Anna Barrett,Correspondent
Greg Seitz, JSU’s Athletic Director, told the Board of Trustees on Monday that the school has a verbal agreement for JSU football to play the University of South Carolina for 1.3 million dollars in 2023.
This announcement followed an update from Seitz that the head football coach, Rich Rodriguez, is pleased with the progress the team made during spring practices. He feels that the offense is good, but the defense needs more work.
The 2023 football schedule is almost ready, according to Seitz. JSU has verbally agreed to play the South Carolina Gamecocks for 1.3 million dollars, following a 400,000 dollar paycheck from Florida State University during the 2021 football season, Seitz said.
On the other side of men’s sports, a big money maker for the university is basketball. Seitz said there will be three or four money games from basketball once the team is moved into Conference USA.
Ray Harper, men’s basketball head coach, attended the Athletic Committee meeting to give the trustee members an update on recruitment, as well as answering questions from the trustees.
Harper said he has three commitments for next season after losing all five starters from this previous season due to graduation.
“We are doing all we can. The goal is to win the conference,” Harper said.
Randall Jones, chairman of the board, asked Harper how difficult it would be to recruit going from ASUN to Conference USA. Harper responded confidently by saying that it would not be difficult, as long as he and other coaches stayed patient. He hopes to see some higher level players who will be able to play for two to three years.
Jones also asked what Harper’s recruits thought about JSU’s campus and the surrounding area. The coach said that they loved it and that the team is rarely unsuccessful with getting commitments from visiting recruits.