Was it 2011 they went 11-2 beating Houston for the CUSA championship?

Then 2012 was 0-12 and 2013 was 1-11.

How does that even begin to happen?

Successful coach Larry Fedora left for North Corolina after 4 years. USM hired Ellis Johnson, defensive coordinator at South Carolina. Only team without a win in 2012. Then hired Todd Monken, another OC from Oklahoma State, like Fedora. 1-11 last year. With that much movement in coaching, seniors have had 3 different head coaches, recruiting would be difficult.

Looking further back, it was a tough deal when Jeff Bower resigned after 16 years over a disagreement on hiring an assistant coach???

Short answer - They made a Larry Porter hire that destroyed the football program (Ellis)

Long answer - The administration and fan base became greedy, and demanded more than the annual 6 to 9 win seasons/bowl games under Jeff Bower. They have never fully recovered.

(09-20-2014 08:08 AM)TallTiger Wrote:  .....it was a tough deal when Jeff Bower resigned after 16 years over a disagreement on hiring an assistant coach???

Bower, a USM alum, was FORCED to resign, after 14 winning seasons in a row, 12 straight bowl games and several conference championships for basically the same reason that UofM fired Chuck Stobart after 3 straight 6-5 records (against the toughest schedules we probably ever had): dwindling attendance by fans who no longer appreciated his accomplishments. Sometimes coaching changes are obviously necessary, but often they don't work out so well.

Behind it all is a program with no money which likely was the basis of the Bower issues (remember their switching a home game to Nebraska as a buy game?). And with USM in conference purgatory there is not much hope for a money infusion.

I get all that but even Rey Dempsey went 5-5-1 ( with a painful 0-4) finish his first year.

As bad as he was the talent on that team got us 5 wins. I could see 2012 being a 4 to 6 win season for them but zero? Hell they could literally have had no coaches and just let the team captains self-coach the team and done better.

Southern miss had(has) severe money issues. That will severely strap any future success they may have. They may pop a good year here or there, but will lose that coach and have to start over again. It appears they are going to schedule tough sec away games as buy games to fund themselves, which will make it difficult to start the year off with any momentum.

(09-20-2014 08:21 AM)EvilLore Wrote:  Short answer - They made a Larry Porter hire that destroyed the football program (Ellis)

Long answer - The administration and fan base became greedy, and demanded more than the annual 6 to 9 win seasons/bowl games under Jeff Bower. They have never fully recovered.

I think Fedora saw the handwriting on the wall with the talent he would have had coming back the next season, and got out while the getting was good.
I mean think about it...one year wouldn't completely remove all the talent that Southern Mississippi had on the roster....unless Ellis dismissed a bunch of players, or a bunch transferred.
I dunno if Monken is cut out to be a head coach...if this is playing out like I suggested...it wouldn't have mattered if Bear Bryant was the coach....the last couple of recruiting classes for Fedora would have had to have been pretty bad on the field.

As some have suggested, Southern Miss has had severe money and administration problems that extend beyond the football field. They took a huge hit with Katrina - their student population has gone down every year since. What was once the largest University in Mississippi is now 3rd largest.

Specific to football, they made a terrible hire in Ellis Johnson. The rise of football at LA Tech, Louisiana Lafayette and South Alabama, though, has had a devastating effect on USM recruiting. The majority of the type players Southern used to get are now going to those schools.

(09-20-2014 10:03 AM)Draelius Wrote:  As some have suggested, Southern Miss has had severe money and administration problems that extend beyond the football field. They took a huge hit with Katrina - their student population has gone down every year since. What was once the largest University in Mississippi is now 3rd largest.

Specific to football, they made a terrible hire in Ellis Johnson. The rise of football at LA Tech, Louisiana Lafayette and South Alabama, though, has had a devastating effect on USM recruiting. The majority of the type players Southern used to get are now going to those schools.

Throw in the fact that Fedora had a lot of skill players who were 'iffy' in terms of academics and Fedora left USM with a pretty bare cupboard. Then, Ellis was a disaster, as well as the relative rise of La.Tech/Lafayette and USA, conference purgatory and severe money issues and USM is going to need a miracle hire just to get back on its feet.

When Bower was there, since they were an independent for many of those years, he could recruit a lot more 'iffy' players with academic issues. By then, his name brand was pretty darn good AND 'Bama was a mess with Dubose and Shula and Auburn wasn't much better. USM got a huge # of great players from Alabama, but those days are long gone.

Great on-campus stadium, great campus, but their athletics are a mess and are likely to continue.

Letting Bowers go was a major mistake.

Truthfully, Southern Miss is the only CUSA school MEMPHIS should consider as an OOC game. If the Golden Eagles ever right that program, perhaps restarting the Black & Blue series will happen.

(09-20-2014 10:45 AM)boss man Wrote:  Letting Bowers go was a major mistake.

Truthfully, Southern Miss is the only CUSA school MEMPHIS should consider as an OOC game. If the Golden Eagles ever right that program, perhaps restarting the Black & Blue series will happen.

I completely agree. Memphis/Southern Miss is a long-standing football rivalry. We don't have many--we should fight for it to survive.

Reality happened to southern miss

(09-20-2014 01:32 PM)Eagle4Christ Wrote:  

(09-20-2014 10:45 AM)boss man Wrote:  Letting Bowers go was a major mistake.

Truthfully, Southern Miss is the only CUSA school MEMPHIS should consider as an OOC game. If the Golden Eagles ever right that program, perhaps restarting the Black & Blue series will happen.

I completely agree. Memphis/Southern Miss is a long-standing football rivalry. We don't have many--we should fight for it to survive.

USM is about the only Cusa school I care about--so much history with Memphis and so much history period.

Them and UTEP for basketball. That's it for me. The rest can go marinade in their own insignificant juices.

(09-20-2014 02:29 PM)tigerjeb Wrote:  Reality happened to southern miss

Truth...

We should continue to play them in football, they have been playing us for yrs. Drop A.Peay or u.tmartin and play them.

Think of the U of Memphis without the money behind it. At the top of it's game always #3 in the state when it comes to football. But were able to make it work for a while until some one got the idiotic idea that Bower had to go. Thus alienating the biggest alumnus they had. For some reason 8 bowl games in 10 years and 4 conference championships are not enough. 17 full seasons and only 2 losing seasons.

As a Tiger fan you really hate to see what has happened to Southern Miss. There were years when they were the best team in Mississippi. Letting Bower go was the same as letting Green go in basketball. With all the money that the SEC has now USM cannot compete getting the kids from Alabama and Florida they used to. Tough to see.

They made a BONEHEADED mistake when the got rid of Bower. That was crazy!

Fedora knew the sky was falling.