Help wanted, again: Fort Valley State fires head football coach Porter

          Fort Valley State is now in the market for its sixth head football coach since the turn of the century.

          The school announced in a short statement released early Thursday afternoon that it had fired Kevin Porter, after four seasons, an 18-23 overall record and 15-8 in SIAC play.

          The former standout at Warner Robins and Auburn led FVSU to Eastern Division titles in the SIAC in 2016, 2017, and 2019, the Wildcats winning the conference title in 2017. In 2019, they finished second in the Eastern after losing 42-6 to Albany State in the Fountain City Classic on Nov. 9.

          The two-sentence announcement posted on the football page of the athletics website said that Joel Hirsch, the quarterbacks coach and director of football operations – and, according to the online bio, graduate assistant and coach of tight ends and fullbacks – will be the program contact.

          FVSU started and ended the year with two losses, winning six straight in the middle and averaging 43.5 points during the winning streak.

          The program’s 15th head coach will be the sixth in barely two decades.

          Porter joins Donald Pittman – fired after going 40-33 – and Deondri Clark – forced out after going 18-15 in three seasons while also serving for interim athletics director for two years – and John Morgan – fired in the summer of 2006 with a 22-11 record – and Kent Schoolfield – fired in 2002 with a 48-21 record in six seasons – as coaches dismissed by the school.

          Porter dealt with the same issues as his most-recent predecessors: a lack of funding for full-time coaches and for scholarships. Pittman filed a lawsuit in 2017 over his firing and noted that funding and dropped from $324,000 to $150,00 to $150,000.

          The suit also accused the school of failing to fulfill “financial assurances” while cutting available scholarships to single digits.

          FVSU employed a part-time and volunteer coaching staff in Pittman’s final years as well as when Porter took over.

          Division II programs are allowed 36 scholarship slots, and teams can split up that money among more than one player. On the Football Bowl Subdivision level, it’s a one-scholarship-per-player rule, but other levels can spread out scholarship money.

          Porter and Clark were hired in the summer.

          Anthony Holloman is the interim athletics director, succeeding permanent AD Joshua Murfee, who introduced Porter back mid-June of 2016, in the summer of 2018.

          Murfree was on the job for less than two years, following Darryl Pope, who lasted less than two years in the position.

          Pope hired former Hephzibah standout and WNBA veteran Le’Coe Willingham to head the women’s basketball program in the summer of 2017, but Willingham and the school quietly parted ways in the late summer – the school made no announcement – and it hired Andrea Williams on Oct. 1, a short time before the start of practice.

          Porter played with Kansas City and the New York Jets in the NFL after his days at Auburn were done, following a stellar career at Warner Robins.

          He had also been a head coach on the college level at Point (NAIA) and Avila (NAIA), and an assistant with Mid America Nazarene (NAIA) and West Georgia (Division II).

          He has been a head coach with the Macon Knights, a member of one of two arena leagues, from 2001-03, after a year with Pensacola in the same AF2 league. Porter was also the head coach for Kansas City in the Arena League for three seasons.