Link: It's getting ugly at Grambling....
- Thread starter Special K
- Start date
Players boycotted today's practice. The interim coach was fired today, so the team has had 3 coaches in 7 games. Police actually blocked the entrance to the practice facility today.
Not suprised about this situation. AAMU is about to have this issue, as well Jackson state and Alcorn state.
I read on another board they might forfeit their game this weekend at Jackson State.
I agree not feeding the players on a 12 hour bus ride is a disgrace. Any further discussion of HBCUs in general would need to go the the NS board.
I agree not feeding the players on a 12 hour bus ride is a disgrace. Any further discussion of HBCUs in general would need to go the the NS board.
To think this was the program Eddie Robinson, the Bear Bryant of HBCU football built. Sickening.
There have been some GREAT NFL players who have come out of Grambling State. Isn't it just a few miles from another school that is doing much better.
Maybe Grambling State needs to join the CUSA or the Sun Belt Conference. Maybe they could recruit better and be more financially sound. How does FAMU do compared to Grambling? Didn't FAMU bring home a big check this year playing at TOSU? Wasn't it like 70 something to close to nothing, but they did bring back some money. Maybe Grambling needs to play against some of the big schools to bring in some money and help in recruiting. Also, how is Southern doing?
I agree that Coach Eddie Robinson built a great program and look what has happened to it. A lack of leadership and foresight can do that.
The President, AD and right coach could possibly turn it around. I guess Coach Williams just could not do it. They need a benefactor like Mr. Nike at Oregon.
From the outside looking in it seems to me they are not living within their budget. See Tennessee on this.
It looks like Grambling is on the their 3rd coach of the season.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...after-second-player-practice-boycott/3004939/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...after-second-player-practice-boycott/3004939/
You are so Right, I don't think FAMU & others have as much travel unless it's playing a big school for a check.
Someone will have to step up with MONEY to turn this around. The players have had enough, be it right or wrong. I like your point about the NFL, just thinking out loud why couldn't they help to some degree? I'm not saying fund the program but Jeezee Pezee maybe some Publix sandwich rings.
I understand your point, but the problem is simply that while these specific games may be profitable, the football program is simply drowning in a sea of red ink (and the same largely goes for the athletic department as a whole and the university itself). Given that, there are really no possibilities for amenities even come payday.
Regarding the kids in the program, it's certainly a tough situation for them and I'm not going to argue that point, but I will add that is the life(style) that they chose. Anyone signing with a school like Grambling -- which, for the record, has fewer institutional and athletic resources than even a lot of good high schools -- has to know going in that they will have to fight hard and overcome a pretty squalid environment as a player. Clearly this isn't an Alabama or a Texas, it's bare-bones minimum in every aspect, tantamount to some 18 year old baseball player trying to catch on in the bus leagues of Low-A ball. There will be no charter flights, no world-class training facilities, no daily feasts at the dining room table, nothing, not even close to being in that universe. No doubt it has to be very tough, but really, what did they expect?
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I will agree entirely on the meal issue -- really, no excuse for not being able to at least buy these kids a deli sandwich and a bag of Doritos on a long bus ride -- but for all of the other amenities, there really is no source for the money.
The school essentially has nothing in itself, and has been in dire financial straights for as long as I can remember. Administrative corruption has been a big problem in the past, and frankly the only thing that has kept the doors to the school open are Pell Grants and political factors. And in terms of outside sources for income, there really aren't any. The alumni base is very small and not exactly raking in the dough in their own right, and the school's endowment is practically non-existent. Even in terms of athletes, I believe Grambling only has one alum in the NFL (Jason Hatcher), so that's not really a possibility either.
Like I said in the thread above, for better or for worse that's just the life a prospect has to expect to lead when he signs with a school like Grambling. Your heart has to go out to them, of course, but I'm not sure what the university can really be expected to do.
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Not to be mean but Grambling as a football institution is a dead and gone relic of a bygone era. It is no accident that all of their players who made the Hall of Fame played prior to 1969 and prospects no longer come from there.
Maybe they need to shut it down. Seriously. I understand tradition but typewriters, record players, and for that matter horses gave way to progress.
Maybe they need to shut it down. Seriously. I understand tradition but typewriters, record players, and for that matter horses gave way to progress.
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The players did not board the bus for their game at Jackson State tomorrow and will apparently not be playing the game.
They were supposed to leave at 2:30pm today for Jackson, but as of right now the players have missed TWO deadlines to leave on the charter buses. Things still getting ugly!
http://www.myarklamiss.com/story/up...s-game-is-a-go/d/story/6E3HzhiA1Ea1zFZyXz5Qzw
http://www.myarklamiss.com/story/up...s-game-is-a-go/d/story/6E3HzhiA1Ea1zFZyXz5Qzw
Yep the buses have left now without the players. I will have to give it to them for standing up for what they believe in though.
I do not know the entire story or if they had given them an ultimatum, but I don't agree that they should just quit like this, considering all the former players they are representing.
What good can come from this? Why did they choose to play at Grambling? Are they there because they couldn't get signed at a better place? If so, live with it.
This is like the haves and have nots
Grambling should take away any scholarship support that has been provided for these players. If some of the players decide that they still want to play, they can finish the season with those players. They should then decide to either shut down the program or start building for next year.
It's not really that complicated. You either have a program and support it, or you don't. Players either play, or you send them home. Simple.
I'm glad to see them stand up for something. Sounds like if they get hurt, Grambling dang sure ain't gonna help them so why even risk getting hurt? Hope they get help out of this. Busing that far to Indy was just crazy!
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