After the football team’s 35-32 win over Grambling State, the program’s first in 21 years, students, alumni, administration, and even outsiders started to recognize the richness of Panther athletics as a whole.
Power programs like the men’s cross country, men’s track & field, and women’s basketball teams have been at the top of the SWAC with multiple championship trophies to display from the current decade.
Other programs like football, volleyball, women’s golf and men’s and women’s tennis have had very competitive, award-winning seasons, while our soccer, men’s golf and men’s basketball teams have been showing great promise. The question many have been asking is, “Where was the support for athletics before now?”
“I think people hop on the bandwagon,” said junior biology major and soccer player Kesha Brown. “If we win they’re with us, but if we lose they talk about us.”
Junior communications major Brittany Allen shared similar sentiments saying, “I feel like everybody should’ve been on the bandwagon. Before I started working with the teams, yes, I used to talk about them, but now I see how much time and heart they put into it. Now when they lose, I feel like I lost.”
Even though there are individual students who support athletics, many people still believe winning and success in the big game is the only thing that compels students to support them. “I think we are starting to support them more now that they are winning,” said senior communications major Courtney Sanders.
“It’s sad,” said sophomore mechanical engineering major and football player Tyler Bickson. “It shouldn’t have to be that way. People always rate us on if we beat Gramling or not, but we were 9-1 last year. Growing up nobody wanted to go here because of the losing, but if you look at other schools their school pride is going to be up regardless of record.” Junior management information systems major Summer Shepard said, “I agree with the athletes because the only games we are worried about are TSU and Grambling. Athletes are going to have bad things they feel, but they can’t take it to the head. Now, it is wishy-washy support if there isn’t free stuff.”
Well, free stuff accompanied with Panther football on ESPNU moved Sodexo to hold a viewing of the game against Southern on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Purple Zone. “They should have done this a long time ago. It really brings the school together,” said senior communications major Aaron Broomfield.
“It’s a very positive atmosphere in here and since we beat Grambling it’s making people more aware of PV,” said junior biology major Sharmareka Davis. “I am proud of the football team because they are bringing more alumni and more money to the school. I hope the support is still strong if they start losing, because you should be behind a team whether they are losing or winning. The athletic department should do this for other sports like basketball, too.”
In a school-wide effort to increase the awareness of our sporting teams and events, does the athletic department have to be more proactive? Many students point to schools that regularly advertise what is happening with athletics as one main reason for the lack of support here at PV.
“The athletic department needs to support the teams throughout the year,” said Shepard. “They need to make banners and have a lot of pep rallies and flyers to get the information out there.” Senior animal science major and golf player Aziza Glass said, “I think if people were adequately doing their jobs then everything would be better. We’ve had people who’ve come up to us at practice and said that they couldn’t find any information about us on the athletic Web site. Every sport is important so you can have more than one sport under one guy. I think the students are very supportive but the fault lies in the athletic department.”
After the defensive stand, on the first play from scrimmage for the Panthers, Donald Babers took a screen pass to the house and the crowd inside of the Purple Zone erupted.
“If we are not winning they’re not going to go,” said senior health major JeLeesa Barnes. “I think that the athletic department is getting as much information out as they can, but the students have to want to come and support regardless.” Senior psychology major Shianne Patrick said, “We need as much support as we can get no matter why they come to the games. As students, we should support all the teams. They don’t do well because we don’t support them. The football team consistently sucked because we didn’t support them.”
With the Panthers up 16-14 and the Jaguars driving for what could be a game winning field goal, students sat on the edge of their seats waiting for one more big play from the team. “I’m glad we get to watch the game, because we can’t watch it anywhere else on campus,” said senior business management major Courtney Evans.
Terell Moore, a senior biology major, said, “This shows how much the school can care and this shows how much school spirit we have, but it is kind of like jumping on the bandwagon. Word of mouth travels fast, especially when you’re winning.”
“We need support and loyalty,” said junior biology major Mara Franklin. “If we had half the people come out to all the football games as we had on homecoming we would’ve had a new stadium already. We don’t need people who are just for football, baseball, or soccer. We need full-fledged fans overall.”
Then, with less than a minute left in the game, Southern fumbled the ball inside the red zone on their way to a game winning score and Prairie View recovered. The students went wild. “It’s not a streak or fluke,” said Moore.
“Look, once we beat Grambling I knew there was nobody else who could stop us in the SWAC, said senior construction science major Garrison Abner. “We’ve beat Southern before, but it’s not as good as beating Grambling. We’ve had a legacy of losing to them. The football team has given us some of the only good news this year.”
Hopefully this news can run over into the cups of other students and alumni who have yet to jump on the bandwagon of Prairie View athletics. Unfortunately, there is bad news and it is that the wagon is filled with Panther supporters. The good news is, fortunately, there is always room for one more.