(07-22-2013 03:59 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote: My concern is that the Southern Miss Athletic Department appears to be broke based on statements made by the last AD, Jeff Hammond. He was scheduling payday games and selling USM home games to balance the budget according to published reports. It was further indicated that booster memberships and donations were down and major donors were dwindling. Although the AAC TV contract is better than CUSA's, it is not a large enough increase to float USM and stop the need to schedule payday games. Until such time as USM is on good financial footing and not scheduling payday games, I don't think the American should consider them. No American team should be scheduling one-and-done games or selling home games. If you had moved the Nebraska game to New Orleans so you could sell more tickets, that would have been understood, but to sell it back to Nebraska and hold it in Lincoln is quite indicative of a major problem.
Jeff had his strengths, and I appreciate his hard work, but I wouldn't trust anything he said about our finances. He's just not a finance guy.
This shouldn't surprise any one. The world Jeff lived in before he became AD operates in a completely different manner from an athletic department. It was a mistake for him to open that can of worms. Almost immediately after he did, the state sent in a bunch of real CPAs, and their opinions were dramatically different from Jeff's.
Operating budget is just one part of the picture. Assets are important, too. Having a stadium like ours right in the middle of campus is worth something. Our history is worth something. Our access to local and regional talent is worth something. People still like a good game day environment and they still like talented players. They like marching bands and pretty little towns and pretty cheerleaders. All of those things are what made football big at places like Virginia Tech, Michigan, Florida State, etc. and we've got at least a little bit of it, too.
It's amazing that we even have to talk about these things. But when you read these boards, all you see is a bunch of esoteric crap about TV markets and Carnegie subclassifications.
A lot of that is a fad that will go the way of platform shoes, $80-per-share Enron stock, and the "pet rock." The gold plating is already starting to wear off at ESPN, for example, and they drove a lot of the trends that have us in rubbing elbows with FIU instead of Louisville.
The challenge is to survive the last few years of the TV sports bubble without being relegated to some sort of irrelevant quasi-FCS classification (and, relatedly, without losing fans). People are understandably bummed out right now. I just hold on to the memory of last year's ECU game. It was a beautiful day, we we're just 0-1, and 34,140 people filled our stadium to watch a conference opponent. MM Roberts is a great place to watch a game.
We've just got to get back to that place. I know we can. I also know we have every opportunity to blow it. Attitude counts for a lot. We need our leaders to say the right things. Jeff Hammond did not. Ellis Johnson most definitely did not. Whether our new President and our new AD will is an open question.
We've had Nebraska at MM Roberts before and we very well may host them again. We've beaten them at their place, too... that's something for the AAC to consider. The circumstances that made us sell that game were unprecedented. I don't think they say as much about USM as they say about Ellis Johnson and his cronies.
I miss being in a conference with your school. I hope the feeling is mutual for at least some of your fans.
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Tired of Southern Miss Being Grounded
Oh, and we're playing Presbyterian College next year. It just gets worse and worse. 
