Monday, December 7, 2009

Southern University fires football coach Pete Richardson

BREAKING SPORTS NEWS: Southern fires football coach Pete Richardson

BATON ROUGE – Southern University has fired Head Football Coach Pete Richardson. Athletic Director Greg LaFleur said Richardson was notified at 3 p.m. that after 17 years in the post his services were no longer needed. “We’re concerned about the direction of the football program,” LaFleur said. “It’s time to go in a different direction.”

Southern ended the 2009 season with a 6-5 record but lost perhaps the biggest game of the season – the Bayou Classic in New Orleans – to Grambling 31-13. The Jaguars also dropped its final game to Texas Southern 30-25, giving up a touchdown with 16 seconds remaining. “No one game did it,” LaFleur said. “You have to look at it as a whole.”

Southern U fires football coach

BATON ROUGE, La. - Pete Richardson, the football coach at Southern University for 17 years, has been fired. Southern's Athletic Director Greg LaFleur announced the move on Monday. Lafleur says offensive line coach Damon Nivens will serve as interim coach until a replacement is named. Known as the "Dean of the SWAC,'' Richardson had a 134-62 record in his 17 years at Southern. That included four, 11-win seasons and one 12-win season.

Southern fires football coach Pete Richardson

The run for Pete Richardson "On the Bluff" in Baton Rouge has come to an end. The man known as Coach Pete was fired as head football coach at Southern University. In his 17 seasons at the school, Richardson led the Jaguars to a 105-38 record, second only to legendary A.W. Mumford. He coached the Jags to 5 SWAC championships and one black college national championship.

In 2009, the Jaguars finished up at 6-5, losing their last two contests to Grambling in the Bayou Classic and Texas Southern on the road. Southern was 3-5 this season in the SWAC. The listless finish to the season as well as questionable management style regarding timeouts in the finale versus Texas Southern sealed the deal. Richardson had one year remaining on his contract.

Keys: SU football at crossroads

How’s that for a crummy way to finish off a football season? Saturday afternoon at Delmar Stadium, in a not-so-grand finale before a tiny crowd (attendance was listed at 10,769, but the actual crowd could have practically fit inside a Dodge Neon), Southern played well enough for 58 minutes to defeat Texas Southern. But those pesky last two minutes were a doozy.

The result was a 30-25 loss that seemed to trump all others in shock value. Saturday’s game wasn’t so crushing because the Jaguars lost. It was how they lost. Those final two minutes were peppered with confusion on the sideline and poor execution on the field. TSU took advantage, scoring the game-winning touchdown with 16 seconds left.

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