Undefeated Tuskegee, Slater break thru to earn BCSP's final top ranking
LUT WILLIAMS
BCSP Editor
When Willie Slater took over at Tuskegee from Rick Comegy two years ago, the Golden Tiger faithful weren't sure what to expect.
After all, Comegy had taken Tuskegee to the heights of the black college football world, winning four Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles and two black college national crowns during his ten-year stay.
But Slater, a longtime and highly-regarded assistant with five NCAA
Div. II championship rings to his credit, has
proved up to the task.
He earned a share of the SIAC title in his first year and this year, behind a dynamic offense (495 ypg., 46.8 ppg.) and terrific defense (246 ypg., 16.1 ppg.), his team ran the table in and outside the conference, earning SIAC and Pioneer Bowl titles en route to a perfect 12-0 season.
In doing so, they beat back marvelous efforts this year from Delaware State, Grambling State, Jackson State and Norfolk State to earn the top ranking in the final BCSP Top Ten of 2007.
It's the first time the Golden Tigers claimed the BCSP title since they went back-to-back in the 2000 and 2001 seasons under Comegy. They matched this year's 12-0 mark in 2000 and shared the BCSP top ranking at 11-1 with SWAC champion Grambling (10-1) in 2001.
But Slater was not the only coach to score a breakthrough this season. In fact, in many ways, 2007 will be remembered as a breakthrough year for some teams and coaches.
Delaware State (10-2), under fourth-year coach Al Lavan, broke Hampton's three-year stranglehold on the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference title and made a strong bid for the No. 1 spot going thru the regular season with an unblemished 8-0 conference record to deliver the Hornets their first league title in 16 years. Only a 44-7 loss to (eventual national runner-up) Delaware in a first round FCS playoff game tarnished some of the luster off its standout regular season. The Hornets finish second in our final ranking.
The aforementioned Comegy didn't take long to make some noise in his new job. In his second year as head man at Jackson State, he returned the Blue Tigers to the SWAC and national limelight.
JSU (8-4) won the Southwestern Athletic Con-ference East Division title during the regular season and then avenged a loss to West Division champ Grambling State in the SWAC championship game to claim the proud Tigers first title in 11 years. Comegy and the Tigers finish third.
Perhaps the biggest turnaround of the season happened under head coach Pete Adrian at Norfolk State. The Spartans (8-3), MEAC doormats since joining the conference a decade ago, rose up to challenge DelState for league supremacy, posting the school's best record since 1984 and first winning record since moving to Div. I. The Spartans were actually ten minutes away from knocking off DelState and claiming the title but could not close out the Hornets. For his efforts, Adrian was named MEAC coach of the year. Norfolk State is our fourth ranked team of 2007.
There was also a big story at Grambling State (8-4) where new head coach Rod Broadway needed just one season to right the G-Men's fortunes. Coming off a 3-8 2006 campaign, Broadway quickly returned the Tigers to their winning ways claiming the SWAC West Division crown and a berth in the league's championship game. Losing their final three games did not dull the job Broadway did in resurrecting the Tigers, who finish fifth.
Holding down the sixth and seventh spots in our final ranking are teams whose coaches consistently have them in the upper echelon of their conference races and as nearly permanent fixtures in our Top Ten.
Oliver"Buddy" Pough's South Carolina State Bulldogs (7-4) have yet to win an MEAC title but they finished second (tied with Norfolk State) in the league race. They are sixth. SIAC runner-up Albany State (8-3) under veteran head coach James "Mike" White, who earned the Golden Rams another Div. II playoff berth, is seventh.
Three other coaches who did bang-up jobs with their teams occupy the last three spots in our Top Ten. After unprecedented back-to-back losing seasons, Pete Richardson got the Southern Jags (8-3) back on track finishing in a tie for second in the SWAC West. That tie was with 7-3 Prairie View, who posted its first winning season since 1976 and its most victories since 1964 under fourth-year coach Henry Frazier. Both Richardson and Frazier earned new contracts. Frazier joined Adrian, Lavan and Broadway as FCS coach of the year finalists. Shaw (8-4), under second year coach Darrell Asberry, won the CIAA title and earned a Div. II playoff berth.
© 2007 Azeez Communications, Inc.