Is Southern University head coach Terrence Graves in danger of being fired?

After that The Jaguars lost 24-3 at home to Prairie View A&MSouthern University coach Terrence Graves could be on the hot seat. With the loss, the Jaguars fall to 1-6 and have one of the worst offenses in HBCU football. Whether or not Graves will be fired as head coach is anyone’s guess, but Roman Banks was interviewed after the game and hinted that a change could be coming soon.

“Let me just open up and say this is that, obviously, this is not the way we thought the season was going to go at this point,” Banks said in comments received from VBRZ. “We had a pretty good season last year and we thought that was something to build on. And obviously the preseason rankings don’t mean much, but obviously we thought we had some players in the room that could make a difference. And really, it’s really disappointing.”

Banks then, surprisingly, directly hinted that coaching could be an issue for the Jaguars team given the talent it has.

“When you start looking at the offensive outlook and the production, and, , some people say, well, the defense stays on the field a long time, but they struggle. And so, you start looking at the talent in the room and you start, you have to look at the coaching decisions, right? And it’s up to the coaches to prepare your team every day.”

Southern University looked out of sorts on offense throughout the game Saturday afternoon. Quarterback Ashton Strother, who started in place of Cameron McCoy, finished the game throwing for just 81 yards with one interception. Running back Trey Holley received as many carries as the quarterback passed the ball, eventually recording 99 rushing yards but failing to register a touchdown.

But it appears that a drastic change could be in the offing as Banks hinted that an evaluation of how the team is progressing will take place.

“My job is to evaluate the process. You know, (does) coach Graves stay another day? You don’t make decisions after the ball game. You sit and talk about it because then in the room for student-athletes that give you the best chance to win the rest of the games, and are you comfortable with somebody in the room who can do that? And, if you’re already in those things, we talked about those things? Maybe he can give us the best a chance to win. And then we let it stay in place and then maybe we have to say that (we) are moving forward. I just… I need to talk to him. I need to talk to the student athletes. I have to communicate with them and get to the bottom of everything.”

Graves was hired as head coach of Southern University in December 2023replacing former head coach Eric Dooley. Graves served as interim coach after Dooley’s departure and also served as assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and running backs coach. Ironically, Southern fired Dooley after a loss to Prairie View A&M midway through the 2023 season after falling to 5-5 and not beating a team above .500 that fall.