One Putt Too Many Could Sink Departments Not Holes

It has been thirty-five years since the last SWAC Golf championship was won by the Jags and nineteen years since the Lady Jags took home a SWAC Golf Championship. After some rumors surfacing around campus, the wait is now over; Golf is coming back to Southern University. Our Athletic Department announced that Golf and Men’s Tennis is officially back on the Bluff. I am all for adding new things however, I think that we need to build up our current sports programs before we can resurrect the past.
Southern hasn’t had the greatest track record of being thorough in executing athletic programs. Well, at least not since the ’90s or early 2000s. Historically speaking, Southern has had a reputation for bringing in Championships. One would think that with all the championships, we would have more to show for it. The Athletic Department is stretching itself thin with this decision. It is always great to see expansion but at what cost? The other sports already beg for money from boosters consistently, and scholarships are sparse for the 400-plus student-athletes as is. Bringing back Golf and Men’s Tennis might also be biting off more than they can chew.
Let’s be positive about it, right? I just want the Bluff to get back to giving us something to be hopeful about regarding athletics. Bringing Golf back will be a good recruitment tool, however, we might be selling pipe dreams if we can’t deliver on a solid program. Student-Athletes will arrive here and then be left with a lackluster experience. Ultimately, we want our athletes to graduate from Southern, not spend one athletic season and then enter the transfer portal as we’ve seen in past seasons. By bringing Golf back to the Bluff, we must consider all avenues. Even if we have a successful Golf program, we still have other programs to clean up.
Baseball, Softball, Football, and Basketball need upgrades to their facilities. The funds we use to expand into bringing back sports should be re-filtered into making sure we have state-of-the-art facilities and we can preserve the longevity of our athletes. Adding more to a department that is struggling to stay afloat in some cases is causing more harm than not. Let’s make sure that our athletic foundation is firm before weighing it down with aesthetics just because we think it makes us look good.