In the fourth and final part of the series focusing on S.C. State Athletics, The T&D looks at the school’s fan base and what will it take to increase overall support.
It was just like old times for John Alford.
The former South Carolina State defensive tackle, popularly known as “Scrap Iron,” was back in familiar surroundings at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium. Lined up on the field with some of his former teammates. Alford was among the former Bulldog greats being honored during the Morgan State game last November as part of the school’s Centennial Celebration.
From the pre-game ceremony to the dramatic ending on Terrence Smith’s one-handed endzone catch in an overtime victory, the day brought back memories of great Bulldog days in the past for Alford.
As he looked around the stadium and noticed the mostly empty seats, however, Alford was snapped back into reality.
“Where are the fans?” he remembered. “Where’s the community support?”
It’s a question Alford, S.C. State supporters and school officials have seriously pondered in recent years. What was once a small but demonstrably supportive fan base during Alford’s day has been replaced by a group less enthusiastic about weekend football games at the stadium or even basketball doubleheaders at the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
“When I was there, we only sat 9,000,” he said. “The stadium has been increased to 22,000 since then, but we can’t get hardly get 5,000 season-ticket holders. I don’t know how many student ticket holders we had back then...but I know the stadium was filled back then.”
Alford sees part of the reason is generational. He does not see the same level of enthusiasm among current S.C. State students as in his day and acknowledges many of the classmates’ sons and daughters do not share the same level of loyalty to the university.
“My generation, most of our kids have not come to South Carolina State University,” he said. “When we were coming along, it was schools like us along with Grambling, Southern and Tuskegee. You just live to go to South Carolina State.”
Larry Watson, President of the S.T.A.T.E. Club and season ticket holder for 25 years, has also noticed the decreased level of enthusiasm for Bulldog football among young fans as compared to other in-state universities.
“Clemson is sitting in a small community, but for a football game on Saturday, Clemson is THE event of the weekend,” Watson said. “We don’t have a lot of things going on in Orangeburg. We have high school football on Friday and we have S.C. State football games on Saturday. So we really don’t have the competition for this population. We really have to get people from the Orangeburg community to come to the games whether they are State graduates or not. The majority of people who go to a Clemson game on Saturday did not go to Clemson and we really have got to do a better job and not putting it just on the community. We’ve got to do something from an institutional standpoint to have this community further embrace our athletics program so that they’ll feel ownership of it whether they are State graduates or Claflin graduates or not even college graduates.”
When asked for answers, Watson points to the recent woes both on and off the court for the men’s basketball team over the past 18 months:
- Jamal Brown fired after one season for what they said were violations of Title IX rules
- the men’s basketball team suffers its most losses in school history
- first-year head coach Tim Carter dismisses two players for team rule violations, one of whom (David Cobb) spoke out publicly about the issue to the T&D.
Watson also cited what he calls the ‘administrative malaise’ centered around the ongoing controversy surrounding former President Andrew Hugine as helped alienate some fans.
“It’s unfortunate that (first-year men’s basketball coach Tim Carter came in at the very point that all that was unfolding and people were watching that and not concerned about the (other sports),” Watson said. “We were coming off a reasonably bad season. The new coach sort of walked into a situation that was clouded by the political goings on at the university. Administrative matters, people were concerned about that. By the time we got beyond that and the first of the year, our schedule, our winning record and quality of play was not exciting.”
As a member of the 10-member committee which hired Carter, Watson remains a firm supporter of him and new women’s basketball coach Doug Robertson. Having seen Carter quickly revamp the team this year with promising recruits, Watson believe both programs will show enough gradual improvement to help brings fans ‘back in the stands’.
Alford thinks the school most make better efforts towards reaching out to the Orangeburg community. To its credit, S.C. State has opened its campus the past three years for the S.C. High School League and SCISAA football championship games.
Head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough is an active board member of the Orangeburg Touchdown Club which serves to highlight the top high school talent in the T&D Region. In addition, Club President Don Tribble is among the organizers of the Bulldog Pep Rally on Aug. 19 at the Town Square in downtown Orangeburg.
He sees the rally, which will feature members of the football team, the Marching 101 as well as appearances by Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller, members of the County Council and head football coach Oliver “Buddy” Pough, as an opportunity to increase community involvement in S.C. State athletics.
“I know a lot of the people have an alliance to Clemson, Carolina, Wofford, Newberry, Furman, wherever,” said Tribble, a Clemson alumnus. “However, if you don’t have season tickets or are not attending those games and we’re projected to win the conference, you’re going to see some great football down here and you need to support the hometown if you’re not going to any of the other games.”
Watson said the S.T.A.T.E has raised close to $140,000 this year for S.C. State and is working in partnership with the athletics department with increasing season ticket sales. For all those efforts, Watson believes only one thing can revive fan support - winning.
“Winning translates to support,” he said. “I know there are big-time programs in this country that lose and still have fans, but I don’t think we have that luxury. I think we really have to win to draw the people in.”
-- T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.
Attendance for S.C. State
home football games
1998 - 12,633 (23rd nationally)
1999 - 15,556 (17th nationally)
2000 - 11,885 (24th nationally)
2001 - 10,259 (31st nationally)
2002 - 8,496 (26th nationally)
2003 - 11,960 (21st nationally)
2004 - 11,595 (23rd nationally)
2005 - 14,226 (12th nationally)
2006 - 14,594 (13th nationally)
2007 - 13,206 (18th nationally)
source: www.ncaa.org