UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
A&T GETS ITS BIBBS: North Carolina A&T has appointed former Hampton and Grambling State
women's head basketball coach
Patricia Cage-Bibbs as its new head women's
basketball coach. The appoint-ment was announced
last Wednesday morning at press briefing "amid
enthusiastic university supporters" led by Chancellor
James Renick. "This is a huge hire for
N.C. A&T's intercollegiate activities," Renick said. "Patricia
Cage-Bibbs is a consummate professional who will have
an immediate impact on our women's basketball program. She has a proven track
record and years of substantial experience in the
MEAC and SWAC." Bibbs returns to coaching after leaving Hampton
to spend a year helping run a family-owned car rental
business in Rustin, LA. "I'm a builder who loves challenges," Bibbs
explained. "Many people avoid challenges and run away
from them, but this has always been my purpose. This is
what God has given me to do. This is my forte' to walk in
new situations and build strong, effective programs." The
Monroe, La., native was head women's basketball coach
at Hampton from 1997 to 2004. She was MEAC Coach of
the Year in 1998 and MEAC Outstanding Tournament Coach
in 2000, 2003 and 2004 after leading the Lady Pirates
to Tournament championships and NCAA Div. I
Tournament berths. In 2000, she was honored for her team's 300th
victory and as the first basketball coach at Hampton (men's
or women's) to take the team to the NCAA Division I
Tournament. Before coming to Hampton, Bibbs spent 13 years at
her alma mater, Grambling State. During her tenure at
Grambling, the Lady Tigers won six SWAC regular season
championships and four tournament championships. Bibbs will
begin work immediately replacing Saudia
Roundtree who departed one week ago. Roundtree's departure was described
as a "personnel matter" by A&T officials who did not
indicate whether she was fired or resigned. The former
Georgia standout had just completed her third season as head
coach and had a career record of 24-61. Roundtree, a former Div.
I standout at Georgia, was hired in July, 2002 and given a
five-year contract. A&T officials indicated that the final
two years of the contract would be honored.
A FRIEND PASSES: The Black College Sports Page
extends heartfelt condolences to the family
and 
friends of Bill Franklin, the radio voice of
Winston-Salem State football and basketball broadcasts who
was found dead in his home on Sunday. Franklin, 60, a
valued supporter and friend of this publication, was
known throughout black college circles as a hard-working,
tireless journalist committed to excellence and the uplift of
all those around him. Franklin, an alumnus of North
Carolina A&T, spent the last quarter century giving his heart
and soul to WSSU broadcasting, anchoring Rams' football
and basketball on radio beginning in the early 1980s on WAIR
- AM (1340) and continuing those duties while serving
as general manager of the school's radio station, WSNC
90.5 FM, for nine years. Throughout his service to the
institution he served as mentor to countless students and mass
communication majors. He also lent his numerous talents over
the ten-year history of the HBCU Sports
Report, a weekly 30-minute radio program syndicated to black college and
commercial radio stations throughout the country and to
helping broadcast the CIAA Basketball Tournament on WSNC.
In 1999, Franklin lost consciousness and had to be rushed
into emergency heart surgery just before the broadcast of
a WSSU football game at Bowman Gray Stadium. He
had recently shared that complications from that heart
condition could have required additional surgery. He is survived
by four children, Janine (40), Jennifer (27), a former
Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Jessica
(23), and William III (17).
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.