BCSP Notes . . .

McNeill, who was head coach at JCSU from 1995-97 compiling a 7-3 record in his final season and served this season as associate head coach and offensive co-ordinator at North Carolina A&T, replaces Tim Harkness who was let go at the end of this season. McNeill was the BCSP co-Coach of the Year in 1995 leading the Bulls to their first winning season since 1983.

"I have been around the world and now I am returning home," McNeill said during Monday's press conference. "My job now is to make sure that we stay on the right track to be a winning football team here at Johnson C. Smith University." JCSU finished 0-10 in Harkness's final year.

McNeill has 21 years of coaching experience on Division I-AA and Division II levels. He has coached football and basketball teams in various roles at South Carolina State, Savannah State and Tennessee State.

McNeill, a Seneca, S.C. native, has a Master's degree in Business and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration both degrees South Carolina State.

Richardson, Southern agree
It took a year to get it done, but Southern has agreed to a new contract with successful 12-year head coach Pete Richardson.

The school agreed to a new three-year contract last week worth a reported $200,000 per year with incentives estimated at another $40,000, a deal that reportedly makes him the highest paid head coach in NCAA Div. I-AA football.

"It's a great day for the Jaguar Nation," Southern Athletic Director Floyd Kerr said. "I'm glad we got it done. We're keeping our coach. We're moving forward."

The two sides had reached an impasse on a five-year contract regarding a provision allowing the school to reassign Richardson to a lower-paying position at the school with a 60-day notice. That measure was dropped and the parties agreed to the three-year deal.

"I was looking for security for my family," said the 59-year old Richardson, who has never had a losing season and has compiled a 105-38 record, a 73.4 winning percentage, during his tenure at Southern.

"Five years would have been ideal, but they had some jargon that I wanted to get straightened out. That came out, so I settled for three years. I thought that was the right thing to do."

The Southern University Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the contract at its Jan. 8 meeting.

Richardson's current five-year deal ends in June 2005 and pays him $152,000 with incentives totalling up to $35,000.

Richardson said at the SWAC Championship Game on Dec. 11 that he was prepared to leave Southern if they could not work through the problems with the contract and had instructed his attorneys to start fielding offers from other schools.

Only the late A.W. Mumford, who is in the Southern Football Hall of Fame, has been more successful at Southern.

Richardson's career record, which includes five years at Winston-Salem State, is 147-51-1 (74.1 percent).

Coates takes reins at Livingstone
Livingstone grad and former Pro Bowl tight end Ben Coates has been named head football coach at his alma mater.

Coates, a 2002 inductee into the Blue Bears Athletic Hall of Fame, was named last week as the replacement to George Johnson, Jr., who was 8-22 in three seasons including a 2-8 this season. Coates, the school's 32nd head coach, had been an assistant at the school since the 2001 season and has had recent internships with the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL Europe's Frankfurt Galaxy.

"I am grateful for the opportunity," said Coates. I thank the administration for the faith they have entrusted in me. It is my goal to return the program back to the previous success we had in the past. I will be out immediately recruiting student-athletes who want to play college football and graduate. Hopefully, one day they will want to give back to the program.

Under the tutelage of his former NFL coach Bill Parcells, Ben assisted with the tight ends with the Cowboys. He served as the offensive line and tight ends intern with the Galaxy.

A fifth-round pick by the Patriots in the 1991 draft, he played with New England through 1999, leaving as the team's all-time leading receiver at tight end.

In 1994, he set the NFL's single-season reception record for a tight end with 96 receptions. Coates played in two Super Bowls in his NFL career -- losing with the Patriots in 1996 and winning with Baltimore in 2001.

Coates and quarterback Drew Bledsoe were a formidable duo at New England, connecting for 43 career touchdowns, putting them among the most prolific passer-receiver tandems in league history. He ended his career in Baltimore, winning Super Bowl XXXV, when the Ravens beat the New York Giants 34-7.

He retired after that season as the NFL's fourth all-time leading receiver at tight end, with 499 receptions for 5,555 yards and 50 touchdowns.

Coates is a native of Greenwood, South Carolina and he has a degree in Sports Management from Livingstone.

© 2004 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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