Few places in the HBCU football world have expectations as high as Southern University — and its head coach is treading water because of it.
Southern suffered a humbling 24-3 defeat to Prairie View A&M on Saturday in its annual homecoming game. The loss put Southern at 1-6 on the season and head coach Terrence Graves is clearly on the hot seat now.
Roman Banks, Southern’s Director of Athletics, spoke to the media directly following the loss and he proclaimed the coach’s future is in the air.
“We’re going to make Monday and evaluate the process. We’ve made some changes that we thought would make us better. Promoting coach (Fred) McNair to co-offensive coordinator — I was hoping we could get some energy in the room. But it seems to not be working,” Banks told the media.
HBCU lifer could be victim of high expectations
Graves, an HBCU assistant coach for more than 30 years, led the team to eight wins and a SWAC West title in his first year as head coach in 2024. But the 2025 season has been a disappointment from start to finish. Its offense has been anemic for much of the season, failing to score double digits in half of those losses.
Banks said coaching could be “funny” and that sometimes a lack of success doesn’t mean a coach is bad, but he acknowledged that decisions have to be made.
“It’s about the right person for Southern University. The right coaching staff. And in our business — who can make your team win? That’s the bottom line. My job is to evaluate the process.”
If Southern were to make a move and get rid of Graves it would be the second time in just under two years that he’s had to fire a coach he hired. Eric Dooley was fired in the middle of his second season at Southern in 2024 just one season after leading the school to a SWAC West title.
“Do Coach Graves stay another day?” Banks asked rhetorically? “You don’t make decisions after a ball game. You sit down and talk about it because…being in the room for the student-athletes — who gives you the best chance to win the rest of your games. And are you comfortable with someone in the room who can do that — that’s on the staff already — if you did an interim situation? Those are things that we have to discus.”
Southern University faces big decision
Banks didn’t rule out bringing Graves back for the stretch run of the season, but he didn’t exactly get a vote of confidence either.
“Perhaps he may give us the best chance to win out and then we let that stay in place and then maybe we have to say that we’re going to move forward,” he continued. “I need to speak with him ; I need to speak with the student-athletes and I need to communicate with them and get to the bottom of it. But obviously it’s not trending well. We’re not excited about it. It’s our jobs as coaches — and I’ve been in the business on that side before, so I understand — but it’s our job to have the teams ready.”
We’ve seen midseason changes happen in the Power Five/FBS world recently. And if there is any program in the HBCU world that would cut ties in the middle of the season, Southern University would be at the top of the list.
All eyes will be on Baton Rouge this week.