Lane's Cole among Texas Southern's 8 candidates

[Bornthrilla]

Nov. 28, 2007, 11:16PM
Lane's Cole among TSU's 8 candidates
Blackwell says recruiting locally a strong priority


By BRANDON C. WILLIAMS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Texas Southern athletic director Alois Blackwell doesn't plan on waiting too long to find the Tigers' next head football coach. The search could end as early as next week for the person to help lead TSU from the depths of an 0-11 campaign.

"We would like to find a coach as soon as possible," Blackwell said. "We know that he has to be able to get a coaching staff in place and also get started on the recruiting trail, which is something we don't want to fall behind in."

The favorite appears to be former TSU quarterback and current Lane College (Miss.) head coach Johnnie Cole, who is one of eight candidates who have applied for the position that became open when Steve Wilson was fired Nov. 8.

Cole led Lane to a 7-3 record this season. He has established himself as one of the more innovative offensive minds in the black college football ranks while running the offenses at Alabama State and Tennessee State.

"He definitely brings a lot to offer," said Blackwell of Cole.

Cole, who graduated from TSU in 1986, still ranks among the school's all-time leaders in most passing categories.

Whoever is named will have to be able to successfully recruit the Houston area. The Tigers had only 24 local players on their roster this season, a sharp contrast to the 43 area players recruited by rival Prairie View.

"That's a top priority," Blackwell said.

Blackwell said he would begin paring his list by the end of the week, before setting up interviews. As of now, DeChaun Burns, who served as the interim head coach during the final two games of the season, has not applied for the position.

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Lane College’s Johnnie Cole new head coach at Texas Southern

Johnnie Cole apparently has a big appetite for challenges.

When he took the job as head coach at Jackson, Tennessee’s Lane College in 2005, the school hadn’t had much to celebrate about on the gridiron. He got the job late in the recruiting season and it showed as the Dragons went winless in his first season.

But Cole rolled up his sleeves, sliced away the cancers that were eating at the Dragons program and wound up with a second season 8-3 finish which tied for best in school history and produced Houston Texans kickoff return specialist Jacoby Jones, a third round draft pick in 2007.

This year, the Dragons under Cole were 7-3, nudged out for a fourth place finish in the SIAC by Morehouse College, who’s head coach Rich Freeman was a former assistant under Cole.

Now, Cole will try and see if the magic he produced at Lane can be transferred to Texas Southern. He was hired there last week. Cole may face the most looming challenge of his college coaching career. TSU hasn’t had a winning season since 2000 when the Tigers under William “Bill’ Thomas went 8-3.

Cole’s predecessor, Steve Wilson, who had a great career as head coach at Howard University, couldn’t transfer the magic he had with the Bison. In four years, he won only four games with TSU and in 2007, posted an 0-11 reco