It’s not unusual for some good-natured ribbing between the Prairie View and Texas Southern football coaches during Labor Classic week.
But Monday’s kickoff press conference ahead of the 40th renewal of the season-opening Labor Day Classic took on a much different tone. Let’s just say shots were fired as both coaches showed that there isn’t much love lost as they move toward the Aug. 30 SWAC rivalry game.
While the usually more boisterous first-year Prairie View coach Tremaine Jackson was more subdued on the podium, second-year TSU coach Cris Dishman came out swinging during his introduction.
“First and foremost, I would like to thank Coach Tremaine for his heartfelt song,” said Dishman, referencing a song Jackson serenaded his players with as a reminder of the end goal of reaching the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, which is considered the Black College Football National Championship. “I wonder if he can sing that song afterwards. I think it’s something or something you were singing one day. He was horrible. Don’t quit your day job.”
Dishman, who is usually much more measured with his words, wasn’t done yet. He took a shot at Jackson, who played for TSU and was the defensive coordinator for the Tigers when the staff got fired in 2011. Jackson has talked about never having the chance to play or coach in Shell Energy Stadium, the home stadium TSU shares with Houston’s two professional soccer teams and the venue for this year’s Labor Day Classic.
“Thank you, Coach Tremaine, for coming out and seeing the stadium,” Dishman said. “Make sure, before you leave, to take a piece of grass because on Saturday you are going to be taking a lot of grass. And thank you for wearing the Texas Southern colors.”
“Our 11 should be better than their 11. It’s not about Tremaine or I, it’s about our 11. Our 11 is better than their 11.”
Cris Dishman, second-year TSU coach
All the while, Jackson, whose suit coat was actually a faint purple, sat inches away from Dishman and showed no expression to the barbs.
Afterward, when talking to the Defender, Jackson let his feelings be known.
“There were some shots taken that aren’t necessarily our profession,” Jackson said. “But I understand what it is and what some people have to do. We don’t have to do that. We go about our business. We’ve been on this hill working for a long time and we are going to get a chance to come off. Yeah, there is a different level of focus with us right now. But it’s been like this since Jan. 7. We don’t allow people to toy with our kids or our program. This ain’t your uncle’s coached Prairie View A&M football team. This is us. It’s a new feel around here. We don’t take shots or disrespect kindly.”
When asked by the Defender if he thought Dishman’s words were more in jest and in the spirit of the rivalry game, the Acres Homes native wasn’t buying it.
“I went to Oak Forest Elementary, Class of ’94. I didn’t go to recess. I don’t play,” Jackson said. “That’s not how we go about it. So, I don’t know what that is. I just know how we do things. Shout to Ms. Rector, my fifth-grade teacher, because I didn’t play no games.”
To understand where some of the animosity might be coming from is to know that Dishman was disappointed when Prairie View unceremoniously decided last year not to renew the contract of Bubba McDowell, who is a good friend of Dishman’s and also a former secondary mate when the two played for the Houston Oilers.
Ironically, one of the things that worked against McDowell was losing to the Tigers in last season’s Labor Day Classic, allowing TSU to snap a nine-game losing streak in the series in Dishman’s first year.
Prairie View replaced McDowell with the brash-talking Jackson, who came in writing checks starting in his introductory press conference, where he promised to elevate the Panthers to heights beyond winning the SWAC West, like winning the SWAC Championship and the Celebration Bowl. Jackson, about to enter his fourth season as a head coach and first at the FCS level, went undefeated last season at Valdosta State and took the Division II powerhouse to the national championship game in his second year on the job.
“We came here to be successful. I make no qualms about it,” Jackson said. “I didn’t leave where I was to come here to be anything less than elite. Our players understand that our athletic director (Anton Goff) said that a long time ago. We are just adhering to what the department is.”
During last month’s SWAC Football Media Days, we got a preview of how frosty Dishman might be toward Jackson when, either by omission or on purpose, he didn’t mention Jackson by name when discussing Prairie View. But that changed Monday, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Jackson.
“Last month, Coach didn’t know my name, and in another article, he didn’t know where I came from. So I was just surprised that he even said my name,” Jackson said. “It wasn’t no thing to me. This is my third head coaching job, so I’m not a rookie.
“I don’t have to do things that nervous people do. We understand how we go about our business. Sometimes when I was insecure in my career, I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so I just got up there and said anything. That’s not us anymore.”
Jackson has been steadfast about his expectations for his players. As a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Jackson has long demanded that his players have a D.O.G. mentality, which is an acronym for discipline, obedience and grit.
Jackson was asked about his team’s mentality, and he responded, “Dogmatic.”
“We’ve said that before I met the players in person. That’s who we are, that’s what we are about, that’s how we go to work,” said Jackson, who has brought in 70 new players to his roster of 105. “A lot of people are scared to do things the way that we do them. There are a lot of people who bow down to young people. We don’t do that. So, there is no bubble gum and butterflies in our program.
“We are who we are. We are hard-nosed; we don’t stand on 360s or dance with them during recruiting. We tell them exactly who we are, and they choose to be a part of it, and they adhere to how we do things, which is why we’ve had successes in the places we’ve had successes. We expect no different here at Prairie View A&M.”
Dishman didn’t hesitate to pounce on the symbolic notion of players being considered dogs.
“We’ve got high-IQ football guys. Coach Tremaine mentioned dogs,” Dishman said. “I won’t mention dogs; our young men will never be dogs. They are educated young men and are God-given young men. That’s why I expect my guys to understand my culture; they understand what I expect and what I want.
“I would never call a young man a dog because he is not. He’s an individual, who goes out there and works for us.”
