The SWAC, The Southwestern Athletic Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities in the Southern United States. This conference is vastly important to us as Southern University students as events, like Bayou Classic and in-conference games are vital to attend because of the camaraderie and friendly competition. However, some would suggest that SWAC needs to expand and improve its prestige, and there are a few solutions to do so. Some solutions are getting a wider viewership, acquiring big-time head coaches, more sponsorships, and/or playing more big-time schools such as Power 5 schools.
No one can forget the coaching, the lights, the camera, & the action, and most importantly, funding coming from the hiring of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders as Jackson State University football coach. It is understood that this not only brought recruitment for the team but also scholarships/ endorsements for other student-athletes around the school. It also brought a lot of funding for renovated housing and facilities and large-scale viewership during the time he was coaching there. I believe this can be done for schools in the SWAC, and they should follow suit. If Southern Football was to sign someone like Hall of Famer Ed Reed, who coached at Bethune-Cookman, or Micheal Vick, who just got signed at Norfolk State, another HBCU, it would have the same or even better results.
Another way is to launch a streaming platform or partner with major sports networks can bring greater national exposure to SWAC games and events. Enhancing stadiums, training facilities, and fan engagement experiences will attract top-tier athletes and coaches. With the growing popularity of HBCU sports, especially in football and basketball, the SWAC has a unique opportunity to position itself as a major player in collegiate athletics by modernizing its operations while staying rooted in tradition.
