WSSU headed back to the CIAA

Rams will have to comply with league bylaws, pay a fee to return to conference

By: By John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: October 03, 2009

The welcome-back mat is officially out for Winston-Salem State.

The board of directors of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association voted yesterday, at its fall meeting in Cary, to allow WSSU back into the conference it left four years ago.

WSSU changed course in its transition to Division I and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference on Sept. 11 and decided to stay in Division II for financial reasons. Chancellor Donald Reaves said at the time that the goal was to be re-admitted to the CIAA as quickly as possible.

Jimmy R. Jenkins, the president of Livingstone College and the chairman of the CIAA board of directors, said that the vote was unanimous.

"The board did accept Winston-Salem State back into the CIAA, and they will be back in once they comply with all the conditions in the CIAA bylaws," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said that having WSSU back is a win-win situation because of its tradition.

"They have such a deep tradition in this conference going back to the days of the late Big House Gaines," Jenkins said. "And for t hem to come back into the CIAA, it's like a part of the family returning after being away for a little while."

The addition of WSSU will give the CIAA 13 schools, with Lincoln also joining for 2010-11.

WSSU, which competed in the CIAA from 1946 until 2005, could be eligible to compete for CIAA championships as early as next fall. First, it will have to reduce scholarships in football and basketball to get to the Division II minimum.

Leon Kerry, the CIAA commissioner, said that officials throughout the conference have been excited about WSSU's return ever since the school said it wanted back in.

"We've been ecstatic about them coming back," Kerry said. "It's just the evolution of the conference, and this is part of that evolution."

Kerry said that WSSU will have to pay a fee to re-join. Lincoln (Pa.) paid $147,000 when it joined last year, and Kerry said that WSSU will most likely have to pay between $147,000 and $150,000.

Coach Kermit Blount, who was traveling with his football team to Washington, D.C., yesterday, said he had no comment about the decision, but men's basketball coach Bobby Collins said he is looking forward to his team playing in the 2011 CIAA basketball tournament at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

"I'm definitely looking at the brighter side of things," Collins said. "While it was devastating to the kids who had come here hoping to play at the Division I level, at the same time you are now going to get a chance to play for a title."

Jordan Reid, a freshman quarterback who did not make the trip to Washington because of a foot injury, said that the football players are focused on finishing this season and that there hasn't been much talk of transferring.

"We just want to compete somewhere, even if it's not D-I," Reid said. "It was a tough decision, but we have to move forward and think about what's next.

"Most of the fifth-year seniors played one season in the CIAA and they've kind of talked to us a little about the conference. I think we'll be glad to be playing for a conference title."

Soon after Reaves announced the decision to end the transition to Division I, he sent a letter to CIAA officials, saying: "We would certainly welcome the opportunity to reconnect with the rich tradition and legacy of the CIAA and will work aggressively and strategically to ensure that all NCAA Division II requirements are met by the fall of 2010."

The CIAA was established in 1912 and is the nation's oldest historically black conference. It sponsors a combined 16 men's and women's championships.

jdell@wsjournal.com | 727-4081