Penguins reach land-use deal with Black church
PITTSBURGH — More than 60 years ago, a historic Black church was forced to give up its sanctuary — and compensated for what it says was a fraction of the value — to an urban renewal project that wiped out the heart of an African American neighborhood known as the Hill District.
Now, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is poised to recoup some of that loss and reclaim a spot near its former home. It has reached an agreement with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who now hold development rights to the site near its arena, for the church to use a 1.5-acre parcel that it envisions utilizing for housing and other revenue-generating development.
The agreement came after years of public calls and demonstrations by the church, which has described its efforts as seeking reparations. The church battle is a microcosm of a larger one over the legacy of the 1950s project, in which leaders in the Black community have long sought redress from the powers that be in Pittsburgh’s political, business and sports realms.
The Penguins didn’t come into existence until 1967, playing first in one arena in the former neighborhood and now in a newer one nearby. But Kevin Acklin, president of business operations for the Penguins, said the team is “recognizing our role here as a steward” of the property and its legacy.
“Mistakes that were made 70 years ago, we can’t fix them, but we can do what we can today for a better future, for restorative justice,” Acklin said.
He hopes the agreement, and the larger efforts to remake the site, can serve as a model for other U.S. cities with the wounds of similar mid-20th-century urban renewal projects.
“We have the ability to do good and work with a group of people and a church that’s trying to do good,” Acklin said, adding a biblical aphorism: “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
The announcement was scheduled for Friday at an outdoor setting on the former arena site, preceded by a worship service, underscoring the role of faith as a motivating and organizing source for Bethel’s efforts.
“Mistakes that were made 70 years ago, we can’t fix them, but we can do what we can today for a better future, for restorative justice.”
Penguins president of business operations Kevin Acklin
The aptly named Hill District, which rises steeply to the east of the city’s central business district, became a hub for Black culture in the 20th century, renowned for its jazz clubs and other touchstones portrayed in many of the plays of acclaimed dramatist August Wilson.
Bethel AME had a prominent role in that community. Founded around 1808 and considered Pittsburgh’s oldest Black church, it was active from its earliest years in childhood education and civil rights. It opened a large brick church in 1906 in the Lower Hill District, with rounded arches and a prominent tower, home to 3,000 members at its peak.
But in the 1950s, public officials from the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh declared much of the Lower Hill to be blighted. It oversaw demolition of about 1,300 buildings across 95 acres, displacing over 8,000 people, more than 400 business and multiple houses of worship — although not a mostly white Catholic church, as Bethel members have noted.
Bethel leaders fought the church’s demolition unsuccessfully, ultimately receiving $240,000 for a property that had been valued at $745,000. The Rev. Dale Snyder, pastor of Bethel, has said that in the racial and political climate of the time, the church had little power to obtain fair compensation.
A crosstown highway, civic arena and some housing were built in the former neighborhood, but other planned structures never materialized. The result was a concrete and asphalt gash between the downtown and the Hill District, which continues to struggle economically.
Under agreements with public authorities, the Penguins have development rights to 28 acres of the former arena site. A 26-story mixed-use building is on the rise, and a small urban park has opened, with other projects on the drawing board.
Bethel, meanwhile, now worships further up in the Hill District. Its more modest, modern sanctuary is bathed in the light of stained-glass windows, telling stories of the Bible and honoring Methodist stalwarts such as AME pioneer Richard Allen.
Among those planning to attend Friday’s announcement is Bishop Kurt Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is among the faith leaders who have supported Bethel in its efforts for reparations. The relationship grew out of a Lutheran-AME dialogue that was rooted in tragedy — the 2015 racist massacre of nine attendees of a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
When ELCA leaders learned that the killer had been a member of one of its churches, they called for members of their predominantly white denomination to build ties with AME churches.
“As we learned more about white privilege and all of that reality in our country,” Kusserow said, “it was our responsibility to use that privilege in any possible way to accompany what the AME church was seeking in terms of reparations.”
Acklin said the 1.5-acre site is larger than the 13,000-square-foot property that Bethel formerly owned and which has been designated for other uses. He sees the agreement as part of larger efforts to work with the Hill District community to restore its former connections to downtown.
In 2014, all the major parties involved — which include the city, county and two public authorities — agreed to a plan intended to include Hill District stakeholders. But the long process has required vigilance to ensure the new developments benefit the neighborhood, said Marimba Milliones, president of Hill Community Development Corp.
“When we’re talking about addressing a historic wrong, it has to be for the entire site,” Milliones said. “The return of this land [to Bethel] is important, and we should celebrate it, but we have to keep our eyes on the broader development as we celebrate because the whole site is entangled in questions of morality and questions of good urban development and equity.”
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Adam Rittenberg
Art Briles has been hired as the next coach at Eastern New Mexico, a Division II program, as he makes his return to college football after nearly a decade.
Briles, 69, has not worked at a college program since being fired as Baylor’s head coach in 2016 following a review of the university’s handling of sexual assault allegations made against several football players. He since has had stints coaching for Guelfi Firenze in the Italian Football League and at Mount Vernon High School in Texas from 2019 to 2020.
“I am excited to welcome Art to Eastern New Mexico University,” Eastern New Mexico athletic director Kevin Fite said in a statement Monday. “He is an excellent coach, and I look forward to the future of Greyhound football.”
In 2022, Grambling State attempted to hire Briles as offensive coordinator, but following a backlash, he told the school just four days later that he would not pursue the role, saying he didn’t want to be a distraction to the team. A similar situation occurred in 2017 with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League, who tried to hire Briles but then pulled their offer on the same day amid backlash.
Fite served as associate athletic director for compliance and eligibility at Houston when Briles served as the school’s head coach. Briles, who built his reputation as an offensive innovator at Texas high schools before entering the college ranks, went 99-65 as the coach at Baylor and Houston with three conference titles. He led Baylor to 10 or more wins in four of his final five seasons there.
Several months after his firing from Baylor, Briles, in an interview with ESPN, apologized for what happened under his watch of the program.
“I understand that I made some mistakes, and for that I’m sorry,” he said then. “But I’m not trying to plead for people’s sympathy. I’m just stating that, ‘Hey, I made some mistakes. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m going to learn. I’m going to do better.'”
In 2023, a federal judge ruled that Briles was not negligent in a case involving a female Baylor student who reported being physically assaulted by one of the school’s football players in 2014. Briles, who led Baylor’s program from 2008 to 2015, received a $15.1 million settlement from Baylor, which fired him with eight years remaining on his contract.
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Andrea Adelson
Florida State coach Mike Norvell will return for a seventh season with the Seminoles, pledging to make needed structural changes within the program to enhance performance, the school announced Sunday.
Questions that had been mounting about Norvell’s job security reached a boiling point after a 21-11 loss to NC State on Friday night that dropped the Seminoles to 5-6. They need a win at Florida on Saturday to reach bowl eligibility.
Over the past two years, Florida State is 7-16 (3-13 in ACC play) and winless on the road. Norvell, however, did win an ACC title in 2023 and has maintained his optimism for the future.
In a statement, university president Richard McCullough said he, athletic director Michael Alford and board of trustees chairman Peter Collins were in “complete agreement that changes are needed for our program to improve.”
“Coach Norvell embraces our support in that process and agrees that success must be achieved. He continues to demonstrate an unwavering belief in this program’s future, and so do we,” McCullough said. “This decision reflects a unified commitment to competing in the rapidly evolving landscape of college football, while maintaining continuity within the program.”
Sources said more resources would be placed into recruiting and the roster, and changes would be made to the personnel department to allow Norvell the best chance to succeed.
Had Florida State moved on from Norvell, the school would have owed him about $54 million in buyout money. All told, Florida State would have owed about $72 million to Norvell and his staff.
In six seasons with the Seminoles, Norvell is 38-33 with only two winning seasons. Despite its record this year, Florida State has made strides over 2024, when it finished 2-10 — the worst program mark since 1974.
Florida State has gone from among the worst offenses in the country — ranking No. 132 in the nation last year — to one of the best, ranking No. 8 this year and outgaining opponents in 10 games.
“The driving motivation behind this is to make certain that we are doing everything properly to obtain and retain elite players, add critical pieces, and sustain long-term success,” Norvell said in a statement Sunday. “I love Florida State, and I am fully committed to this program, and our shared goals.”
The Seminoles opened the year with an emphatic 31-17 victory over Alabama in which the fans stormed the field, a win that perhaps reset expectations for where the program was.
A 3-0 start quickly unraveled on the road at Virginia, where Florida State lost 46-38 in double-overtime. Another embarrassing road loss to Stanford in October forced Alford to issue a statement saying he would do a full program evaluation after the season.
“Hell no, we haven’t,” Norvell said when asked whether his team has met expectations after Friday’s loss to NC State. “We’re not even close to living up to expectations. No, we have not lived up to expectations. We’re a fully capable football team, and that’s not good enough, and that’s not been good enough for the six losses we have, and it’s extremely frustrating.”
The high point under Norvell came in 2023, when the Seminoles celebrated a 13-0 record and ACC championship.
Despite going undefeated and winning a conference championship, the College Football Playoff selection committee left the Seminoles out of the four-team playoff, in large part because quarterback Jordan Travis was lost for the season with a broken leg.
Since then, Florida State has struggled. Norvell admitted the CFP snub had a much deeper impact on his program than he initially realized, but with a young core of players set to return — including freshman standouts Mandrell and Darryll Desir, Ousmane Kromah, Jayvan Boggs and Micahi Danzy — there is a belief the program can build momentum for next season.
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