Nicholls State's football team got trounced in playoffs. The hard part was getting home

Tim Rebowe, head football coach at Nicholls State, said he was sleeping on the floor in the Veterans Airport in Marion, Illinois, about midnight Sunday when he heard singing.

It was Jacob Parker, a senior linebacker, later joined by crooning teammates — a light-hearted moment on the trip from Hades.

After losing 35-0 to Southern Illinois on Saturday in the first round of the FCS playoffs, Rebowe and his football team could not get back quick enough to their campus in Thibodeaux, Louisiana. But the long day turned infinitely longer.

The Colonels and their coach got stranded in the airport for about 24 hours, during which the following transpired:

• A wheel of the charter jet that was supposed to take the team home went off the taxiway and got temporarily stuck in a mix of mud and grass, according to the NCAA.
• The team, along with a travel party of about 140 that included cheerleaders, boosters and parents, were locked in the airport for almost 12 hours, according to Nicholls State.

The regional airport, a short drive from Southern Illinois campus in Carbondale, had no restaurants and two vending machines, both of which were outside.

“It wasn’t no fun,’’ Rebowe said. “…(But) I thought the players handled it tremendous.’’

How things went awry

Clad in red-and-grey gear, the Colonels and their entourage arrived at the Veterans Airport at about 6 p.m. local time on Saturday, which is when the bad news and delays began.

Nicholls State athletic director Jonathan “JT” Terrell said it turned out the plane, despite getting temporarily stuck when it went off the taxiway, was safe to fly. The question is whether the pilots were.

“The pilots were able to return the plane to the taxiway, but protocols required the pilots to be drug tested to see if anyone was under the influence of a substance,’’ according to information the NCAA provided to USA TODAY Sports. “By the time the results of the test came back, the crew was unable to fly due to being timed out.’’

So began a search for new pilots, according to Terrell, who said the next flight was scheduled for 1:40 p.m. That flight was cancelled. The soonest they could leave, Terrell said they were told, was 4 p.m. on Sunday.

“The depressing thing is you were looking right outside a glass window and less than 100 yards away was the big Eastern airplane just sitting there,'' Rebowe said.

The cage closed on Nicholls State

At about 8 p.m. on Saturday night, with no flights scheduled until the next day, the airport workers left, according Nicholls State’s football coach.

“That’s when they put the cage down and we were stuck in the back room,’’ Rebowe said.

Stuck much longer than they thought, too. Before midnight, Rebowe said the team learned, the 1:40 a.m. flight had been cancelled, too. The airport would not be opened until 7 a.m.

Water and food supplies began to dwindle.

But there was singing, thanks to Parker and teammates, and Rebowe said that lifted people’s spirits.

“Sometimes they do it at practice,’’ Rebowe said of the players. “They’ll just get in a song.’’

The airport doors opened at about 7 a.m., and then came help.

Southern Illinois athletic officials sent out water, Gatorade and food. Chris Grant, commissioner of the Southland Conference that includes Nicholls State ordered barbecue sandwiches for lunch.

The NCAA offered to reimburse the school's travel party for any food or beverage, then had food and beverages sent, and the football players were well fed by the time they boarded the plane that finally took off at 6:15 p.m.

The plane touched down at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport at about 8, and, with a police escort, the team's busses pulled up at campus in Thibodeaux at about 9:30 p.m. With spirits intact.

“It could have been a lot of complaining,'' Terrell said, "but they were awesome.''

Political football ensued

At one point, Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Louisiana state senators got involved, according to Rebowe.

The school used the NCAA’s official travel agency and Rebowe said frustration built when Nicholls State had trouble reaching NCAA officials. The coach said he spoke with Nungesser and thinks the politicians reached out to the NCAA.

“Our goal is to provide the best possible experience at each NCAA championship,” NCAA Senior Vice President of Championships Joni Comstock said in a statement provided to USA TODAY Sports. “Due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control, we are sorry about the travel issues experienced by the Nicholls State football team. The challenges were even greater when this happened on one of the busiest weekends for air travel in the country, and we understand and share their frustration.”

On Monday, Rebowe said he wasn't mad at anyone. In fact, he seemed agreeable to one last delay — delaying the end of the season, if it involved a trip back to Southern Illinois.

“Yeah, we’re ready to go,’’ Rebowe said. “Can we go back and change the outcome on the field? Would be kind of nice.’’