He sat at his usual spot on the end of the Austin Peay basketball bench, Saturday night…but this time proudly wearing an Ohio Valley Conference football championship t-shirt. When asked about it, the gleam in his eyes preceded the smile. Dr. Cooper Beazley has served as APSU team physician since 1986…He has been a part of other teams OVC championships in the past, but this was his first OVC football title and it simply was so, so different. It was a road...a journey with more twists than turns.      

This is all rarified air for Austin Peay and its fans. Since 1978, when the 1-AA playoffs began and later became FCS, not even one sniff of the playoffs until two seasons ago when an entire locker room was shedding tears over a snub. When the Govs won Austin Peay's first OVC title (1977) post-season playoffs were still a year away.

So talk of not only capturing the OVC co-championship but as well the FCS automatic bid—by virtue of defeating Southeast Missouri earlier this season—was absolutely unchartered territory, as was hosting a playoff selection show watch party.

You see it was just a few years ago Austin Peay football was known as the perennial loser, a program that struggled so mightily the University and athletic administrations diverted it to non-scholarship status for 10 years. Without question it was one of the worst—if not the worst—in 1-AA/FCS. In fact, just a few short years ago (2013-16), the Govs lost 45 of 46 games, including three winless seasons. No program in the country served as homecoming opponent more than Austin Peay.

In fact, APSU football generally was known as a coach killer, meaning anyone who served as a head coach never moved up (Rick Christophel stopped that cycle when he went to the NFL as an assistant). Assistant coaches had trouble finding positions beyond Austin Peay, or at least something at the 1-AA/FCS level. Many assistants chose to return to high school.

But when and where did it all go wrong? In 1983-84 Austin Peay enjoyed back-to-back winning seasons under Emory Hale. The defense, led by the likes of Jim Barlow, Ron Shegog, Marlin Chapman and Eddie Walls, could be and usually was dominating, but the offense was anything but.  How bad were things? After one mid-1980s Homecoming loss defensive personnel warned offensive players to avoid any establishments or post-game parties they were attending.

NCAA TV money was the great equalizer during the late 1970s-early 1980s. But new NCAA TV contracts eliminated those monies from reaching 1-AA/FCS programs. In addition, Austin Peay was always down the line as far as receiving dollars from the Tennessee Board of Regents and the state legislature. As a result, the financial support simply was lacking from the University administration for the Govs to succeed. The Governors were able to recruit some quality frontline players (former NFL players like Jeff Gooch and Michael Swift, for instance), but depth always was a concern and issue. Coaches and players alike were hamstrung, leaving everything they respectively had on the football practice and game fields but literally having both arms tied behind their back against teams they had little chance of competing against.

In 1996 the Governors opened with six straight home contests, with the Govs claiming just one victory out of that six. It was a precursor to a decision the University would come to regret. Football alumni and fans watched the program drop scholarship football, replacing it with the non-scholarship variety.

Former football Govs heard it like everyone else…through the media. Literally no forewarning was forthcoming. APSU eventually joined the Pioneer Football League, but it never was a match. The powers that be attempted to manufacture rivalries with former OVC opponent Morehead State along with Dayton, Butler, Valparaiso, Jacksonville and Davidson.  

Despite playing non-scholarship, many people really believed APSU had dropped football completely. Football alumni and alumni in general lost interest in the program. Who could blame them?

That started to change when Dr. Sherry Hoppe became APSU President in 2000. When on the fundraising and alumni trail, Dr. Hoppe made a promise to former football players—she would bring back scholarship football. It took a few years—she had a lot of other issues to deal with first—but Hoppe certainly lived up to that promise when in Spring 2005 the University announced the return to scholarship football and the OVC for 2007. But Hoppe did more than just return APSU to scholarship football. She also was responsible for a new playing surface and track. Hoppe also ponied up for a new football scoreboard/video board.

Fool's gold occurred that first season back in scholarship football under Christophel. The team finished 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the OVC—the first winning OVC record since 1984. As a result, followers believed the return to scholarship football and the OVC would be an easy transition. That first season combined new scholarship recruits like Terrence Holt with non-scholarship standouts like Chris Fletcher, Daniel Becker and Dee Peeler. It was the right mix at the right time.

But 2008 the tumble into the abyss occurred once again. Dr. Hoppe had left the University and Tim Hall replaced her. President Hall was the perfect hire for the faculty—the antithesis of Dr. Hoppe—who wanted someone who was centric academic (and much less athletics). President Hall certainly was perceived as such, although the rebuilding of Governors Stadium, now Fortera Stadium, came under his direction and certainly enhanced recruiting.

Football suffered as the purse strings were held tight at the University and TBR levels. APSU was back in the OVC but literally in name only as little success occurred. Again, the Governors were asked to compete in the OVC with both proverbial hands tied behind their backs. At times, as it did prior to going non-scholarship, losses piled up and competing was not realistic.

After Hall left Alisa White became the new president. One point about Dr. White—and much like Dr. Hoppe—she loves to compete and win. There's nothing like inviting alumni and possible donors to the President's football suite for a football game with your team enjoying success on the field. She has found ways to support football and athletics financially.  

President White signed off on an extremely young and brash Will Healy to breathe life back to the dormant program. After going winless in his first season, Healy had the Govs on the brink of the FCS playoffs in just his second campaign in 2017. When Healy left after the 2018 season, athletics director Gerald Harrison, with White's blessing, turned to Mark Hudspeth, a veteran head coach who brought a resume' of countless success with him. It really was the first time in program history APSU was able to attract a coach with such pedigree.

Hudspeth, in fact, earned the Roy Kidd OVC Coach of the Year award and is in the running for the Eddie Robinson Award as the nation's top FCS coach.

Some new coaches just talk about players getting a clean slate, a fresh start, while others walk the walk. That was Hudspeth last spring. He really didn't know what he had. And one of those unknown, uncovered gems was walk-on Josephus Smith, a transfer from tiny Miles College. Smith literally was an afterthought until Hudspeth came along. All the 5-9 fireplug defensive lineman has done is become the defensive anchor while recording 19.5 tackles for loss.

Defensive back Kordell Jackson is a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award as the nation's top defensive player after corralling seven interceptions this season—seven team interceptions seemingly was a total for an entire season in the not too distant past.

Safety Juantarius Bryant is a former walk-on who grew up in the Nashville projects. He became one of the team captains this year and the defense's leading tackler.  

Wide receiver D'Angelo Wilson had 489 receiving yards coming into this season and in 2019 set the school record for receiving yards—1,246 entering the Furman contest—and touchdowns with 12.

Kyle Anderton was a former—and seldom-used—tight end at Vanderbilt who found his niche as an offensive lineman at Austin Peay.

The list goes on and on…

But is there a better story than JaVaughn Craig Rivers? A starting quarterback as a freshman, he shared duties as a sophomore with freshman Jerimiah Oatsvall, with the latter taking more and more snaps as the season progressed. Although Craig Rivers got hurt as a junior, he played behind Oatsvall at quarterback before entering 2019 as the No. 2 again behind Oatsvall. In this age of the transfer portal, it would have been easy for Craig Rivers to look elsewhere to complete his career. But he stuck to his commitment and the Governors could not have benefitted more for having a veteran ready to step in when Oatsvall got hurt in Week 2. In fact, Craig Rivers was so good as both a passer and runner he was three-time OVC Player of the Week and was chosen first-team All-OVC while directing the league's best offense.

Now contrast that to 1987…the Governors were coming off their biggest non-conference win in program history, a 26-22 victory at Kansas State where senior quarterback Dale Edwards led the Governors on the game-winning drive in the game's final minute.

As a result of that win, it appeared the Governors again were going to compete for their second OVC championship. It was a team that had experience and depth on defense and offense, except at quarterback. The very next week—like 2019, Week 2—against UT Martin, Dale Edwards, who had not missed on any of his eight first-quarter pass attempts, had his ankle rolled upon while completing that eighth pass. The ankle was broken, ending the signal caller's season.

Unfortunately, the Governors quarterback reserves were both freshmen. They were not prepared—and shouldn't had been asked—to face such coaching legends like Roy Kidd, who won two 1-AA titles at Eastern Kentucky; Boots Donnelly and Jim Tressel, who would go onto win four national 1-AA titles at Youngstown State before taking that magic to Ohio State. At one point, the Govs even turned to wide receiver Rico Ransom, who caught the game winner against K-State, at quarterback. The Governors, who were so hopeful after the win at Kansas State, finished that season at 2-9.

That loss at UT Martin—the devastating injury to Edwards—helped spiral Governors football into a 30-year chasm they would not escape until 2017 when APSU challenged for the OVC crown. Now, 42 years after the first league title, the 2019 Governors will be revered for completing a comeback few felt possible…and a home FCS playoff game to boot.

And now you understand why Dr. Beazley has a never-ending smile on his face.