New investments raise the stakes for JC Smith football

PHOTO | TROY HULL

Johnson C. Smith football coach Maurice Flowers has the benefit of nine full-time of assistant coaches and 36 scholarships – the most allowed in Division II – a first for the program..

Money can’t buy success, but it helps with the down payment.

In terms of football, Johnson C. Smith is no longer a CIAA have-not after an infusion of investments have positioned the Golden Bulls among the conference’s best-funded programs. From boosts in coaches’ pay, scholarship funding and upgraded facilities, the Golden Bulls now have competitive infrastructure.

Rival coaches have noticed what’s going on, too. Their preseason poll picked the Golden Bulls sixth in the CIAA, third in the Southern Division.

“In getting to the playoffs and making more advancements, it comes down a lot of times, like most things do, to investments and really just what schools are putting into programs,” second-year Golden Bulls coach Maurice Flowers said.

The investments are a pivot for JCSU, which has historically been on the lower end of the CIAA scale and has only one league championship (1969) to show for it. For the first time in school history, the Golden Bulls award the equivalent of 36 football scholarships – the most allowed in NCAA Division II. There are nine full-time assistant coaches on the staff. A new synthetic turf surface was installed at Eddie McGirt Field in the spring and a new performance center with locker rooms and study area is under construction. Flowers, who earned All-CIAA honors as a Golden Bulls quarterback from 1987-91, said assets separate winners from losers.   

“A lot of times when you get into the playoffs, everyone that you’re going to play, they’ve got 36 scholarships – the Division II maximum,” he said. “They’ve got nine to 10 full time coaches. They’ve got really nice weight rooms and really nice facilities and academic support. Those are things that are a given once you get into the playoffs. If you’re not on the same playing field, you’re going to get beat.”

Flowers added four new full-time assistants, including former St. Augustine’s head coach David Bowser (linebackers), James Lott (cornerbacks) and Mike Craft (quarterbacks). Bowser, a Charlotte Catholic alumnus, and Lott both coached with Flowers at Fayetteville State, the South Division’s dominant program. Craft and Flowers worked together at JCSU in 2011 – the Golden Bulls’ last winning season.

Even with the infusion, JCSU will have to contend with a CIAA that has become more competitive in recent years. Fayetteville State and Virginia Union advanced to the national playoffs last year and more conference teams have placed more emphasis on strengthening nonconference scheduling.

“The CIAA is going to be better, which is going to help everyone and whoever makes the playoffs because you’re playing tougher teams in-conference, but that’s definitely something that the head coaches spoke up” for, Flowers said. …

“If you look at the CIAA, there’s teams and universities that are investing in their programs. You’ve just got to go back (to 2022) and … Bowie State made a run to the [national] quarterfinals. Of course, there was Winston-Salem State that made it to the championship game [in 2012], but there are some CIAA teams that can play with the better Division II teams in the region.”

To be a regional or national force, it takes sustainability and continuity. Financial commitments to people and facilities, Flowers insists, go a long way toward maintaining both.

“When you do those things, it helps you get the better player and a better coach,” he said. “If you invest in the football scholarships, the Division II maximum, I guarantee you when it comes playoff time, all the super regions that rank the playoff teams, you’re not going to find any teams making the playoffs that don’t have 36 scholarships. And look at the size of those staffs. You’re going to see staff that have nine to 10 full time coaches and probably four to five part time coaches and probably two to four graduate assistants.

“Then look at the facilities of each of those places. Winning does not happen by accident. There’s not many Cinderellas in football. Now, every once in a while, in basketball you get some Cinderellas, but there’s a lot less people that go on a basketball court. You don’t have many people sneak up on you in football.”

With so many improvements, the Golden Bulls’ final hurdle is on-field success. JCSU, which went 2-7 last year with six losses on the final possession of regulation or overtime, placed one player – receiver Brevin Caldwell (Ardrey Kell High) on the preseason All-CIAA team. Coaches and players know the only return on investment worth talking about is winning.

“Regardless of how close those games were – competitive or losing the last minute – we were 2-7, so if you’re 2-7 you can’t go around demanding anything,” Flowers said. “All we can do is go out and take care of our record and take care of our business one Saturday at a time. And that’s our plan.”

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