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Abrupt Lane change
Eric N. Moore
Managing Editor Onnidan.com
In a dramatic turn of events, Lane College has named its second football coach in seven months.
Trent Boykin was introduced at a press conference last
Tuesday as the replacement for Dearrion
Snead, the former head coach who never got to take the
field. Snead and assistant coach Leon Gray were
fired last Monday for what the school described as
a "deliberate alteration" of a student transfer
document. Hours later, Boykin was being introduced as the Dragon's new head coach.
"It is a great opportunity to be standing here today and I am humbled and privileged by the opportunity," Boykin said. "I have gotten great support from (athletic director Greg Bormann) and all my surrounding coaches. I definitely want to thank President Wesley McClure, who thought highly enough of me to be able to take this program in the direction that he wants to see it go."
With just six weeks to go before his first game, Boykin indicated that he wasn't planning to make many changes.
"We are going to find the things our guys are good at and stick with those things," Boykin said. "We have some very good talent on this team, both offensively and defensively."
Boykin, who brings 16 years of coaching experience to the job, was hired in January to coach special teams, running backs and to serve as recruiting coordinator. Snead, the Dragons' defensive coordinator in 2007, had been promoted in December following the departure of Johnnie Cole. After three seasons, which began at 0-10 and followed with 7-3 and 8-3 records, Cole left to become head coach at Texas Southern.
Lane had been sanctioned by the NCAA in January and had it not caught the "alteration" internally, the Dragons could have been facing a possible "Death Penalty" by the NCAA.
Boykin hopes to build on the foundation that Cole left beginning
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