Golden Lions glad to get back to Little Rock

The last time Arkansas-Pine Bluff played at War Memorial Stadium, it went on to win its only outright Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.

The Golden Lions will play in the capital city for the first time in three years at 4:30 p.m. today when they host defending SWAC champion Alcorn State. A victory over the Braves would qualify as one of UAPB’s biggest since the 2012 SWAC title year and would keep the Golden Lions from slipping further in the Western Division race.

“Hopefully there’s some magic in the air that can propel us to another one,” UAPB Coach Monte Coleman said.

Even if there isn’t, Coleman sees plenty of the benefits of returning to Little Rock.

Playing in War Memorial Stadium used to be an was almost an annual tradition for UAPB. The Golden Lions played at the stadium at least once every year in 2006-2012 and have played there regularly before that. But when the Delta Classic 4 Literacy, which brought UAPB to Little Rock for one game each year in between 2006-2012, folded after the Golden Lions’ 2012 victory over Langston, the school was unwilling to pay the rental fee to play a game in Little Rock.

UAPB Athletic Director Lonza Hardy Jr. boasted this summer of the priority UAPB puts on Little Rock and that a local sponsor had covered the $25,000 rental fee, which made today’s game at War Memorial possible. That means UAPB is back at War Memorial where Hardy and Coleman want it to be each year.

“It’s a big stage for us,” Coleman said. “It’s a great venue for football. We’re excited to get out of Golden Lion Stadium sometimes and go to a second home site. It’s fun. It’s fun for the fans and fun for the team.”

Hardy said future games at War Memorial Stadium will be decided after today’s game, but Coleman hopes a renewed presence can improve what he and his staff already consider one of their most prized recruiting grounds.

UAPB has will have seven players on its roster from central Arkansas (six from Little Rock and one from Maumelle), which marks its largest central Arkansas contingent since Coleman’s first season as head coach in 2008 when it had eight players from central Arkansas.

Coleman always wants more, though, saying and his staff view recruiting central Arkansas as important on par of importance as recruiting southeast Arkansas when putting together recruiting classes. Running backs coach Keith Saine, a Little Rock Central graduate who lives in Little Rock, is UAPB’s lead recruiter in central Arkansas., and Coleman said Saine has assembled a “host of kids” from the area who will watch today.

Coleman hopes playing at War Memorial can help the Golden Lions land more players like former linebacker Tim Turner, former running back Mickey Dean, defensive end Damien Lee and quarterback Ben Anderson, all of whom left Little Rock and became All-SWAC players for the Golden Lions.

“I would like to have over half of the team from Little Rock because there is a lot of good talent,” Coleman said. “We’ve had a host of great football players that have come out of Little Rock to help our football team.”

Those watching today will see UAPB try to measure up with the SWAC’s best team. Alcorn State is 22-4 against non-FBS competition since the start of the 2013 season, which includes a 10-3 finish last year.

Coach Jay Hopson’s Braves (3-1, 2-0 SWAC) have won their two SWAC games handily, 31-14 over Alabama State and 55-14 over Mississippi Valley State, and they rank third in scoring offense (33.0 points per game) and second in scoring defense (26.0) even with a 69-6 loss to Georgia Tech.

Hopson has built his team in part on the backs of transfers. Quarterback John Gibbs started at Houston, receiver Marquis Warford was at Memphis and running back Darryan Ragsdale started at Ole Miss.

“They’re one of the leaders,” Coleman said. “Jay is centralized well enough that he can get very experienced junior-college guys and transfers,” Coleman said. “That’s one of the reasons he’s catapulted himself in a rapid manor.”