Courtney Simmons details Grambling State’s challenging nonconference reality

Following Grambling State’s loss to LSU on Dec. 8, her comments ignited the never-ending debate about the necessity and purpose of playing guaranteed road games against programs with significantly more resources than Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Sometimes, the struggles of social media are that a clip can be shared and interpreted in any way, shape or form without proper context.

Here’s part of what Simmons shared that created some backlash.

“Nothing about this prepares you for SWAC play,” said Simmons to reporters during a postgame press conference following a 100-54 loss to LSU in Shreveport. “It sounds good to say, but these are money games. We play these games to get the money so we can survive and, in our league, that is it. That is all. Because I would rather not ever play LSU again, but they paid us good money to come here and take a loss. And so yeah, unfortunately, with the dynamics and the situation that we’re in financially.”

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According to the most recent collegiate finance figures provided by USA Today, Grambling State athletics generated $11.3 million in total revenue compared to the $199 million LSU accumulated. Further analysis reveals that Grambling State receives $8 million in subsidiaries to fund its athletic program from student fees and school funds, whereas LSU receives nothing because, for starters, it brings in over $46 million just on ticket sales alone.

Now, Simmons isn’t backtracking from her comments. She said what she said and was speaking only from her experiences at Grambling State, not for any other HBCU program.

“I was taken aback at how much steam it picked up, especially since it was an edited clip,” Simmons said last week during a phone interview with The Next. “It wasn’t the full statement and full context of the question that was asked. I was asked how sharing the court with [LSU] coach [Kim] Mulkey and the Tigers feels. I didn’t know what that meant. We played in front of 11,000 screaming kids in Oregon recently. I don’t want to ever feel like because we’re at an HBCU, we should be grateful to be in the presence of a Power Four school.”

For Simmons, it wasn’t about the margin of defeat she was bothered by or that Coach Mulkey put her starters back into the game when leading by 46 points with under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. She was just annoyed at the brutal reality for her program, which has seen several players get banged up during the rough stretch of guarantee games that mercifully concluded with another one-sided loss to Louisville last Thursday.

Simmons and Grambling State surprised many by winning 23 games last season, beating Arizona State, and earning a first-round WNIT road victory. That immediate success made scheduling more challenging this season. Simmons admitted that she finally finalized her slate in late July. One problem was needing help to get home games.

The Tigers ended with two home games against non-Division I opponents: Division III Centenary, which Grambling State beat 131-30 for one of its victories this season. It’s other win was a 69-55 road victory over Xavier University (La.), a NAIA school. Grambling State also hosts NAIA member Arkansas Baptist on Dec. 18. Two of Grambling State’s first 13 contests are at home.

Grambling State is one of eight SWAC programs without a victory over a Division I opponent this season.

“I knew scheduling was going to be difficult,” Simmons said. “We were supposed to do home-and-home with Nicholls State and Northwestern State. We went to Nicholls State, and Northwestern State was supposed to come here and canceled. So, a Division I home game we anticipated playing, we didn’t get. Sometimes, people don’t see the benefit of in-state schools playing each other. That puts us in a bind. I replaced Northwestern State with Arizona.

“So now, you’re trying to schedule games against teams within driving distance of our campus, and they both declined. Now, I have to leave the state to play a mid-major that’s four hours from our campus. They declined. I made several posts on the coaches’ portal to get some buzz and get some games, but everybody wants us to come to them. Then, to play a high mid-major of that caliber on the road, it must be a money game. For example, I can’t play a program like Missouri State without a financial guarantee. It costs me $16K to get out there, and it’s not worth it.”

Once you get money games, you have to shoehorn them into your schedule to make them work, even if it means making the most seasoned travel agent call out sick and a director of basketball operations dizzy. Earlier this month, the Tigers played Oregon State on Dec. 3 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time and Tulsa two days later at 11 a.m. Central Time.

If you can keep up, follow along with the travel itinerary. Before this trip, the Tigers spent four days playing in Arizona and California, then returned home for Thanksgiving break before hitting the road again to Oregon State.

So, here’s the breakdown.

The Tigers drove 210 miles across Interstate 20 from their Louisiana campus to Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a flight to Portland that landed at 1 a.m. Pacific Time because of delays. They arrived at the hotel at 3 a.m., having the day before the OSU game to adjust to the time change, get rest and practice. After falling to Oregon State, 63-56, in the morning, the Tigers bused 90 miles to Portland and then traveled to Tulsa, but there weren’t any direct commercial flights from Portland to Tulsa.

“The challenges with this are we’re playing at 11 a.m. in two separate locations and don’t have the tools to travel, but we make it work,” senior guard Douthsine Prien said. “A trip like this challenges your mindset. This trip was different because I was pretty sick. Usually, I take a power nap, review film and take pictures of my teammates while they sleep. They got so lucky on this trip.”

The Tigers caught a red-eye flight from Portland at 10 p.m. Pacific Time and landed in Charlotte at 6 a.m. Eastern Time. After sleeping on the plane, they spent five hours in the airport, where they ate breakfast and endured two gate changes before flying to Tulsa at noon Eastern Time and landing at 1:30 p.m. Central Time. Mind you, this is the day in between games. Also, that’s three time zones, in case anybody is keeping track.

“We got to the hotel at 4 p.m.,” Simmons shared. “We don’t take practice because the kids are exhausted, and then we play at 11 in the morning. There’s no way to win that game. We can’t recover due to travel, resources and nutrition. We haven’t been in a weight room since Nov. 7, and some of our players have lost muscle mass. We don’t stop playing, and the outcomes of the game don’t change. We are tired. Before anybody has qualms with what I said, I would encourage people to listen to both coaches’ postgame interviews.”

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As a Louisiana Tech graduate, Mulkey was complimentary of Grambling State and shared the bigger purpose of this game for women’s basketball in the state of Louisiana during her postgame press conference. She even referenced her memories of attending Grambling State football games under legendary head coach Eddie Robinson and watching the band.

This isn’t a woe-is-me and playing the victim for Simmons. It’s just reality and, sometimes, it needs to be laid out so that people can see the challenges beneath the surface of the struggles it takes to get players on the floor. That type of itinerary used to be how the WNBA traveled until the players started speaking up regarding improved travel conditions, additional resources and being able to fly charters to assist with recovery and proper nutrition.

“It’s not the same,” Simmons said. “Big-time money game with two days to rest with travel included, and it’s impossible to be at 100%. We’re beat up and have injuries. We don’t have the resources and budget to recover at the same level. Not throwing anybody under the bus and, financially, it’s not a level playing field even in our conference. You can’t compete where you don’t compare.”

The Tigers are eighth in the SWAC in the same USA Today report in revenue generated behind Southern ($18.1 million), Alabama State ($14.5), Prairie View A&M ($14.3), Alabama A&M ($14.0), Texas Southern ($13.3), Florida A&M ($13.1) and Jackson State ($12.8). USA Today did not record data for Bethune-Cookman since it is a private school.

According to a June article in On3.com, LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson‘s name, images and likeness are valued at $4.5 million, almost half Grambling State’s athletic revenue.

“My kids do DoorDash,” Simmons said. “We are not the same.”

Despite the challenging 2-8 start, the SWAC preseason favorite Tigers have gotten strong performances from 5’8 senior guard Kahia Warmsley and Prien. Warmsley is eighth in the SWAC in scoring (11.6 points per game). In addition to averaging 9.9 points per contest, Prien leads the SWAC in assists per game (3.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio.

Grambling State also features two of the top rebounders in the conference in 6′ senior forward Alyssa Phillip, who is sixth at 7.4 rebounds per game, and 6’5 graduate center Lydia Freeman, who is 11th averaging 5.3 rebounds per contest. Providing consistent shooting has been 5’5 senior guard Halima Salat, who is third in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (32.4%) and 3-pointers made per game (1.6).

“Being on an eight-game losing streak does bring the morale down in the locker room,” Prien admitted. “You start to question yourself as a player and a teammate … We also tell ourselves that every great team has to struggle at some point and we’re close to coming out of it. We could be playing our best and then lose by 10 or 20 points, it does knock us down. There are pros and cons to our schedule. I joked with my friend that the airport is my second home.”

Simmons knows things won’t change overnight, but she has used this opportunity to galvanize her team, the Grambling State alumni, and future recruits. One positive is Simmons has had opportunities to interact with Grambling State alums nationally and in some cases, they have provided a home-cooked, soul-food postgame dinners for the program.

“I don’t have to sell us playing LSU or any power four to a recruit,” Simmons said. “When I took the job here, Grambling State embraced me, loved me, nurtured and took care of me. I knew then I would never have to sell a schedule. I sell the Grambling experience, which extends far beyond the playing courts or fields. It’s a place ‘where everybody is somebody’ and that shows in the love we get from our university and alumni. I have a fantastic following of alumni on social media who pour into and believe in my mission of championship talk.

“When you come here, you’re going to be big fish in a big pond not just because of athletics but because Grambling takes care of their own. … I am candid with how I feel about my team and putting out a group in which the Grambling family can be proud. We do more community service than anybody else because when I took this job Coach Ellis told me and my grandmother at my introductory press conference, ‘take care of Grambling and Grambling will take care of you.’”

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