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Travaunta Abner is one of several former Miles College players who are now at Alabama A&M.<\/p>\nMACON, GA \u2014 The SIAC, a Division II HBCU football conference, is feeling the ripple effects of the NCAA transfer portal, NIL, and House settlement decisions. During the league\u2019s annual football media day, it seemed like everyone was talking about it.<\/p>\n
As Commissioner Dr. Anthony Holloman noted, the realities of modern college football have officially reached the SIAC\u2019s front door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe House Settlement. The transfer portal. NIL payments. And you might say, what does that have to do with Division Two?\u201d Holloman asked. \u201cThe reality of it is a trickle down effect. We\u2019re not immune. We lost players to Division I programs like Purdue University, Duke University, North Carolina A&T, Alabama A&M just to name a few.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now more than ever, roster management is one of the most critical responsibilities for SIAC coaches.<\/p>\n
A New Era at Miles College<\/p>\n
That kind of talent loss is something Miles College head coach Chris Goode knows all too well. After taking over the defending SIAC champions this offseason, he inherited a roster nearly unrecognizable from the one that won the title. Many players followed former head coach Sam Shade to Alabama A&M, while others transferred elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a brand new team,\u201d Goode said. \u201cWe had a lot of guys that were seniors that left, got a lot of guys that went in the transfer portal. But one of the things I always tell the players\u2014I\u2019m not going to complain about it\u2014because the thing is, we still got to go on the field and play to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goode is relying on a veteran coaching staff with championship experience. But even with that support, managing constant roster turnover has become the new normal.<\/p>\n
Tuskegee Faces Rebuild Year After Year<\/p>\n
Tuskegee head coach Aaron James echoed that sentiment, saying rebuilding a team now feels like starting from scratch each season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a different team every year,\u201d James said. \u201cBecause like I said, the transfer portal going on, you not able to rebuild\u2014you actually build your team. It\u2019s a rebuilding roster every year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with Tuskegee\u2019s rich football tradition, James said that doesn\u2019t stop players from seeking bigger stages.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year, they\u2019re looking for that ladder,\u201d he said. \u201cOther schools, they\u2019re looking at us like we the JuCo of the leagues now. If we have an All-American, all-conference guy, those guys are going to be going up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Travaunta Abner is one of several former Miles College players who are now at Alabama A&M.<\/p>\n
Roster Management Becomes Year-Round Priority<\/p>\n
The challenge of roster management at an HBCU isn\u2019t just about replacing players. It also requires building relationships and recruiting current team members to stay.<\/p>\n
Allen University head coach Cedric Pearl put it plainly:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number one thing in today\u2019s game is to recruit your own roster. Roster management is important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The veteran HBCU coach stressed the importance of maintaining strong internal relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow it\u2019s kind of a dual recruiting relationship where you have to continue to constantly recruit those guys on the inside,\u201d Pearl said. \u201cEven though we\u2019re coaching them every day, staying engaged with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Pearl also acknowledged that some transfers are about more than football.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand the power of the dollar,\u201d he said. \u201cPower of the dollar, for a lot of young men, changes lives, changes family situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody that gives an opportunity to go to another university and better themselves and make a little money at the same time\u2014we\u2019re all for that,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s just today\u2019s game and where it\u2019s going. So you either get on board, or you get ran over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MACON, GA \u2014 The SIAC, a Division II HBCU football conference, is feeling the ripple effects of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[831,399,13140,398,396,397,13141,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-13590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-featured","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-hbcu-sports","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-siac","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}