S.C. State football expects even more improvement

[CSN Log]

05-28-2010 11:55 AM

After two years of playing on an elite level, South Carolina State must replace key personnel entering this fall.

But with the state of his program, coach Buddy Pough doesn’t believe in using the ‘R’ word.

“I don’t think we can talk about rebuilding anymore,” he said. “Our program’s at the point now where we put some guys in some different spots and we continue to move on. We’ve got to be better.

Read more » (http://www.championshipsubdivisionnews.com/log/index.php/2010/05/28/s-c-state-football-expects-even-more-imp?blog=2#more6557)

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[TexasTerror]

Pough supports participation in the playoffs first and foremost!...

"We want to be one of the top Championship Subdivision programs in the country," Pough said. "We don't necessarily want to be just a top HBCU program. We are working really hard to be with the Appalachian States and Georgia Southerns. Hopefully, we'll continue to improve."

-Oliver "Buddy" Pough, Head Coach of South Carolina State University-May 28th, 2010

[MACHIAVELLI]

He can be with them. Schedule them.

[WUTNDITWAA]

He can be with them. Schedule them.

I would love to see SC State on our schedule. Class bunch.

[WestCoastAggie]

I guarantee you all that SCSU will be prepared to play. They have almost 100% team participation in their summer workouts and Summer School.

[mikebigg]

Pough supports participation in the playoffs first and foremost!...

"We want to be one of the top Championship Subdivision programs in the country," Pough said. "We don't necessarily want to be just a top HBCU program. We are working really hard to be with the Appalachian States and Georgia Southerns. Hopefully, we'll continue to improve."

-Oliver "Buddy" Pough, Head Coach of South Carolina State University-May 28th, 2010


Why did he make such a ridiculous and racist comment? I doubt if the coaches in the Pioneer league, Southland, Colonial, Southern, OVC makes idiotic statements about being the best Non-HBCU Championship Subdivision programs. Was the middle sentence even necessary? What does it add to wanting to be one of the top FCS programs and working hard to be with the programs he named? Personally, I think he's so intent on being "accepted" by what he feels is the mainstream that he's belittling the very origin of his school which is actually something to be proud of...simply because it is his heritage. That's an asinine statement on his part!

Maybe someone should tell him that it is actually him who is labelling his program as "just an HBCU" program. At Grambling, we are not a HBCU program... we have a football/athletic program at a HISTORICALLY Black College/University.

[OL FU]

Why did he make such a ridiculous and racist comment? I doubt if the coaches in the Pioneer league, Southland, Colonial, Southern, OVC makes idiotic statements about being the best Non-HBCU Championship Subdivision programs. Was the middle sentence even necessary? What does it add to wanting to be one of the top FCS programs and working hard to be with the programs he named? Personally, I think he's so intent on being "accepted" by what he feels is the mainstream that he's belittling the very origin of his school which is actually something to be proud of...simply because it is his heritage. That's an asinine statement on his part!

Maybe someone should tell him that it is actually him who is labelling his program as "just an HBCU" program. At Grambling, we are not a HBCU program... we have a football/athletic program at a HISTORICALLY Black College/University.

I don't think it is ridiculous or racist. Seems sensible that it is directly related to the conversation of having a post season game between the SWAC and MEAC champions which would be the de facto HBCU national champion. His preference is simply to compete within the sub-division, not a sub-division of the sub-division.

[TexasTerror]

Pough was right on the mark for his remark...

OL FU said it clear, it is not ridiculous or racist. He wants to be the top of his subdivision and not competing for the top spot in a "sub-division of the sub-division".

I figure Pough is not the only one of the coaches who feel this way in the MEAC. They want to elevate their programs, shed being known as just an HBCU power, but a nationally-recognized FCS power.

[AppAlum2003]

Yeah... I sincerely don't take his comment as anything close to "racist." I think you're WAY off the mark there (as usual.) He's simply stating that he wants his program to be the best in the FCS, no caveats, no classifications. When I wake up in the morning, I don't say to myself "I want to be the best 29-year old white male that I can be today!!!" No, I just want to be the best PERSON I can be today.

Oh, and I am a bit biased on this as well. Since ASU started playing them in the playoffs and I have gotten to meet a lot of their fans, I have become a big SCSU fan. Go Bulldogs!

[mikebigg]

Yeah... I sincerely don't take his comment as anything close to "racist." I think you're WAY off the mark there (as usual.) He's simply stating that he wants his program to be the best in the FCS, no caveats, no classifications. When I wake up in the morning, I don't say to myself "I want to be the best 29-year old white male that I can be today!!!" No, I just want to be the best PERSON I can be today.
Oh, and I am a bit biased on this as well. Since ASU started playing them in the playoffs and I have gotten to meet a lot of their fans, I have become a big SCSU fan. Go Bulldogs!

Actually, you just made my point! Why couldn't he simply state, that I want to have the best program possible and leave it at that? He interjected race into this..why? Does Boston College coach state that he wants to be the top Catholic School Program? I bet the guy at BYU doesn't say, I wanna be more than just the best Mormon football program. Pough is trying to impress and appease...both is sooooo unneccessary, but then again maybe he needs to say things to feel accepted by whomever it is he seeks acceptance from.

[AppAlum2003]

Actually, you just made my point! Why couldn't he simply state, that I want to have the best program possible and leave it at that? He interjected race into this..why? Does Boston College coach state that he wants to be the top Catholic School Program? I bet the guy at BYU doesn't say, I wanna be more than just the best Mormon football program. Pough is trying to impress and appease...both is sooooo unneccessary, but then again maybe he needs to say things to feel accepted by whomever it is he seeks acceptance from.

You can't have it both ways... you can't shout from the mountain tops "We are different from the rest of you! We are HBCU's!!!!" and then expect to be taken as "just another FCS team." The thread about the Legacy game proves my point.

[mikebigg]

You can't have it both ways... you can't shout from the mountain tops "We are different from the rest of you! We are HBCU's!!!!" and then expect to be taken as "just another FCS team." The thread about the Legacy game proves my point.

We never stated we were different, we didn't assign the moniker of being an HBCU...however that's how the mainstream identified those schools created during segregation for the educatiing of minorities. It was not us who did the separting nor stayed separate.

As for the playoffs, we didn't exclude ourselves...we were excluded because the NCAA felt our scheduling dates didn't COMPLY with their MANDATE. As for the Legacy Game...that's the name of the proposed bowl game between the MEAC and SWAC. No one said it was an HBCU championship, it was TT and Lehigh Guy who said we were playing it for a Black National Championship. It's actually being played as a Post Season Bowl game for two FCS division conferences... You might need to check your facts. Please show where anyone other than TT and others (who obviously don't know all the details and/or want to demean it as "only" a Black College game ) labelled it as such.

[3rd Coast Tiger]

xrotatehxxrotatehxxrotatehx

By the way, UTEP is the best HSI football team in all college football.

[TexasTerror]

Actually, you just made my point! Why couldn't he simply state, that I want to have the best program possible and leave it at that? He interjected race into this..why?

He stated it because I am sure he was well aware of what was happening around the MEAC with the possibility of the Legacy Bowl. His remark is a clear indication of his direction with the program, wanting to make it greater than an HBCU or MEAC champion - but a national championship contender!

Not sure how hard that is to comprehend...


We never stated we were different, we didn't assign the moniker of being an HBCU...however that's how the mainstream identified those schools created during segregation for the educatiing of minorities. It was not us who did the separting nor stayed separate.

Yes, but it is several HBCU power brokers who are interfering with Pough's goal of making his program nationally competitive and have a chance of winning a national championship.

This mark was directed at them - a clever one at that.

[OL FU]

I don't blame schools or athletic directors for taking their programs in the direction they think best, but to interpret Pough's comments as any more than a desire to win in a division with 120+ teams instead of a subset of that division with 20 or so teams is a stretch.

Doesn't matter what you call the subset.

[mikebigg]

He stated it because I am sure he was well aware of what was happening around the MEAC with the possibility of the Legacy Bowl. His remark is a clear indication of his direction with the program, wanting to make it greater than an HBCU or MEAC champion - but a national championship contender!

Not sure how hard that is to comprehend...



Yes, but it is several HBCU power brokers who are interfering with Pough's goal of making his program nationally competitive and have a chance of winning a national championship.

This mark was directed at them - a clever one at that.

What's clear is that you just said what you think he meant and how it fits neatly in alignment with what you would like for him to mean/say. But again, why state it that way. It's like me coming to work and telling my supervisor, I want to be more than just a good Black employee.. I want to be one of the best. Dude would look at me like "what's up with this idiot?!!!"

You may be uncomfortable mentioning it, but Buddy Pough is through heavy implication dismissing football played at HBCU's based on race. He could have just as easily stated that he wanted to participate in the FCS tourney because he feels it the best way to improve his program. However, you might have given the clue to why he made such an idiotic statement. Whoever he's trying to make a statement toward, why did he have to diss HBCU football programs to make his point. Whether you want to admit it or not, his choice or how that was worded was poor. I'd really felt better had I known he was just ignorant and not being purposely dismissive of something his school's athletic heritage.

[mikebigg]

I don't blame schools or athletic directors for taking their programs in the direction they think best, but to interpret Pough's comments as any more than a desire to win in a division with 120+ teams instead of a subset of that division with 20 or so teams is a stretch.

Doesn't matter what you call the subset.

True...and he could have said it. Why didn't he just say, I want to be part of the overall FCS landscape and build my program that way? I don't know why and neither do you...but I do have an opinion (like you).

[OL FU]

True...and he could have said it. Why didn't he just say, I want to be part of the overall FCS landscape and build my program that way? I don't know why and neither do you...but I do have an opinion (like you).

You are right, I don't know why but I wouldn't assume racismxeyebrowx


"We want to be one of the top Championship Subdivision programs in the country," Pough said. "We don't necessarily want to be just a top HBCU program. We are working really hard to be with the Appalachian States and Georgia Southerns. Hopefully, we'll continue to improve."

But if we are discussing the above quote, I would assume ( which maybe what ticks you off about it) that his opinion is that the top FCS programs aren't in the SWAC. Not saying that is the case, but it is his opinion and I suppose he has a right to it just like you and me. xnodxxsmiley_wix

[mikebigg]

You are right, I don't know why but I wouldn't assume racismxeyebrowx



But if we are discussing the above quote, I would assume ( which maybe what ticks you off about it) that his opinion is that the top FCS programs aren't in the SWAC. Not saying that is the case, but it is his opinion and I suppose he has a right to it just like you and me. xnodxxsmiley_wix

No that doesn't bother me at all...I just think his comment was demeaning to programs AT HBCU's as he was implying that schools who do not want to participate in the playoffs are not trying to be the best in the country as well. We'll just have to agree to disagree...

[TexasTerror]

No that doesn't bother me at all...I just think his comment was demeaning to programs AT HBCU's as he was implying that schools who do not want to participate in the playoffs are not trying to be the best in the country as well. We'll just have to agree to disagree...

Well, that's only the SWAC...you really think his remark was directed at the SWAC? xchinscratchx

[OL FU]

No that doesn't bother me at all...I just think his comment was demeaning to programs AT HBCU's as he was implying that schools who do not want to participate in the playoffs are not trying to be the best in the country as well. We'll just have to agree to disagree...

I can certainly do thatxthumbsupx

[TexasTerror]

This comes from the Facebook group created....


Rob Weiss: As a FCS writer I have talked to a couple of the MEAC coaches. They are not in favor of skipping out on the playoffs. As a fan of the University of Northern Iowa, I hope to see Hampton, SC State or FAMU in a playoff match-up some day.

Facebook Group (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Segregation-went-out-in-the-60s-we-support-the-FCS-playoffs/123141414386729?ref=ts#!/pages/Segregation-went-out-in-the-60s-we-support-the-FCS-playoffs/123141414386729?v=wall&ref=ts)