Southern Miss should give it up

[AustinPerson]

Worse than smu ever was. Got routed by north Texas state - listened to the game on [deleted]. What in the world happened to southern miss? I remember when they crushed us in June's final season before he left for Arizona state.

[sbsmith]

19 losses in a row, amazing. The good news is that C-USA is turning into the Sun Belt (and the Sun Belt into the Southland) so they should be back to going 7-5 in no time.

[LakeHighlandsPony]

They used to be best team in Mississippi. Bailiff could do wonders there.

[ponyte]

I watched this team against the Beloved Razorbacks. If we are upset with recruiting, USM should be apoplectic. They have weak, small and slow players at just about every position.

[leopold]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

[SMU 86]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

Fedora took them to the best seasons they had and it was more than a couple of years.

[Charleston Pony]

Bower had them competitive on a national level; people were afraid to play them in Hattiesburg. They will be back. Even winless and getting drubbed at home by UNT, they drew 23k. They have plenty of people who still care too much for this to go on too much longer, but I'm sure it has been a huge disappointment for them watching CUSA fall apart and most of their former conference mates move on to more respected conferences

[SMU 86]

Fedora had them rolling on offense and defense. As quoted above when they got left of the then Big East and CUSA was falling apart that stopped their recruiting momentum and they had 2 low recruiting classes.

[leopold]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

Fedora took them to the best seasons they had and it was more than a couple of years.

No doubt.

But Fedora Bigger-Better-Dealed them as soon as he could. With Bower, an alum, they had someone who absolutely could coach, had proven it year after year, and it was a detonation job.

Unfortunately they got a taste of their own medicine.

[peruna81]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

Big alums were tired of being competitive with Bowers, but not dominating within the conference and state. It is a BIG step from 9-4 to 11-2 as to your expectation and outcome. We will soon find out if we find a Fedora-type, or another PB.

[whitwiki]

Is the radio station seriously [deleted]?

[CalallenStang]

Is the radio station seriously [deleted]?

Yeah, that was my first thought as well

[GRGB]

Is the radio station seriously [deleted]?

KNTU

[RebStang]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

Big alums were tired of being competitive with Bowers, but not dominating within the conference and state. It is a BIG step from 9-4 to 11-2 as to your expectation and outcome. We will soon find out if we find a Fedora-type, or another PB.

The problem that USM has is that their alumni (they don't have many "big" alumni, by the way - they probably have fewer than 10 alumni that are capable of "big" gifts) had expectations their program could never hope to meet.

Bower had all of his success in an era where Ole Miss and MSU basically weren't even trying (Ole Miss was on the 2nd worst probation the NCAA ever handed down from around 94-97 and MSU spent several years on probation during the late 90s, as well). Once Ole Miss and MSU started to get back on the recruiting trail, USM just never had a chance to compete - you aren't going to convince many in state players to come play in a 32,000 seat stadium in front of 23,000 people against Conference USA teams if the in state SEC teams are offering you better facilities, better schedules, and better bowls even without better records - win 8 games at USM and you play in the New Orleans Bowl... win 8 at Ole Miss and you play in the Cotton Bowl.

Then, to make matters worse, the NCAA eliminated partial qualifiers completely in 2005. It's not a coincidence that USM has lost 5 games or more every year but one since then. Since 2010, USM has not signed a single player from the top 10 in Mississippi and only 3 that were ranked in the top 20... in a state that only produces about 20-30 FBS level players a year, you can't get shut out of the top 20 players in your state almost every year and hope to field a competitive football team.

[covok48]

NEVER should have fired Jeff Bower. It took a couple of years but it caught up with them - no stability with that program.

On the other hand both Tulane and Rice are 6-2. Tulane beat mighty Tulsa yesterday.

Big alums were tired of being competitive with Bowers, but not dominating within the conference and state. It is a BIG step from 9-4 to 11-2 as to your expectation and outcome. We will soon find out if we find a Fedora-type, or another PB.

The problem that USM has is that their alumni (they don't have many "big" alumni, by the way - they probably have fewer than 10 alumni that are capable of "big" gifts) had expectations their program could never hope to meet.

Bower had all of his success in an era where Ole Miss and MSU basically weren't even trying (Ole Miss was on the 2nd worst probation the NCAA ever handed down from around 94-97 and MSU spent several years on probation during the late 90s, as well). Once Ole Miss and MSU started to get back on the recruiting trail, USM just never had a chance to compete - you aren't going to convince many in state players to come play in a 32,000 seat stadium in front of 23,000 people against Conference USA teams if the in state SEC teams are offering you better facilities, better schedules, and better bowls even without better records - win 8 games at USM and you play in the New Orleans Bowl... win 8 at Ole Miss and you play in the Cotton Bowl.

Then, to make matters worse, the NCAA eliminated partial qualifiers completely in 2005. It's not a coincidence that USM has lost 5 games or more every year but one since then. Since 2010, USM has not signed a single player from the top 10 in Mississippi and only 3 that were ranked in the top 20... in a state that only produces about 20-30 FBS level players a year, you can't get shut out of the top 20 players in your state almost every year and hope to field a competitive football team.

Great post that pretty much sums it all up.

That being said, I'm sure they're second guessing. Consistent winning seasons with Bower or a 19 game losing streak? Considering the dire situation posted above in regards to in-state talent (and the fact that geography & a weak conference doesn't help) you have to wonder just how how high the expectations could be there.