UNDER THE BANNER
What's Going On In and Around Black College Sports
PETTY, MASSIE OUT: Howard University announced on Tuesday that the contract of football head
coach Ray Petty will not be renewed. Petty, who just
completed his fifth season as head coach of the Bison, guided
his team to a 5-6 record this past season. During his tenure as
head coach, the team has compiled a 25-30 mark.
Lamont Massie, who led Edward Waters College
football since the program was re-instituted in 2001,
was notified last week that he will be reassigned within the athletic
department at the school. The team finished 1-9 this year and Massie has posted a 28-35
mark in his six years. Massie guided the Tigers to a 8-3 record
in 2004 but was 4-16 over the last two seasons.
JOE GETS SETTLEMENT: Florida A&M University has agreed to pay fired football coach Billy Joe $135,000 to settle a lawsuit after the NCAA cleared him of recruiting and eligibility violations. The university's Board of Trustees accepted the settlement worth a year's salary at a closed-door meeting Thursday. "All I was seeking was justice," Joe said. "I did not want to denigrate or wrong FAMU because I love the institution."
Joe said his lawyers had told him he could have gotten up
to $500,000 if the case had gone to trial. He said he planned to donate some of the money to
the university's athletic programs. The university fired Joe
in June 2005, but the NCAA later found no evidence he
had committed any infractions. The NCAA, though, did
put Florida A&M on probation for four years after the
school admitted 196 rule violations in all 15 men's and
women's sports from 1998 through 2005. Joe, 66, stayed while
the school worked on a move to NCAA Div. IA football
in 2003. The hasty decision to upgrade from I-AA
status caused Joe to lose some key players while suffering
through a 2-9 2004 season, the worst record in his 11-year
tenure. After several administrative changes at the school and
its athletic program that Joe thought put him on safe
footing, he was abruptly fired in May 2005. Joe coached the
Rattlers to four Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference titles and six trips to the I-AA playoffs, reaching the semifinals in
1999. He still lives in Tallahassee and is writing a book
about football.
ALL-STAR CLASSIC RETOOLS: The first Motherland All-Star Classic, scheduled for this Saturday, Dec. 16 in Abuja, Nigeria has been tentatively re-scheduled to Feb. 10, 2007. Michael Watkins, chairman of the Eddie Robinson Foundation that founded the game and grandson of the legendary coach, said Tuesday that logistical problems related to upcoming governmental elections and political conventions in Abuja neccessitated the rescheduling. The parties are working to resolve matters and clear the February date. Watkins also said that Joe Taylor, veteran head coach of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) champion Hampton, and Rod Broadway, head coach of Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) champ, North Carolina Central, have agreed to coach one team. Watkins said he plans to extend an invitation to the coach of the Southwestern Athletic Conference champion, to be determined this weekend in Birmingham, and to coach James "Mike" White of Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) champ Albany State, to coach the other team. Invitations to players in the game, a Who's Who of black college seniors have already gone out. Joe told Watkins this week that the re-scheduling will allow a lot of players banged up during the season to be healed in time to work out for NFL scouts.
© 2005 Azeez Communications, Inc.