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Insights and Observations
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Henry's Highlights
Thursday, November 20, 2003
By Henry Hinton
Broadcaster & Owner
of Greenville Cable 7 |
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Year of adversity persists for
Tulane
©2003 GoPirates.com/Bonesville.net
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Cable 7:
Replay
Midweek Tailgate with Henry Hinton, Steve
Logan & guest Chris Scelfo... Select clip... |
Tulane football coach Chris Scelfo has had an
interesting year to say the least. From March, when there was a chance the
university would actually drop football, right up to this weekend’s meeting
with East Carolina in the Superdome, Scelfo has endured a most unusual set
of circumstances.
Talk about distractions. Chris Scelfo does not want to
hear any other college coaches compare their off the field issues with his.
There is no comparison.
Last spring, the national media started reporting that
Tulane was considering dropping its football program. Now that’s good for
team morale. Even better for recruiting.
“It came out of nowhere,” said Scelfo. “It was a
situation where the program was being evaluated. We’ve come out of it a lot
stronger because of the support we were able to generate through that
ordeal. Our fans have responded well. It created a lot of doubt for our
players, coaches and families and it set us back a bit.”
After crossing that hurdle by having the alumni base
step up and buy an unprecedented number of season tickets, the university
administration seemed to go 180 degrees by becoming the leader of all
non-BCS schools in a quest for post-season equality.
Months ago, Tulane President Scott Cowan fired a
warning shot across the BCS bow by threatening legal action unless the
system was changed to become more inclusive of leagues like Conference USA.
Cowan has testified before Congressional committees and is leading the
charge for all programs on the outside looking in.
“I think Dr. Cowan has done a good job creating an
equal opportunity for everybody,” Scelfo said.
Oh, yeah, then Scelfo had to actually start the
football season.
After a 3-1 start, including a win over Southeastern
Conference foe Mississippi State, the Tulane head coach had to watch as his
team became decimated by injuries that have sidelined 28 different players,
including Quarterback J.P. Losman and All C-USA running back Mewelde Moore.
That started a stretch of five straight losses.
Entering this weekend’s game with the Pirates the Green Wave has lost six of
their last seven.
“I thought we were in good shape coming into the
season, but it’s really been unfortunate for us this year,” said Scelfo.
“Each week we seem to lose some more kids, especially on the defensive side
of the ball. Now, we’re starting a bunch of freshmen in key positions and
that’s tough. We’re just trying to piece-meal it together right now.”
Losman is expected to start against ECU on Saturday but
Moore, who broke his hand four weeks ago, is out for the season. That is no
small loss. Moore is just the second player in the history of Division I-A
football to rush for more than 4,000 yards and catch passes for more than
2,000 yards. He is C-USA's all-time leading rusher with 4,364 yards.
Moore will be recognized in a special ceremony that
will take place at halftime of Saturday’s game.
While Scelfo refuses to blame the cement-like carpet in
the Superdome, where the Green Wave plays its home games, there is no doubt
it has been a contributor to the injury problems this year.
There is some good news on that front. Saturday’s
Tulane-ECU game will be the first college game played on a brand new Astro-play
surface that was installed in the famed New Orleans dome two weeks ago. The
NFL Saints inaugurated the softer grass-like surface last Sunday.
Scelfo has never beaten ECU since taking over the
Tulane job five years ago and he says that makes this game a huge one for
him personally.
“East Carolina is very talented. Why they are 1-9 is
beyond me when I cut the tape on and watch them they play hard," he says.
"They had a tough schedule early in the year. It’s going to be two teams who
scratch and claw and play as hard as they can.”
What will decide it?
Scelfo thinks the winner will cover the basics. Nothing
fancy.
“It looks like a game that will be decided by who
executes the best and which team will be able to stop the run”, he said.
“It’s a big game for us.”
Big for both teams. East Carolina is another team that
has not had things go according to pre-season plans.
But don’t cry on Chris Scelfo’s shoulder. With all he
has endured in 2003, he doesn’t want to hear it.
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Henry Hinton.
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archives.
02/23/2007 10:12:10 AM |
