Johnson C. Smith started fast but faded down the stretch

DONALD WATKINS | THE CHARLOTTE POST

Johnson C. Smith tied a school record with eight wins in 2024, but a pair of losses at season's end doomed their chances of advancing to the CIAA title game.

When Johnson C. Smith started the season 8-0, they couldn’t possibly miss the CIAA title game, right?

Wrong.

The Golden Bulls will miss out on the conference showcase after losing 15-10 Saturday to Livingstone their second straight loss to close the season. Those stumbles opened the door for Virginia State to leapfrog JCSU and into a rematch with Virginia Union. JCSU set numerous school records and tied others in 2024, including the single season wins record with eight, which was last accomplished in 1975. They also were ranked in the national Division II polls for the first time in school history.

The season will not be looked back on as negative, but one might wonder what could have been. Fans shouldn’t be discouraged by the late collapse. From where JCSU was in 2021 when then-coach Kermit Blount was fired  to where the program is now is reason to celebrate and anticipate more success in the future.

It’s easy to look at the negative when a team loses back-to-back weeks with the title game berth on the line, but overall, progress was made. In 2022, the Golden Bulls finished 2-7 in Maurice Flowers’ first season as head coach. In 2023, they went 7-4 to the surprise of many. Then they start 8-0 in 2024, the best start in program history. Even after losses to Fayetteville State and Livingstone, Flowers, while disappointed, isn’t discouraged.

“We should be upset,” he said, “because we did have big goals. To be in the driver's seat to go to the championship game and then that goes out the window. We just didn’t get it done, but it’s all about finishing. It’s all about finishing, and it’s going to do us some good. It’ll help us in the offseason to get better and finish. I look forward to it.

“I know this is just gonna be some tough pill to swallow, as it should be. But again, we’re building a championship program, and this is just a great lesson for us as we continue to build the program.”

Flowers told his team in the postgame huddle after the Livingstone loss that the result was his responsibility. He also told them they were responsible for searching within themselves as players.

“As the head coach, I take all our responsibility,” he said. I do. For two weeks I didn’t get my guys ready to go, and then offensively, too. I’m also the offensive coordinator. I just didn’t get it done. I didn’t push the right buttons. I didn’t get us going offensively. Last week against Fayetteville State, the next week, we only put up 10 points. I just didn’t push the right buttons. I’m going to get better too, and this is going to make us a better program.”

Flowers said one of his takeaways from the season was how bought in players were into the process of building the program and playing for one another.

“The buy-in from these young men and the courage to buy in to Johnson C. Smith University” was the start, Flowers said. “It’s really tough in recruiting to come to a place that didn’t have a history of winning, and these guys have bought into that vision. I am just so proud of the young men that we have recruited. We’ve won recruiting battles that in our first year we didn’t win many. We brought a great foundation here in our first season and won some recruiting battles in our second year. This third year we won a lot of recruiting battles and are going to continue to do that. There are so many things to build upon.”

Flowers said he was proud of the support from Golden Bulls faithful over the course of the season. For an alumni base that has known mostly losing football over the last 50 years, they’re buying into the program’s evolution.

“We want to thank [the fans] for the ride,” he said. “Thank you for the ride and being with us through the whole season. Starting off through each win and all the great things we did this season. Heck, as I think back on it, we had some away games where our fans outnumbered the home team. So, I just want to thank the fans for that, and just getting behind us. They can count on a better Golden Bulls team in 2025.”

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