Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 | Filed under Editorial,Headlines | Posted by HBCUDigest.comThere are a few programs in black college sports that, when healthy, the entirety of the culture has reason to smile. Southern University has long enjoyed a special place as one of those schools, with an athletic profile of famous sports alumni, world-class marching band, and national pop culture relevance that few HBCUs in the country will ever obtain.But SU is not in good health. Aside from the hiring of a controversial system president, and subsequent hiring of a dubious football coach, the university’s athletic department now appears to be on the NCAA’s radar for certification issues, the measure of which point directly to gender equity and support structure. Southern Athletic Director Greg LaFleur has publicly said that the issues are fixable, and should have no impact on the university reaffirming its Division I status.Even though he and now-departed Chancellor Dr. Kofi Lomotey bemoaned the near-certainty of SU having to move to Division II because of an already diminished department with a bloated budget and bulk of which allotted for football.SU’s Board of Trustees have publicly said that the problems are real and worse than presently described by LaFleur. From Diverse Issues:Southern Associate Provost Jacqueline Howard-Matthews, who is chairing the certification committee, says LaFleur was not being forthcoming about all the problems. She says the school has “serious issues” with gender equity rules and a lack of academic support for its athletes.Howard-Matthews says there are only two employees providing support for student athletes — and one has other duties — for about 350 student athletes.“That is going to get us serious problems with the NCAA,” she says.The root of the problem seems to be most conveniently traced to the economy. The Southern University System has been among the hardest hit in the country with budget cuts and reductions to staff and service offerings. But there’s rarely one root that sustains a tree and one root that kills it, and the harsh reality for the leaders of Southern is that their strongest root, football, is its most toxic.And to remove the toxicity from the base of the school’s success, the groundskeeper has to be uprooted.In 2010, LaFleur hired his close friend to steward one of the proudest and most successful black college football programs in the nation. In turn, SU posted one of its most dismal seasons in school history, lost fans, and significantly affected the value of its brand. Homecoming against Mississippi Valley State University was the sole home game that yielded attendance over 19,000 for SU – a sad indictment for a facility seating more than 28,000. The last home games of the year against eventual SWAC championship game participants Texas Southern and Alabama State brought a combined 16,800 Jag fans.Because of LaFleur, the Bayou Classic will likely spiral down over the next 2-4 seasons even if a new coach is brought in and a new system and recruits installed. An unmatched rivalry in tradition and significance to HBCU football culture has been compromised because of a lack of personnel management skill, creative marketing, and general leadership competence.Thanks to LaFleur, glaring issues with Title IX compliance, departmental support and transparency with fans and school leadership were ignored or downplayed to the present point of crisis. While compliance is not a buzz word that quickly resonates with fans and corporate sponsors, negative headlines, lost scholarships and public censuring do.For too long, LaFleur has been able to blame a poor economy for Southern’s struggles. Yet, Grambling State University, which made $2 million less than Southern in total revenues and reported no profit in 2009-10 to Southern’s $81,000 in profit, has not faced the same NCAA scrutiny or public scorn from its fan base.And while much of this problem is squarely on LaFleur, Board Chairman Tony Clayton is as much to blame for the internal failure as anyone else. His involvement in coaching searches, his direction of the Bayou Classic, and other athletic management issues have provided a culture of zero oversight for such a great program to falter. It’s convenient for Clayton to throw LaFleur under the bus when reports are issued, but fans and leadership alike all assume that LaFleur moves in the direction in which Clayton points.And there’s little evidence to counter the assumption.SU will likely keep its certification, but it comes down to a harsh reality for Southern University and Jaguar Nation. Advocate for a move to Division II and allow a reduced budget to immunize the program from the meddling of LaFleur and Clayton, or remove the person most directly involved with SU’s recent failures.Posted by HBCUDigest.com on Tuesday, December 28th, 2010. Filed under Editorial, Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
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WOAH, What's going on at Southern? Makes the school look bad. SU has been getting hard, bad football season, HBO hazing documentary and now this and right when people are making up there minds to attend the university. Not good at all.
i totally agree he shouldve been gone when he gave away home games to play in other venues ie. gulf coast classic and boombox classic.there is no way to fix this mess than to fire him now and let the new AD fire that so called coach.lefleur has made nothing but terrible decisions since he's been at southern.there were days when all of southern's athletic programs were at the top of the swac now we r pretty much hovering towards the bottom and A CHANGE HAS TO BE MADE.
Dee Dee said:
I HAVE BEEN SAYING GET RID OF LAFLEUR AND THE JACKASSES THAT RODE IN WITH HIM (PAMELA SMITH HIS ASSIST AD). SHE'S A MESS AND HAS TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
True story. I have commented on my homeboy who's a current Southern student before. He has generations vested into that program from his father on back, and I knew something was wrong when his family stopped attending the games. They're the BIGGEST Southern football fans I know. This is bad. I hope they get rid of that guy.
Well, Tony Clayton has already said that he is stepping down, and 5 spots are open on the SU Board of Supervisors. Signs are pointing to LaFleur getting sent out as well. The only problem is that Jindal is the one that appoints those Board replacements. We got the Chancellor out, Tony Clayton out, and Lafleur is the last piece of the puzzle.
I am not going to put the blame on Coach Mitchell because our attendance numbers were slumping under Pete Richardson as well. It is not like Coach Richardson was cranking out championships during his last 5 years either. You couple that with all of the SWAC West teams improving, and the football team was pretty much in trouble. I won't judge him off of one year, let him finish his 3 years first, then I will call for his head or call for a contract extension. 2-9 could have easily been 6-5 if the players would have made those plays at the goal line and not allow a team to heave the ball down the field between 3 defenders and score a touchdown with 2 seconds left.
The Title IX issues are because of controversy over building a new baseball stadium, and not building a new softball stadium.
Especially when you make a open comment like that for the young people to see and get discouraged..
Chad Green said:
WOAH, What's going on at Southern? Makes the school look bad. SU has been getting hard, bad football season, HBO hazing documentary and now this and right when people are making up there minds to attend the university. Not good at all.
Editorial: Southern Athletics – A Black College Cornerstone Crumbling
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 | Filed under Editorial,Headlines | Posted by HBCUDigest.com
There are a few programs in black college sports that, whe…
Replies
Dee Dee said:
Well, Tony Clayton has already said that he is stepping down, and 5 spots are open on the SU Board of Supervisors. Signs are pointing to LaFleur getting sent out as well. The only problem is that Jindal is the one that appoints those Board replacements. We got the Chancellor out, Tony Clayton out, and Lafleur is the last piece of the puzzle.
I am not going to put the blame on Coach Mitchell because our attendance numbers were slumping under Pete Richardson as well. It is not like Coach Richardson was cranking out championships during his last 5 years either. You couple that with all of the SWAC West teams improving, and the football team was pretty much in trouble. I won't judge him off of one year, let him finish his 3 years first, then I will call for his head or call for a contract extension. 2-9 could have easily been 6-5 if the players would have made those plays at the goal line and not allow a team to heave the ball down the field between 3 defenders and score a touchdown with 2 seconds left.
The Title IX issues are because of controversy over building a new baseball stadium, and not building a new softball stadium.
Chad Green said: