By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – As every football season rolls around, one game is selected as the Homecoming game – the event that sees the alumni return to campus, reunite with friends and cheer on the team.
For the Tennessee Tech football team, now under the direction of Dewayne Alexander, the feeling is that every game in the confines of Tucker Stadium is a Homecoming.
It's all about reconnecting with the team's past as it proceeds through its present as everyone builds toward the future.
"I've said it all along, even as an alum myself, as a former player and as a former coach here, I felt like what our program needed, for lack of a better term, was a shot of purple and gold," Alexander said. "We needed it. There's a lot of deep tradition and history here at Tennessee Tech. There's been a lot of positives here at Tennessee Tech over almost the 100 years we've played football here. It was time to rally the troops, so to speak.
"I know a lot of the Tech football alumni. Those guys want to see this program be successful. Obviously, the current players and the community wants to see us be successful. There are Tech grads and Tech people that care about this place. Who better to turn that around than people who live and breathe it and want to see it?"
And the way Alexander is trying to build support back for the program is an inspired one as there are so many people on the staff who have ties to the program in their past.
"It was important to me to bring in coaches and people surrounding our program that really wanted to be here and try to get this thing going in the right direction."
Just looking at the coaching staff – offensive coordinator Tre Lamb, assistant coaches Taylor Hennigan, Bruce Hatfield and academics coordinator Cody Matthews all suited up in the purple and gold in their college days, while Alexander, assistant coaches Doug Malone and Sam Williamson and director of football operations and leadership development Chip Pugh have all coached at Tech and been around the Golden Eagle football program.
Tennessee Tech is home to them.
"There's a vested interest," Alexander said. "For a Tre Lamb, for a Doug Malone who coached here for eight years and loved the program, Bruce Hatfield was a team captain here, Tre Lamb was a team captain here. Sam Williamson's been here for 12 years, Cody Matthews coming back as our academics advisor, Chip Pugh was our first true full-time strength coach and is now back with the program (as the DOFO/LD).
"Those guys want to come back and be a part of it. They see that it's time to go back. It's an exciting time to come back. We all knew each other or were connected. Now we're all here and pulling the rope for the same cause and it's one we all believe in. That makes it very special."
One of the things that does seem to get forgotten is just how rich the Golden Eagle football program is with tradition and a legacy of championships.
"Absolutely," Alexander said. "We've won 10 conference championships. That's a bunch. There's only one team in the league that has won more and that's Eastern Kentucky. And those championships aren't all ancient history – we won one as recently as 2011. This is a very proud program. It's like any program – it's gone through its ups and downs and transitions, but there's absolutely no reason that our football program can't compete and be at the top level. We all want that. The guys want that for the program. I certainly want that for everyone who's involved."
It doesn't take too long to see how the alumni are responding to the program's efforts. The 2018 Tech Football Alumni Golf Classic had its best turnout in event history and raised a substantial amount of money for the program as former players came back, shared tales among meals and played a little golf among friends and family.
"It was awesome," Alexander said. "It was a big turnout from the 1980s. The 1970s guys have always carried this thing and that's arguably the greatest era of Tech football. Our program was so dominant and was Jacksonville State-like with where we were at in the early '70s with guys like Jim Youngblood, Mike Hennigan, Elois Grooms, the great players we had here during the '70s.
"But we had a big group from the '80s, the '90s. We had a big group from Coach (Wilburn) Tucker's era that got together and came back. You had a lot of guys that came back and didn't even play golf. They just wanted to come back and be a part of the weekend – and they had a great experience while they were here."
The turnout from that has inspired the possibilities of more Tech football alumni events.
"We can build from that," Alexander said. "We're hoping to build an event in the spring that will catch some guys. We hope to continue the summer event with the golf tournament, and we also hope to grow our Legends Weekend and Homecoming Weekends to do more and more to get our former players and alumni to come back."
The commitment for success isn't just on the current players as the staff has worked to recognize the success the program has had in the past. A quick stroll down the hallway of the football offices sees pictures of the former coaches, the program's All-Americans, the championship teams, plus restored trophies for the Robert Hill Johnson and Sonny Allen Leadership Awards as well as a lavish board recognizing all of Tech's all-Ohio Valley Conference players.
How better to inspire the Golden Eagles of today than the visages of the Golden Eagle legends of the past?
"I want our current players to see that and say, 'I want my name on that board,'" Alexander said. "What has happened is we've had people traveling down I-40 that pulled off and said, 'Hey, my granddad played here and he was an All-American.' I showed him his granddad's picture that we have hanging on the wall and he took his picture. That was awesome. Thomas Squires came to a football camp here this summer and brought his son. He was an All-American here in 1986 and had his picture hanging up and his son got his picture taken with it. Those are the things we want to do to get our alumni back and to get our current players to see these awards and want their pictures, their names up there."
The Homecoming comparison is an apt one, because the Tennessee Tech football program is a family.
"You look at the University itself," Alexander said. "Tennessee Tech University. That makes it so special. People ask me all the time what was special about the opportunity to come back. What makes it so special is there are so many people you can go back and see that are still here. There are so many folks that are still part of the University. I can go to a lot of events and still see (former University Presidents) Dr. (Angelo) Volpe or Dr. (Bob) Bell along with (current President) Dr. (Phil) Oldham. There are past presidents here, past faculty members, current people who have been here a long time. The people here truly make this place special. That's the sign of a great place – people want to be a part of it. That means there's a lot of positives about it."
And as the football team takes to the field each time in Tucker Stadium, it's a special occasion.
November 3rd may be the official Homecoming on the Tennessee Tech calendar.
But as far as the Golden Eagles are concerned, every home game is Homecoming.
