(From The Birmingham News)

WATKINS MAY HELP CAROLINA SCHOOL
01/10/03
SOLOMON CRENSHAW JR.
News staff writer, The Birmingham News

Birmingham businessman Donald Watkins again plans to help a historically black university make the move to the highest level of collegiate football, and he again has pegged Alabama State coach L.C. Cole as the candidate to lead that move.

Watkins said Thursday that North Carolina A&T had contacted him about implementing the plan he trumpeted unsuccessfully three years ago to make Montgomery's Alabama State University the first historically black university to jump to Division I-A football. He said Cole is a candidate for the Aggies' vacant head coach position and added that Cole would be his choice.

"I do know they're considering him among a couple of other guys," Watkins said. "And I have let it be known that I would look upon his selection in a very favorable manner."

Cole said Thursday he had not been contacted by North Carolina A&T but would have to consider any offer that would help him and his family financially.

"You're always open to opportunities that could come along," he said.

Bill Hayes was relieved of his head coaching duties at A&T, which plays Division I-AA football in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, after the 2002 season. He had a year left on his contract at the Greensboro, N.C., school.

Watkins led a campaign in 2000 to take Alabama State's football program from Division I-AA to Division I-A. The lawyer and businessman, then an ASU trustee, brought Cole to Montgomery to lead that change.

That effort ran aground as Watkins met opposition from other members of the ASU Board of Trustees.

Watkins told ASU officials then that he had business partners who would help the Hornets pay for the move to I-A. He said Thursday he has added to that list of potential partners in the course of trying to buy the Anaheim Angels of Major League Baseball.

"If they (North Carolina A&T) make the declaration to go I-A, I'll put my resources at their disposal," Watkins said, adding that his effort to buy the Angels will not stop.

"It's a continuation of what I was trying to do for Alabama State. The difference is my one year of experience out on the Major League Baseball track has introduced me to more people and more corporate relationships and I'll introduce those relationships to the North Carolina A&T officials if they declare intent to go I-A."

Clear advantages:

North Carolina A&T, which is only in the discussion stage about moving up to I-A, has clear advantages over Alabama State as it looks to move to I-A, Watkins said.

"It's a larger institution than Alabama State, they have a board of trustees that's committed to the project, an athletic director who's committed to the project (and) they have foundation people who are actively committed to the project," he said. "At Alabama State, we didn't have a president, we didn't have an athletic director and we had a board that had some members who were adamantly opposed to it and were ultimately politically powerful enough to stop it. And that's OK. That's a viewpoint, and some people are comfortable with the status quo. I'm not."

ASU trustees who opposed the idea said it would be too expensive.

Watkins said Alamerica Bank, which he owns, has offered to sponsor the Southwestern Conference Football Championship Game at Legion Field for the next 10 years. If the SWAC doesn't accept that offer, he said he will quickly offer that money to North Carolina A&T. He would not reveal the amount.

If the SWAC accepts the Alamerica offer, Watkins said he has other businesses that can give money to North Carolina A&T.

"There would be a financial contribution by one of my companies to do the project," he said. "I've got an energy company, I have a land and timber company and a number of financial services companies, so it's just a matter of which one and the nature and scope of the contribution."

Moving to Division I-A would require paying for facility improvements, more scholarships and other expenses.

Related Links
NewsAndRecord.com - Watkins wants A&T to declare its intentions

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