Following the announcement that Tennessee State University band director Dr. Reginald McDonald has been placed on administrative leave, it is still unclear if Tennessee State will make an appearance in the Southern Heritage Classic. The university released its 2025 football schedule, and the Southern Heritage Classic is not on it. Interim President Dwayne Tucker decided to place McDonald on administrative leave following an audit of the band’s travel expenses.

“As a result of this internal audit, I have had to remove Dr. Reginald McDonald from the position of Band Director of the Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands, effective immediately,” TSU Interim President Dwayne Tucker said in a statement. “This decision concerns outstanding travel requisitions and advances and related lack of compliance with TSU policies and procedures. Dr. McDonald will be on administrative leave with full pay while we continue this investigation.”

When asked about the situation, Southern Heritage Classic founder Fred Jones says that he was in communication with university officials once he saw the schedule. The Southern Heritage Classic is an annual football game between the Jackson State University Tigers and the Tennessee State University Tigers. But for the last two years, Tennessee State has played the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. This event brings thousands of people to Tennessee every year. People say that the classic is much more than a game but a community tradition.

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“It’s something you can mark on that calendar every year knowing you are going to see friends and family every year,” Jonathan Dailey, a fan of the Southern Heritage Classic, said.

If Tennessee State does not play in this year’s classic, it will be the first time in the event's more than 30-year history that the team did not compete.

Fans say that it doesn’t matter who plays in the classic but say that teams closer to Memphis have more sentimental value.

“We probably have so many alumni that leave Memphis and go to these universities, and it’s an opportunity for them to show their pride in their own backyard,” Dailey said. “So I do think that if they are schools outside of our area, it does kind of hurt it a little bit.”