It looks like Terrence Graves is staying at the helm of Southern University football for right now. After a interesitng press confernce by Southern University Athletic Director, many belived that Graves would be the first major HBCU coaching name on the chopping block after a dismal 1-6 season for his Jaguars. But, Graves was on Monday's SWAC Coaches Call and addressed the the rumors.
“We’ve talked. We always have conversations every week,” Graves he said during the call. “And as I said, right now, I’m the head football coach at Southern. It’s business as usual. I’m doing a conference call. When I get off here, I’m headed to do the coaches show. We’ll have meetings tonight. We have practice tonight like we do every Monday night. So it’s business as usual. Until something changes, then I’m just going to still do what I do.”
On Saturday, Southern University looked out of sorts on offense against Prairie View A&M. Quarterback Ashton Strother, starting in place of Cameron McCoy, finished the game throwing for only 81 yards with one interception. Running back Trey Holly received as many carries as the quarterback passed the ball, ultimately tallying 99 rushing yards but failing to register a touchdown.
The performance caused Banks to address the media, vaguely referencing Graves and the coaching position.
“Let me open up and say this is that, obviously, this is not the way we thought the season would be going at this point,” Banks said in comments obtained by WBRZ. “We had a pretty good season last year and we thought that was something that we was going to build on. And obviously preseason rankings don't mean much, but obviously we thought we had some players in the room that can make a difference. And so truly, it's real disappointing.”
Banks added, “My job is to evaluate the process. You know, [does] Coach Graves stay another day? You don't make decisions after a ball game. You sit down and you talk about it because then in the room for the student athletes who give you the best chance to win the rest of your games, and are you comfortable with somebody in the room that can do that?”
Graves was hired as Southern University's head coach in December 2023, replacing former head coach Eric Dooley. Graves served as interim coach after Dooley's departure and also served as assistant head coach, special teams coordinator, and linebackers coach. Ironically, Southern fired Dooley following a loss to Prairie View A&M midseason in 2023 after slipping to 5-5 and not beating a team over .500 that Fall.
Southern is set to face off against Florida A&M, another blue-blood SWAC program struggling this season. The game will be kickoff on Saturday at 5 PM EST.
