Friday, July 17, 2015

Hitman's Hard Hits: HBCU Sports- Many See the Problems, Now Here's My Suggestion for A Solution

HITMAN'S HARD HITS
Former NFL player and college All-American safety Tim Watson (HOWARD UNIVERSITY BISON) shares his frank insights on the gridiron and current topics.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- THE PROBLEM:

With football season just around the corner, I need to address the issues surrounding the sports' environment that's closest to my heart, as a proud HBCU graduate. In part this is a revisit of an earlier post regarding the unfortunate state of HBCU athletics. In particular, the sport of football, where the Big 5 Conference powerhouses have made financial windfalls for their universities, HBCU's actually appear the least competitive amongst all the athletic programs. After experiencing the college football recruiting roller coaster as a parent, some really interesting revelations came to light. I personally made a choice against the grain in 1988 to attend Howard University over more prominent football programs. Having been highly recruited by SEC mainstay UGA, Big Ten School Indiana, and other notable FBS programs, my decision was questioned by many on signing day, and throughout my years at Howard. For an up front and candid perspective on the value of my decision in lieu of athletics, the stadium and facilities at Howard were actually a step-down from my high school. To be more exact, it was even worse than we had for my middle school team. However, knowing the man I am today (and that I see most of my Howard teammates have also become) I'm fortunate to have made the decision I did.

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