[01/10/01] Members of the Alcorn State Alumni Association will protest the contract extension of head football coach Johnny Thomas at the Lorman campus on Feb. 3.

The rally will be at the lower parking lot of the athletic complex at 2 p.m., before the Alcorn-Jackson State basketball game.

The formal protest is one of five things the disgruntled alumni members will do to show their “displeasure with and non-support of Dr. Johnny Thomas,” according to an e-mail sent to news organizations and university President Clinton Bristow.

The group also plans to:

Appear before the College Board “to state our dissatisfaction with retaining coach Johnny Thomas.”

Withhold the customary invitation to the president to speak at the mid-winter conference.

Withhold foundation funds collected at the mid-winter conference.

Boycott all home games while Thomas is there and encourage others to do the same.

Bristow and interim athletic director Marino Casem decided to retain Thomas after an 0-11 finish in 2000, the school’s first winless season in 42 years.

The alumni’s announcement came Tuesday, a day after ex-Mississippi State and NFL star Johnie Cooks was brought in as a special assistant to the AD.