NEW DIRECTION AT NC A&T:

North Carolina A&T athletics director Wheeler Brown announced Monday the dismissal of head football coach Lee Fobbs and appointed running backs coach George Ragsdale as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 2008 season.

"We feel like this is the best decision for the program at this time," said Brown. "I certainly want to thank Lee for all his efforts over the last two-plus years, and I want to wish him well in all his future endeavors. The program just needs a new direction."

Fobbs was 2-28 since taking over as the Aggies head coach in 2006. Ragsdale, 55, has served as the Aggies' running backs coach under Fobbs the last three seasons. He has been assistant coach on the collegiate level for 23 seasons. He started his coaching career as an assistant at N.C. A&T in 1983. It was the first of three coaching stints with the Aggies.

Ragsdale returned to N.C. A&T as a part-time assistant during the 2003 MEAC championship season. He has also coached as an assistant at Morris Brown, Norfolk State and Arkansas Pine-Bluff.

"My job is to keep these young men focused on what is ahead of us and not what has already happened," said Ragsdale. "We have four games remaining starting with Howard on Saturday, and that's where our focus as a football team belongs. We have to make the best of what is left in this season."

Ragsdale is a 1976 graduate of N.C. A&T. He is considered one of the best running backs to ever wear an Aggies uniform. Ranked ninth on the Aggies all-time rushing list with 1,989 yards, Ragsdale led the Aggies to a share of the MEAC Championship in 1975. He is a member of the N.C. A&T and MEAC Halls of Fame. He spent six seasons in the NFL ­ five with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and one with the Washington Redskins. He also played two seasons with the USFL's Oklahoma Outlaws.

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