I’m not a betting man, but it’s a safe bet that the Twin Cities’ mainstream newspapers, or for that matter all other local media, will barely mention the two upcoming Gopher basketball opponents featuring HBCUs.
Alabama A&M is the only Black school the Gopher women will play this season (7 pm, Dec. 10), while the Minnesota men will play Texas Southern at noon Dec. 14, the second HBCU squad on this year’s schedule (after Alcorn State, Nov. 8).
A&M and TSU are both members of the SWAC.
HBCU basketball historically in these parts doesn’t get much PWM love; the Gophers have yet to play a Black school in football, which is the most popular Black college sport.
It’s problematic how Black college football is treated as far as equitable media coverage is concerned. “I don’t dig the fact that Black schools, such as the MEAC had decided that if you’re a Black school, you get to handle the production costs for your TV that ESPN gets to distribute for free,” complained multi-media journalist and longtime Black college announcer/host Mark Gray. “Schools having to pay for their own production cost — that don’t happen in the SEC, that don’t happen in the Big Ten, that don’t happen in what was once the Pac-12.
“It just don’t go down like that,” said Gray.
“This conversation isn’t new,” added Randell Barnes in his Clutchpoints.com article in May. “HBCU football isn’t just about the game on the field. It’s the entire cultural experience … It’s the bands performing during the zero quarter, halftime and fifth quarter.”
Getting “solid sports coverage” from mainstream media as far as Black sports is concerned, has been “a major thorn in the side of HBCU athletic departments for more than a century,” HBCU Gameday pointed out. “All media coverage is important.”
HBCU Money last month stressed the historical importance and significance of Black-owned media, such as MSR: “For generations, Black-owned media has served as a counterbalance to the marginalization found in mainstream outlets,” said the Nov. 11 article.
MSR has historically covered Black schools whenever they come to town. According to Howard University Assistant Athletic Director Derek W. Bryant, our reporting has not gone unnoticed in HBCU circles.
“I know any HBCU that comes out that way will 100% appreciate it,” said Bryant. “They love that they can come out there and at least you are covering HBCUs win or lose.”
Furthermore, as a very competitive veteran reporter, I love it that if local PWMs snub the visiting Black coaches and teams; it only gives me ample room to conduct pre-and-post game interviews exclusively.
Bryant pointed out that Minnesota isn’t an exception in inequitable HBCU coverage: “I think definitely that a lot of HBCUs experience [this] when they play the different PWIs. I think it does happen a lot.”
SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland, the first person from an HBCU conference to chair the Division I men’s basketball committee, praised fellow committee member and Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle for regularly signing game contracts with Black schools to play at Minnesota.
“I think Mark Coyle understands the significance of HBCUs,” surmised the SWAC Commish. “Hats off to AD Coyle for opening up the University of Minnesota to host our schools.”
Read our pregame previews on Alabama A&M and Texas Southern in this week’s MSR.
Finally…
ESPN’s Andscape last week recognized the 30th anniversary of Central State (Ohio) University as the last football team from a historically Black college or university to win a national title. Central State defeated Northeastern State 37-7 in the 1995 NAIA Division I national championship game.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.