By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – With the centennial of Tennessee Tech football and the start of training camp for the 2022 campaign, Tennessee Tech head coach Dewayne Alexander and several members of the Golden Eagle roster were in attendance Tuesday at the Leslie Town Centre for the Cookeville Rotary Club's luncheon.
During the event, Alexander expressed what the centennial means to him, but also how excited he is to be leading the 101st team onto the field this season.
"What does the next hundred years look like?" Alexander pondered. "I can tell you that I'm excited where we're at right now. I'm excited about our football program. This is my fifth season and this isn't my first program where I've come in and had to build. It takes time and I'm excited. This is the first team where it's all guys that our staff has brought in. I had some of Watson Brown's and Marcus Satterfield's players, so they've heard three different messages. That's hard to get everybody pulling the rope and being on the same page.
"I'm a big foundation guy. We're building for the long haul. We're building this thing to last for the next 100 years, put it on firm footing where it can continue to grow."
To get the team in that shape, you have to build things the right way. That's something that has certainly been noticed across the Ohio Valley Conference.
"We've won the OVC Sportsmanship Award four straight years," Alexander said. "Why am I proud of that? That's voted on by the coaches across the league. They watch you play and how you go about things and they say those guys are doing it right. They do it right on the field, off the field and they represent everything that's positive about college football. They like what they see. I am proud of that."
Another piece is academic success, something the Golden Eagles have prided themselves on.
"We've had the two highest grade point averages in the history of Tech football since they kept track of it in 1972," Alexander said. "Two of those have happened in the last two years."
Then there's the commitment to the community they're in as Tech football players make it a point to volunteer in the area, whether it's reading to local schoolchildren to community cleanup to labor at events and much, much more.
"I want our guys to serve our community," Alexander said. "I want them to understand that football is more than just about them, that they have the opportunity to make a difference. Football is a platform for them and it is a gift that they've been blessed with to give back to other people. I want to see these guys leave Tennessee Tech and go back to their own communities and make a difference."
It's certainly a monumental task to do all those things and be successful, and Alexander knows the team is in the right place to do that.
"We've had to rebuild our roster and program in five months, we had to send our guys home during a pandemic, we've had to learn how to navigate a transfer portal," he said. "I can tell you, the roster we have right now and watching these first two practices, you guys are going to be excited to watch this team play in 2022.
"The last piece of the puzzle is to win and consistently win. We're going to do that. I'm as confident as I've ever been because all of the foundational things are there. Everything is in place. All we have to do now is just go play. We want to set the bar and set it right. We want to say that we are the team that wrote our history and got started on the next 100 years of Tennessee Tech football."
Alexander emphasized season ticket sales to the congregation, especially the opportunity to share the game to others.
"The reason I point out season tickets is this -- you might not go to every game," he said. "I get it. But we give those tickets to kids at the Mustard Seed Ranch. I buy tickets every year and I give them away. We want to grow the game of football. We want kids in the community to come to the game. There's a lot that don't get that chance. If you can't use all your season tickets, get ahold of us – we will find people. We always have organizations and groups and youth groups that we want to give those tickets to and give them the chance to experience some football games."
The 2022 campaign begins Friday, September 2, at Kansas with the home opener against Texas A&M-Commerce on September 10. Season tickets for the 2022 season are on sale now. Call (931) 372-3940, visit the Hooper Eblen Center ticket office or visit TTUsports.com to order today.
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information