Andre Payne isn’t complaining.
He’s not that type of coach. He believes in working harder and griping less.
The second-year Mississippi Valley State head basketball coach saw his team play just its second “home” game of the season Saturday — a 93-87 triple overtime loss to Alcorn State — at the Leflore County Civic Center.
This is the third year for the Delta Devils to be forced to move home games away from the Itta Bena campus as a long, drawn-out renovation project to MVSU’s arena is still ongoing. The much-needed work, the first renovation of the R.W. Harrison HPER Complex since 1977, reportedly is costing $17.5 million and includes chair-back seating, offices, weight room, three technology classrooms, a concourse that will double as a walking track and new home and visitors locker rooms.
It’s unfortunate that the school’s basketball teams have been uprooted for so long — practicing and playing away from campus.
But the good news is the teams will finally be back there next season.
That means a better atmosphere for basketball and bigger crowds. Even though it has hosted its fair share through the years, the Civic Center wasn’t designed for basketball games. The fans are just too far from the action — meaning there is less of a home-court advantage than what the team was used to in the HPER Complex.
“It’s not the best situation, but we are making the best of it,” Payne said.
“We are certainly excited about the future, though. I walked through the (HPER Complex) last week, and things are looking good,” said the Valley coach. “It will also be nice to bring the games back to our students. You lose a lot of those when you move the games off campus.
“The students are our biggest and most vocal fans. We need all of them.”
Valley played all 14 of its non-conference games on the road against bigger schools. It’s a tough way to open the season, but this is nothing new for Valley’s program.
The Delta Devils show up in places such as Northwestern or BYU and compete for as long as they can, wind up taking a beating and then pack up and head to the next location. This season’s trek covered 13 states.
Valley had zero non-conference home games last season, too. The only two it played the year before were against non-Division I teams.
It’s a brutal journey, but it’s the way of life for the cash-strapped Delta Devils.
Their non-conference guarantees total more than $600,000 this season, according to Payne. That’s significant for MVSU, which has the second-poorest public university athletic department in Division I basketball, operating on just under $4 million last year, according to multiple reports.
“First of all, the guarantee is good. We make about $80,000,” Payne said following a game against Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois.
“They’re great hosts. It’s an easy fly-in from Memphis to this gym, so it’s a good situation. You know, we don’t have to fly in and drive two hours to get somewhere, we fly in and we’re here. So that’s a good situation for us. We have a couple kids that are from Chicago, and we’ve got a few alumni up here.”
Northwestern coach Chris Collins told SportsVice.com that Northwestern is a private school and does not release how much money it pays for guarantees, but Collins has noted for that other schools have “outbid” the Wildcats for guarantees.
As long as athletic programs at smaller schools need money, there will always be big boys willing to pay good money for wins.
nContact Bill Burrus at 581-7237 or bburrus@gwcommonwealth.com.
Follow on Twitter@Bill_Burrus.
