Eddie Francis bursts out laughing when he recounts his unexpected coaching debut for Southern University at New Orleans this past semester. The men's track team was planning to travel to Tennessee for a national indoor championship meet, but their part-time coach, a runner himself, couldn't accompany them because of a race he would run in Europe that same week. Furthermore, neither of SUNO's basketball coaches could fill in because of scheduling conflicts. So Francis accompanied the team and cheered the players to an 11th-place finish out of 44 teams. It gave him a crash course not only in coaching, but also in track and field in general. That's because he's the interim director of public relations and sports information at SUNO. Francis' coaching cameo illustrates how New Orleans' historically Black colleges have resurrected some sports programs in the post-Hurricane Katrina era--any way they can. In the aftermath of the flood and mass evacuations, much media attention focused on the New Orleans' Saints in football and the Hornets in basketball, professional teams that played home games elsewhere the latter part of 2005. Pro sports phasing in their return to the city in 2006 became a metaphor to the overall rebuilding. However, the pro teams received marketing and other assistance from their respective leagues. Colleges, meanwhile, have struggled by themselves. Some of their sports have returned while others remain scrapped, perhaps permanently. And high-profile intercollegiate sporting events have seen attendance plummet.