Grambling Football Crisis

The word is appropriate. When USC's Sam "Bam" Cunningham ran through Bear Bryant's stingy Crimson Tide defense, the cry from many white Alabama faithful was "We want one!" That opened up the flood gates as white schools began recruiting African American players and going as far as convincing established or budding stars at HBCU's to attend to white institutions.

 

Sad story to read, but the root of the issue wasn't hard to understand.
I played football at an HBCU, and I went on plenty of long, hard bus trips -- Fayetteville, Charlotte, Charleston WV...they ain't easy. But they are way more affordable than a 70k charter flight.
I think the rising cost of running a college football program, even at the FCS or Division II level, will be as hazardous to Grambling's future as the talent shift to all levels of FBS programs. It's not easy for mid-majors to turn a profit on football, so it's surely 10 times harder for a school like Grambling, with a smaller budget and less talented recruits still trying to carry the mantle of its historically larger profile.

 

Excellent post Goochman.

 

One has to wonder if the plug is going to get pulled on Grambling football sometime in the near future.

 

jr/shotglass, I don't think that's going to happen but then again, I NEVER thought Grambling's program would ever reach this point.

 

This part bugs me:

Last I checked, Alcorn State is located in Mississippi. If it would have cost so much to travel to Indianapolis to play a team that is located in the next state, then maybe they shouldn't have scheduled the game in Indianapolis.

 

The word is not appropriate at all. If you think otherwise, then you don't know what the word "raid" means.

Nobody took anything from schools like Grambling. Instead they simply offered talented African American high schoolers in the South more opportunities than they'd had before the Civil Rights movement. Not a bad thing. A good thing. The demise in talent at HBCUs is merely an unfortunate collateral effect of a far greater societal good in American history.

 

Apparently Grambling players decided to continue their boycott by not getting on the team bus to travel to Jackson State, which has its homecoming this week.

 

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20131018/SPORTS02/310180029/UPDATE-Grambling-administration-pushes-back-departure-time-after-football-team-didn-t-show-up

 

RT @ST_IsabellaTNS 15m
Andddddd there they go. Buses leave with no Grambling players. pic.twitter.com/hEA5Q9wGrA

 

At some point, the players may need to think about furthering their academic careers without use of a scholarship.

 

Probably ... although they have said they'll be securing legal assistance if that happens.