HBCU sports lost one of its true architects this week, while stadium news and front-office shakeups round out a busy stretch across the SWAC, MEAC, CIAA and SIAC.
Southern University baseball loses its patriarch: Roger Cador dead at 74
The biggest story in HBCU sports right now isn’t a score — it’s a loss. Roger Cador, the man who built Southern University baseball into a national power, died this week at 74, and the tributes pouring in from Baton Rouge tell you everything about what he meant to the program and to Black college baseball as a whole.
Cador took over the Jaguars in 1985 and didn’t let go for 33 seasons, finishing with 913 wins, 14 SWAC championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, and two Black College World Series titles in 2003 and 2005. He’s the reason Southern became the first HBCU program to ever win an NCAA Tournament game, and his fingerprints are all over the sport’s biggest breakthrough moment: Rickie Weeks Jr., his star pupil, became the first player from a historically Black university to win both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy before going second overall in the MLB Draft.
But the numbers only tell half of it. According to WAFB, Cador inherited a program with almost no resources when he arrived and famously talked his friend, then-Atlanta Braves manager Dusty Baker, into hosting a scrimmage so he could drive back to Baton Rouge with a truckload of donated equipment. He later helped push through construction of Southern’s on-campus stadium and a dedicated baseball fieldhouse, and he founded the Urban Invitational, which gave HBCU baseball national TV exposure through MLB Network.
Southern Athletic Director Roman Banks called him “far more than a baseball coach… a visionary, a mentor, a leader and a true pillar of the Jaguar Nation.” Current head coach Chris Crenshaw, who once called Cador for his blessing before taking the assistant job in 2019, shared that Cador told him, “I know it’s in your heart. Come on back” — a moment Crenshaw says meant more than Cador ever knew.
Cador was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022 and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. Rest easy, Coach. Jaguar Nation — and HBCU baseball everywhere — stands on what you built.
Hampton pours $3.2 million into Armstrong Stadium
Good news out of Hampton, where the university announced a $3.2 million renovation of historic Armstrong Stadium this summer. The multipurpose facility, which dates back to 1922 and currently seats 9,710, is getting a new playing surface and track to replace the AstroTurf installed back in 2014.
Athletics Director Anthony D. Henderson framed it as a broader investment in the program, saying the school is “committed to providing a premier environment for all of our student-athletes to train, compete, and succeed.” The project is being led by NPSG Built, LLC and Advanced Sports Group — the same group with NFL and Georgia Tech renovation experience — with Civil ForSite handling engineering. Armstrong Stadium has been a cornerstone of Hampton athletics for over a century, and this facelift keeps it in the conversation as programs across the conference compete for talent with facility upgrades.
LeMoyne-Owen taps veteran administrator as new AD
Over in Memphis, LeMoyne-Owen College has a new man running the athletics department. Roderick Smothers Jr. was named the school’s new director of athletics, effective July 1, bringing HBCU administrative experience from stops at Alabama A&M, where he served as assistant AD for ticketing, and Philander Smith University, where he ran the athletics department from 2020 to 2023.
Smothers’ track record at Philander Smith is notable — five conference championships and two Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Commissioner’s Cups, including the program’s first Thomas Howell Cup in 2023, the league’s all-sports championship. In his statement, Smothers said he’s “a strong advocate for HBCUs and amplifying the need to inspire the next generation of athletic administrators.” Worth watching how quickly he starts putting his stamp on the Magicians’ program.