JACKSON, Miss.
Jackson State athletic director Roy Culberson resigned this week, leaving the once-proud athletic program with two high-profile vacancies.
Culberson’s resignation, effective Jan. 31, 2006, came about a month after the school fired football coach James Bell with three games remaining in the Tigers’ third consecutive losing season.
“I am very thankful for the opportunity to serve the student-athletes and coaches at Jackson State,” Culberson said in a statement. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”
Culberson could not immediately be reached for comment by The Associated Press.
He came to Jackson State in 2000 from Montevallo and is closely associated with recent improvements to facilities on the school’s campus — including a 22-acre, $25 million Walter Payton Complex which is named after its most famous sports alumnus — and Bell’s hiring in 2003.
Bell came to Jackson State with only one season of head coaching experience — a 1-9 record at a Houston high school.
The one-time Division I-AA power was 8-23 under Bell with two home victories in two-plus seasons — a long way from the program’s glory days in which it sent Payton to the NFL, won 15 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and established itself as a power among historically Black colleges.
— Associated Press
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