Let the games begin—again: HBCU coaches and administrators give their play-by-play accounts of the benefits of reviving college football programs

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 8, 2004 by Crystal L. Keels

COST CONTROL

Although the sport does generate revenue, Fennell concurs that the cost to keep these programs running is a major concern. Safety regulations, insurance requirements, replenishing supplies and, for those campuses without an on-site stadium, leasing stadiums to play in are among the factors that pressure the budgets of colleges that support football programs.

In anticipation of these kinds of costs, Ohio's Central State University (CSU) is nearing its goal to raise $1.5 million to support the return of its highly touted and sorely missed football program.

Three-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) champions in the 1990s, the CSU football program was sacked in 1996 after a state audit revealed the school was $20 million in debt, and after its coach was sanctioned for eligibility errors, explains Kenneth Marshall, CSU sports information director, head of athletic training and facility manager. The football program was summarily cut. A later audit revealed a $2 million debt as opposed to the initial $20 million figure, but football was sidelined indefinitely while the school addressed its difficulties.

Since then, according to Marshall, Central State has undergone three "perfect state audits." And since then college administrators have advocated for the return of football as a means to boost flagging student enrollment and get the school back on solid ground. CSU President John Garland has been working since 1998 to reinstate the program, according to a report in the Plain Dealer, and part of the president's mission even then was to improve student morale.

Morale is indeed an issue, for alumni as well as for students. Marshall likens subsequent football-less CSU homecomings, which traditionally attracted scores of alumni, to a "bad party" where the food, the music, and the drinks are just not good and people are disappointed. The situation was improved, however, when a semi-pro team rented the CSU stadium and held a play-off game there that coincided with homecoming weekend. "That gave us something to center homecoming around," Marshall says.

This tall the CSU football program returns to its own stadium with Coach Thee Lemon at the helm. Lemon, born in Massillon, Ohio, a city where, he explains, every baby boy born at the hospital is given a football, notes a "renewed energy" on the Central State campus as both enrollment and alumni support are increasing.

One of the main reasons for football's return, Lemon says, is because of the alumni who "get a sense of pride, dignity and notoriety" from the CSU football legacy. "It meant something to them," Lemon explains. "It is something they can't let go of It gives them a presence."

Like the football program, Lemon, too, is returning to CSU where he was the defensive coordinator from 1985-1990. And like Lemon, former CSU football players are returning to assist in the revival of the sport. NFL offensive tackle Erik Williams, who played for a decade with the Dallas Cowboys and then with the Baltimore Ravens, is returning as an assistant coach and as a student. Williams plans to finish a degree in economics that he put on hold to play professionally. Like Williams, former CSU quarterback Henderson Mosley, who led the team to two of its three NAIA championships, is returning to complete his degree and to help coach Lemon rebuild the program.