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Jeffries readies for fitting finale at SCSU
LUT WILLIAMS The Bulldog faithful were all ready to send Jeffries out in style Saturday
against North Carolina A&T in what was to be his final game after 19
years leading SCSU. They couldn't have picked a more fitting ending. SCSU staged a thrilling comeback scoring on a 39-yard pass with 44 seconds left to upset the Aggies 15-14. Morehouse head coach Anthony Jones and Winston-Salem State head man Kermit Blount, former Jeffries assistants, and a lot of former players were on hand for the celebration as the coach was doused with Gatorade and carried off the field on the shoulders of his team after the win. At halftime, Jeffries was presented the keys to a new Ford Taurus presented by the former players. But because of the tragic events of Sept. 11, the faithful get to crank it up one more time. The players are set on sending Jeffries out a winner. They've won four straight games to even their record at 5-5 and have a chance to finish with a winning record, the first for the program since 1997. They've even won the last two games in dramatic fashion, scoring with 20.9 seconds left to defeat Morgan State a week before the A&T game. As to how he'll feel when it's all over, Jeffries is not sure. "I get jitters when I pass the (practice) field or the stadium," said the man who with 88 wins in league play is the all-time leader in Mid Eastern Athletic Conference victories. "It's tough, because I've coached so long." Born in Union, S. C. in 1938, Jeffries was part of an outstanding athletic tradition at Sims High School, a program that won a then state-record 96 consecutive football games from 1946 through 1954. He then attended South Carolina State where he was a standout pitcher in baseball and linebacker in football. He earned a degree in civil engineering in 1960. He began his coaching resume after graduation, first as an assistant at Lancaster's (S. C.) Barr Street High School and a year later as head coach at Granard High in Gaffney. It was at Granard that his effective coaching style and ebullient personality came to the fore. He won three consecutive state AAA championships (1964-66) while compiling a 65-7-2 mark in six years. Former North Carolina A&T head coach Hornsby Howell, who was also on hand for the game Saturday, had the foresight to get Jeffries into the college ranks, hiring him as a defensive assistant in 1968. After four years at A&T, he then served as a defensive assistant at the University of Pittsburgh under Johnny Majors before his alma mater brought him back as head coach in 1973. In his first six years back in Orangeburg, Jeffries compiled an impressive 50-13-4 record while winning five consecutive (1974-78) MEAC championships and one black college national title. Under his guidance the Bulldogs, known for their ferocious defense, became the true "Beasts of the Mid-East." Jeffries made history when he left South Carolina State to become the first African-American to lead a Div. I school at Wichita State in 1979. His first team at Wichita State won only one of 11 games, but the next year climbed to 5-5-1. Two years later, in 1982, the Shockers posted their first-ever winning season as Jeffries led them to an 8-3 finish including a win over Kansas and a three-point, last-second loss to Tennessee. In 1984, five years after making the historic trek to Wichita State, Jeffries returned to the MEAC as head coach at Howard University and proceeded to turn the perennial doormat Bison into championship contenders, twice posting winning seasons during a five-year stay. He reassumed the reins of the South Carolina State program in 1989, has added another MEAC and black college national title, and made three Heritage Bowl appearances while putting up a 77-64 mark over the last 13 seasons. His combined total of 174 wins places him 12th all-time in black college football history while he holds the top spot in victories in both SCSU and MEAC annals. "I came back to Orangeburg because I didn't want to pursue any other major college offer and I also wanted to spend time with my mother," said Jeffries. "And I was able to do that. I was able to spend the last ten years of her life with her." "I'm gong to miss it, but the president (Dr. Leroy Davis) and (athletic director) Dr. (Tim) Autry say they're going to keep me around in some capacity. I'll be helping the president out with some issues fundraising and things like that. "I feel terrible about where we've finished the last two or three years. We've recruited players that we think can get us back to the level we're accustomed to." Indeed the final contingent is proving the wisdom of his words. A win Saturday would tie the Bulldogs for third in the MEAC and give whomever steps into his large shoes a good foundation to build upon. But Jeffries had laid that already. © 2001 Azeez Communications, Inc.
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