Accommodatingthe request of Southern University head football coach Pete Richardson, theSouthern University System Board of Supervisors decided Friday to deferapproving the 2004 football schedule. The approval could come as soon as nextmonth, when the board will have a special session during their retreat inAlexandria; or it could come in mid-May during the next regularly scheduledmeeting.
Beforethe deferment, board member Johnny Anderson questioned the number of away gamesthat the Jags would have to play and two games dates that do not have an guaranteedopponent.
Theschedule has a total of seven away games, two of which will be played in NewOrleans at the Louisiana Superdome. Two home games have been scheduled and thedates without opponents are also to be played in Baton Rouge.
Althoughno formal contracts have been signed as of yet, SU Board Athletics CommitteeChairman John K. Belton said that Southern would probably play Allen Universityon September 4 (who Southern is contractually obligated to play) and TexasCollege on October 30, which is Southern’s Homecoming.
Afterdiscussing his discontent with the schedule, Anderson recommended thatSouthern’s athletic director, Floyd Kerr, submit his resignation.
“Thisis unacceptable. Just shameful,” Anderson said. “This is just one of thereasons I feel that he’s not doing a good job.”
SUSystem Board Vice-Chairman Tony Clayton and board member Myron Lawson joinedAnderson in questioning SUBR Chancellor Edward Jackson about the number of awaygames scheduled and the absence of Kerr and Richardson during the meeting.
Jacksonexplained that due to obligations with the 2004 NCAA Basketball Tournament,Kerr was not able to be in attendance. Richardson was present at the meetingearlier during the day but after waiting through three lengthy executive sessionsheld by the board, he had todepart the meeting to oversee spring practice.
Lawsonand Anderson also voiced concerns on the way that the games would affect thesurrounding community’s economy. They said that many businesses rely onSouthern’s football games financially and that they could suffer as a result.
“Beyondthe fact that we’re putting fans through so much financial trepidation,” saidLawson. “We have to look at the impact in the Scotlandville area.”
Jacksonreminded the board that conference games are already mandated and prescribed bythe Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Inaddition, Lawson asked why the board did not have more input on the athleticcontracts that Southern made with potential teams, particularly when dealingwith the football schedule. Attorney Winston Decuir, Jr., legal counsel to theboard, told him that it was normal procedure at Southern and other institutionsfor the athletic director and football coach to handle such issues and thatseparate campuses did have the ability to handle certain contracts without theboard’s approval. Lawson then madea recommendation for the board to discuss the issue of campus contracts at aspecial session during their retreat.
Duringthe System’s board meeting in October, Clayton introduced a resolution forSouthern to enter talks with cross-town university Louisiana State Universityfor a football game in the 2004 season. Anderson disagreed with the resolutionand said that the board was never needed to negotiate games before. He said thatprotocol for such a game was not any different and further elaborated thatscheduling was at the discretion of Kerr and Richardson.
Therewere talks of Southern playing Hampton in Orlando, Fla., but the need for ahome game nullified that option. Hampton agreed to play Southern at MumfordStadium on September 4, but a contract could not be signed due to timeconstraints which were further hindered by the date of the board convening, soHampton backed out. The Pirates are now in talks to play Jackson StateUniversity in Orlando this season.
