Huntsville Times Original Story
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - On Tuesday, the day before the Southeastern Conference descends on Hoover at the Wynfrey Hotel for its three-day Media Days, the Southwestern Athletic Conference will hold its annual Media Day across town at the Sheraton Hotel in Birmingham.
Coaches and players from each of the league's 10 teams will be on hand to discuss their fortunes for the upcoming season with members of the media and a few fans and alums. The SWAC championship game is slated for Dec. 10 at Legion Field.
While the SWAC event doesn't compare to what the SEC will offer, this year's event will be more interesting than in past years.
First of all, Jackson State and Southern, two of the league's long-time powers, are ineligible for the SWAC championship after the league's Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted to ban them from postseason play after failing to meet NCAA-mandated Academic Progress Rate standards. JSU, which would likely have been the Eastern Division favorite with quarterback Casey Therriault, the league's Offensive Player of the Year, returning. Meanwhile, Southern is ineligible not only for the SWAC football championship, but also the league's basketball championship.
Alabama A&M coach Anthony Jones says that will mean nothing once the season begins.
"Jackson State and Southern may not be able to win it, but they're going to create a lot of problems for people," said Jones, whose team is trying to bounce back from last year's 3-8 finish, the worst in his tenure with the Bulldogs. "Jackson State had a good football team last year and they have a lot coming back. Southern played Jackson State down to the wire last year and I'm sure Coach (Stump) Mitchell's team will be improved.
"Jackson State and Southern will play their championship game every week. It's going to make for a competitive schedule for everyone. I do believe both of those schools will have good football teams."
Also, four new coaches, two of which won SWAC championships, are back in the fold.
Melvin Spears, former Grambling State coach, is the new head coach at Alcorn State. Spears, who won a championship at Grambling, served as offensive coordinator at Alabama State last season and helped the Hornets win the East Division title and advance to the championship game.
Doug Williams, who led the G-Men to three straight SWAC titles from 2000-2002, is back at Grambling. He will be hard-pressed to duplicate the success he had during his first stint because the league has more parity.
Heishma Northern takes over at Prairie View for Henry Frazier, while Kevin Ramsay takes over for Johnny Cole at Texas Southern. Cole led the Tigers to the SWAC championship last season, but was fired after it was revealed TSU broke a number of NCAA rules under his direction. The school is currently under NCAA investigation.
Prairie View and TSU own the last two SWAC championships. In fact, there has been a different SWAC champion each of the last eight years and a new one will be crowned in December.
"There's going to be some surprises," Jones said. "We have some new situations. Doug and Melvin are returning coaches, but at different institutions. This isn't their first rodeo. They both have won SWAC championships.
"This is Ramsey's first shot at being a head coach, but he was at Texas Southern last year and he's got a championship ring and Prairie View won the championship two years ago and Northern was there. It's going to be really, really hard to determine who's the big dog in this race. There are no easy games in this conference."
