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Savannah State dubbed the run up to this past Saturday’s football game “coming home” weekend.

Call it a coming out party, too.

And the celebration was for the university, not just the football team.

The 21st century has been one of quiet reinvention for the historically black college hard by the marsh.

Enrollment has doubled. Degree program offerings have kept pace, and not at the expense of quality — a check of the catalog reveals an eye-glazing host of accreditation acronyms.

Students who live on-campus now reside in respectable accommodations, not the same cinder-block-and-linoleum dorm rooms most of us over the age of 35 called home as co-eds.

Many of the campus’ outdated buildings, once such eyesores they gave rise to the tongue-in-cheek label “Tiger chic,” have been renovated, demolished and replaced or are in the process of being refurbished.

The school even has curb appeal now, thanks to improvements to its front stoop at the corner of LaRoche Avenue and Skidaway Road.

Charles Elmore, a Savannahian whose family boasts three generations of SSU grads, said the last several years have seen “the greatest level of campus development” in the school’s 121-year history.

“Me and my family, we’ve always had Tiger pride,” Elmore said. “But with the progress of the last few years, others are starting to see it. It’s hard to miss.”