Remembering: Grambling enters period of turmoil

Nick's note: This was, of course, just the beginning of a remarkable period of change for Grambling at the dawn of the administration of school president Horace Judson (pictured at right). In the four years that followed, Grambling would see Willie Jeffries come and go as athletics director, followed by an interim and then Troy Mathieu. Spears would be let go in 2006 and replaced by Rod Broadway. Then, in a series of shattering losses over an eight-month period, Grambling would mark the passings of seminal legends Collie J. Nicholson (September 2006) -- who is extensively quoted in the following piece -- then Ernie Ladd (March 2007) and Eddie Robinson (April 2007).

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Back to earth
The good ol' days of steadiness in the GSU athletics department are over.
July 12, 2004

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Will Grambling State ever again see the bedrock stability it once knew?

Not in today's topsy-turvy world, said Collie J. Nicholson, the sports information director at GSU for 30 years, beginning in 1948.

But even Nicholson is taken back by 2004's evolving situation. "There have been changes made over the years," he said, "but not to this degree."

A year ago, fans of the Grambling State football program were still savoring a third consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

The Tigers didn't add a fourth - finishing with a respectable nine wins, but still one game short of the 2003 SWAC title game in Birmingham.

A year ago, Michael Roach, coordinator for each of those championship teams, was running GSU's defense. One game into the 2003 season, he resigned - citing personal and family concerns.

A year ago, receiver Tramon Douglas had just broken future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice's conference record for receiving yards. An off-season injury would so alter his senior season that Douglas would go undrafted by the NFL.

Heishma Northern, in his sixth season at Grambling as coach of defensive backs and special teams, took over for Roach. Defensive line coach Gabe Northern, in his third season with the Tigers, handled the linebackers last season.

But as 2004 dawned, Heishma Northern was not asked to continue as defensive coordinator. Gabe Northern was fired.

Coach Doug Williams, the architect of GSU's first SWAC titles and first winning seasons since 1994, hired Tom Lavigne as defensive coordinator - but would resign his post before Lavigne took over. Williams is now with the NFL's Tampa Bay franchise.

Lavigne, a GSU graduate, was subsequently fired by interim head coach Melvin Spears, Williams' long-time offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.

A year ago, Albert Dennis III - a former player whose father was also one of Robinson's first team captains - was the athletics director. He had overseen three conference titles in football, the completion of a new baseball facility and the groundbreaking on a basketball gym.

But, after the University of Louisiana System board hired Horace Judson as new president for GSU, Judson fired Dennis on his first official day in office.

Then, an item on Spears' resume came into question - a situation that was apparently resolved after a trip to Northern Arizona University over the weekend.

All of this turbulence seems particularly noteworthy when placed alongside a bit of relevant trivia: Williams was just the second GSU coach since Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency.

Eddie Robinson had earned 408 career victories from 1941 through 1997, setting an all-time record for wins that would stand until last season - and he did it all at this country school, located in the hills of western Lincoln Parish.

Williams, his replacement, would coach for 51 fewer years at Grambling. A school that was the very model of stability has apparently caught up with the times.

"I don't think it will ever be as stable as it used to be," Nicholson said. "Things have changed to such a degree, that I think this is the norm nowadays."

Questions about a master's degree from Northern Arizona prompted Spears to travel to Flagstaff to resolve the issue over the weekend. A dean there confirmed to The News-Star on Friday that Spears had completed the required courses, but still needed to finish minor paperwork to receive his degree. His transcript was expected to be updated early this week.

"Really it's a question of having a degree posted, not having completed the degree requirements," said William Wright, chair of the department of research, foundations and leadership - in which Spears studied at Northern Arizona from 1993 until taking job with Williams before then 1998 season.

But that still leaves the question of who will be athletics director at Grambling State - and what all of this has done to a team that some expected to return to championship form in 2004.

"My first concern," said Williams, upon hearing that Spears' resume was under review, "is for those players. I pray for them."

So far, the team has tried to carry on as usual, said senior linebacker Kenneth Pettway.

"When it involves your coach, it's going to be on the players' mind all the time," Pettway said. "He comes in every morning, then to every workout every evening. He's in his office if you need someone to talk to. Then, when there comes a time that he might not be there, it's difficult for the team."

Judson hasn't officially addressed the AD situation since asking Dennis to step down more than a week ago.

While the school rebounded in football during Dennis' tenure, Grambling State hasn't captured the SWAC Commissioner's Cup, an all-sports trophy, since 1997-98 - the last year before Dennis took over for Robert Piper.

Left unfinished is an away game against Mississippi Valley, which outside promoters hoped to move from Itta Bena, Miss., to Chicago's Soldier Field. Dennis said just days before he was fired that GSU had still not completed negotiations on moving that contest.

Then, there is the opening for a defensive coordinator. Spears was reviewing applications before questions about his resume had him on a plane to Arizona.

"I've got applications coming in, but the administration hasn't signed off on the new job description for the position. Until that point, we are not ready to comment," he said last week. "A bunch of guys have sent resumes. Quite naturally, you're talking about Grambling, so a lot of people are going to be interested."

Despite such upheaval, GSU assistant Mark Hall still leads the team in a tough but reliable regimen of weights and summertime conditioning. Players say there's nothing more that can be done, during this off-season of change.

"It must be very difficult for them to understand that these problems are off the field," said Nicholson, major architect of the legendary Bayou Classic. "But they can still make Grambling proud."

A year ago, the path didn't seem so rocky. But Pettway says that doesn't mean the team is confused about what's ahead.

"As a team we came together and had a meeting," said Pettway, a 2003 transfer from Southern Arkansas who was this past spring's most impressive performer. "Our workout stayed intense. We still show up for running every day. Even though things are going on around the team, our goal remains the same: To win the championship. We are staying focused, even though things are going on."

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."

Grambling hires Rod Broadway

Reigning black college champ interested in Grambling vacancy
January 12, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Rod Broadway, just off a 2006 black college national championship at North Carolina Central, is interested in Grambling State's top job.

"I'd love to talk about Grambling, with the rich tradition they have there," said Broadway, a longtime former assistant in the ACC and SEC who took over at North Carolina Central four seasons ago. "They have an opportunity every year to do what we've done here."

Broadway, 51, has just returned from the American Football Coaches Association's annual meeting in San Antonio, where Grambling athletics director Troy Mathieu met informally with several potential candidates.

He has not officially applied, but Broadway's interest in the position is evident.

"I think that's a special place," he said. "Growing up, Grambling was the marquee name in black college football. That's where it should be."

Grambling fired third-year coach Melvin Spears after a disappointing 3-8 campaign in 2006. As many as 20 applicants are hoping to replace him.

Broadway would immediately join any conversation about finalists, having fashioned an undefeated 11-0 regular season in 2006 on the way to a second-consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association title. (Along the way, his local stock skyrocketed with a 27-20 victory against archrival Southern in Baton Rouge.)

The national Sheridan Broadcasting Network crown is the first for Broadway's Division II program since the poll was begun 33 seasons ago.

And he did it with a late replacement under center. Redshirt freshman Stadford Brown was pushed into action when a senior quarterback suddenly left the program as the '06 season dawned.

"We had enough good athletes where we didn't have to ask him to win games," Broadway said. "He just needed to manage the game. We molded our offense around what he could do."

Brown led the conference with 211 passing yards per game, earning CIAA offensive player of the year honors. But Broadway's modified West Coast attack still placed great value on establishing a running game.

"I think if we can run the ball, it opens up your passing game," he said. "We like to do both."

His team set a new NCCU record in 2005, averaging of 30.8 points per game. That CIAA title was the first for the school in 25 seasons.

Asked about a larger offensive philosophy, Broadway is refreshingly upfront: "Score as many points as we can, any kind of way we can, as often as we can. That's our philosophy."

It's an approach shaped during a 1995-2001 tenure with Steve Spurrier at Florida, one that included SEC crowns in 1995-96 and 2000, and a national championship in 1996.

"When you get an opportunity to work with one of the brightest minds in football, you pick up some things," he said. "Offensively, he's sharp as a tack. You borrow some things and mold your own program."

Broadway, a native of Oakboro, N.C., graduated from West Stanly High School and went on to All-ACC honors at North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he earned a bachelors degree in 1977 in recreation administration.

After college, he also served as an assistant at Duke (1981-94) and his alma mater (2001-02), both within 10 miles of the offices he sits in now as head coach at NCCU. But Broadway said he had no qualms about making the transition to Grambling, in the far-away piney woods of northern Louisiana.

"With the success that they have had there, and the resources, somebody can go into there with a plan and quickly get that thing where it deserves to be," he said. "I've been in this for 28 years and I've never applied for any job. But that place is a gold mine."

Broadway entered the 2006 season with an overall record of 22-10, having led NCCU to more victories in his first three campaigns than any other coach in school history. He has now won 28 of his last 31 games.

NCCU had never won 8 or more games in consecutive seasons before Broadway established a streak that now stands at three.

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Grambling gets closer to finding its man
Interviews for new football coach set to start this week
January 15, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Grambling State has entered the final stage of its search for a football coach: A series of finalist interviews.

North Carolina Central coach Rod Broadway, Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones and Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis are expected to take part over the next few days — along with perhaps one more prospect.

"Grambling is what I am interested in," Lewis said, earlier in the search process. "Whatever I can do, I want to do." GSU is coming off a disappointing 3-8 season marked by controversy. That led to the Dec. 18 dismissal of third-year coach Melvin Spears, as first reported at http://www.thenewsstar.com/. Offensive coordinator Sammy White then began directing recruitment efforts as interim coach during this search.

Calls to Grambling athletics director Troy Mathieu were unreturned.

Over the course of its three-week search, he received close to two dozen applications from prospective candidates, including several with school ties.

Among them were: two-time GSU team captain Broderick Fobbs; former player and assistant Eddie Robinson Jr. (son of the school's legendary former head coach); Grambling product Eric Dooley, an assistant at Southern; ex-Robinson assistant Dennis "Dirt" Winston; and former Grambling defensive back and assistant Thomas Lavigne.

None apparently had heard from GSU over the weekend.

"I haven't received a call," said Fobbs, who was conducting an official visit for prospects as recruiting coordinator/offensive coordinator at Northwestern State.

Lavigne worked with Eddie Robinson Sr. during the 1982-83 seasons, and was hired by former GSU coach Doug Williams as defensive coordinator just before Williams' departure for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' front office. Lavigne left Grambling for a job at Ruston High not long after.

"I haven't talked to anybody from Grambling yet," he said. "I'm still excited to have the opportunity."

Lavigne also made coaching stops at North Carolina A&T, Southern, Tennessee State, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State.

Winston, winner of two Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, applied in the search that led to Spears being named GSU coach in 2005, as well.

"I didn't get an interview then, and it doesn't look like I will get one this time, either," said Winston, defensive coordinator on Robinson's final league championship team. "I don't see anyone more qualified. But even if the opportunity doesn't come, I have to believe that others opportunities are out there for me."

Broadway led North Carolina Central to the 2006 Sheridan Broadcasting Network black college national championship, the school's first since the poll began 33 years ago. NCCU was a perfect 11-0 in the regular season, capturing its second Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association in four years under Broadway.

"I'd love to talk about Grambling, with the rich tradition they have there," Broadway said this week. "They have an opportunity every year to do what we've done here."

He reportedly turned down another job after back-channel talks with Grambling heated up. Broadway — who made previous coaching stops at Florida, Duke and North Carolina-Chapel Hill — had committed to stay at NCCU until his son, a standout senior tight end on last year's squad, completed his eligibility.

Jones has led A&M to two appearances in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Game, including an emotional first-ever win last December. He's won 41 games over five seasons in Huntsville, Ala.

"We have a chance to continue this run, and I would love to be a part of that," Jones said, just days after Spears was let go. "But I would not rule out anything."

He was a finalist in Grambling's 2005 search, as well.

Lewis, a two-time all-conference defensive back for Robinson in 1981-82, served as a volunteer assistant last year with Spears. Lewis had a stellar 16-season career in the NFL, then was out of football for years — he worked as a horse breeder — before returning as an assistant at San Diego and NFL Europe during the 2004-05 seasons.

"I have a feel for the players, because I was with them," Lewis said last week. "Grambling is supposed to exemplify Eddie Robinson. We have to maintain that standard."

Grambling's list of applicants also included Vanderbilt running backs coach Kenny Carter — who, like Fobbs, spent the weekend playing host to a series of prospects as the program's recruiting coordinator. He had not heard from Grambling this weekend either, he said.

"You do your job while you have your job," said Carter, who interviewed last week for the vacancy at Howard, as well.

Former Tennessee State and Alabama State coach L.C. Cole, another applicant, did not return a call for comment.

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Broadway has overhaul skills
Grambling football coaching prospect helped rebuild North Carolina Central
January 16, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Should he get the job at Grambling State, Rod Broadway would begin in a far better place.

And would, likely, be making far better money.

Broadway interviewed Monday for the vacant position of head football coach as GSU seeks to replace Melvin Spears, who was let go on Dec. 18 after three years at the helm. The North Carolina Central head coach is one of at least four finalists reportedly set to meet with Grambling, including Detroit Lions assistant Charles "Kippy" Brown, Alabama A&M head coach Anthony Jones and Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis.

Broadway arrived having taken NCCU from Division II tatters to consecutive Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles in just four seasons.

In the beginning, the program was so ramshackle that players were forced to share equipment. NCCU had managed just two winning seasons in the previous eight and hadn't won a CIAA crown since 1980.

Today, North Carolina Central has taken 28 of its last 31 games — including 11 in a row last year — and stands on the cusp of a move up to the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA.

"I was shocked; I was absolutely shocked," Broadway said of the early going. "We didn't even have enough helmets to go around. Guys would come off the practice field and they would pass their equipment on to somebody else. It might have been easier to start from scratch."

But while NCCU went 25 seasons between league titles, Grambling was capturing nine of its own. No historic Division I-AA program, except Yale, boasts a better all-time winning percentage than GSU's.

Grambling allocates roughly $4 million dollars to athletics each year, which ranks in the middle of the pack for Southwestern Athletic Conference programs. North Carolina Central, meanwhile, had to promise to double its current athletics budget in order to be considered for a proposed June transition out of Division II.

That left it to Broadway, who previously coached under Steve Spurrier at Florida, to restock the lockers and build up the previously struggling team's confidence.

A stingy defense was matched only by Broadway's high-powered, balanced offense. His team averaged 30.8 points per game in 2005, a new school record. A year later, he led the conference with 211 passing yards per game, while setting school and league records with 24 touchdown passes by a freshman.

NCCU, which had never before won 11 games, was named Sheridan Broadcasting Network's black college national champion for the first time since that poll began.

"To come from where we did, my hats off to these kids and the coaching staff, the athletic director and chancellor," Broadway said. "It takes a lot of people. But when you have a lot of people pulling for you, it's easy to succeed."

Broadway has just completed a four-year contract signed in January 2003 that guaranteed him $100,000 a year, though he reportedly has received a raise since then.

Broadway was also in the running for the Stephen F. Austin job, though he apparently pulled out to focus on the GSU opening. That position was said to pay in the $115,000 range.

Spears had a base salary of $150,000, which at the time of signing was second best in the SWAC. Incentives ramped his annual pay to nearly $200,000.

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Detroit's Brown withdraws from Grambling search
1:01 p.m.; January 18, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- Detroit Lions assistant Charles "Kippy" Brown has withdrawn from Grambling State's on-going search for a new head football coach.

Brown cited family issues, saying he would remain with the Lions. "I enjoyed every moment I spent in Grambling, and every one there was a class act," said Brown, a 28-year coaching veteran in the college and pro ranks. "Whoever gets that job will be very lucky."

Brown was one of four finalists to interview on campus this week, as Grambling seeks to replace third-year coach Melvin Spears, who was fired on Dec. 18. The others are: North Carolina Central coach Rod Broadway, Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones and Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis.

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Grambling search now down to two finalists
2:13 p.m., January 18, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- A second candidate is out in Grambling State's search for a new head football coach.

Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones has reportedly received word he will not be offered the job. Longtime NFL assistant Charles "Kippy" Brown, another finalist, withdrew from the search earlier today, in a story also first reported at www.thenewsstar.com.

Grambling is now left with two remaining finalists from its original quartet of prospects, North Carolina Central coach Rod Broadway and Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis.

Jones has apparently already met with his players to inform them that he is remaining in Huntsville, Ala.

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Grambling to name Broadway as its new coach
2:52 p.m., January 18, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING -- North Carolina Central coach Rod Broadway will be Grambling State's ninth head football coach.

School officials are at work on a news release announcing the hire, to be issued simultaneously with NCCU.

Detroit Lions assistant Charles "Kippy" Brown withdrew from the search earlier today, then Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones was informed that the school would offer the job to someone else. Those stories were also first reported at www.thenewsstar.com.

That left Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis, a four-time Pro Bowl defensive back, as the only other remaining finalist.

He did not comment this afternoon, and said he would not until after an official announcement is made.

Details on a news conference to introduce Broadway were also still to come. Grambling president Horace Judson is out of town, and not scheduled to return until Friday night. That could push the announcing event to Monday.

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GSU officially picks Broadway to lead football team
5:07 p.m., January 18, 2007

By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State has officially named Rod Broadway as its new football coach, two hours after http://www.thenewsstar.com/ broke the story.

He led North Carolina Central team to the 2006 Sheridan Black College National championship last season, and back-to-back league titles for the first time since the 1953-54 seasons.

“We are elated that Rod Broadway has agreed to take the leadership reigns of the Grambling State University football program,” Mathieu said in the release. “He’s a proven winner as a head coach and has had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most respected coaches on the Division I level over the past two decades. We’re looking forward to him having a very successful tenure as the head coach of Grambling State University.”

Broadway replaces Melvin Spears, who was released Dec. 18 after three years as coach. He was part of a quartet of finalists that included Detroit Lions assistant Charles "Kippy" Brown, Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones and Grambling volunteer assistant Albert Lewis.

Prior to his tenure at NCCU, Broadway served as an assistant at North Carolina (2001-02), Florida (1995-00), Duke (1981-94) and East Carolina (1979-80). While at Florida, he was part of head coach Steve Spurrier's 1996 national championship staff.

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