Texas Southern: Second Chance U.

[TexasTerror]

An article from the Mickey Mouse Sports Network regarding Texas Southern and how they are a "second chance university". The players even acknowledge as much as one jokes that the Oregon running back that was suspended would be at TSU next year...perhaps one day, this will translate to results in the SWAC. Can't rely too heavily on FBS transfers, especially when you are in a recruiting hotbed known as HOUSTON, Texas! ;)


The ballroom at the Westin Galleria in Houston is filled with well-dressed young men on banquet chairs. All is quiet save for the voice of Texas Southern football coach Johnnie Cole. From the podium, Cole implores his Tigers to show good sportsmanship to rival Prairie View A&M the next day in the Labor Day Classic at Reliant Stadium. He rehashes the Oregon-Boise State postgame fracas that led to the suspension of Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount. Suddenly, a player yells, "He'll be playing here next year!" The room erupts in laughter, before a satisfied Cole says: "Now you're seeing the bigger picture!"

Welcome to Second Chance U., where a rocky past can be the first step on the road toward redemption. Hired by his alma mater to revive a program that had become the punching bag of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, the 46-year-old Cole has imported 20 hard-luck transfers over the past two years, from football powers like Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, Texas, Texas Tech, Arizona and Notre Dame. Some landed at this historically black college in Houston after being arrested or injured. Others had simply become homesick, slipped down the depth chart or fallen out of favor with coaches. But whatever their situation, Cole came calling with a chance for salvation -- a chance to play for a man whose own history makes him less likely to judge theirs.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/insider/news/story?id=4511278&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf %2finsider%2fnews%2fstory%3fid%3d4511278

[Native]

Congrats to coach Cole!

I am great with the redemption idea as long as the criminal behavior stops, the coach controls the program properly, and the redeemed stay on the straight and narrow.

[WestCoastAggie]

It's not good for Tx. Sou. to be known as this. Although it is wonderful to give second chances to graduate from college with a degree, become prepared for life and to play a sport one loves, this can get out of hand real fast and admit the wrong person and the school's reputation is ruined.

[danefan]

Good pictures in the actual print magazine too.

[Native]

It's not good for Tx. Sou. to be known as this. Although it is wonderful to give second chances to graduate from college with a degree, become prepared for life and to play a sport one loves, this can get out of hand real fast and admit the wrong person and the school's reputation is ruined.

Coach Cole has a difficult path, no doubt. Let's see if he is capable of eating the meal he has set before himself.

[3rd Coast Tiger]

Great! Helps recruiting. xthumbsupx

[mikebigg]

He's only doing what others have done...maybe not to this extent. Winning games helps forget past transgressions...however, it needs to be pointed out that MOST LIKELY the majority of his transfers are simply kids looking for an opportunity to play. Obviously they are in good standing with the NCAA...I haven't heard anything about any of them getting money under the table or working "phony" jobs at Car dealerships and things of that nature.

[813Jag]

He's only doing what others have done...maybe not to this extent. Winning games helps forget past transgressions...however, it needs to be pointed out that MOST LIKELY the majority of his transfers are simply kids looking for an opportunity to play. Obviously they are in good standing with the NCAA...I haven't heard anything about any of them getting money under the table or working "phony" jobs at Car dealerships and things of that nature.

xlolxxlolxxlolx

[DSUrocks07]

America is a nation of second chances. As long as they can set these young men on the right path, that's the most important thing of all. Condemning someone for a mistake will not rectify their transgressions. And the positive pub for the school as well doesn't hurt. Kudos to Tex-South.

[mikebigg]

xlolxxlolxxlolx

What? :D

[3rd Coast Tiger]

Can't rely too heavily on FBS transfers, especially when you are in a recruiting hotbed known as HOUSTON, Texas! ;)

No you did not. xlolx

Just always got something to say. xnonox

[TexasTerror]

SHSU has just three or four guys who played FBS this year...

We don't fill half of our roster with guys that we can not get eligible. Wasn't that an issue for TSU at the beginning of last football season? No one had a roster.

Taking fliers on FBS players is not always the best situation. If you are having a severe depth issue at a position, as SHSU did at QB this year, it makes sense. But, filling all those holes with FBS players? It means you are not recruiting well...

Either way, good pub for Texas Southern. Of course, it's always good pub when the score is not mentioned in a game recap, eh 3rd Coast?

http://www.tsu.edu/pages/2922.asp?view=news&nid=8924

[3rd Coast Tiger]

SHSU has just three or four guys who played FBS this year...

We don't fill half of our roster with guys that we can not get eligible. Wasn't that an issue for TSU at the beginning of last football season? No one had a roster.

Taking fliers on FBS players is not always the best situation. If you are having a severe depth issue at a position, as SHSU did at QB this year, it makes sense. But, filling all those holes with FBS players? It means you are not recruiting well...

Either way, good pub for Texas Southern. Of course, it's always good pub when the score is not mentioned in a game recap, eh 3rd Coast?

http://www.tsu.edu/pages/2922.asp?view=news&nid=8924

When is the last time you posted a Sam Houston article on this website? Got that Division II powerhouse Pumas this weekend right?

http://www.saintjoe.edu/athletics/images/teams/203-roster.jpg

* Insert Prairie View excuse here*


List all Bearkat starting QB's over the past eight years as well as the university's they transferred from.

[mikebigg]

SHSU has just three or four guys who played FBS this year...

We don't fill half of our roster with guys that we can not get eligible. Wasn't that an issue for TSU at the beginning of last football season? No one had a roster.

Taking fliers on FBS players is not always the best situation. If you are having a severe depth issue at a position, as SHSU did at QB this year, it makes sense. But, filling all those holes with FBS players? It means you are not recruiting well...

Either way, good pub for Texas Southern. Of course, it's always good pub when the score is not mentioned in a game recap, eh 3rd Coast?

http://www.tsu.edu/pages/2922.asp?view=news&nid=8924

The bold letters are for emphasis... Sam recruits who and how it wants, TxSU has the same rights and privileges, regardless of who it ruffles.

Newsflash: Those transfers are recruits once they are released and become eligible.

[Mod33]

Several posts deleted due to smack. Let's keep smack where it belongs and keep relevant posts to FCS discussion in which they belong instead of forcing the moderators hand in moving them to FCS smack.

[mikebigg]

Great! Helps recruiting. xthumbsupx

I think Johnnie Cole has a plan on how he wants to build the program. Those of us who know the successes of he and older brother LC Cole recalls that they have been successful using that formula at other stops. None of those locations had the talent to be found in Houston... even Houston area kids looking to return home and play D1 ball.

[TSUalum05]

Pretty good read in ESPN the magazine.