Deion Sanders on HBCU Realignment: 'We're Already Speaking About it'
On Saturday morning, Jackson State's head coach Deion Sanders and XFL owners Danny Garcia and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson spoke to ESPN about the XFL HBCU Showcase at JSU.
The most significant discussions were Sanders' thoughts on the current state of NCAA realignment and the financial impact on prominent HBCU schools. Realignment "has a tremendous effect," Sanders said to ESPN's Jay Harris. "Sooner or later, some of the prominent schools are going to have to make a decision. What do we want to do? Do we want to sit back and adhere to tradition? Or, do want to put ourselves in a financial situation that our school prospers. You really got to factor that in and weigh those options. There are some tremendous options that a few of those school are going to be faced with."
These options of either collectively forming a "HBCU Super- or Mega-conference" have been talking points with HBCU experts for quite some time. I wrote that either a unified formation takes place, or HBCU schools like Jackson State, Southern, FAMU, or Grambling would be approached and recruited by more prominent and well-funded conferences in the FCS or FBS.
Sanders first opened the topic of a possible SWAC and MEAC merger during last season's Orange Blossom Classic press conference. The MEAC immediately rebuffed Sanders' statement. Howard flirted with leaving the MEAC during the offseason. Last year, FAMU and Bethune-Cookman left to join the SWAC and North Carolina A&T and Hampton jettisoned the conference for the Big South (now both in the CAA).
These talking points will have coaches, presidents, athletic directors, and commissioners furthering the hypotheses at the SWAC and MEAC media days within the next couple of weeks.