A highly decorated interim coach is bringing his struggling squad to Pine Bluff this weekend.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff will host Southern University at 2 p.m. Saturday at Simmons Bank Field on SWAC TV.
Southern (1-7, 0-4 SWAC) is the only remaining team in the SWAC West Division without a conference victory. The Jaguars’ only win this season was a 34-29 road win against Mississippi Valley State on Aug. 30 that was not part of Southern’s SWAC schedule.
The Jaguars fired head Coach Terrence Graves on Oct. 20, two days after a 24-3 homecoming loss to Prairie View A&M.
UAPB Coach Alonzo Hampton said the Golden Lions can’t expect an easy game just because Southern fired its coach.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Any time you have a change in coaching staffs, you know, guys get a new sense of energy,” Hampton said. “Man, my hat’s off to Coach Graves. He’s an outstanding person. I hate that happened for him. He’s a man of God, so I already know God got a better plan for him, so I’m praying for him and his family.”
The Jaguars needed an interim coach for the remainder of the season, and they just happened to have a successful former SWAC head coach on staff ready to take the role.
Quarterbacks Coach Fred McNair is now leading the Jaguars. Graves hired him ahead of the 2024 season as tight ends coach before moving him to quarterbacks this season.
Before going to Southern, McNair spent eight years as the head coach at Alcorn State. He won SWAC championships in 2018 and 2019 and won four SWAC East Division titles. Alcorn went 48-33 under McNair, including 3-1 against UAPB.
McNair said on Monday the challenge for an interim coach is keeping the players in the proper mindset for the rest of the season.
“I think that what I’m doing and the coaching staff is doing to making sure these guys are upbeat, like I said, we still have our routine we have to do during the course of the week,” McNair said. “The biggest thing is just to keep the guys locked in on the task at hand, and being able to play another football game on Saturday is a blessing.”
McNair led Alcorn to a shared West Division title in 2023, though Prairie View A&M represented the division in the SWAC championship game that year. He left the Braves after that season and was reportedly in the mix for the then-vacant Texas Southern job. When TSU instead hired Cris Dishman, Graves brought McNair to Southern.
Now, McNair is leading the Jaguars, at least for the rest of this season. His first game in charge was this past Saturday, when Southern lost 43-35 at home to Florida A&M.
Despite the defeat, Southern’s 35 points were the most the Jaguars had scored all season, beating the 34 they scored against MVSU. All other opponents have held them to 14 points or fewer.
McNair said the Jaguars executed the game plan well last week.
“When I look at stats, I look at two things: the third downs and the penalties,” McNair said. “I thought we did a very good job offensively about converting third downs. It was a big help for us to continue to drive and score points. On the defensive side, I think we kind of gave up a lot of third down conversions.”
Southern converted 9 of 15 third downs against the Rattlers while allowing FAMU to convert 8 of 14.
LSU transfer running back Trey Holly rushed for 145 yards and two touchdowns against FAMU, leading the Jags to a 217-yard rushing day, their highest total since the MVSU game. Junior quarterback Ashton Strother threw for a season-high 197 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns.
Holly is the SWAC’s second-leading rusher with 91.1 yards per game and has scored six rushing touchdowns. Hampton said, as he has said each week of SWAC play, UAPB’s priority needs to be stopping the run.
“Their offensive line, man, they’re huge,” Hampton said. “They don’t look like an FCS school on the O-line, and then obviously, you got Trey Holly. Man, that kid’s a four-star, five-star kid, was at LSU for a reason. So, we gotta stop the run. Maybe we can put 13 guys on the field.”
UAPB allowed 247 rushing yards in last week’s loss at Bethune-Cookman. Four of the Golden Lions’ five other Division I opponents have rushed for more.