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D2Football.com Columnists Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

December 11th, 2007

Before I begin, let me give a big shout out to all the SID's throughout the conference for all their help and support putting together the weekly column. Next, let me say thank you to all the readers of the column, without you there would be no me. Finally, let me give a heavy duty yell to Darlene Watts, your words of encouragement and listening ear really kept me going.

Now, on with the show!

Miles College looks in a new direction

Hall of Famer William "Billy" Joe has been named head football coach at Miles College, athletic administrators announced today. The former head coach at Florida A&M University, Joe, 67, has recorded more victories than any other football coach at an HBCU other than Eddie Robinson.

The 67-year-old Joe is 237-108-4 in 31 seasons as a head coach at FAMU, Cheyney (Pa.) State and Central (Ohio) State.

"This brings a whole lot to our program," Miles Athletics Director Augustus James said Tuesday. "A different caliber of student-athlete will be drawn to our program. People want to play for a legend."

Joe is replacing Wade Streeter, who was fired last week after seven seasons at the Fairfield Division II school.

Joe, who played seven years in the NFL for three teams and won a Super Bowl as part of the 1968 New York Jets, was inducted into both the FAMU hall of fame and the National Football Foundation's College Hall of Fame this year.

Joe has been out of coaching since he was fired in 2005 in the wake of an NCAA investigation of the FAMU athletics program. Joe sued the school over a salary dispute and settled out of court after the NCAA found the coach was not to blame for any of the multiple eligibility issue violations uncovered.

"We had to ask questions," James said of the NCAA probe, "and we got answers from two or three different sources that satisfied our questions."

Mark E. Walker, who represented Joe in his lawsuit against the university, said the coach settled with FAMU against his advice after the NCAA's Committee on Infractions found no wrongdoing on his part.

"He's just a first-class guy," Walker said. "Rarely do I have a guy who will resolve a case when they clearly would win because they wanted to save some heartache.

"The proof is in the pudding. After all that, FAMU inducted him into the hall of fame here. Coach Joe never had a harsh thing to say about FAMU and he didn't want to sue. A number of his players called me to offer to show up anywhere at whatever courtroom to testify for him.

"It would be a great thing for (Miles) to get a man like Coach Joe."

The SIAC is in the National Championship Game

The NCAA Division II Playoff Committee has chosen the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference to officiate the Division II National Championship game December 15, 2007 in Florence, AL.

The officiating crew did a great job in their previous duty where the SIAC seven man crew officiated a first round game during the NCAA Division II Playoffs. The SIAC crew will officiate the Championship game pitting Valdosta State University vs. Northern Missouri State University. This marks the second time an SIAC officiating crew has been chosen to officiate the National Championship game with the last appearance occurring in 1993. Members of that crew included Jimmy Askew, Greg Smith. Larry Morrow, Sr, Walter Dockery, Simmie Lavender and Dr. Moses Norman (Current SIAC Head of Officials.

Dr. Norman stated "This is without doubt a compliment to the SIAC, to their crew, and to all fellow SIAC football officials. We are proud of them and know they will represent the SIAC well."

Dr. William E. Lide, SIAC Commissioner stated "The SIAC houses some of the best officials in the nation and we are proud that the NCAA committee agrees. We know that they will do a fine job this week and we are proud of the job you have done all year."

The officiating crew includes:
Referee Roderick Holloway
Umpire Kenneth Oglesby
Linesman Samuel McKenzie
Line Judge Alton Bryant
Field Judge Timothy Cool
Side Judge Vincent Ellison
Back Judge Bernard Jones

Lane College promotes from within

Lane College has announced the promotion of Dearrion Snead to head football coach. He replaces Johnnie Cole, who was named head football coach at Texas Southern University last week.

Snead was Lane's defensive coordinator last season, his first on the Dragons' staff. This will be his first job as a head coach.

Last season, Lane's defense ranked second in the SIAC and 11th in NCAA Division II

Prior to joining the staff at Lane, Snead was defensive back coach snd special teams coordinator at Shaw University for one year following a stint as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Guilford College.

Snead, 38, has also coached at Arizona Western College, Texas Southern University, Virginia State University, Southwest State University, Tiffin University, and Tennessee State University.

Last summer, the 16-year veteran was one of 30 coaches selected to participate in the 2007 NCAA Men's Coaches Academy,

"Being a head coach has been my goal since I started coaching," Snead told the "Jackson Sun" newspaper prior to a press conference announcing his appointment. "I'm real thankful for the opportunity. There won't be any major changes. I'm not going to try to fix what's not broken. The foundation is there, and I'm going to try to build on it."

A member of the Longwood (NY) High School Athletics Hall of Fame, Snead is a 1996 graduate of St. Joseph's in Long Island.

He began his college career at North Carolina A&T State University, where he played varsity football. He spent four years as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. As a Marine, he received the Kuwait Liberation Medal, the National Defense Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal and was named to the All-Marine Football Team

Pioneer Bowl Review

Two great quarters of football were enough to complete Tuskegee's undefeated season.

The Golden Tigers won Pioneer Bowl X at Benedict's Charlie W. Johnson Stadium with a 58-51 victory against Virginia Union in the only bowl game for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Offense was certainly the name of the game on Saturday. The unofficial numbers show the two quarterbacks combining for 730 yards and nine touchdowns passing.

Virginia Union's Lamar Little found receiver Michael Hampton on touchdown strikes of 84 and 75 yards, as well as a 30-yard play that set up another score in the first quarter to open the game. After a Gil Hernandez field goal, the Panthers led 17-0.

"We felt like they were probably coming in overconfident," Little said. "We wanted to jump on'em early."

After punting on its first three possessions, Tuskegee began five of its next six drives in VU territory and took advantage, scoring 36 second-quarter points.

"We weren't ready to play [early]," Tuskegee coach Willie Slater said. "We were able to come back and somehow score 58 points."

Tuskegee had trailed all opponents this season for less than eight minutes before yesterday. Mainly, it was a testament to Atkinson and the Tigers' offense.

"We knew his guy, the quarterback, was special," Jones said. "He hurt us big offensively. He made some big plays."

"Kind of like our guy."

Up 50-24 after three quarters, Tuskegee watched the Panthers run off 27 straight points.

Lamar Little threw three touchdown passes and the Panthers took the lead on a fumble return. Niles Rainey picked up an Atkinson fumble and raced 50 yards to give Virginia Union a 51-50 lead with 1:43 remaining.

"I thought I had control and then I felt it slipping out," Atkinson said. "The next thing I knew, I saw their guy picking it up and nobody there to catch him."

"I got a little weak in the knees, I'm not going to lie," coach Willie Slater said. "That was shocking. That was unbelievable."

The suspense had just started.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mario Jackson returned the kickoff 41 yards to the Virginia Union 43. Two snaps later, after Tuskegee took a timeout at the 57.2-second mark, Atkinson threw to a well-covered English.

English had one defender on his back and another coming over for help once Atkinson released the ball. When it arrived, Virginia Union defenders Henry Tolliver III and D.J. Spellmon bounced off as English made the play. Both were on the ground while English ran into the end zone to make it 56-51.

"At first, I lost it in the lights, but I was glad to find it again," said English, who didn't know until after the game that he fought off two defenders for the catch.

"We had to make a play," he added. "Somebody had to step up and it had to be receiver because we had to throw it."

"He seems to always get caught up in the shuffle," Slater said. "Jacary always gets the MVPs and that stuff, but without (English) this year, we wouldn't have been undefeated, that's for sure."

"I ain't ever seen one like it," VUU coach Arrington Jones said after the 4-hour, 5-minute game.

Virginia Union turned out to be one weapon short.

The Golden Tigers upend Virginia Union 58-51 in Pioneer Bowl X, this was a fantastic finish to a game that few involved will forget.

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