Centenary College Football Cultivates a New Culture
After an explosive home win against the Westgate Christian Ravens, Gents followed with losses against the Millsaps Majors and the ETBU Tigers. It can all get real discouraging, but quarterback Zin’Tayvious Smith wants people to know “Rome didn’t get built overnight. We got a lot of football left this year.”
For any young football program, the hardest thing to grow isn’t the talent, but the culture surrounding the team. Smith added, “Schools have like a sixty, seventy, one-hundred year head start. Centenary’s program has been around for a minute.” He added that the Gents do not have that history to fall back on. “So we climb. We do a steady, slow climb.” This is Smith’s second year with the team. Being an upperclassmen leader on a largely Freshman team comes with large responsibilities. “I’ve been trying to be more vocal and pushing younger guys to buy into what the coaches are saying. That’s the role I play as of right now.”
Buying in means more than just being good on the field. Freshman quarterback Abram Wardell said, “Coach Dawson is building not just football players, but a family from the football team, brothers that have each other's back.” On why a recruit should come to Centenary, Smith was adamant that the coaches are not just there to teach you football, but to help you become a better person. “He’s teaching us life lessons, I feel like we can kind of put a pause on football sometimes. It helps us grow as humans.”
Head Coach Byron Dawson is the main force behind the Gents’ growing culture. “I’ve really seen this program grow leaps and bounds.” Dawson came to Centenary in 2022 and has helped build the football program from the ground up. On the culture he is trying to cultivate, Dawson said, “I think our goal is always to build champions on the field, in the classroom, and in life.”
A new addition to the coaching staff this year is Offensive Head Coach Hal Mumme. Coach Mumme is a legendary name in football as one of the key contributors to the Air Raid Offense. On Coach Mumme’s decision to join the program, Coach Dawson commented, “I think we're extremely blessed to have someone with such knowledge, experience, and respect in college football to come here and to help our young offense grow.”
Coach Mumme has coached at every level of college football and is hailed as an offensive guru. More than just strategy, Mumme is adding to the program’s overarching culture. On Coach Mumme, Wardell said, “one of the biggest things he preaches is just play the next play. I mean, that's a sports thing, but it's also a life thing. You always gotta get up. The sun's gunna come up the next morning, and you gotta play the next play.”
The Gents have a long, hard road ahead. A deep culture could take years to develop, but many of the players are confident in the program’s ability for growth. Wardell said, “I would buy into it now because we’re going up.”
For Head Coach Dawson, it always comes back to Shreveport. “It's important that Shreveport is on the front of our jerseys because that's our heart.” The Gents will be off to play the Austin College Kangaroos on Oct. 4. Their next home game is Oct. 11 against the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs.
