Less than a week after it was announced that Art Briles would be Hue Jackson’s offensive coordinator at Grambling, Briles has decided to step down. Briles notified the university on Monday, a school spokesperson confirmed, that he did not want to be a distraction to the team. Jackson and Grambling have been under a wave of criticism since last Thursday when the hiring was originally announced. Briles was terminated with cause by Baylor in 2016 after investigators uncovered at least 52 sexual and physical assaults committed by players that were either ignored or covered up by Briles and his staff.
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The Sun Belt Conference is dealing with controversy on the football field of a different kind. The conference released its 2022 football schedule, and it includes Marshall, Southern Miss, and Old Dominion. The problem is that last month, Conference USA released its schedule, which included those three schools as well. The trio of programs accepted invites to join the SBC last fall, but have been in a legal battle to push their move-in date up from 2023 to now. Opening games are just six months away.
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Southern maintained its hold on third place in both the SWAC men’s and women’s basketball standings with a doubleheader sweep of Florida A&M. The SWAC tourney begins next week.
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Major League Baseball and the Players Association continue to try to reach a new collective bargaining agreement, having extended their negotiating deadline to save regular-season games to 5 pm ET Tuesday. The two sides met late into Monday night with talks set to resume this morning. If a deal isn’t reached, it’s likely that baseball will not be ready to go for Opening Day, currently scheduled for March 31.
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On the college diamond, plenty of intrastate matchups on the docket. McNeese visits Southern looking to extend its four-game win streak. Tulane drives up to Hammond to take on Southeastern. UL and Northwestern State play the first of a home-and-home series in Natchitoches. UL-M is on the road at number two Mississippi, and Louisiana Tech starts a five-game road stretch at Nicholls.
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The 20th-ranked UL Cajuns softball team was supposed to be playing Stephen F. Austin tonight, instead, they’re off until Thursday when they host number 21 LSU at Lamson Park.
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With only two weeks to go until Selection Sunday, the LSU women’s basketball team is in position to grab a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament based on the selection committee’s final top-16 list of the regular season. As a top-16 seed LSU would host first and second-round games at the PMAC. The Tigers have not hosted an NCAA tournament game since 2014, and haven’t been a top-16 seed since 2008.
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