Submitted By Dr. Mark ‘Big Game’ James
It’s the last play of the game, and your opponent is up and has the ball with 40 yards to the endzone. They have Randy Moss in his prime, and he is isolated on the wide side of the field. There is only one defender that you can call for the game for it all. That is the master of coverage, the Dean of football swag, and the man who changed football culture for generations of future African American players in the game. If you are not thinking about Deion Sanders, then cover 2 is probably your interpretation of a good squash game.
Branded
Presently Deion has taken his swag to the college football scene at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.
In his short tenure thus far, Coach Prime has made more splashes than a mermaid in a swimming pool.
He has renovated, reinvigorated, and upset the status quo with a broad brush of asking America that we should not see the lack and interpret it as impossible when examining the inequities that are visible at Historically Black Colleges.
The rationale of this article is to weave with enlightenment the historical need of HBCU athletics and its footprint in history with the relevance of the need to recover that which was slowly dissipating in the drain of haplessness and non-involvement.
In this country, history shows that sports activities were an integral part of the teaching and learning system among Native Americans. As this country developed with European influence and the development of higher educational institutions expanded, these institutions encouraged similar activities to create a competitive spirit amongst their students.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are defined as “Black academic institutions established before 1964 whose principal mission was, and still is, the education of Black Americans” (Roebuck & Murty, 1993, p. 3). According to Roebuck (1993), Black colleges’ goal was to educate the Black community and develop Black leadership. With the heavy burden of carrying the hopes and dreams of African Americans in this country for much of their existence, one may find that these schools need similar assistance and nurturing for survival.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2016) lists 102 accredited HBCUs recognized by the United States. Eventually, though, the official requirement to end segregation had a “significantly negative impact on HBCUs as a whole and their athletic programs more specifically” (Cooper & Dougherty, 2015, p. 310).
Humble Beginnings
The earliest noted beginnings of organized Historically Black College athletics are noted with Florida A & M University in the 1890s with football, basketball, and tennis. In 1912, nine college administrators gathered on Hampton Institute’s campus to discuss collegiate athletics at Black institutions of higher learning. This meeting was the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association (Now the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association), the first athletic conference designated for Black collegiate sports (Gaither, 2013).
A century later, four conferences are primarily HBCUs: Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, formed in 1912; The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, formed in 1913; the Southwestern Athletic Conference, formed in 1920; and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, formed in 1970 (Gaither, 2013).
HBCU athletic programs are placed in a unique predicament, in which leaders are given situations of impoverished operational standards and are asked to compete still.
These programs operate within a silo and are surrounded by a more significant socially oppressive racial structure permeating HBCUs and PWIs.
In this reality, the higher education community needs to understand HBCU athletic programs’ challenges and the continually growing gaps between these institutions as college athletics continue to be a sizable revenue-generating machine nationally.
In short, it is the battle of the “haves and have-nots,” and one side does not have the rules of engagement. Specifically, the authors posit how HBCU athletics has suffered from assimilation since the 1960s in the United States and how gaps of student experience or the lack thereof have widened since PWIs actively recruit Black student-athletes to help develop lucrative winning programs. This movement’s negative effect saw the dwindling of the football programs’ academic dominance in the HBCU conferences and creating powerful money-making machines on the FBS level of college football.
Black student-athletes and their families saw exorbitant recruiting trips at campuses as a way out and made the HBCU option the choice if one of the big schools didn’t call.
Leveling the Ground
The only way to compete in a race must be, to be honest about race. The race of inequality in athletics between HBCUs and PWIs has been run unfairly by those who have the power to rule and set the rules for all.
As PWIs continue to distance themselves from HBCUs institutionally, HBCU athletics went from being the cornerstone of the Black community with dominant athletes throughout this country to a secondary choice for prospective athletes and families. However, today there is a resurrection happening on HBCU campuses all over this country that has sparked a thought that maybe Black people can resurrect HBCU athletics by calling on the ones who have been elevated in these billion-dollar systems of athletic performance.
The Black male athlete is arguably the most critical stakeholder of these athletic departments within big-time college sports programs because its talent, image, and likeness are selling to the various consumer groups. In addition, the financial emphasis of collegiate athletics has implications for the recruitment of Black student-athletes.
We are in a day when players now have the power to make their own choices and receive income for their labor in collegiate athletics.
Yes, I must admit that at first glance, I thought that HBCUs might not benefit from the new wave of the NIL(Name Image and likeness); however, what Coach Prime has done in one year has helped to illuminate the pathway in which African Americans abandoned more than fifty years ago as it pertains to college athletics, the choice of HBCU athletics.
Shots Fired
This early signing day headlined Coach Prime winning the recruitment battle for the best player in the nation, along with a host of HBCUs gaining Power 5 transfers into their perspective programs was news that made it to every dinner table and work break room across the country.
After the announcement went viral, many Power 5 coaches began to sound off privately and publicly regarding the choice that this young athlete and his parents made. Some called it a wrong choice for this young man’s future and a disgrace in the art of recruiting.
However, as people’s opinions flowed, my research showed that after 50 years of African American athletes simply being the labor for these billion-dollar athletic machines, maybe this is a movement that merely believes in the concept that the only way to eliminate the inequities in college athletics is for African American players to invest in which, historically first invested in their skin- HBCUs.
Trail of Success
While Coach Prime is not the first PWI Black transplant to impact HBCU athletics, he is by far the most iconic.
In his illustrious career, he became the face of an innovated Black football player that is only paralleled to what Allen Iverson did for the culture of Black basketball.
What he is doing is using this iconic existence and giving to HBCUs.
In its tense, the word blessing is a continual action that cannot be returned to where we were before his arrival to the HBCU platform.
To put this in context, let’s glance at the impact that Coach Prime has made in one year:
- The official announcement of Sanders’ hiring was made on Sept. 21, 2020.
- Jackson State won the SWAC Championship in 2021.
- Numerous D1 transfers and signees
- National televised games on primetime slots
- Sold out stadiums
- Signs number 1 player in the nation
- Made JSU football a renewed and invigorated brand nationally
- Created a national athletic pandemic with many HBCUs reaping the social, enrollment, and financial benefits of this 50-year needed movement.
As soon as Coach Prime began creating the successful tides stemming from the Jackson Mississippi campus, his name was mentioned every time there was an open D1 job.
This, in my opinion, was a direct action by the media to derail the purpose of Coach Prime.
What is his goal?
Coach Prime has been chosen to be the bearer of the task to bring back home our players to their HBCU roots which will indirectly impact HBCU’s financial bottom line, and their exposure will grow enrollment numbers like Nick Saban improved the enrollment of the University of Alabama since his arrival several years ago.
If the best African American athletes go to HBCUs, it will create financial stability and sustainability for many of these institutions because Fall football is the front porch of many institutions of higher learning.
Everything Has a Price?
To whom much is given……What does this mean for Coach Prime? It now means that before last week’s landing of the #1 player in the nation, most America saw this movement as entertaining.
They thought it was great that one of the greatest players ever was helping an HBCU by being a football coach. However, most America now realizes that this movement is much more severe than expected; coach Prime will now see the reality of the weight of his calling.
It was fun when he was doing dances after a 90-yard TD interception, the iconic fashion statements and jewelry, and his personality that created a brand like no other.
Prime, you have been given a cross to carry, but it’s a challenging task to resurrect across that you have not been crucified on.
Please prepare yourself for the storm as you move HBCUs into this new era of sustainability and profitability.
While this challenge isn’t for many, God has chosen you to do for many.
HBCUs have been waiting for a movement to invigorate growth and confidence, just as your doo-rag made every inner-city kid believe they could be Primetime.
Keep pushing and when the weight gets too heavy, remember that Moses would not have been as remembered if it had not been for Aaron.
The Hebrews made it to the promise land without Moses.
We have had many Mosses’ in HBCU athletics; what we needed was a Primetime Aaron.
Touchdown!!!
Footnotes:
Cooper, J. N., & Dougherty, S. (2015). Does race still matter? A post Bowl at a historically Black college/university: A mixed-methods approach. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 10(1), 46-63. doi: 10.1177/1558689814558451
Gaither, S. J. (2013). Changing Tides. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, 29(25), 10–11. Roebuck, J. B., & Murty, K. B. (1993). Historically Black colleges and Universities: Their Place in American higher education. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey. Wiggins, D. K. (2000). Critical events are affecting racism in athletics. In D. Brooks & R. Althouse
About the author: Dr. Mark James is a former Head College Football coach with over 20 years of experience working with students towards academic and athletic development success in the classroom and in society. He is a current researcher and advocate for equity and advancement for HBCUs.
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