************
Instant replay is here to stay. If anyone had a question about its sustenance, the end of the Texas-Nebraska Big 12 championship should silence all doubters. Initially, on the field, it was ruled that time had expired after Colt McCoy threw the ball out of bounds. The play was reviewed. It was determined that the ball hit the ground with 1 second left.
Given a reprieve, Texas kicked the 46 yard game winning field goal. Final Score: Texas 13 Nebraska 12. Without instant replay, the wrong team wins. Texas is denied a shot at a national championship. (They’ll get blown out by Alabama anyway, but that’s besides the point!)….Colt McCoy, and to a large extent, Mack Brown almost blew it. Well, they did blow it, but were very fortunate that there, after instant replay, was a tick left on the clock. Again, Les Miles is a genius, relatively speaking, in the waning moments of the Ole Miss game…Of course, Texas won, so all is forgotten by Horns’ fans and the Texas
administration. In fact, Texas’ amnesia will now cost the UT athletics department $5,100,000/year for the one-time Tulane head man’s services. Brown’s contract was re-worked this week to make him the highest paid coach in college football. One would think that this doesn’t happen if Texas doesn’t advance to the National Championship game.—Certainly, not this week. If he wasn’t previously, I bet Mack Brown is now a big fan of instant replay in college football!
************************************************************************
Hard to criticize Saints mastermind Sean Payton about anything right now. The only thing Saints fans could quibble with is his replay strategy. This was epitomized by Payton challenging Sedric Ellis’ fumble in the Patriots game. Ironically enough, last Sunday, Payton came up with his most brilliant tactical utilization of replay without tossing the red flag. By calling timeout in overtime, this gave officials enough time to realize that they needed to review Chris McAlister’s tackle of Washington’s Mike Sellers. (In overtime, all reviews must come from officials. Coaches are not allowed to challenge calls.) It was determined that the ball was dislodged before Sellers was down. Saints ball. A short time later: Final Score: N.O. 33 Washington 30…Great job Chris. Now here’s your pink slip. McAlister was waived by the Saints on Wednesday.
Great news and bad news for Saints fans with Arizona defeating Minnesota 30-17 on Sunday night. The great news is that the Saints now have a 2 game lead over Minnesota with 4 games to play. So, the magic number is now 3—any combination of Saints wins and Vikings losses that add up to 3 in the last 4 weeks of the regular season and the Saints have Dome field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. (Unless the Saints (12-0) lose their next 4 and Dallas (8-4) wins their last 4.—The Cowboys would have the tie-breaker having beaten the Saints. Arizona and Green Bay are 8-4, too, and if either of them share 12-4 records with the Saints, they would control the tie-breaker because of a better conference record than New Orleans. Philly is 8-4, but they can’t top the Saints, because the Saints defeated them earlier. So, the Saints Magic Number vs. Dallas, Arizona and Green Bay is 1. I have a better shot of a date with Sandra Bullock than any of these 3 teams catching the Saints!) That’s huge. The bad news? If the Saints clinch prior to the last week of the season, there’s a pretty good chance that Payton will be very judicious in playing his starters, perhaps treating a game/games like he would pre-season. Winning in the playoffs then becomes the #1 objective. Remaining regular season games become meaningless. In such a scenario, the Saints chances of a perfect 16-0 regular season probably go out the window.
Oh, it just occurred to me. There is still one thing that we still question Payton about. He’s a good friend of singer Kenny Chesney, subjecting him to country music! Then again, maybe this is another shrewd tactical move by the Saints Head Coach. Peyton Manning is also a good friend of Chesney. The Colts and the Saints are both 12-0. That makes Chesney’s buddies 24-0!
************************************************************************
Sources indicate that there is a strong possibility that Alabama Defensive Coordinator Kirby Smart will become the Defensive Coordinator at Florida State. Reportedly, Smart and FSU coach Jimbo Fisher, who worked together at LSU, are good friends. SportsGumbo reported this last Friday morning. Not sure if this story might change, though. as Florida lost defensive coordinator to become the head guy at Louisville….Sad story about former Hornets guard Kirk Snyder, who has had all sorts of problems since leaving the NBA. Most recently, he was imprisoned for allegedly removing an electronic monitor. Snyder is facing charges of a home break-in. Snyder, whom the Hornets dealt a number 1 draft pick for in 2005, played for the Bees for only 1 season. Interestingly enough, he played college ball at Nevada, where his coach was present LSU head guy Trent Johnson… Recent USA Today clip lists wins by a DI team without winning a national championship. West Virginia, with 681, tops the list. Fourth on the list: North Carolina, with 647. LSU plays both in 2010. (Second: Va Tech, Third: Miami (Ohio)…Kicking great Jason Elam was not so great in 2009 and was recently released by Atlanta. Elam shares the record for the longest field goal in NFL history—63 yards– with Tom Dempsey of the Saints. Dempsey did it vs. Detroit in 1971. Elam, with the Broncos, tied this mark in 1998 vs Jacksonville…One more Louisiana tie-in that is a few weeks old, but, I think is very interesting. Kinda surprised that I’ve not read about this previously. Infamous 4th and 2 Belichick Sunday Night Football call has some very strong Louisiana connections. Pass went to Kevin Faulk of Carencro HS and LSU fame. Winning touchdown pass was from Peyton Manning (Newman HS, New Orleans) to Reggie Wayne (John Ehret HS, Merrero LA). Who kicked the winning extra point in the Colts 35-34 victory over the Patriots? None other than Louisiana Tech’s Matt Stover. Play prior to pass to Wayne? Ball carrier was Joseph Addai (LSU). And, perhaps in somewhat of a reach in establishing all of these Louisiana ties in the 4th and 2 controversy: you might remember that maybe just about the only successful coach (collegiately anyway) from the Belichick coaching tree is Alabama coach Nick Saban. If I recall correctly, there might just be some connection to Saban and the state of Louisiana!
———————–
Jon Fine, Producer, SportsGumbo.net
Jon Fine CO-hosts and produces SportsGumbo M–F, 8am-9am on radio stations in the River Parishes/Baton Rouge (KKAY, 1590AM), New Orleans (ESPN, 1560AM) and Lake Charles (KEZM, 1310AM). Most weeks, Jon is on Monday–Thursday…Jon also produces and calls play-by-play for Denham Springs HS football and basketball …and is the producer of THE High School Sports Show (all on The Score, 1210AM, Fox Sports Radio, in Baton Rouge). With Rick Cantu, Jon was co-founder of the SportsGumbo.net Broadcasting Network
