At Savannah St., Broadnax Is Building From the Bottom Up

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- More than two decades ago, Horace Broadnax was at the top of the college basketball world. A hard-nosed point guard at Georgetown, Broadnax helped the Hoyas win the 1984 national title and nearly repeat as champions the following season. But today, as Broadnax prepares to coach against his alma mater, he is at the bottom of the sport.

Broadnax, 41, is midway through his first season as coach at Savannah State, a historically black college on the Georgia coast known as much for its losing sports teams as the towering oaks that dot the campus. The Tigers were 0-28 last season, becoming only the second Division I team since 1955 to finish a season winless.

And, because Savannah State was forced to forfeit its four victories from the 2003-04 season for using an ineligible player who wasn't enrolled in school -- the then-head coach's son, no less -- the school carried an NCAA-record, 65-game losing streak into this season. Mercifully, the Tigers ended their streak with a 63-59 victory in their Nov. 18 opener, albeit against Wilberforce, an NAIA school from Ohio.

Since then, however, Savannah State has lost 11 in a row, including an 89-46 loss at Southern Methodist on Monday. Going into Wednesday night's game against the Hoyas in the Hispanic Classic at MCI Center, the Tigers (1-11) have an RPI ranking of 331 among 334 Division I teams.

"People always ask me, 'Why Savannah State?' " Broadnax said. "Well, Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina weren't calling."

Broadnax, who had been out of basketball for three years when he was hired at Savannah State last spring, might have accepted the toughest job in the college game. The Tigers moved from Division II to Division I before the 2002 season. The school's athletic teams are grossly underfunded -- the typical budget for an athletic department its size is about $6 million to $9 million; the Tigers spent about $2 million on athletics last year, according to sources in the athletic department.

As a result, the men's basketball team isn't alone in its struggles. The women's basketball team is 1-11, and trailed 53-9 at intermission at Georgia on Dec. 10. The football team, which includes former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe among its past lettermen, was winless for the second time in three years this past season. Worse, 11 players quit last spring after an assistant coach was accused of selling steroids to student-athletes; the school fired the coach and the Tigers are still awaiting the results of an NCAA investigation.

Baseball coach Jamie Rigdon, who had a winning record every season he coached his alma mater, was fired in September. Rigdon, who is white, had earlier filed a federal lawsuit seeking $1 million in damages for racial discrimination.

Broadnax inherited a team that had only three players on full scholarships last season; the NCAA allows 13. Former Tigers coach Edward Daniels didn't have a full-time assistant coach last season -- most Division I teams have three full-time assistants, a director of basketball operations, a strength and conditioning coach and an administrative assistant -- and he relied on the help of two student managers on the bench.

Broadnax, whom Athletic Director Tony O'Neal said was chosen from among 79 applicants, was allowed to hire two assistant coaches. The school also increased the team's scholarship allotment after Broadnax was hired -- the Tigers have five players on full scholarship and one on partial scholarship.

"Tony is definitely putting new things in place," Broadnax said. "It's a lot better than it was last year. It's not where it needs to be yet, but the administration understands it needs to get better."

The Tigers are certainly doing their part to improve the athletic department's financial health. Only three of Savannah State's first 19 games will be played at home. The Tigers have already played at Oregon, Massachusetts, Georgia and Texas A&M and are scheduled to play at Colorado, Tulane, Florida and Arkansas-Little Rock later this season. Guaranteed games such as those, in which smaller schools are typically paid between $50,000 to $75,000 to travel, will help fund the school's other sports teams and pay for additional improvements in the basketball program. Last season, Daniels brokered a deal in which his players also received new basketball shoes because the school couldn't afford them.