The time that ... Maurice Clarett considered a transfer to Grambling

Wait for greatness?: Reports have Clarett pondering move to GSU
September 9, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State's Doug Williams spent all day talking about Maurice Clarett - perhaps the nation's best collegiate runner, but perhaps one without a school.

A writer from ESPN called. Some of Williams' friends in the National Football League, too. And a lot - a whole lot - of college representatives.

Both Williams and GSU athletics director Albert Dennis confirmed that they had not heard from the sophomore running back on Monday.

In fact, the only person Williams didn't talk to, he joked, was Clarett.

"That's been the talk of the day," Williams said, chuckling. "We've gotten calls from all over."

Clarett helped lead Ohio State to its first national championship since 1970 last season - and has been in trouble with the NCAA ever since.

Still, when the ESPN guy called, GSU's sixth-year coach was typically blunt: "I don't think a headache comes with the kid. He didn't shoot anybody. They didn't arrest him for drugs. He didn't rape anybody. Ain't no problem with the kid."

The New York Times broke a story this summer indicating that Clarett could have received preferential help with exams last season. Then the NCAA made inquiries into gifts that Clarett allegedly received that could be related to a possible relationship with an agent.

Clarett was held out of practices, then suspended for six games.

Next came a traffic stop, one where Clarett said he was "test driving" a car that was suspiciously loaded to the roof with video and stereo equipment. Then he gave a false report concerning who the stuff belonged to.

The NCAA is now investigating that - and there is some indication that Ohio State isn't optimistic about Clarett's eventual return.

News reports had Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel staging a team picture this Wednesday - with no spot saved for the troubled running back.

In steps NFL legend Jim Brown, who has become an advisor for the Clarett family - and is a friend of Doug Williams'.

On a Saturday night radio program, Brown strongly suggested - should Clarett be declared ineligible for the Buckeyes - that he consider transfer to Grambling State.

"I think that if the Claretts would consider transferring, Grambling would be an ideal situation for the kid," Brown told ESPN Radio's Bob Valvano. "Doug Williams is a great coach. He could hone his game. He'd be in school. It's a great situation. Doug would be perfect for the kid, but that's up to him and his mother."

If Clarett were to transfer down to I-AA Grambling, he would have to sit out the remainder of the 2003 season - but could start in 2004, setting himself up for a look in the NFL draft the following spring.

The earliest Clarett could be in Black and Gold would be the spring game of 2004 - but only after first serving whatever NCAA sanctions are eventually handed down. He would also have to enroll this year, and remain eligible to play throughout his suspension.

Williams says to be mentioned as a possible landing spot for what many thought would be a Heisman Trophy candidate speaks volumes about where the program is headed - and where it's been.

A third-straight Southwestern Athletic Conference championship in 2002 was just the latest signature moment, he reminds, in a Grambling State legacy that includes countless NFL draftees - and four Pro Football Hall of Famers.

"Grambling brings national visibility," Williams said, "even if we are I-AA. Scouts are coming here every day. That means he's getting everything that he would have gotten there - except 100,000 people at the game."

The talk of a new running back of Clarett's talent and speed would be welcome news for GSU team that's always trying to balance its offense.

Quarterback Bruce Eugene led Division I-AA in total offense and points scored - but he was also the team's second leading rusher. That trend remained on Saturday in the Tigers' first SWAC game of the year.

Williams can only imagine what it would mean to have Eugene handing off instead to Clarett - who had 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.

"We don't have a Maurice Clarrett. It would be a big difference," Williams said. "It would take a lot of pressure off of Bruce. There's nothing I can do, but keep my phone line clear."

With that, Williams - understandably - excused himself and hung up.

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Ohio State officially releases Clarett, sparking local interest
September 10, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - The first in a sequence of events that could bring one of the nation's best collegiate running backs to an area school has happened.

Tuesday, Ohio State released Maurice Clarett - the hero of the Buckeyes' national championship game earlier this year - from his scholarship with the school. The move came hours after Clarett was charged with lying about items stolen from him in a borrowed car - part of a string of off-field problems since the Fiesta Bowl.

Northeastern Louisiana entered the narrative when the Clarett family's adviser in this matter, Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, encouraged Clarett to transfer to Grambling State University - should he be released by Ohio State.

That happened on Tuesday - though NCAA penalties have yet to be decided.

Brown suggested Clarett's transfer over the weekend on an ESPN radio program, though no one at Grambling State has yet heard from him or his family.

"We could use him," said sixth-year GSU coach Doug Williams. "I don't think Ohio State would have won the national championship without Maurice Clarett."

Williams entered a Tuesday news conference dominated by talk of Clarett carrying a Tigers jersey with No. 13 on it. "That's what he would wear," he joked. "Isn't that what most of the questions will be about?"

Williams didn't have any more information about the possible move - though he met with his offensive coaches to discuss the possibility of having the talented rusher join the Tigers, who have just begun defending their third-consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference title.

"It would alter our offense to more of a running attack," Williams said, "and would take some pressure off of (junior quarterback) Bruce Eugene. It would give us a chance to win a fourth straight."

Clarett was charged, according to the Associated Press, with misdemeanor falsification, said Columbus, Ohio, city spokesman Scott Varner. If convicted, Clarett could face up to six months in a jail and a $1,000 fine.

Clarett had already been suspended indefinitely by the team after charges of academic irregularities and improper gifts. Ohio State has been working for more than two weeks on a response to several pages of allegations sent by the NCAA to the university.

New allegations of cash transactions were raised by a Cleveland television station on Monday. "It's out of our hands," Williams said of the latest charges. "That would be up to the NCAA."

If Clarett transferred to another Division I-A school, he would have to sit out a year in addition to any suspension or ineligibility handed down by the NCAA. He could transfer to a Division I-AA, II or III and be immediately eligible to play after the possible penalties.

Williams said Tuesday that he learned about Jim Brown's suggestion of a transfer - and of each new wrinkle in the Clarett case - from the Internet and news reports. He said Brown's faith in his coaching abilities was a tip of the hat to GSU.

"He has a lot of respect for what we have done here at Grambling," Williams said of Brown. "I think he feels, as an adviser, that Maurice would need someone he can relate to a lot better than some other places."

NCAA spokeswoman Kay Hawes would not speak to the Associated Press about the Clarett case but did say that if a suspended or ineligible player transferred, the athlete's new school would first have to declare him ineligible, and would then seek his reinstatement through the organization.

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NCAA leaves Clarett with trio of options
· Troubled running back hit with suspension, not banned from playing.
September 11, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The NCAA handed down a season-long suspension Wednesday for troubled Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, but didn't ban him from playing.

With an earlier release from the football team already announced, Clarett now faces three options:

· Give up collegiate football and go to class.

· Petition the NFL for early entry into the draft.

· Transfer to a Division I-AA school - some have said it might be Grambling State, where regulations state Clarett would be eligible to play his junior year before reaching the required age for pro draft.

Players must wait until three years after their high school graduation to enter the NFL. Clarett will be a sophomore this season.

GSU coach Doug Williams, who learned of Clarett's possible interest in the Tigers on the Internet, says the first two possibilities are unlikely - in particular, petitioning the NFL.

"The unfortunate part about challenging the rule," Williams said, "is that he would probably never get the opportunity to reap the benefits. The NFL would drag the case out so long, that he would be eligible for the draft anyway."

Jim Brown, a family advisor, first raised the possibility that the NCAA's most electrifying runner - Clarett scored the game-winning touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl on his last play for the Buckeyes - might transfer to the Lincoln Parish school to finish out his college eligibility.

That set off a national media maelstrom, including stories on ESPN and FOX, on the wire services and in most major newspapers.

Like Brown, Williams has insisted that Clarett needs more football experience - and that, sure, Grambling would be a great option - before the running back contemplating joining the NFL.

"It's silly to question Williams and Brown on this point," columnist Michael Wilbon wrote in the Wednesday edition of The Washington Post. "One is a Super Bowl MVP and the other the greatest football player ever."

Even so, Williams is not allowed by NCAA rule to contact Clarett.

"No, I'll call (current Grambling running backs) Ab Kuuan and Rueben Mays," Williams said, and laughed loudly.

So, he remains pragmatic. "Even if (Clarett) comes here," Williams said, "he'll still have to serve the suspension that the NCAA has imposed upon him."

Clarett, who is accused of lying to the NCAA, school investigators and the police through a series of troubles this off-season, will get to keep his scholarship at Ohio State, school officials said. But his attorney told the Associated Press: "He's considering his options right now."

The NCAA and Ohio State continue to investigate Clarett. The school has been working for more than two weeks on a response to a multi-page set of allegations from the NCAA.

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Clarett turns focus to NFL
· Suspended RB will now try to enter pro league; GSU still waiting on a call.
September 15, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
There's a reason why Grambling State coach Doug Williams didn't hear from suspended Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett this week.

"My lines must be down," Williams joked. "They ain't ringing."

No, Clarett - who was being encouraged by family advisor Jim Brown to transfer to GSU - has decided to ask that the NFL change its eligibility rules instead.

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday that Clarett's attorneys have requested that he be allowed to play early. Tagliabue said NFL lawyers would discuss the situation, perhaps next week.

The NFL stipulates that players wait three years after high school graduation to play. Clarett, who was suspended for one year this week over various NCAA violations, is a sophomore.

This signals the presumptive end to a flirtation with GSU that began with a phone call from an old friend of Williams'.

Jacksonville Jaguars executive James "Shack" Harris, a Carroll High and GSU alum, asked Williams on Sept. 7 what he thought of Clarett.

"We talk all the time," Williams said, so he thought nothing of it. "I told him I think he is a hell of a running back. He said, `OK, I'll call you back.' Evidently, he and (Clarett family advisor) Jim Brown had been talking."

When Williams got home, he discovered just what that call meant while browsing the World Wide Web.

"You go to the Internet, you find out that Maurice was considering coming to Grambling," Williams said. "I didn't know that's what James was talking about. I'm thinking that Jacksonville was trying to find a way to get him into camp."

Williams met with his offensive coaches early last week, as the buzz about the Buckeye got louder.

A running back of his caliber, Williams said, would have meant a change in the team's pass-oriented scheme behind SWAC offensive player of the week Bruce Eugene.

"We would find a way to throw it as much as we ran it. We had talked about giving it to him 25 to 30 times. But all that was hypothetical. Now, we'll just have to throw it 60," he said, and chuckled.

Tagliabue told the AP that the NFL remains opposed to changing its age restriction, instituted 13 years ago with the agreement of the Players' Association.

Reporters also asked Tagliabue, a former NFL lawyer, about the possibility of the rule being overturned by a lawsuit: "My feeling as commissioner is that we have a very strong case and that we'll win it."

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NCAA checks GSU's actions over Clarett
September 25, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Troubled football star Maurice Clarett apparently won't be coming to Grambling State University, but the NCAA could be.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is investigating comments made by coach Doug Williams concerning the suspended Ohio State running back - indicating that they could have been a violation of recruiting rules.

Both Williams and GSU athletics director Al Dennis have consistently said they never spoke to Clarett - who was widely reported in early September to be considering a transfer down to the Division I-AA school.

But the inquiry refers to a section of the regulations stipulating that colleges may not contact a student-athlete at another NCAA or NAIA four-year institution - even indirectly - without written permission from the player's current athletics director.

Specifically mentioned is an article posted at www.thenewsstar.com on Sept. 9 and a televised news conference the next day on campus. "They are saying that we indirectly made contact with the kid" through the media, Dennis said.

GSU received notice in a letter from Chris Strobel, the NCAA's director of enforcement for secondary infractions, on Sept. 15 asking for more information.

"All of these comments attributed to him were in response to questions being asked," Dennis said - noting that the story appeared nationally on ESPN when Clarett family adviser Jim Brown mentioned Grambling State as a possible transfer option.

Dennis also confirmed that Grambling State never received any clearance to talk to Clarett and GSU wasn't seeking it. "When all of this broke, our registration was already closed. He wasn't coming to Grambling, anyway," Dennis said.

Calls to Strobel were not returned on Wednesday. The letter doesn't mention possible sanctions or a deadline for responding.

"I'm puzzled by the idea that we would get a letter, if there was no contact by either party," Williams said.

He then said he suspects that entering a Sept. 9 news conference while carrying a No. 13 GSU jersey sparked this inquiry. Clarett wore that number at Ohio State.

"I was poking fun at the local media that I see every week," Williams said. "This is very small. There are a whole lot of things that have happened with Clarett that are bigger than poking fun with a No. 13 jersey. I find it hard to believe."

The jersey, Dennis reminds, belongs to current Grambling State punter Darien Morgan.

"This wasn't an attempt to contact Clarett," Dennis said. "If he's asked a question - would you like to have a player of Clarett's ability on your team? - can that be construed as trying to contact him? We don't see it that way."

Clarett has since apparently decided to forgo the rest of his college eligibility, announcing his would sue for early entry into the NFL draft this week.

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Transcript from Sept. 9 news conference at GSU
September 25, 2003
Coach Doug Williams enters as media members discuss possible Maurice Clarett transfer to Grambling State)

Williams: Good morning. Hot topic, today, huh? By the way, I brought a jersey today. (Holds up No. 13 GSU jersey.) You probably didn't think I had a No. 13. That's what he'd wear!

The News-Star's Nick Deriso: What are you talking about coach? Who?

(Laughter)

Williams: I don't know! That's what all the questions are going to be about this morning, ain't they?

(More laughter.)

After opening comments about the previous week's opponent, Alcorn State.

KTBS-Shreveport's Tim Fletcher: Coach, have you heard from Maurice Clarett?

The (Ruston) Daily Leader's O.K. Davis: Or anybody associated with him?

Williams: No, the only thing I've heard was actually this morning on ESPN. From what I've heard on ESPN, it doesn't sound like he's going to play anywhere. From what they said, Ohio State has supposedly finished their report and they realized he had taken some cash - which would probably make him ineligible anywhere he would go. That's what I heard this morning on ESPN.

Davis: So he's not going to Southern, either.

Williams: That's good news. (GSU assistants) Coach Spears and I, Coach White and Coach Hayes, were in there yesterday talking about our game plan, thinking about our running attack, to take some pressure off Bruce Eugene. But now, we just got to go back to doing what we've been doing.

Davis: If that report is true, would most schools back off?

Williams: That would be out of our hands. All of that would NCAA's business.

Fletcher: What would be the advantage of him coming to Grambling?

Williams: We'd have Maurice Clarett - and a lot of other people wouldn't. We could use him. If you look at it, 1,267 yards and 16 TDs - I don't think Ohio State would have won the national championship without Maurice Clarett. I figure, if we had him, it would give us a chance to win a fourth straight.

Fletcher: What's the advantage for Maurice?

Williams: Gives him an opportunity to play and help us win a championship - and to continue his education.

Davis: Would you run him more than five times a game?

Williams: We would find a way to throw it as much as we ran it. We had talked about giving it to him 25 to 30 times. But all that was hypothetical. Now that we probably won't have him, we'll just have to throw it 60.

Unidentified television reporter: I'm just curious what your reaction was when you heard about all this.

Williams: Actually, it was surprising. Saturday morning, (Jacksonville Jaguars executive) James Harris called me - he and I talk all the time. Evidently, he and (Clarett family adviser) Jim Brown had been talking. He called me and asked me what I thought about Clarett. I didn't know exactly what he was talking about. I said, I think he's a hell of running back. (Laughter). He said, I'll call you back. The next thing I know, when I get home, you go to the Internet and find out that Maurice considered coming to Grambling. That's what James was talking about when he asked me what I thought. I was thinking that the Jacksonville Jaguars were trying to figure out a way to get him to camp. Actually, he and Jim Brown had been talking, if his family agreed and if everything was all right at Ohio State, that he could transfer here.

Fletcher: Jim Brown mentioned specifically how playing for you would be an advantage. How did that make you feel?

Williams: I've known Jim for some time and I've got a lot of respect for him - and he has a lot of respect for what we have done here at Grambling. As the adviser, he felt like Maurice would need somebody he could go and relate to a lot better than at other places.

(After several comments about appealing the NFL Draft rule and the next week's opponent, Alabama A&M, Williams gets up to leave.)

Fletcher: One more about Clarett. What's your plan now? Do you just sit back and wait, or you gonna call James Harris or call Jim Brown?

Williams: No, I'm gonna call (GSU running backs) Ab Kuaan and Rueben Mays. That's what I've got. (More laughter.) That's what I've got to work with. That's all I can do. Right now, Clarett does not bother me, because I never talked to him, never talked to his family, never talked to Jim Brown. I never imagined having the kid in the backfield, No. 1 -

Davis: You weren't going to have him this year anyway.

Williams: No. Even if he came here, he still has to go by the suspension that the NCAA imposes upon him. There was no reason to get happy about having him, unless it was for next year.

RECRUITING RULE IN QUESTION
An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interest shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution's athletics director (or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact. If permission is not granted, the second institution shall not encourage the transfer and the institution shall not provide financial assistance to the student-athlete until the student-athlete has attended the second institution for one academic year. If permission is granted to contact the student athlete, all applicable NCAA recruiting rules apply.

THE NCAA'S LETTER TO GRAMBLING
Dear Mr. Dennis,
This is in regard to information that was obtained by this office, which indicates a violation of NCAA recruiting legislation may have occurred in the institution's football program.

Specifically, in an online article of The News-Star on September 9, 2003, and during a televised press conference on September 10, 2003, head football coach Doug Williams indirectly contacted four-year college prospective student-athlete Maurice Clarett. In the article and during the press conference, Mr. Williams confirmed his interest in having Mr. Clarett transfer to the institution and discussed how Mr. Clarett's talent would be a valuable asset to the football program. Unless the institution previously had received written permission to contact Mr. Clarett from Ohio State University, it appears a violation of NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3 has occurred. If written permission to contact had been received from Ohio State University, then Mr. Williams' comments appear to have violated NCAA Bylaws 13.11.6 and/or 13.11.8

In order that complete and accurate information is on file with the enforcement department, it would be appreciated if you would review this information and submit the results of our inquiry into writing. In responding, please provide a statement indicating whether the above information is accurate. In order to support your response, please provide (1) a statement from Mr. Williams; (2) a copy of the permission to contact form provided by Ohio State University to the institution, if any; and (3) a statement indicating whether the institution believes it has violated NCAA legislation in this matter.

I appreciate your assistance in the review of this matter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely, Christopher S. Strobel Director of Enforcement for Secondary Infractions

Note: The bylaws 13.11.6 and/or 13.11.8 do not apply to Grambling State, because the school says it does not have written permission from Ohio State to talk to Clarett. These rules, in general, deal with the way signings are announced to the media once permission has been granted.

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Williams says talk about Clarett helped university
September 25, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - "People are talking about Grambling," sixth-year coach Doug Williams said, smiling and shaking his head at more talk of Maurice Clarett - a story that broke over this tiny country school like a thunderclap.

Williams was congenial over the past few weeks - answering every question about the troubled Ohio State star, often tossing out one-liners, regularly reminding all those assembled that he hadn't spoken to Clarett and trying to turn the conversation back to the games at hand.

Still, the questions came.

Are you going to call Maurice Clarett?

No, I'm going to call (GSU running backs) Ab Kuuan and Reuben Mays.

Have you heard from Maurice Clarett?

My lines must be down. They ain't ringing.

Now, it appears Williams shouldn't have been so quick with the quip. The NCAA has made an inquiry, saying Williams' comments to the media might be a violation of their recruiting regulations.

"I think the NCAA is too serious about finding a violation," Williams said. "The rule they cite is so vague."

They call it indirect contact - a no-no, because schools are forbidden by rule from talking to athletes without permission from their current university's administrators.

Williams calls it PR.

"It was spreading like wildfire," Williams said of the news. "I don't know if the university really understands the impact of the publicity that Grambling got. We were across the country every day! That was good publicity."

He's defiant in his denial of tampering: "I didn't call him. He didn't call me."

That wasn't the point.

Now, there is no question that Williams would have been happy to have Clarett - baggage or no baggage.

Williams hasn't brought GSU back to SWAC dominance - back to challenging the nation's best Division I-AA school until the waning moments of last Saturday's game - with players of destiny.

He's done it with players who've had problems - but, more importantly, had desire.

Williams and his coordinators have coached up for so long, it is hard to believe their offices haven't levitated to the top floor of the Stadium Support Facility.

It wasn't always like that.

Eddie Robinson's GSU was a flickering beacon of opportunity, the place where the best and brightest of those under America's boot heel came to make their names.

But, as this country moved deeper into the second half of the last century, different opportunities opened up for blacks. The desire to win overcame other, more hateful impulses. African-Americans not only were recruited, but starred on college teams in towns where they once dared not stop for gas.

This coincided with the fading of the Southwestern Athletic Conference as a place where the obvious black talents resided.

The Doug Williamses, the Walter Paytons, the Jerry Rices, the Steve McNairs came along less frequently. They didn't have to play at historically black schools to get noticed.

There's an oddly powerful joy in that - if only because every athlete is now entitled to an audition, if not a place in the team photo.

It's odd, though, because - as with everything in America - there was a cost: With a vast majority of what they call "draftables" already cashing in on scholarships from schools that promise an alphabet soup of success (TV, PR and BCS), what's left for Grambling?

GSU is not going to get a Maurice Clarett on the way up. They're going to get him on the way down, if they get him at all.

In the modern period, the Tigers win or lose with those who are left. Lately, it's been mostly winning - thus, Clarett's apparent interest in transferring to GSU after a rocky end at Ohio State.
He wasn't coming. We now know that.

Williams looked like he knew it from the beginning, so he was enjoying the spotlight as it dilated on his alma mater.

He considered the hullabaloo much about something, all right: Recruiting. And not Maurice Clarett.

Robinson constructed the Grambling legend with the pick of the African-American talent pool. But a Buck Buchanan (the first pick in the 1963 AFL draft) or a Tank Younger (the future four-time NFL Pro Bowler between 1951-55) may as well be biblical figures to today's youngsters.

You've got to do whatever you can, Williams says, to get the word out about your program - even a storied one like Grambling State.

Willie Davis? Charlie Joiner?? Heck, the average new recruits were learning their ABCs when Doug was hoisting the Super Bowl MVP trophy with Washington.

But Clarett, without ever running a single yard, gave Grambling State currency. Kids today would notice if collegiate football's best runner last year - the national championship's crowned prince - was even hinting at joining this country school.

It meant Grambling State had arrived. Again.

The news of this inquiry will travel just as fast, marking as it does the first time Williams has stepped into any possible NCAA trouble as a head coach at GSU.

Should something come of this initial investigation, it could hurt Williams' chances at moving on to a job at a larger program. Generally, the toughest NCAA sanctions for a I-AA school involve limiting recruitment - a particularly cruel irony.

But, for now, it's hard to argue with Williams' logic: "I'm trying to help my school. The NCAA probably needs to be dealing with something else, you know? Clarett never went to class here. He didn't get stopped here in his car. There are a whole lot of other things they need to worry about, rather than Grambling."

Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. An online archive of his columns is at www. thenewsstar.com/nickderiso. You can contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.

COMMENTS ON CLARETT A FOCUS
The NCAA inquiry specifically mentions a story posted Sept. 9 at www.thenewsstar.com. Here are Grambling State coach Doug Williams' comments from that piece:

"That's been the talk of the day," Williams said, chuckling. "We've gotten calls from all over."

"Grambling brings national visibility, even if we are I-AA. Scouts are coming here every day. That means he's getting everything that he would have gotten there - except 100,000 people at the game."

"We don't have a Maurice Clarett. It would be a big difference. It would take a lot of pressure off of (GSU quarterback) Bruce (Eugene). There's nothing I can do, but keep my phone line clear."

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Grambling: NCAA problems began with jersey
September 26, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING- While the NCAA apparently views the event as "isolated or inadvertent" - and, thus, not as serious - Grambling State coach Doug Williams still can't believe he got in trouble over a jersey.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association has begun an inquiry into possible "indirect contact" with Maurice Clarett at GSU.

The NCAA specifically mentioned a news conference - part of which later aired nationally on ESPN - where Williams entered carrying a Grambling State jersey with the suspended Ohio State runner's number on it.

"What," Williams said, "is `indirectly contacting' someone? If I had talked to (Clarett family adviser) Jim Brown and said: `We want him.' That's contacting him. But holding up a jersey? Something is wrong with this picture."

Prospective schools must get permission from an athlete's current athletics director before they can talk to transfers. Brown had said publicly that he favored a transfer down to Division I-AA Grambling State for the soon-to-be-suspended star.

"I came in a little light-heartedly," Williams said. "I knew a lot questions were going to be coming about the Clarett situation."

The good news for Grambling State is that the infraction has been referred to Chris Strobel, who is the NCAA's director of enforcement for secondary infractions.

There is a significantly lower threshold of penalty for those violations. Post-season penalties, for instance, are reserved for major infractions.

"We won't have any comments about the specific situation," said Kay Hawes, the NCAA's associate director of media relations. "It's NCAA policy not to comment on current and on-going investigations."

But being as the letter came out of the office of secondary infractions, what is at stake for GSU comes into sharper focus.

A secondary infraction, as defined in the NCAA Bylaw 19.02.2, "is one that is isolated or inadvertent in nature, provides or is intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and does not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit."

Like holding a jersey up in a news conference.

"It shouldn't have even been an issue with Grambling," Williams said. "That jersey did not have `Clarett' on it. If I had put his name on the back of the jersey, that would have been a different thing. I would have agreed with them wholeheartedly."

As outlined in NCAA Bylaw 19.5.1, the stiffest sentence handed down for these lower-level infractions would involve Williams - who could be restricted from recruiting trips for one year or perhaps suspended for one or more games.

The school could also face fines up to $5,000 or lose financial aid scholarships. Most of the other penalties do not apply because Clarett never suited up for Grambling State.

Still, those are a lot of possible headaches over the exhibition of a jersey, something Williams said was meant to be a joke.

"We have a No. 13 in every color," he said. "That's the bottom line. We didn't go out and buy it."

Yet, GSU officials contend that this footage, recorded at a local news conference then shown on ESPN, is largely responsible for the NCAA inquiry.

"It makes it look like, the way ESPN showed it, that he was saying that we want Clarett," athletics director Al Dennis said. "That jersey belongs to our punter, Darien Morgan."

Williams has one more bone to pick: The tape didn't include his comments.

"Not a word was spoken," Williams said, meaning the NCAA couldn't have known the context to go with those images. "All they saw was No. 13 - and they interpreted it any way they wanted to."

While no deadline has been set for GSU's response, Dennis said he hopes to have the school's response ready to send today.

Also mentioned in the letter of inquiry was a related story posted at www.thenewsstar.com on Sept. 9, called "A Wait for Greatness."

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Grambling avoids NCAA penalties
December 20, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The NCAA, as first reported at www.thenewsstar.com, has completed its inquiry into comments about troubled running back Maurice Clarett made by Grambling State University coach Doug Williams and will not penalize the school.

GSU is, however, required to give updated training on indirect contact with a prospective player and review NCAA policy on recruiting, GSU athletics director Al Dennis said.

Kay Hawes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's associate director of media relations, said the association has a standing policy not to comment on investigations.

"They disagreed with us that there was a secondary violation," Dennis said of the NCAA. "So, we will go back over our education process and use that press conference as an example to show how things can go wrong."

Lane Howell, the school's rules compliance officer, will touch on these rules during monthly meetings.

The NCAA issued a letter of inquiry to GSU on Sept. 15 after Williams answered interview questions concerning the possible transfer of the former Ohio State running back. The school was asked to explain comments first published by The News-Star's Web site - and images that later appeared on ESPN.

The inquiry referred to a section of the regulations stipulating that colleges may not contact a student-athlete at another NCAA or NAIA four-year institution - even indirectly - without written permission from the player's current athletics director.

"Our intent was never to make contact with the young man," Dennis said. "But because of the way the report went out, they still felt it was a violation."

The NCAA reviewed a tape of the Sept. 9 news conference, a printed transcript and other material submitted by Grambling State before ruling that a secondary infraction occurred.

These infractions, as defined in the NCAA Bylaw 19.02.2, are those that are "isolated or inadvertent in nature, provide or are intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and do not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit."

There is a significantly lower threshold of penalty for secondary violations. Post-season penalties, for instance, are reserved for major infractions.

As outlined in NCAA Bylaw 19.5.1, the stiffest sentence handed down for these lower-level infractions would have involved Williams - who could have been restricted from recruiting trips for one year or perhaps suspended for one or more games. The school could also have faced fines up to $5,000 or lost financial aid scholarships.

Williams has said he suspects that entering the news conference while carrying a No. 13 Grambling jersey sparked the inquiry. Clarett, who then was reportedly considering a transfer and remains suspended from the Ohio State football team, wore that number.

On Grambling AD Troy Mathieu

GSU's AD search is stealthy
School won't name any candidates for job
April 9, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Grambling State has fastened a tight lid on its second search for an athletics director in as many years.

"We'd like to keep it confidential," said interim Grambling AD Duer Sharp, "until (GSU president) Dr. (Horace) Judson is ready to announce. We'd just like it keep it as private as possible."

Calls to Judson this week were not returned.

Since July 1, 2004, Judson's first day in office, Grambling has had a non-interim athletics director for just 308 days. That in turn has led to extended periods where positions underneath the AD are unfilled, including the critical position of compliance officer.

Judson fired former athletics director Al Dennis III on that first day as president in 2004. Former longtime South Carolina State coach Willie Jeffries didn't assume the AD job until Jan. 3, 2005 — and had resigned by Oct. 31.

Sharp, who then took over as interim, said Grambling has no plans to reveal when candidates are interviewed, or who the finalists are, in advance of making a hire.

"I don't think we'll announce anything," he said. "That's not a route we'd like to go."

Sharp, associate commissioner for the Southwestern Athletic Conference, is an executive on loan under a management-assistance agreement approved by the University of Louisiana System board in late October.

GSU posted the job opening for athletics director on Nov. 7, but didn't begin interviewing candidates until after the new year.

Sharp said the hiring process was slowed both by Jeffries' contract, which extended through Jan. 3, and questions over budget cuts on the state level in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Still, a void in leadership likely led to an ongoing NCAA investigation into the school, which began in January.

It's become a source of grave concern to GSU alumni, who insist that the process ought to be moving more quickly.

"They need to speed it up. Jackson State fired their coach and had a whole staff in place a few weeks later," said Ezzard Burton, who attended GSU in the mid-1970s and is active in the Monroe/Ouachita chapter of the Grambling University National Alumni Association.

"I'm not speaking to the alumni association as a whole, but I've talked to a number of people," Burton said. "I've been in Monroe for 23 years and worked with the alumni association for 19 of them. We challenge the administration to get these things in place. I'm for this president, but he needs to get in a hurry."

Sharp has said that Judson and vice president for finance Billy Owens contacted SWAC commissioner Robert Vowels with this unique interim proposal. He also said he intended to return to the conference office and would not apply to be the permanent replacement.

Finalists in the search that ended with Jeffries' hiring included: Troy Mathieu, assistant superintendent for athletics for the Dallas Independent School District; Clarence Underwood, who served as assistant athletics director, senior associate AD and then AD at Michigan State between 1990-2001; and Wilbert Curtis Williams, former athletics director at Alabama State.

The University of Louisiana System board's joint athletic and finance committee originally approved a $90,000 salary for Jeffries.

Sharp said the school has received "between 30 and 40 applications" for the position. He described the process as being in its "middle stages."

"Before you bring somebody on campus, you want to do background checks, and talk to references and others not on the reference page," Sharp said. "The hardest thing is finding a timeline. There are so many things going on, and fitting the schedules of the candidate, mine and Dr. Judson can be a problem."

Dennis replaced Robert Piper, who took over in 1997 as athletics director only to step down three years later when he fell ill with stomach cancer. Dennis then served for 2½ years as the assistant athletics director for business affairs before taking over as interim AD in 2000.

Legendary former coaches Eddie Robinson and Fred Hobdy, along with former president R.W.E. Jones, have also served as GSU athletics directors over the years.

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Top of his class
April 11, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The best candidate for Grambling State's athletics director job has already applied once: Troy Mathieu, the superintendent for athletics at the Dallas Independent School District.

He was a finalist in the 2004 search that led to the hiring of longtime former South Carolina State coach Willie Jeffries, who resigned less than a year in.

Mathieu is in charge of a 19-person department in inner-city Dallas with a 2005 budget of $4.7 million that's similar to GSU's total operating sports revenues of $5.5 million from 2004, the most recent numbers available. The DISD, our nation's 12th largest school district, serves more than 160,000 students over 351 square miles.

That means Mathieu is familiar with succeeding within a power structure like Division I football where black colleges are sometimes relegated to outsider status.

Better still, before moving to Dallas, Mathieu was executive director of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, a job he took over at age 29 and held as the only African-American in high-level bowl management for years. There, he oversaw the beginning of a successful corporate relationship with Nokia.

So he knows how to sell it. Personable, energetic, connected, well-seasoned but still emerging as a leader, Mathieu is the person that Grambling should have hired in the first place two years ago.

GSU has a chance to rectify that now.

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GSU's seach nets finalists
Each finalist would bring major experience to vacant position
April 23, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Three finalists have emerged in Grambling State's six-month-old search for an athletics director.

They are: Grambling product Patrick Carter, athletics director at Alabama State; Troy Mathieu, athletics director for the Dallas Independent School District; and Vivian Fuller, who has experience as an AD at three Division I programs.

Interim GSU athletics director Duer Sharp had no comment on the candidates, other than to confirm their names. A timeline for hiring has also not been set, Sharp said.

Any decision by Grambling president Horace Judson must then be approved by the University of Louisiana System board, which oversees the university.

The athletics director at Grambling would work on a total operating sports revenues of upwards of $5.5 million, according to GSU's 2004 budget, the most recent numbers available.

Several critical hires must also be made quickly, including senior women's administrator, sports information director and women's soccer coach. A number of other current coaches, including those in men's and women's basketball, are working without contracts.

Grambling hasn't had an AD since October, when Willie Jeffries stepped down less than a year after taking over. Sharp — an assistant commissioner in GSU's home league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference — has been filling the role in the meantime.

There has been in recent days a significant alumni push for Carter, a Grambling native who holds a 1985 bachelor's and 1989 master's from GSU.

He has served as athletics director at Alabama State, a competitor in the SWAC, since March 2004. There, he administers an $8.5 million budget. Carter's resume material has said that he increased corporate sponsorships at ASU by 100 percent.

He also possesses critical experience in compliance, notable in the wake of an NCAA probe opened at Grambling earlier this year.

Carter was involved in different compliance roles with the SWAC from March 1997 until taking over in Alabama. Earlier, he served as an assistant commissioner involved with compliance with the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association — an NCAA Division II conference of twelve historically African-American institutions — from August 1991 to March 1997.

Fuller holds a distinct place in history, becoming in 1997 the first black woman to run a Division I athletics department with a football program — and one of only a handful of women ever. But she remained at Tennessee State for just two seasons, despite winning a conference championship on the gridiron.

Fuller later filed a lawsuit against TSU, that state's only predominantly African-American public university, saying she was dismissed for aggressively seeking to protect women's sports. Her replacement was later fired after the NCAA placed Tennessee State on three years probation for a myriad of violations.

Fuller has since worked as an athletics director at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. She previously served as AD at Northeastern Illinois University of Chicago, associate athletics director at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and assistant director of athletics at North Carolina A&T.

Fuller earned a bachelor's from Fayetteville State in 1977, a master's at Idaho in 1978 and a doctorate from Iowa State in 1985. She was a track athlete at Fayetteville and served as volleyball and softball coach at A&T in the early 1980s.

Through Mathieu has run a high-school program since 1997, his inner-city district is surprisingly robust.

He's in charge of a 19-person department with a 2005 budget of $4.7 million, similar in size to GSU's. The DISD, the nation's 12th largest school district, serves more than 160,000 students over 351 square miles — and has produced several Grambling prospects, including breakout receiver LaKeldrick "Burner" Bridges. Mathieu has overseen more than $50 million in facility improvements and construction while with the DISD, and negotiated multi-million sponsorships deals with Coca-Cola and Bally Total Fitness.

Before moving to Dallas, Mathieu was executive director of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, a job he took over in 1993 at age 29 and held as the only black person in high-level bowl management for years. There, he negotiated the successful longtime corporate relationship with Nokia, a $30 million deal.

He holds a 1987 master's degree from Western Illinois and a 1983 bachelor's — which he reportedly completed in just three years — from McNeese State.

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GSU's AD dilemma more complex with strong finalists
April 24, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Interviewers evaluating Grambling State's final trio of candidates for athletics director did so with the aid of a rating sheet.

Grades — on a scale of "5=UNSATISFACTORY" to "1=OUTSTANDING" — were to be given to each applicant on salient qualities like self-confidence, planning and organizational ability, and leadership.

All standard items in a good manager's toolbox.

The question of experience, however, is where a decision on who will be GSU's sixth athletics director becomes more complicated.

Grambling has whittled its six-month AD search down to three options — Patrick Carter, Troy Mathieu and Vivian Fuller — after considering as many as 40 applications.

Fuller might be considered the early frontrunner, if only because she grades well on experience in the broadest sense. She has served as athletics director at three college institutions over the years.

Carter, on the other hand, got his first AD job at Alabama State in 2004, after serving in a variety of capacities in conference front offices previous to that. Mathieu, AD for the Dallas Independent School District, has never worked as an administrator at the collegiate level.

Still, Fuller could meet resistance as a pioneering woman's administrator.

There were no female athletics directors last season in GSU's Southwestern Athletic Conference. Too, with the firing this month of Texas Southern's Priscilla Slade, that leaves just one woman on the SWAC Council of Presidents, Alabama A&M's Virginia Caples.

Fuller might answer that she's been there before: Upon taking over as AD at Tennessee State in 1997, she became the first black woman to run a Division I athletics department with a football program — and one of only a handful of women ever.

Carter, on the other hand, is attractive because of a more nuanced kind of experience: He has deep ties with the SWAC.

As a Grambling native, a GSU graduate, an athletics director inside the school's home conference, and a long-time former employee in its league offices, Carter is intimately familiar with the unique atmosphere surrounding the department.

He would be able to sell the school's brilliant legacy because he grew up around it.

That time spent at the conference level is notable, too, since it was primarily in the area of compliance. Grambling is awaiting word on an investigation that the NCAA opened last January.

Granted, most of the possible sins could end up being those of omission rather than commission: In the nearly two years since July 1, 2004, the school has either had a vacant AD chair or an interim for all but 313 days.

It couldn't hurt, though, to bring in a guy like Carter — who grades well after working in enforcement capacities at the 12-member Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and then the SWAC for nearly 15 years before taking over at ASU.

The question is: Can Carter bag the corporate whale?

For his part, Mathieu possesses critical experience in negotiating and managing lucrative corporate sponsorships and national events. Before accepting the position at DISD in 1997, he was executive director of the Sugar Bowl, one of the college football's most profitable postseason games.

In the late 1990s, the event's budget ran to more than $18 million annually. The organization's television contract with ABC was a $60-million deal. The previous sponsorship with Nokia brought in millions more.

Mathieu could revive corporate sponsorship deals that have been harder to come by since the departure of legendary coach Eddie Robinson — dollars that would permeate the entire university's budget. Mathieu has walked into multi-national business offices and emerged with checks that included seven zeroes at the end.

Yet there will be those who question whether he can run a college department, even though the DISD is comparable in staff and budget to athletic programs in the SWAC.

No easy choice, this.

Fuller, with perhaps the deepest administrative resume, is a groundbreaker in the mode of former AD Willie Jeffries. Carter, the most intimately familiar applicant, might make the easiest transition. Mathieu, the brilliant moneyman, might be the greatest risk — but with an even greater financial reward.

Checking the appropriate score, I'd give Grambling's difficulty level in making this decision a "1=OUTSTANDING."

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Grambling State AD search, yes, is still ongoing
May 15, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — A trio of finalists in Grambling State's ongoing search for an athletics director was announced three weeks ago.

Yet there's still no progress to report on filling the position, said interim Grambling AD Duer Sharp.

"It's in (GSU president) Dr. (Horace) Judson's hands," said Sharp. "He's the president. I move when he tells me to move."

Sharp could give no timeline for a decision, saying: "He'll make an offer, and then negotiations will begin."

Waiting since the April 23 announcement are Grambling product Patrick Carter, athletics director at Alabama State; Troy Mathieu, athletics director for the Dallas Independent School District; and Vivian Fuller, who has experience as an AD at three Division I programs.

Well, and some increasingly edgy supporters, too.

"I think it's quite ridiculous that it has taken the administration of GSU this length of time to locate a proper athletic director," said Grambling native Mark A. Hunter, a lobbyist who graduated in 1996 with a degree in political science. "So far, three names have surfaced, yet the GSU administration knew that the former director would not be at Grambling for more than a year."

Former AD Willie Jeffries signed a contract to run through January 2006, but resigned just 10 months later. The position has since been filled on an interim basis by Sharp, a loaned executive from GSU's home league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Prior to that, Grambling had no athletics director in place from July 1, 2004, when Judson fired Al Dennis III in one of his first acts as new school president, until Jeffries took over. Some have suggested that the lack of institutional control led to an NCAA investigation of the school that opened in January.

"The administration was excited about the candidates early on, and I thought that the search would have been completed by now," said Grambling alum Autry "Lex" Alexis, CEO of a marketing firm. "I'm sure that the ongoing NCAA investigation and the threat of more budget cuts has had an impact on the process, as well as the candidates."

As the AD search has dragged on, talk turned to an alleged breakdown in negotiations for one or more of the finalists. Rumors, and at least one poll, began to circulate.

Fans at GramblingStateUniversity, as of Sunday, were solidly behind Carter — who garnered 87.5 percent of the vote in polling that began the day after GSU released the finalists' names.
Alexis has thrown his support behind Carter, as well.

"He would be my favorite because his strength is in compliance and that is a serious problem at GSU," Alexis said. "He also is an underrated fundraiser."

The prevailing theory from e-mails, message boards and street-committee gossip was that Mathieu had been offered the job, but that contract talks soured over money. There was even a rumor on campus that the search was on the verge of opening again.

Sharp denied that this week. Mathieu, in fact, said he had not spoken to anyone from Grambling in weeks. Carter and Fuller were unavailable for comment.

Supporters say the inexplicably long wait is fueling this widespread speculation.

"Grambling really needs to develop a faster method of locating qualified candidates and placing them in these positions," Hunter said, "so that the university can move forward to more pertinent issues at hand."

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Grambling job brings Mathieu home
May 24, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — For Troy Mathieu, the Grambling State athletics director job was a chance to get back home.

An Edgard native, Mathieu worked as an executive with the Sugar Bowl for a decade before taking over as AD at the Dallas Independent School District. He was chosen late Tuesday after a six-month search that produced a trio of finalists.

"It's a chance to continue doing what I like to do, working in the business of athletics," Mathieu told The News-Star on Tuesday afternoon. "I'll work to get all of the programs as competitive as we can possibly get them."

He will be recommended for the position by school president Horace Judson later this week at a meeting of the University of Louisiana System board, which oversees Grambling.

"I fully support Dr. Judson's recommendation," said 1990 GSU graduate Kenn Rashad, a Dallas resident familiar with his work in the local school district. "I think Mr. Mathieu is just the boost that the athletic program needs."

Grambling hasn't had an athletics director since October, when Willie Jeffries stepped down less than a year after taking over. Duer Sharp — an assistant commissioner in GSU's home league, the Southwestern Athletic Conference — has been serving as interim ever since.

The other finalists for the position were Grambling product Patrick Carter, athletics director at Alabama State; and Vivian Fuller, who has experience as an AD at three Division I programs.

"We were fortunate to have a pool of great applicants," Judson said in an evening news release.

Mathieu holds a 1987 master's degree from Western Illinois and a 1983 bachelor's — which he completed in just three years — from McNeese State.

Before accepting the position at DISD in 1997, Mathieu was best known for his work as executive director of the Sugar Bowl, one of the college football's most profitable postseason games.

During his tenure in the late 1990s, the event's budget ran to more than $18 million annually. The Sugar Bowl's television contract with ABC was a $60-million deal. A sponsorship deal that Mathieu spearheaded with Nokia brought in millions more.

"This is a great opportunity for Grambling State University," Judson said in the release. "This is the kind of organization, leadership and commitment we are looking for at the university."

The athletics director at Grambling would work oversee 18 intercollegiate sports on a total operating sports revenues of upwards of $5.5 million, according to GSU's 2004 budget, the most recent numbers available. Mathieu is expected to start in mid-June.

"I'm excited about it," Mathieu said. "It's a wonderful opportunity at this point in my professional career to take on a new challenge and come back to my home state of Louisiana."

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About time
May 23, 2006

Forgive Troy Mathieu if he sounds a bit relieved. When Mathieu - AD for the sprawling Dallas Independent School District - was selected Tuesday as GSU's new athletics director, pending review by the University of Louisiana System Board, it brought to a close a too-long sixth-month period at Grambling without a full-time AD.

Yes, Mathieu was named a finalist. But that was more than four weeks ago. The wait was, at times, unbearable.

Working as he does in the Dallas market, Mathieu was lashed relentlessly by a large contingency of local media - writers so aggressive that they were calling the DISD's personnel department trying to ferret out information on his possible departure.

When Mathieu was able to talk, finally, about the new job on Tuesday afternoon, it was like a weight had been lifted. He's a guy who's ready to get started.

And now, finally, he can.

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New GSU AD knows prosperity
In previous jobs, Mathieu bettered deals, facilities
May 25, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Troy Mathieu said he leaves his post as athletics director for the Dallas Independent School District with no small measure of pride in helping coaches succeed — despite the obstacles.

"What I was probably most proud of was the way we were able to maintain our competitiveness and improve — even though we were at a disadvantage as an urban district," Mathieu said.

Mathieu, 42, will be recommended as Grambling State's new AD to the school's governing University of Louisiana System Board later this month.

He would replace Willie Jeffries, who resigned last October after less than a year on the job. Duer Sharp, an assistant Southwestern Athletic Conference commissioner, has been serving as interim athletics director ever since.

In many ways, Mathieu's experience in the 49-school inner-city DISD mirrors the financial struggles of the historically black GSU, as this tiny Division I-AA institution attempts to carve out its place among those both larger and richer.

Mathieu is perhaps best known as the architect of the Sugar Bowl's $30 million sponsorship deal with Nokia. He also helped negotiate a $60 million television contract with ABC.

But he later found remarkable success in the highly charged world of Dallas politics, implementing a series of sweeping improvements during a nine-year tenure. Over that time, member schools in the DISD won 11 state titles in team sports.

"We were also able to establish one of the finest urban districts in the country," Mathieu said. "In most metropolitan areas, many families are moving to the suburbs and pouring unlimited money into those newer districts — and in many cases the urban districts were left behind."

Mathieu, an impressive negotiator, would oversee the installation of new tracks across the district and each DISD football program received a $21,000 digital video system before the 2004 campaign. He secured sponsorships to fund $300,000 in new scoreboards for the DISD's main stadiums, as well.

"There was a lack of attention for those students who deserved the right to play at the highest level and in the finest facility," Mathieu said. "We could directly impact that in Dallas. We have rivaled some of the best in the nation, and been able to level the playing field facility-wise."

The Jesse Owens Memorial Athletic Complex, a $40 million facility, was the first multipurpose athletic complex built by the DISD in 40 years. Opened last fall, it includes both the 12,000-seat John Kincaide Stadium and a basketball arena that seats 7,500. A new $1.9 million softball facility opened in 2004.

He paid for it all by flooding the formerly threadbare district with corporate dollars, establishing sponsorship deals worth millions between the DISD and companies including Nike, Bally Total Fitness, Gatorade, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi-Cola, Russell Athletic Corp. and HealthSouth.

"I am sure he will do well," said Grambling resident and fan Paul Taylor. "He's got a history of increasing business sponsorships, and seeking out corporate dollars. We need someone who will beat the pavement trying to get those dollars into such a historic institution like Grambling."

Mathieu also established a series of lucrative special events, with proceeds funneled back into the participating schools. That included the Dallas Morning News Basketball Classic, a prep basketball tripleheader that attracted 17,500 fans and generated more than $200,000 in revenue in its inaugural season.

"We got in the trenches, found out what the needs of the coaches were and administratively removed the obstacles so they could coach," Mathieu said. "Their kids then achieved at the highest level."

Mathieu's record of working closely with coaches has attracted praise from those who would report to him at Grambling.

"I'll meet him when everybody else does," said men's basketball coach Larry Wright. "But I've been impressed with everything I've heard so far about his career."

Mathieu, who also interviewed for the AD position with league foe Texas Southern in 2000, was originally hired away from the Sugar Bowl in November 1997. He briefly left in April 2000 to take over as president of the Dallas-Fort Worth Regional Sports Commission, but returned to the DISD three months later.

Prior to his time in Texas, Mathieu served as assistant executive director and then executive director of the Sugar Bowl, where he established a reputation for fund-raising and marketing. The bowl eventually had working business relationships, beyond the blockbuster naming and broadcast deals with Nokia and ABC, with Delta, Eastman Kodak, Gatorade, Oldsmobile and Wilson Sporting Goods.

Under Mathieu's watch, the Sugar Bowl increased payouts from $8 million to $15.65 million in his first three years. That led to recognition as the 23rd most influential person in college athletics by College Sports Magazine in June 1996.

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A Black and Gold bias?
May 24, 2006

As happy as some Grambling supporters are about Tuesday's naming of Troy Mathieu as athletics director, another faction remains frustrated.

There are those who think the GSU administration has a bias against GSU graduates - a situation, they say, that doomed the candidacy of fellow finalist Patrick Carter, now the athletics director at league foe Alabama State.

Carter, a Grambling native with two degrees from GSU, would have brought both familiarity with the intricacies of the SWAC and critical experience in compliance to a department under investigation by the NCAA for possible irregularities.

So, it's no surprise that the well-liked Carter drew widespread fan support, including an e-mail campaign to the president.

But, all along, it seemed the administration was of the mind that a rainmaker like Mathieu, who has overseen multi-million deals with the Dallas Independent School District and the Sugar Bowl, could buy as much compliance as needed.

Money solves that problem, and most any other.

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At the crossroads
There's plenty to accomplish for GSU's new athletics director
May 28, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Troy Mathieu, perhaps understandably, is unwilling to say too much about what he hopes to do first as athletics director at Grambling State.

After all, where to start in a position that's been vacant for half of the two years since Horace Judson became president at GSU?

"I haven't had a chance to grasp and evaluate where everything is; I know there is a lot waiting on me," Mathieu said. "Maybe a week in, I will be able to digest where we are at."

Duer Sharp, an assistant commissioner with GSU's home conference, has served as interim athletics director since October.

Still, this has been a shockingly uncertain period for an athletics program that was once the model of consistency, having had just five ADs over its first 100 years.

Mathieu said he will take a measured approach.

"There will be assortment of items waiting on me that I will have to tackle," he said. "What you think might be your priority today may change to tomorrow. I want to get in and meet everybody, and then try to figure out the best plan to get us where we need to be."

The temptation, once Mathieu arrives in mid-June, is to encourage him to hit the road and drum up needed sponsorships.

After all, Mathieu's reputation both at the Dallas Independent School District — and, before that, at the Sugar Bowl — was built on landing the corporate whales.

More immediately pressing needs, however, are found closer to home.

GSU's new athletics director steps into a turbulent situation, where job openings have gone unfilled, and many projects are uncompleted.

It's tempting to awe over the shiny football trophies from last year, yet other programs are hovering near the bottom of the league.

Then, he faces an ongoing investigation by the NCAA. Many say a lack of institutional control drew the interest of college athletics' governing body.

"Our new AD should first look to shore-up our deficiencies in NCAA compliance and sports information," said Donavan Simmons, a 1997 Grambling graduate. "Filling all vacant head coaching positions is also a major priority."

Emerging from instability
There are other tangible results from this extended period of instability.

Just this week, Southern — Grambling's principal rival in the Southwestern Athletic Conference — earned its fifth consecutive Commissioner's Cup, recognition for overall excellence in sponsored sports.

Despite its dominance in football, where Grambling went undefeated in SWAC play on the way to the title, its only other championship for the just-ended academic year was in men's outdoor track.

That pushed GSU down to third overall in the Cup race, behind Jackson State.

Mathieu made it clear that he's intends to push for improvement across the athletic spectrum.

"None of this stuff is magic; it's getting people to understand what types of things they are going to be asked to do," he said. "We're going to let people do their jobs. That is, if they can do their jobs. If they can't, then we will go in another direction. It's about their enthusiasm for the task at hand."

Mathieu will also have to prioritize a laundry list of unfinished business within the department.

Several employees, including both men's and women's basketball coaches, worked last season without a contract. A new hoops arena is set to open, but much about that project remains unknown — from how it will be maintained to what it will be named.

Former athletics director Willie Jeffries, who stayed for less than 10 months, announced a scoreboard project last summer. Where that stands is uncertain.

Planning for next year, from promotions to the media guides, has yet to be started.

"Grambling's name is so strong that we need someone to just push that name out there to the consumer, whether it be season-ticket drives or game-day giveaways," said Grambling resident Paul Taylor, an avid supporter of GSU athletics. "He needs to come in and raise the corporate dollars, then raise this athletic program to higher heights."

Setting a mandate
With that much to do, Mathieu must get some help.

And lots of it.

"A successful athletics program, like any other business starts with qualified and competent leadership and staff," Simmons said. "It's been far too long since Grambling has had this."

Among the positions currently posted on the university Web site — many are months old — are compliance officer, sports information director, assistant SID, soccer coach and head trainer.

"I've followed Troy Mathieu's career, and he has done an outstanding job in the Dallas area in generating revenue, facility upgrades and just making certain that those guys are competing at a very high level," said GSU football coach Melvin Spears. "But he'll have come in and lead the effort to fill all these positions first. Many of those are pertinent to move our program forward. We have to have outstanding folks in those positions."

Finally, Mathieu will have to heal any rifts caused by his own selection.

He emerged from a trio of finalists that included a Grambling product, current Alabama State athletics director Patrick Carter.

Some in GSU's tight-knit alumni base tended to side with one of their own, and Mathieu will have sell himself to them as much as he sells Grambling to everybody else.

"I believe Dr. Judson's hire of Mr. Mathieu as AD is in the best interest of GSU," said D'Wayne Priestley, a vocal product from the Dallas area. "It would have been quite popular and endearing to many concerns to hire Mr. Carter; however, I believe Dr. Judson's action placed GSU's best interest first. Now, I hope that Mr. Mathieu can meet the high expectations of many GSU alums and friends, and complement Dr. Judson's vision, as GSU grows into the 21st century."

Mathieu spoke to that challenge this week, when he mentioned an early desire to "friend"-raise rather than fund-raise.

"It's a whole discovery process," Mathieu said. "It's not just running out asking people to give."

Fans like Simmons can't predict where Mathieu will begin his reconstruction project at Grambling. But Mathieu's high-energy style — and a resume filled dotted with initiatives that bolstered both facilities and the bottom line — has them energized.

"Judging by his credentials and experience running an enormous program like that of DISD, I have the utmost confidence that Mathieu will surround himself with the best people for the jobs," said Simmons. "Once this is done, he has shown through his involvement with the Sugar Bowl that the marketing aspect and corporate sponsorship that is so desperately needed will soon follow."

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Pack a lunch
June 04, 2006

Incoming Grambling athletics director Troy Mathieu is tying up loose ends at his old job, a similar position with the Dallas Independent School District.

Meanwhile, new ones are coming unraveled at GSU.

"I'm trying to transfer out properly," Mathieu said, "making sure they know where everything is. We are bringing closure to one school year, and setting up staff training for the following year. A lot of coaches have to get their training during the summer and we have to get it set up."

Mathieu was in Lincoln Parish looking for a new house late last week, even as his complex task at Grambling became somehow more, well, complex. GSU administrators declined to renew contracts for both the softball and the baseball coaches - adding to a long list of department vacancies.

Mathieu is scheduled to start at Grambling on June 19.

He had better pack a lunch. That looks to be a long workday.

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On the upbeat
June 20, 2006

They fired the baseball and softball coaches just days before he was brought in. Yet new Grambling athletics director Troy Mathieu, on his second day at work, is upbeat.

He just got finished filling a staggering eight openings for coaches last year as athletics director of the Dallas Independent School District, a department which suffers from frighteningly similar budget and competitive woes.

Far from overwhelmed, Mathieu is loose and confident.

Sure, he's navigating through a complicated first week of work at the school, which is under the cloud of an on-going NCAA investigation. Yet he's all smiles.

"I'm just getting a sense of the lay of the land," Mathieu said. "But I'm not afraid of a little work."

That attitude - aware, but can do - will bolster Mathieu as he sorts through the mess at Grambling, which has been without a full-time athletics director for about half of president Horace Judson's two-year tenure.

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Grambling AD not easing his way into new job
June 22, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Troy Mathieu has a copy of the Grambling State athletics department budget, and it's dog eared already.

That reading happens at night, after hours.

Mathieu's days have been spent so far walking the campus, getting an up-close look at what he's got to work with as GSU's new athletics director.

He's also set up meetings with the staff, beginning with those who do the heavy lifting like the maintenance crew.

Talk about working from the ground up.

Mathieu wants buy in from those who currently work at GSU before he gets to work on hiring new ones.

"I know the focus is on getting staffed up," said Mathieu, who started his new position Monday. "But I've got to get a feel for things first."

Posted openings in Mathieu's department include senior women's administrator, sports information director, head soccer coach and assistant athletics director for the sports radio network. Contracts for both the baseball and softball coaches were also not renewed just prior to Mathieu's arrival.

Mathieu arrived with some experience at dealing with such things, having hired eight coaches last year as athletics director at the sprawling Dallas Independent School District.

"You move methodically," Mathieu said. "You just start hiring one at a time. I'd rather make a good hire, than a quick hire, though. I don't want to bring in someone that we regret on the back end."

Outgoing interim AD Duer Sharp, who has returned to his previous assignment in the Southwestern Athletic Conference office, left a dossier of applications - including, Mathieu said, several for baseball coach - and initiated the advertising process.

"I intend to make some calls, as well," Mathieu said.

But first, he'll have to learn all the names, figure out all the nuances of the campus and study hard.

Then, there's the NCAA.

An ongoing investigation into his department by college sports' governing body, launched in January, promises to be an absorbing side issue in this rebuilding effort.

Mathieu said he hasn't had time to review the probe, and didn't yet have a clear grasp of its parameters. But he promised to make that a priority, one that has been added to what seems like an ever-growing list.

Mathieu remains undaunted.

"We'll get in there and get to work," he said. "It might take some time, but we'll get there."

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Count down
July 04, 2006

The coaching searches at Grambling are getting the most attention, but there are stacks of responsibilities teetering all around Troy Mathieu.

For instance, just days into the new AD's tenure, he's had to dive into scheduling for 2007 and beyond. There are current employees without contracts. Work on the football media and recruiting guide hasn't begun.
"It's just punching through the details," said the always-sunny Mathieu. "I'm getting a quick read on the contracts, and getting started on the schedule. Everybody has been really positive. The welcome has been overwhelming. Everywhere I go, people just say: 'Time to get to work.'"

Indeed.

Sixty days. That's how long Grambling has until it's football season opener in Birmingham, Ala., against Hampton. That's to say nothing of the rest of the sports that follow.

Yet Mathieu continues to plow through, based on force of personality alone. He's a marvel to be around - never down and never slowing down, it seems.

Grambling has gotten itself a compliance officer, and a head trainer. Robinson Stadium hasn't looked this polished in July since I've been covering Grambling football. There's also talk of the pending hire of a sports information guy.

Yes, Mathieu just might get there.

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Grambling begins work on hiring coaches
New leaders needed for the university's baseball, soccer and softball programs
July 5, 2006

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — New Grambling State athletics director Troy Mathieu has settled in, but he's anything but settled.

Awards and framed momentos, including a certificate as a certified athletic administrator, are up behind his desk. Other tasks, like hiring three coaches, look to take a bit longer.

"We haven't set an itinerary (for the hirings)," Mathieu said. "I'm getting familiar with the candidates. There is some strong interest."

Mathieu said he expects to begin callbacks and then scheduling interviews after the holiday. He did not release any names.

Grambling State's openings include those vacated by baseball coach James "Sapp" Randall, softball coach Connie Garcee and first-year women's soccer coach Cesar Martinez.

Randall, an assistant to legendary former coach Wilbert Ellis for 13 seasons, could only manage a 29-80 mark after taking over in 2004. But he continued recruiting throughout what would be a last-place season in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's West division.

Signings included Fort Worth-Polytechnic High pitcher Mario Mendoza and two California prospects, outfielder Richard Amaro of Oxnard Community College and shortstop Brandon Young of Carpinteria High.

"The fear is from parents whose son signed to play here," Mathieu said. "What does this mean to him? I'm here to tell them that we will honor that commitment."

Garcee's team was 3-53 overall in 2005, and last in the West. GSU soccer slumped to 9-12 overall, with a 5-3 SWAC mark, just a year after winning the school's first-ever soccer title under departed coach Matthew Okoh.

"I just wish GSU put as much time and research into this as it does as when selecting a football coach," Grambling fan Paul Taylor said in a Fan Blog at www.thenewsstar.com on Tuesday. "Until they do, the Commissioner's Cup will continue to elude GSU."

Mathieu, who last month took over a program that hasn't won the all-sports league trophy in nine years, knows it's going to take more than bringing in new blood. He's gotten to work on the care and feeding of those already on staff, as well.

Mathieu began with an ambitious schedule of one-on-one meetings with coaches. He said those sessions have gone well.

"I want to let them understand where we're coming from, from the administrative standpoint," Mathieu said. "I'm here to help them accomplish their goals. That's what I am all about. So, I'm going through a process of finding out how we can help, how we can expanded our role and get them there."

Mathieu stresses that he isn't accomplishing anything alone.

"Everywhere here, things are upbeat, positive," Mathieu said. "Everyone wants to see us take it up a notch. The continuing theme has been: How can we help? I couldn't ask for more."

The time that ... Willie Jeffries came to Grambling

Jeffries moves toward GSU AD job
ULS board approval gives S.C. native, football coach one last step toward new post
December 3, 2004

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com

GRAMBLING -- Long-time coach and administrator Willie Jeffries is one step closer to being Grambling State University's new athletics director.

His proposed appointment, as first reported at www.thenewsstar.com, was approved Thursday during a 1:30 p.m. meeting of the University of Louisiana System board's joint athletic and finance committee. A final vote by the board was scheduled for today in Natchitoches.

The 67-year old would come to GSU after serving as South Carolina State University's director of athletic fund-raising since retiring as the school's coach in 2001. He served as athletics director from 1990-92.

Asked by Carl Shetler, the chair of the committee, what it takes to be an effective athletics director, Jeffries said: "The mission of athletics is the same as the overall mission of the university - to provide a quality education. A rising tide raises all boats. Athletics can be a beacon for academics and vice versa."

Jeffries also said he is a stickler for NCAA compliance, and plans to strictly adhere to all rules
set by that governing body, the Southwestern Athletic Conference and the university.

A native of Union, S.C., Jeffries would replace Al Dennis, who was fired on the first day of new president Horace Judson's tenure last July 1. Jeffries and Judson were in meetings until late Thursday afternoon and unavailable for further comment.

Jeffries is best known as a racial pioneer, becoming the first black to coach on the NCAA Division I level when he took over at Wichita State University in 1979. But his coaching career spanned four decades - 19 of which he spent at South Carolina State University, his alma mater. He also coached at Howard for five seasons.

"Willie Jeffries had a long and successful career coaching football," said Robert L. Brown, a 1994 graduate of Grambling State. "I don't know if he has the background to be an athletics director but I hope and trust Dr. Judson knows what he's doing."

Jeffries, who earned a civil engineering degree in 1960, coached at SCSU over two stints - between 1973-78 and 1989-2001. During the first tenure, Jeffries compiled a 50-13-4 record with five Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles.

Committee member Elsie Burkhalter noted his deep ties to South Carolina and asked Jeffries if he intended to relocate and stay awhile in Grambling.

"I'm not going to buy a graveyard plot," Jeffries said, "but we are going to stay for a while."

The candidate appeared Thursday morning on a revised agenda for the ULS board's joint athletic and finance committee. GSU's proposal was not on the ULS Web site Wednesday night.

The committee moved forward a proposed salary of $90,000 for Jeffries, "comparable to director of athletic positions at other institutions with similar size budgets as Grambling's," according to the committee's executive summary. He would begin work Jan. 3, 2005.

South Carolina State's football team faced GSU with some regularity over the years, including consecutive seasons between 1983-90. Jeffries' most significant victory over former GSU coach Eddie Robinson was a 31-27 win in the 1994 Heritage Bowl.

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GSU sports ready for Jeffries' style
December 4, 2004

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com

GRAMBLING -- Those who have worked closest with new Grambling State University athletic director Willie Jeffries hold him in high esteem.

"He's the best man I know … a straight-shooter, a no-nonsense guy," said South Carolina State University coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough.

Pough played for and later replaced the former coach who at age 67 is leaving a quiet administrative position at SCSU to re-enter the high-profile and high-speed world of athletics at GSU.

Jeffries was confirmed Friday by the University of Louisiana System board at a meeting in Natchitoches.

A native of Union, S.C., Jeffries replaces Al Dennis, ired on the first day of GSU president Horace Judson's tenure on July 1. Director of athletic fundraising at SCSU, in Orangeburg, S.C., Jeffries served as the school's football coach for 19 years and athletics director for two.

"With my being involved with fundraising, I learned that I wanted to do more," said Jeffries, slated to begin work at GSU on Jan. 3. "I was excited by the opportunity to come to Grambling, with the great name it has, especially in athletics.

"That helps you recruit students, and then academics benefits, as well."

Jeffries noted GSU's football legacy - a record that includes 20 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles - but also mentioned recent championships by the men's and women's cross country teams and women's soccer team, along with a runner-up performance in women's volleyball.

He said he is committed to success beyond football.

"We're going to be sure to adhere to Title IX," said Jeffries. "We want to give all of the sports an equal chance to succeed."

Pough said Jeffries will benefit Grambling in another critical area.

"Coach may be the best fundraiser we've ever had," Pough said. "He can build relationships and encourage people to support that university. He's a strong enough personality that people enjoy being around him.

"People migrate to him. That translates into good giving. Grambling is getting a steal. I'm actually surprised they were able to lure him away."

Clarence Moore, a 1976 Grambling graduate involved with the search that brought in Judson, is eager to meet his school's new athletics director.

"I will trust the administration and its decision on having chosen the best man for the position," said Moore.

Jeffries was the first black football coach on the NCAA Division I-A level in 1979 at Wichita State.

Jeffries, who earned a civil engineering degree in 1960, coached at SCSU over two stints - winning five Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championships. He compiled a 50-13-4 record from 1973-78, then returned in 1989 and led SCSU to a 78-64 mark over 13 seasons.

He served as both football coach and athletics director for two seasons, but found the workload prohibitive.

"After two years," Jeffries said, "I had to give up one of them."

Jeffries also coached at Howard University in Washington D.C., where he won a sixth MEAC title and the Bisons' first ever.

He faced former GSU coach Eddie Robinson several times, including a 1994 South Carolina State win in the Heritage Bowl.

"First of all, I knew a lot about Grambling," said Jeffries. "The administrative team on board now just influenced me greatly, the style of operation and the way they do things."

After working at the high school level, Jeffries began his college coaching career as an assistant at North Carolina A&T under Hornsby Howell in 1968. He then joined Johnny Majors' staff at Pittsburgh in 1972, where he served as an assistant for one year before returning to South Carolina State in 1973.

Jeffries' overall coaching mark was 179-132-6, with a record of 128-77-4 at his alma mater. He also sent a number of players into the NFL, including Donnie Shell, Orlando "Zeus" Brown, Jumpy Geathers, Harry Carson, Robert Porcher, Chartric Darby, Dexter Clinkscale and Anthony Cook.

Jeffries was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the 2002 Black Coaches Association and was featured on ESPN's "SportsCentury" as part of Black History Month that same year. A powerful speaker, he was featured at former GSU coach Doug Williams' first football banquet and at the SWAC's season-opening media event in 2002.

Also in the running
Grambling State University received board approval on Friday for the appointment of Willie Jeffries as its athletics director. Other reported finalists:

· Troy Mathieu, assistant superintendent for athletics for the Dallas Independent School District. A Lake Charles native, he was executive director of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans from 1993-96 and was an applicant for the SWAC commissioner job.

· Clarence Underwood, who served as assistant athletics director, senior associate AD and then AD at Michigan State between 1990-2001. He also served as the deputy commissioner of the Big Ten. Underwood still works for MSU as a consultant.

· Wilbert Curtis Williams, former athletics director at Alabama State, Albany State and Elizabeth City State. He's now a department head at Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

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New GSU AD brings own light touch
January 24, 2005

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- New Grambling State athletics director Willie Jeffries could be forgiven if he took a workman-like attitude about his first days on campus.

There was much to be done, not the least of which was hiring a football coach - a figure that has always played an enormous role in the school's public persona.

"When I first got here, it was tough," said Jeffries, a long-time coach at South Carolina State. "There were concerns to be addressed with each of the 18 sports. People had problems here or there. It's been a busy first part of my tenure."

Yet Jeffries, quick with the compliment or joke, remade a usually staid process in his own easy-going image.

A Thursday news conference to introduce Melvin Spears as GSU's successor to Doug Williams was punctuated by laughter, most of it created by something Jeffries said or did. His opening remarks centered on a well-timed memory of coaching legend Eddie Robinson.

"You all remember Coach Rob carrying that briefcase," said Jeffries, who faced Robinson many times over the years. "All the young coaches thought if they carried one, they'd win as many games as he did. But -"

Here, Jeffries paused for effect.

"They didn't do that."

Jeffries even brought a yellow flag, similar to the ones carried by game officials, that he said he'd throw if things went too long.

Moments like that are familiar to South Carolina State coach Oliver "Buddy" Pough, who played on Jeffries' first team at SCSU and later succeeded him on the bench.

"Everybody he's come in contact with has been impressed with Coach over the years," Pough said. "People enjoy being around him."

Approved by the University of Louisiana System board on Dec. 3, Jeffries arrived on campus a month later. He had been SCSU's football coach for 19 seasons, athletics director for two, and director of athletic fund-raising since 2001. Jeffries was also the first black to head a Division I-A program, coaching at Wichita State in the late 1970s.

That legendary career was surely helped along by Jeffries' personal likeability.

"There's a reason Coach Jeffries has been able to do all those great things: He's a great man," Spears said. "He makes the tough calls, but he's still got a way of making people feel comfortable."

Spears got into the spirit of things late during Thursday's event.

Asked about next year's Bayou Classic, he said: "We're not in the business of predictions. But one person who was talking the other day said it best: For 57 years, we 'Robbed' them. For six years, we 'Doug' them. Hopefully, for the next 20 years, we'll 'Spear' them."

Once again, laughter rang out. Jeffries, smiling broadly, was clearly in his element.

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First-year GSU AD Jeffries to resign
September 28, 2005

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com

GRAMBLING - Grambling State University athletics director Willie Jeffries will resign from the school Friday after less than a year on the job.

"I am leaving because of personal situations involving my family," said Jeffries, who became GSU's fifth athletics director last January after a long tenure in athletics at South Carolina State. "I just felt it would be much better to be in South Carolina."

Jeffries, 68, declined to elaborate on the family situations.

He first revealed his plans to leave in talks with South Carolina news reporters after a speaking engagement - something Jeffries told GSU president Horace Judson that he regretted in a meeting Tuesday.

"The articles that quoted me as saying I was leaving when I had not had a chance to make the president knowledgeable of it, that was something I needed to apologize for," Jeffries said. "I had to go in and apologize and straighten that out."

Three separate newspaper articles over the weekend quoted Jeffries as saying he would leave GSU when his one-year contract is up on Jan. 3, 2006.

As word spread through the Internet and online message boards, Jeffries cut short his trip and returned to GSU to sort through the issue with the school's administration. He met with Judson on Monday and again Tuesday.

By the time Jeffries emerged, his last day at Grambling had been moved up to this week.

Judson, in a news release Tuesday afternoon, said: "It is unfortunate that he is leaving. For the short time he was here, Coach Jeffries made a strong contribution to our athletic programs. We are as sad to see him go as we were delighted in having him come. We wish him and his family all the best."

Jeffries replaced Al Dennis, who was fired on July 1, 2004 - Judson's first day on the job. Dennis had served for four years, following such GSU legends as Robert Piper and Fred Hobdy into the AD chair.

Jeffries is best known on the national level as a racial pioneer, becoming the first black to coach on the NCAA Division I level when he took over at Wichita State University in 1979. But his coaching career spanned four decades - 19 of which he spent at South Carolina State University, his alma mater.

That long relationship with SCSU and the town of Orangeburg, S.C., continued with regular visits back home throughout his nine-month tenure so far at GSU.

Jeffries' most recent trip, last week to speak to the Orangeburg Touchdown Club, was covered by two newspapers, The (Orangeburg, S.C.) Times and Democrat and The (Columbia, S.C.) State.

Writers Bob Gillespie of The State and Thomas Grant of the hometown Times and Democrat both had direct comments from Jeffries saying he will leave GSU when his one-year contract expires.

Jeffries, who was hired on Jan. 3, 2005, is quoted by both as saying: "I think we've accomplished what we needed."

He said on Tuesday that local reporters simply overheard comments about leaving.

"I was talking to one of my high school classmates," said Jeffries. "He kept asking me when I was coming back. I mentioned that we would be back soon - not knowing that one of the reporters was getting a scoop. I wouldn't have discussed that without talking to the president of Grambling."

Gillespie, who has covered Jeffries for nearly 30 years in South Carolina, stood by his story on Tuesday. Grant did the same.

Jeffries reiterated that he regretted the way the news leaked out.

"I know it caught (President Judson) by surprise, and I deeply regret that it happened," said Jeffries. "All of my days at Grambling have been good days. Everybody has been fair. I felt good about being at Grambling, because it's going in a positive direction. I wish Dr. Judson and the entire Grambling family the best."

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Jeffries couldn't shake South Carolina ties
September 30, 2005

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- His greatest successes, the six Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference titles and two Black National Championships, came in a most unexpected place.

Willie Jeffries took over at South Carolina State five years after one of the seminal moments in the torrid fight for racial justice in the 1960s, the Orangeburg Massacre.

Policemen fired into a crowd of protesters at the segregated All-Star Bowling Alley on campus that Feb. 8, 1968, killing three students and injuring 27 others. The nine patrolmen responsible were charged, but all were acquitted.

Even so, the Orangeburg area was home to Jeffries, and he's always been fiercely loyal to it.

Over years, and then decades, this similarly congenial coach would forge ahead in the deeply embedded footsteps of Grambling State's Eddie Robinson, winning games and lifelong friends from both the local white and black communities.

He did it with likeable banter, a hard-nosed style of coaching - and a playbook so conservative that he once said he "didn't even pass on the interstate."

But Jeffries also accomplished something that Robinson didn't. He left for a time to travel in Division I-A circles - including stints at Pittsburgh and Wichita State.

That said, he always came back to his native South Carolina.

Just as he will again.

Jeffries abruptly resigned after published reports from his home state last week revealed that he would leave - less than a year since taking over as athletics director at GSU.

The return shouldn't come as any surprise, only the time frame.

Twice Jeffries was offered a position with the Atlanta Falcons while coaching at SCSU in the late 1970s, but he always seemed reluctant to leave Orangeburg.

Maybe, as with Grambling, that's because it didn't work out the same when he was away.

Accusations of recruiting violations dogged Jeffries 25 years ago, first at Wichita and then in his next stop at Howard.

These alleged missteps, back then, were usually chalked up as another in the struggles of old-fashioned black school administrators who hadn't quite caught up with the big business that college football had become. Robinson, who Jeffries faced often and admired always, had some of the same problems.

Each time Jeffries eventually returned, perhaps was destined to return, to South Carolina State.

Just as he will again.

In fact, Jeffries' quick tenure at Grambling has a ringing sense of familiarity. The only thing that changes in this storyline is the ever-shortening time away.

He graduated at SCSU in 1960, then returned in 1973 to coach. He left in 1979 for I-A, only to come back in 1989. He arrived in Grambling only nine months ago.

He'd resign after making the mistake with those hometown reporters of telling too much - too much about his own fatigue at taking this job and too much about the inner workings of the institution.

His colloquial sensibilities let him down, and left damaging impressions.

Jeffries mentioned, for instance, "a financial crisis involving auditing woes" at Grambling, quoting Judson as saying that "we almost closed the school last year."

GSU was, in fact, cleared through consecutive audits in 2002 and again in 2003 by the Southern Association of Colleges of Schools, a review board that originally placed the institution on probation in 2001. All of those irregularities came before Judson took over.

There was much more, including talk of leaving when his contract was up - something Jeffries hadn't informed his boss about.

It was almost like he was stuck in those days when local reports didn't immediately vibrate across the World Wide Web. As if this wouldn't get back.

What was he doing in South Carolina anyway? Sure it was Grambling's bye week, but the Tigers' next trip was to Dallas - a key alumni and recruiting base - to play Prairie View A&M.

Talks were on-going on where the Bayou Classic, GSU's signature cash-cow rivalry game, would be played since the Superdome has been damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Basketball season is just weeks away.

He apparently couldn't resist the emotional tug of South Carolina.

Still, there was never any question about Jeffries' open-hearted enthusiasm at GSU, about his upbeat attitude, about his easy way with a turn of phrase.

So short a stay has certainly robbed us of hundreds, maybe thousands, of one-liners and throwback talltales. I'll miss that.

Jeffries' going-away at Grambling was different than what would eventually resemble a kind of coronation upon leaving as coach of South Carolina State in 2001.

Back then, there was a trio of Willie Jeffries Days in Maryland, Virginia and, of course, in Orangeburg. Atlanta and Columbia bestowed keys to the city. He was grand marshal of the SCSU homecoming parade.

Former players, like NFL stars Robert Porcher and Jumpy Geathers, chipped in for a Taurus - painted Bulldog burgundy, of course, after the school he always loved first.

This time, today, there will be less fanfare. And, perhaps there shouldn't be.

Not because the people of northeastern Louisiana didn't love Jeffries. It's just that his loyalties
were, and clearly are, bound up in his own history.

At one point one of those articles from last week says Jeffries referred "to S.C. State as 'we.'"

I don't know if he ever really left.

NICK DERISO is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. 4th St., Monroe, La. 71201. Contact him at 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com

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Grambling State's next step
September 30, 2005

Grambling State athletics director Willie Jeffries is returning to South Carolina today, where he led the S.C. State football team over two stints.

The last time Grambling was without an athletics director under president Horace Judson, after Al Dennis was let go in the summer of 2004, vice president of finance Billy Owens handled much of the duties. School officials are now mulling an interim or temporary replacement, with an announcement coming as early as next week.

The 2004 search took five months, and other finalists included:

· Troy Mathieu, assistant superintendent for athletics for the Dallas Independent School District.

· Clarence Underwood, a former AD at Michigan State who also served as the deputy commissioner of the Big Ten.

· Wilbert Curtis Williams, former athletics director at Alabama State, Albany State and Elizabeth City State.

Among those with GSU ties to be mentioned were former women's basketball coach Patricia Bibbs, Alabama State athletics director Patrick Carter, former school president Steve Favors and Laronica Conway, assistant commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

- Nick Deriso, nderiso@thenewsstar.com