Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium is an outdoor football stadium in Jackson, Mississippi, United States. Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium has been the home stadium of the Jackson State Tigers football team since 1970. Originally known as War Veterans Memorial Stadium, it was later known as Hinds County War Memorial Stadium. It was redesigned and enlarged in 1960 and Ole Miss vs. Arkansas dedicated Mississippi Memorial Stadium in 1961 before a capacity crowd of 46,000. With political support from Ole Miss and Mississippi State and leadership from Ole Miss Athletics Director Warner Alford, Mississippi Memorial Stadium was enlarged to 62,500 in 1981 and on September 26, 1981 Ole Miss and Arkansas again dedicated the facility before 63,522.
Ryan Stanchek is a former American football guard and current collegiate assistant coach. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He played college football at West Virginia.
Marino H. "The Godfather" Casem was an American college football coach and athletic administrator. He served as the head coach at Alabama State University (1963), Alcorn State University (1964–1985), and Southern University, compiling a career record of 159–93–8. Casem's Alcorn State Braves teams won four black college national championships and seven Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) titles. Casem also served as the athletic director at Alcorn State from 1966 to 1986 and at Southern from 1986 to 1999. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Alcorn State Braves are the college football team of Alcorn State University. The Braves play in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
Davey Lee Whitney Sr., also known as "The Wiz", was an American college basketball coach and the head basketball coach at Texas Southern University from 1964 to 1969 and Alcorn State University from 1969 to 1989 and 1996 to 2003. He amassed a total record of 566 wins and 356 losses in 33 years of coaching at these institutions.
The 2012 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by first-year head coach Jay Hopson, and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium. Hopson is the first non-black head coach to coach at a historically black university in either the MEAC or SWAC. They were a member of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and finished the season with an overall record of four wins and seven losses.
James Walter Hopson is an American football coach and former player. In 2016, Hopson made history as the only head coach in the history of the state of Mississippi to guide two different in-state universities to bowl games when he led the University of Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles to a victory in the New Orleans Bowl. During his head-coaching tenure with the University of Southern Mississippi (2016-2020), Hopson ushered the Golden Eagles to four straight bowl-eligible seasons, with his defenses and offenses ranking in the top-5 and top-25 in the NCAA, respectively. Additionally, in his four full seasons from 2016 to 2019, Hopson guided the University of Southern Mississippi to 20 conference wins, which made him the second-winningest coach in Conference-USA during that span.
The 2013 Jackson State Tigers football team represented Jackson State University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Tigers were led by eighth year head coach Rick Comegy and played their home games at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium. They were a member of the SWAC East Division. Jackson State returned as the defending East Division Champs. The Tigers finished the season with an 8–4 record, as East Division Champions and with a loss against Southern in the SWAC Championship Game.
The 2013 Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football team represented Mississippi Valley State University in the 2013 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Delta Devils were led by fourth year head coach Karl Morgan and played their home games at Rice–Totten Field. They were a member of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
Barret L. Rey is an American college baseball coach. Rey previously served as head coach of the Grambling State Tigers baseball team from 2007 through 2009 and the Alcorn State Braves baseball team from 2010 through 2015.
The 2014 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by third year head coach Jay Hopson and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium. They were a member of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and finished with a record of 10–3 and as SWAC champions after they defeated Southern in the SWAC Championship Game.
Willie Simmons is the head coach of the Florida A&M Rattlers football team. Simmons was previously the head coach at Prairie View A&M from 2014 to 2017. He was previously offensive coordinator of the Alcorn State Braves. Simmons played college football at Clemson and The Citadel as a quarterback.
The 2015 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2015 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by fourth-year head coach Jay Hopson and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium. They were a member of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and finished with a record of 9–4 as SWAC champions after they defeated Grambling State in the SWAC Championship Game. Alcorn State then played in the Celebration Bowl against North Carolina A&T, losing by a score of 41–34.
The 2015 Celebration Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 19, 2015 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. The inaugural Celebration Bowl game pitted the North Carolina A&T Aggies, co-champion of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, against the Alcorn State Braves, champion of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The event was the finale of the 2015 FCS football season for both conferences as their champions abstain from the NCAA Division I FCS football playoffs.
The 2015–16 Alcorn State Braves basketball team represented Alcorn State University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Braves, led by first year head coach Montez Robinson, played their home games at the Davey Whitney Complex in Lorman, Mississippi and were members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Braves finished the season 15–15, 13–5 in SWAC play to finish in second place. They lost to Mississippi Valley State in the quarterfinals of the SWAC Tournament.
The 2016 Conference USA football season was the 21st season of Conference USA football and part of the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 1 with Charlotte facing Louisville. This season was the second season for the C-USA under realignment that took place in 2014, which added the 14th member Charlotte from the Atlantic 10 Conference. The C-USA is a "Group of Five" conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the American Athletic Conference, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
The 2017 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by second-year head coach Fred McNair and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium in Lorman, Mississippi as members of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). They finished the season 7–5, 5–2 in SWAC play to win the East Division. They lost the SWAC Championship Game to Grambling State.
The 2018 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by third-year head coach Fred McNair and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium. They were members of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The 2018 Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 15, 2018, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST. It was the first game of the 2018–19 bowl season, and the only bowl to feature FCS teams. It was the fourth edition of the Celebration Bowl and the final game of the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season for the participating teams. The Air Force Reserve resumed its role as the title sponsor after a one-year absence.
The 2019 Alcorn State Braves football team represented Alcorn State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Braves were led by fourth-year head coach Fred McNair and played their home games at Casem-Spinks Stadium. They were members of the East Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
