Texas Southern athletic director Kevin Granger denied a report that a decision has been made to move on from Texas Southern football coach Clarence McKinney.
Granger said he will evaluate the football coach at the end of the season, as he does all of the Tigers’ coaches in the athletic department. The football team plays its final game of the season Saturday when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Shell Energy Stadium.
“I have not met with Coach McKinney, I have not talked with Coach McKinney about his job status,” Granger said to The Defender on Tuesday night. “I don’t do that midseason. I do that at the end of the year.”
That doesn’t mean McKinney’s job is safe, either. McKinney, who was hired in 2018, hasn’t posted a winning season since his arrival and is 12-34 during his tenure.
The Tigers are at the end of another disappointing season with an overall record of 3-7 and 2-5 in the SWAC going into the season finale after being picked to finish third in the SWAC West in the preseason. But McKinney was dealt a blow when his star quarterback Andrew Body was only able to play in the season opener due to injury.
The Tigers are coming off a surprising 44-10 upset win over West division-leading Alcorn State on Sunday. But that is likely not enough to prevent TSU from moving on after the season is over.
McKinney’s contract with TSU expires on Dec. 15, and it will be hard to justify offering him an extension based on his record and the growing apathy of the Tigers’ fan base.
Granger would not discuss which way he might be leaning. But he took exception with the anonymous-sourced report from HBCU Sports that said a decision has already been made on McKinney’s future at TSU.
“I have never talked to anybody about Coach McKinney’s status,” Granger said. “I don’t know where this individual is coming up with this information from.
“I have talked to the media about Coach McKinney’s status. Just like I do every year with all of my coaches of all my programs, I evaluate them and make a decision on who is moving forward and how we are moving forward at the conclusion of the season.”
Earlier Tuesday, it was confirmed that former Prairie View head football coach Eric Dooley has been fired at Southern University after just two seasons on the job.
