The primary-of-its-kind pact between the Power Five and HBCU leagues was announced last September with its aim to create each a forum for competition in addition to promotion and education around anti-racism and social justice issues.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the Pac-12 will debut the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series in November, featuring six men’s games and 6 women’s games over the course of several weeks in November and December.
Men’s games
Florida A&M at Oregon (Nov. 7), Alabama State at USC (Nov. 10), Southern at Arizona (Nov. 11), Colorado at Grambling St. (Nov. 11), Arizona State at Texas Southern (Nov. 13), and Washington State at Prairie View A&M (Nov. 15).
Having three SWAC teams hosting a Pac-12 team is much more special. “To be at home and just have the ability to feel the environment early for a big-time home game,” said Grambling State’s Freddie Murray. “I believe it’s essential that we have the ability to have some of these games to create environments and create ticket sales for our fans and have the ability to create different revenue opportunities…more people, more eyes. So I’m enthusiastic about it.”
Texas Southern HC Johnny Jones added, “We’re enthusiastic about what (SWAC Commissioner) Charles McClellan has been in a position to do to bring together a program like (Arizona State) from the Pac-12, to have them in a situation where they’ll play home and away games over a two-year period.”
Women’s games
Grambling State at Arizona State (Nov. 11), Prairie View A&M at Washington State (Nov. 13), Oregon at Southern (Nov. 14), Utah at Mississippi Valley State (Dec. 1), Texas Southern at Arizona (Dec. 14), and Florida A&M at California (Dec. 18).
“I believe it’s gonna be wonderful for the youngsters,” said Kimberly Anderson of Mississippi Valley State.
Said Alabama State HC Freda Freeman-Jackson, “[This] is great exposure for us and likewise for [the Pac-12] to be really inquisitive about HBCUs, and the impact that we’ve got on student-athletes is amazingly great. Anytime you may bring any of those sorts of schools to your campus, that’s going to be an amazing support for our fan base. I believe it’s great all the way in which around.”
Legacy Series
The Legacy Series was born out of this summer’s Pac-12 ImPACt experience in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama when conference student-athletes journeyed “to the middle of the Civil Rights Movement,” said a SWAC press release. A big group of Big Ten student-athletes, staffers and others also made an identical trek to the South this past summer.
In the course of the recent Big Ten basketball media days in Minneapolis earlier this month, the MSR asked Commissioner Kevin Warren of any plans that the conference is planning to attach with an HBCU conference.
“We’ve had some discussions about seeing what we are able to do to create a few of these legacy series games,” Warren responded. “But from a long-term standpoint, that’s the attractive thing about having UCLA and USC join us [in 2024]. There are some things we’re working on now to repeatedly afford our student-athletes the chance to play against Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“That’s a part of the numerous things on the table as we’re searching through scheduling and expansion, what we are able to do from a novel standpoint,” concluded Warren.