And this is why I’m not a fan of The Rumor Mill.
Last week, I reported that current Prairie View A&M offensive coordinator/QB coach Ted White’s name had been tossed around to return to his alma mater as a potential replacement for Mike London as the head coach at Howard. I was hoping that the Bison athletic department would appease their fan base, reach back into it’s past, and find the leader of its football program.
Wrong.
WRONG!
HU’s Athletic Director went in a different direction and named Michigan offensive analyst Ron Prince as their new head coach Friday. If you’re unfamiliar with Prince, his coaching career dates back to the early 1990’s, where he served as an assistant at such stops as Alabama A&M, South Carolina State, Cornell and Virginia alongside London.
Prince would eventually earn his first head coaching job at Kansas State in 2006. In three seasons in Manhattan, Prince would amass a record of 17-20, including a 37-10 loss to Rutgers in his only bowl appearance (Texas Bowl).
After being fired in 2008, Prince went on to return to be an assistant in the NCAA (Virginia, Rutgers) and NFL (Colts, Jaguars, Lions) before joining Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor as an offensive analyst.
Since being named the head coach at Howard, Prince has hired Michigan defensive analyst Elijah Sandweiss in an unknown role. And while I’m in the middle of making corrections, it appears as though Buddy Pough’s return to Orangeburg has caught a snag.
I reported last week that according to multiple sources with knowledge to the situation, Pough would be returning to South Carolina State as the head coach in 2019. According to The Post & Courier, SCSU has yet to decide about Pough’s future with the football program.
“Discussions regarding Coach Pough’s contract have not taken place at this time,” SCSU athletic director Stacy Danley said in a prepared statement earlier this week. “I will have the appropriate discussions with coach Pough and President (James) Clark to determine the state of the program. Subsequently, a decision will be made based on what we believe will be in the best interest of the university.”
Now that I have made amends for a few mistakes, I want to discuss a move I thought could have happened.
I’m not one to call for anyone’s job, which is why I didn’t suggest that he should be fired after losing to Alcorn State in the SWAC championship game, but it's possible Dawson Odums’ relationship with Southern could be coming to an end.
I made a statement earlier this season that “Odums must be tired of being good”, and it appears as though I was right. Even with all their success — finishing 2018 with their sixth straight winning season — the Jags haven’t won a SWAC title since Odums’ first full season as a head coach in 2013. With Southern theoretically reaching its peak, Odums could be frustrated which could explain why he may be willing to move on.
Reports say that Odums was one of about 120 prospects who applied for the open coaching job at McNeese before front runner Sterlin Gilbert was named the head coach.
Even though he might be averaging close to eight wins a season, Odums could be thinking that he’s done all he can at Southern. Oddly enough, Jag Nation could be thinking the same.
Yes, the fans enjoy winning but beating rivals Alcorn State and Grambling matters. Going 1-7 and 3-3 against the Braves and Tigers respectively over six seasons along with applying to coach McNeese may not sit too well with the fans in Baton Rouge.