(09-23-2014 06:43 PM)nastybunch Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 04:58 PM)RowdyRoost Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 04:10 PM)nastybunch Wrote:  Rowdy, you are absolutely wrong, but that is Ok. Times are changing, and what is happening at North Carolina is showing that I am right. No doubt Johnson was awful, but Fedora failing to recruit his last two years is a big part of where we are now, no doubt. It doesn't matter, however, both are gone now and I say good riddence.

Hmmm... back to back twinning seasons after taking over a probationary football team and currently 2-1 this season. How is that showing your are right exactly?

Yeah, the East Carolina massacre impressed me. I didn't realize you had a man crush on Fedora

Man crush? I didn't realize defending a coach who has never had a losing season as a head coach would qualify as a man crush. We have a coach. The conversation topic is quite silly but you sure thought it was a swell time to attack the guy with no evidence whatsoever to back your claim. What's obvious is that you so despise the man that you "hope" he starts losing at UNC just so you can feel like your revisionist past can somehow be justified. But, hey... whatever helps you sleep better at night.

(09-23-2014 06:54 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I never understood the Bower firing.

Bower did himself in when he proclaimed that "nine wins isn't good enough at Southern Miss, anymore" following the 1999 season. He never won more than 9 games. The fans held him to it.

(09-23-2014 11:29 PM)RowdyRoost Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 06:54 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I never understood the Bower firing.

Bower did himself in when he proclaimed that "nine wins isn't good enough at Southern Miss, anymore" following the 1999 season. He never won more than 9 games. The fans held him to it.

Bullsh#5.....Well, those fans got themselves the laughing stock of college football the last two years. USM fans were spoiled by Bower's winning. They got the big head and thought they could do better. Well, they wound up with Fedora who have them one really good season and then he flew the coop and left the coop empty. USM got exactly what it deserved for firing Bower and especially the way they did it.

(09-23-2014 11:12 PM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 06:54 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I never understood the Bower firing.

"Who else you got?"
That's what did Jeff in.

You have it in quotes and I have read that but don't believe he said that. I believe an assistant was credited with saying that. Giannini also did not do much to help him. He cut his recruiting budget his last year and for two years had the team playing every weekday game he could.

Everyone has "their" story about JB. Giannini, Aunt Martha, Shelby Thames and the car dealers won which made a bunch of fans happy and others angry. With that, you can still find JB at the home games and a lot of other sporting events during the year. He is enjoying his grandson and soon to be grand daughter.

He is pretty happy.

Ace...

(09-24-2014 01:51 AM)EagleRockCafe Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 11:29 PM)RowdyRoost Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 06:54 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I never understood the Bower firing.

Bower did himself in when he proclaimed that "nine wins isn't good enough at Southern Miss, anymore" following the 1999 season. He never won more than 9 games. The fans held him to it.

Bullsh#5.....Well, those fans got themselves the laughing stock of college football the last two years. USM fans were spoiled by Bower's winning. They got the big head and thought they could do better. Well, they wound up with Fedora who have them one really good season and then he flew the coop and left the coop empty. USM got exactly what it deserved for firing Bower and especially the way they did it.

I bet you were one of those people hoping so bad that Fedora would flop just so you could say, "I told you so!" Only took 5 years, but was it worth the wait?

(09-23-2014 04:10 PM)nastybunch Wrote:  Rowdy, you are absolutely wrong, but that is Ok. Times are changing, and what is happening at North Carolina is showing that I am right. No doubt Johnson was awful, but Fedora failing to recruit his last two years is a big part of where we are now, no doubt. It doesn't matter, however, both are gone now and I say good riddence.

Does anyone have the numbers of recruits we _lost_ when Fedora left for UNC? That'd tell a lot of the story.

I'd wager it was a lot more than people thought. I'm siding with Nasty on his thought process.

(09-24-2014 05:38 AM)Ace Barker Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 11:12 PM)SoMs Eagle Wrote:  

(09-23-2014 06:54 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I never understood the Bower firing.

"Who else you got?"
That's what did Jeff in.

You have it in quotes and I have read that but don't believe he said that. I believe an assistant was credited with saying that. Giannini also did not do much to help him. He cut his recruiting budget his last year and for two years had the team playing every weekday game he could.

Everyone has "their" story about JB. Giannini, Aunt Martha, Shelby Thames and the car dealers won which made a bunch of fans happy and others angry. With that, you can still find JB at the home games and a lot of other sporting events during the year. He is enjoying his grandson and soon to be grand daughter.

He is pretty happy.

Ace...

Yes it was that ex Membis State coach he hired as OC that actually said it.
I always liked Bower (other than the ECarolina loss early in his career). But as George Seifert(sp) said "No coach should stay anywhere more than ten years". That is probably a good rule.

I liked Bower.. But I think it was my last semester as a student, and I was at a home game.. USM got up by 3 TDs by the half.. Instead of scoring a couple of more (we had the ability), it seemed like we tried to play we're up so let's maintain the points.. We won the game by 3.. Never scored another TD the entire game, we had killed the opposing team with a good passing game, and at the half we switched to running.. It wasn't balanced. I figured Bower was either tired of coaching or ready to retire.

In the grand scheme of things, Bower did a lot to help our program. Fedora tried to pick it up and continue.. Johnson decided to stop where Fedora was and take about 10 steps back.. Monken has picked up where EJ stopped and is slowly gaining the ground back.

Do I think Fedora could've won another championship if he'd stayed? I'd say it was a possibility if not he could've had a winning season. However, I think Fedora jumped on the best thing available to get out of Hattiesburg.. Striking while the iron was hot type thing.. I'm wanting to say I heard rumor his wife wasn't happy in the Burg.

(09-24-2014 03:25 PM)gdunn Wrote:  I liked Bower.. But I think it was my last semester as a student, and I was at a home game.. USM got up by 3 TDs by the half.. Instead of scoring a couple of more (we had the ability), it seemed like we tried to play we're up so let's maintain the points.. We won the game by 3.. Never scored another TD the entire game, we had killed the opposing team with a good passing game, and at the half we switched to running.. It wasn't balanced. I figured Bower was either tired of coaching or ready to retire.

In the grand scheme of things, Bower did a lot to help our program. Fedora tried to pick it up and continue.. Johnson decided to stop where Fedora was and take about 10 steps back.. Monken has picked up where EJ stopped and is slowly gaining the ground back.

Do I think Fedora could've won another championship if he'd stayed? I'd say it was a possibility if not he could've had a winning season. However, I think Fedora jumped on the best thing available to get out of Hattiesburg.. Striking while the iron was hot type thing.. I'm wanting to say I heard rumor his wife wasn't happy in the Burg.

Pretty sure his wife stayed in Hattiesburg until the end of the school year after Fedora left for UNC.

Fedora is a good coach. He completely changed the ideology at USM from defense and special teams winning games, to breaking every offensive record we ever had playing a hurry-up, spread offense, and still winning. I wasn't sure if you could play good defense while running a spread, hurry-up offense, because it tended to leave the defense on the field for so long (Buddy Ryan called it the "chuck and duck"). Our defense in 2011 broke the NCAA record for pick-sixes, and overall, it was pretty good.

Bower was done around 2000. He lost some fire and got complacent recruiting. The talent level certainly dropped off. It was time for a change. I don't regret his firing, and I wouldn't want him back. He was great for about 10 years. He graduated his kids. He never tried for another job anywhere else after USM.

(09-24-2014 05:13 PM)USM@FTL Wrote:  Fedora is a good coach. He completely changed the ideology at USM from defense and special teams winning games, to breaking every offensive record we ever had playing a hurry-up, spread offense, and still winning. I wasn't sure if you could play good defense while running a spread, hurry-up offense, because it tended to leave the defense on the field for so long (Buddy Ryan called it the "chuck and duck"). Our defense in 2011 broke the NCAA record for pick-sixes, and overall, it was pretty good.

Bower was done around 2000. He lost some fire and got complacent recruiting. The talent level certainly dropped off. It was time for a change. I don't regret his firing, and I wouldn't want him back. He was great for about 10 years. He graduated his kids. He never tried for another job anywhere else after USM.

All true. People don't realize how bad the talent drop-off was. Go back and watch highlights of that 1997 team. That team was big and fast across the board. People blame the Sun Belt, the Internet, etc. for our lack of talent since then. I'm not sure I buy that. I think that our failure to upgrade our facilities in a meaningful and prompt manner played a role, too.

Sheesh! This thread reminds me of when I enjoyed reading Andre's posts! For the record, I love what Bower did for us and what Fedora did for us. Should've followed that pattern of success and hired OSU's OC immediately after Fedora left instead of waiting a year.

(09-24-2014 04:23 PM)eagle83 Wrote:  

(09-24-2014 03:25 PM)gdunn Wrote:  I liked Bower.. But I think it was my last semester as a student, and I was at a home game.. USM got up by 3 TDs by the half.. Instead of scoring a couple of more (we had the ability), it seemed like we tried to play we're up so let's maintain the points.. We won the game by 3.. Never scored another TD the entire game, we had killed the opposing team with a good passing game, and at the half we switched to running.. It wasn't balanced. I figured Bower was either tired of coaching or ready to retire.

In the grand scheme of things, Bower did a lot to help our program. Fedora tried to pick it up and continue.. Johnson decided to stop where Fedora was and take about 10 steps back.. Monken has picked up where EJ stopped and is slowly gaining the ground back.

Do I think Fedora could've won another championship if he'd stayed? I'd say it was a possibility if not he could've had a winning season. However, I think Fedora jumped on the best thing available to get out of Hattiesburg.. Striking while the iron was hot type thing.. I'm wanting to say I heard rumor his wife wasn't happy in the Burg.

Pretty sure his wife stayed in Hattiesburg until the end of the school year after Fedora left for UNC.

The oldest daughter was a jr and wanted to graduate from her school. Ms Fedora stayed the rest of that year and his first year at unc