SWAC Profile:
Here come the Cole brothers

Roscoe Nance
BCSP Contributing Writer

'Cole-Blooded' football is on the horizon at Texas Southern with the arrival of Johnnie Cole as the Tigers' new head coach and his brother, L. C. Cole as his top assistant.

The 'Cole-Blooded' moniker came to be used in the midst of the duo building impressive track records turning around downtrodden programs at Tennessee State and Alabama State, where L.C. Cole was head coach and Johnnie Cole was his top assistant, and at Lane College where the roles were reversed.

And Texas Southern certainly qualifies as a downtrodden program. The Tigers are 4-40 over the last four years under former head coach Steve Wilson and were 0-11 in 2007, their second winless season in that span. They have finished last in the Western Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference three of the last four years.

Johnnie Cole, a 1986 Texas Southern graduate and former Tigers quarterback, is undaunted by the task ahead.

"I got a five-year contract, and if you know anything about (the) Coach Cole(s), we turn it around real quick," he says.

This year, Johnnie Cole joins Ernest L. Jones at Alcorn State, who is also returning to his alma mater, and former NFL linebacker Monte Coleman at Arkansas-Pine Bluff as new coaches in SWAC. But none of the others has head coaching experience or a brother in the fold with championships under his belt.

With L. C. at the helm, The Cole brothers won back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference championships at Tennessee State in 1998-99 and two SWAC East titles at Alabama State in 2001 and 2003. Under Johnnie's direction, Lane had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in school history (8-3 in 2006 and 7-3 in 2007).

Johnnie has earned a reputation for offensive ingenuity and will coordinate the TSU attack. He'll use what he calls the HOBO (High Octane, Big-play Offense). Alabama State was No. 6 in scoring (37.5 ppg.) in I-AA and No. 3 in total offense (486 ypg.) in 2001 with it. Tennessee State led the OVC in every offensive category in 1999 while ending the regular season as the No. 1 ranked team in NCAA Div. I-AA football, a first for a black college program. Lane was second in scoring in the SIAC behind Black College national champion Tuskegee University last season.

Texas Southern averaged 14.0 points last season, ninth in the 10-team conference.

"It's premature to say how we will do,'' Cole says. "It's one thing we will do. We will score.''

Senior quarterback Bobby Reid, a highly touted Houston high school player who transferred from Oklahoma State for his final season, will be the triggerman.

Reid started 27 games at Oklahoma State and passed for 3,123 yards and 28 touchdowns. He also rushed for 654 yards. Reid is still getting a handle on the Tigers' offense and adjusting to the personnel around him, but Cole is confident Reid will have full grasp of the playbook by the time Texas Southern faces arch-rival Prairie View in the Labor Day Classic Aug. 30.

"He's a big-time player,'' Cole says. "We're going to predicate our offense on what he does. He'll be a major part of our success. I don't think we're where we want to be, or where he wants to. On scale of 10, he's about eight right now. But we got time.''

L.C. Cole is the Tigers' defensive coordinator. He inherits a unit that was last in the conference in total yards allowed (399.4), rushing yards allowed (208.6) and points allowed (39.5). His forte is the 3-4 alignment, which requires solid linebacker play in order to be successful, and the Tigers have a strong nucleus at that position, led by sophomore DeJuan Fulgham.

But Johnnie Cole says that his brother's presence is what will make the difference.

"It's no doubt it's a plus that he's my brother,'' Johnnie Cole says. "But he's also a great coach. Getting him on my staff was one of the first things I talked to Texas Southern about.''

The Cole brothers are almost as well known for running afoul of the NCAA as they are for turning around struggling programs. Johnnie Cole was banned from coaching in a game at Tennessee State during the 1999 season after an investigation determined there had been several rules violations. Tennessee State was later sanctioned. Alabama State fired the brothers before the 2003 season as the result of an internal investigation.

L. C. Cole has been exonerated of major violations at Alabama State, charges against his brother are pending. Johnnie Cole says those incidents are behind him and his brother.

"That's exaggerated,'' says Johnnie, "a witch hunt. We have moved forward. I can't anticipate that happening here. We will use all precautionary measures to dot all I's and cross all T's. We're working hand-in-hand with the athletic director and compliance office. The spotlight is on us, no doubt.''

Cole says returning to his alma mater as head coach is his "dream job.'' But he acknowledges that there is a certain amount of pressure that comes with being an alumnus, and that dream could become a nightmare if the losing continues.

"I have alumni backing and support,'' he says. "But along with that comes expectations. I wouldn't have it any other way.''

Cole says having played at Texas Southern and coached against the Tigers gives him firsthand knowledge of what is needed to turn the program around.

"We've always had great players,'' he says. "But we never had great teams. I think one of the biggest things is we didn't have was discipline. One of the things I know I have to do is establish discipline.''

Cole has started by banning players from wearing dreadlocks, ear rings and gold plates in their mouth. Also, players are required to wear their pants up on their waist and wear a shirt and tie when the team travels, and he is adamant that players lift weights and go to class.

"If they can't do those two things, they can't play for me,'' he says.

© 2008 Azeez Communications, Inc.

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