The Times-Picayune/Marty Mule
Sports News
'Our athletes know we can be competitive'
Southern coach Richardson happy to be underdog
08/25/02
Entering his 11th season as head football coach at Southern, Pete Richardson has guided the Jaguars to a 78-27 record and four Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. Richardson has a 120-40-1 career mark in stints at Winston-Salem State and Southern. At the Jaguars' media day, Richardson took a couple of minutes out to chat with Times-Picayune writer Marty Mul?.
The season's almost on top of us. Fun's over. How do you spend your time away from football, what are your hobbies, what do you watch on TV?
I don't watch much television, and I'm not much for hobbies. My hobby is football.
I spend as much time as I can with my wife, and my grandkids when I get the chance. Besides that, all I deal with is football.
Your opening game is against Tulane in the Big Easy Classic. Given the difference in scholarships (85 for Division I-A programs vs. 63 at I-AA), aren't you at a distinct disadvantage playing a Division I-A program?
Any time you play up, you're at a disadvantage. Tulane may have a few more players than we do, but I think our athletes know we can be competitive if we get a few breaks and play as well as we can.
I think this could develop into a tremendous rivalry between two schools in the same part of the world, and seek athletes from the same recruiting base. This series could help both schools and give both tremendous exposure.
But you're right, this is real challenge for us.
LSU is now playing Division I-A schools around Louisiana. Would you like to be in that mix, get a shot at them?
Well, when you're looking at LSU, you're probably looking at an institution that's out of our class. Let's face it, you're talking about a Top 25 program.
If we played someone like that, it would probably be a physical game. I know our athletes would play hard, but it would probably be such a physical game that it would show up in the game following that. We just don't have the depth they have.
Southern's prospects got a boost when (receiver) Michael Hayes got his senior season back after injuring a knee in the opening game of 2001. At this point, would you say Michael may be the best college player in the state of Louisiana?
I'd say he's in the top five. He's a tremendous athlete, and we're blessed to get him back, and for him to have the opportunity to show people what he's capable of.
It could be of enormous benefit to him and his family. I couldn't count on him being back. You always have faith, but it was out of our hands.
It worked out, though, and just Michael's presence should help us.
Not only Hayes, but the addition of Victor Ike (a running back transferring from the University of Texas) should make your offense more potent than in past years, assuming Ike gives the running game a spark it has been lacking the last couple of seasons.
Any defense is going to have to be concerned when we have Michael out there and Ike in the backfield. Ike is the kind of back who can score at any time.
It's been three years since Southern has won the SWAC, but you've got enough coming back -- and the other league schools have lost enough -- that, at least in the preseason, Southern looks like the best of the bunch. How come your fellow SWAC coaches didn't pick Southern to win the league?
They wanted to give me something I could use to drive my team.
Marty Mul? can be reached at mmule@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3413.
Sports News
'Our athletes know we can be competitive'
Southern coach Richardson happy to be underdog
08/25/02
Entering his 11th season as head football coach at Southern, Pete Richardson has guided the Jaguars to a 78-27 record and four Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. Richardson has a 120-40-1 career mark in stints at Winston-Salem State and Southern. At the Jaguars' media day, Richardson took a couple of minutes out to chat with Times-Picayune writer Marty Mul?.
The season's almost on top of us. Fun's over. How do you spend your time away from football, what are your hobbies, what do you watch on TV?
I don't watch much television, and I'm not much for hobbies. My hobby is football.
I spend as much time as I can with my wife, and my grandkids when I get the chance. Besides that, all I deal with is football.
Your opening game is against Tulane in the Big Easy Classic. Given the difference in scholarships (85 for Division I-A programs vs. 63 at I-AA), aren't you at a distinct disadvantage playing a Division I-A program?
Any time you play up, you're at a disadvantage. Tulane may have a few more players than we do, but I think our athletes know we can be competitive if we get a few breaks and play as well as we can.
I think this could develop into a tremendous rivalry between two schools in the same part of the world, and seek athletes from the same recruiting base. This series could help both schools and give both tremendous exposure.
But you're right, this is real challenge for us.
LSU is now playing Division I-A schools around Louisiana. Would you like to be in that mix, get a shot at them?
Well, when you're looking at LSU, you're probably looking at an institution that's out of our class. Let's face it, you're talking about a Top 25 program.
If we played someone like that, it would probably be a physical game. I know our athletes would play hard, but it would probably be such a physical game that it would show up in the game following that. We just don't have the depth they have.
Southern's prospects got a boost when (receiver) Michael Hayes got his senior season back after injuring a knee in the opening game of 2001. At this point, would you say Michael may be the best college player in the state of Louisiana?
I'd say he's in the top five. He's a tremendous athlete, and we're blessed to get him back, and for him to have the opportunity to show people what he's capable of.
It could be of enormous benefit to him and his family. I couldn't count on him being back. You always have faith, but it was out of our hands.
It worked out, though, and just Michael's presence should help us.
Not only Hayes, but the addition of Victor Ike (a running back transferring from the University of Texas) should make your offense more potent than in past years, assuming Ike gives the running game a spark it has been lacking the last couple of seasons.
Any defense is going to have to be concerned when we have Michael out there and Ike in the backfield. Ike is the kind of back who can score at any time.
It's been three years since Southern has won the SWAC, but you've got enough coming back -- and the other league schools have lost enough -- that, at least in the preseason, Southern looks like the best of the bunch. How come your fellow SWAC coaches didn't pick Southern to win the league?
They wanted to give me something I could use to drive my team.
Marty Mul? can be reached at mmule@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3413.