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AWAY FROM THE GAME - No Stats, Just Substance

Hornets will not let NCAA sanctions derail hopes for strong 2009 campaign

When Alabama State head coach Reggie Barlow approaches his team for the first morning of fall football camp, he plans on giving a simple message.

“We’ll talk team first. It’s about ASU, about us, about unity. About not letting the other guy down and when you do, let it burn to the core because you let him down,” Barlow said. “After that, we’ll start preparing for our first opponent.”

His words sound simple - like something many other coaches will say to their teams during the first meeting of the season. But unlike every other coach in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, and most Black Colleges in general, Barlow can’t sell championship dreams to his gridiron legion.

Last December, the Hornets found out that they would be ineligible for the 2009 SWAC championship, a ruling handed down from the NCAA after nearly six years of investigation into misdeeds that occurred under former head coach L.C. Cole. While no one on the current roster, coaching staff, or athletic administration was on campus during the time the infractions occurred, it is this year’s team that will incur what – to them – may as well be the death penalty.

“I was upset. Disappointed,” said senior defensive lineman Chris Preer. “But you can’t dwell on it. You just have to take the cards you were dealt.”

Barlow said it took him a while to accept the punishment. What was worse was explaining to his players – especially those heading into their final season – that they would not have an opportunity to hoist a SWAC championship trophy.

“You play to have the opportunity to play in the championship. But it is what it is. None of us had anything to do with it,” said Barlow, beginning his third season as head coach at ASU. “It hurt my heart to call those senior into my office the day we found out and tell them they wouldn’t have opportunity to play for a championship.

“But I told them that if we win them all, we can crown ourselves champions.”

That seems to be the position the entire Hornet roster is taking heading into the 2009 campaign. Preer said he appreciated that Barlow was upfront with the team on the situation and decided to face it head-on.

“He’s been honest with us. He put it out there for us. He said, ‘So we’re not going to win the SWAC. So are you going to feel sorry for yourselves? Just be a man, line up and try and win the game between the lines.’ In our minds, we’re still competing for it.”

As head coach, Barlow said he must find creative ways to keep his team focused from week-to-week, day-to-day, drill-to-drill. He points to the six home games, four Classics and a television appearance for the Hornets. With a solid coaching staff and leadership on the roster, he’s sure it won’t be hard to keep everyone’s concentration.

“If you film our workouts on any particular morning, you wouldn’t know that these guys don’t have an opportunity to win the SWAC championship,” Barlow said.

In 1993, Auburn University found itself in a similar situation. But without the prospect of a bowl game, all that team did was go 11-0, finish No. 4 in the country and earn “national championship” recognition from several groups.

“That was a great team. I don’t think anyone picked them to be any good that year,” said Barlow, whose team was picked to finish third in the SWAC Eastern Division after going 3-8 in 2008.

“I just know that if we win them all, we can crown ourselves champions.”

While teams on many levels tend to suffer from a support standpoint when all hopes for a championship are dashed, senior offensive lineman Aaron Wheeler feels that the Hornet Nation will have this team’s back for the long haul.

“Alabama State has great fans. Even though we might not be champions in the eyes of other people, on campus, we’re still champions,” Wheeler said.

In 2003, Cole was let go two days before starting fall practice and Charles Coe was brought in as interim head coach. The Hornets were picked to finish last in the SWAC East and all looked lost. But ASU blasted Florida A&M in the season opener, causing then-head coach Billy Joe to declare that his team took the Hornets for granted.

Preer said that teams that do that this season could be in for a similar surprise.

“Every game, we have to go out with the mentality that you have to kill an ant with a sledgehammer,” Preer said. “Every game, we just have to go out and take the respect that we deserve in the SWAC.”