(06-23-2015 01:54 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 01:48 PM)Pirate1 Wrote:  Though the focus is Southern Miss, the AAC is also put to point as to why most of us left CUSA and USM behind , bowl access and more $$$ and that was a chase for fools gold.

Not exactly. Would you rather have CUSA-4.0's bowl ties right now?

Oh I agree with you 100%, but the article tried to spin it like that. The AAC is light years better than CUSA.

(06-23-2015 02:42 PM)Pirate1 Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 01:54 PM)blunderbuss Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 01:48 PM)Pirate1 Wrote:  Though the focus is Southern Miss, the AAC is also put to point as to why most of us left CUSA and USM behind , bowl access and more $$$ and that was a chase for fools gold.

Not exactly. Would you rather have CUSA-4.0's bowl ties right now?

Oh I agree with you 100%, but the article tried to spin it like that. The AAC is light years better than CUSA.

current cusa members can spin it any way they want. they will not poach a team from the aac. The aac will poach any team it wants from cusa anytime it feels ready.

Hey Houston - we will see your "lost decade" and raise you a death penalty.

Whether we all should or not - almost everyone in AAC has at least a hope of reaching up to P-5 at some point. Nobody in CUSA has that hope. The thought among those school has to be whether to even keep going or not. The only one with a chance would be UTSA due to their metropolitan area being underserved in basically everything except pro basketball.

CUSA is the first chair to get kicked over in musical chairs. Lets hope we can all find a seat before the next round.

Good info and article on a crappy situation. USM football will be back. I promise that, may not be this year, but we will be back. Have a lot of respect for most schools in the AAC bc of the history we shared with them. Pretty much pick any school in the AAC (except maybe UConn and Temple), and I can think of several great games.

Good luck to you all this year! Maybe we will meet one of you in a bowl game soon!

One thing to remember that during much of USM's haydays going back to the 80's...they were one of only a few non-BCS type programs East of the Mississippi.

Div I-A teams like MTSU, UAB, Troy, South Alabama, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, UCF, USF, FAU, FIU, Arkansas State (believe last one is West side of the river) etc...didn't exist in Div I-A or even didn't exist period.

Even when more newbies came on the scene, USM still was able to recruit a pretty good level due to USM's history, recruiting ties, etc...but now, much of that is dying and USM might have to win another way (more JUCO's).

USM was a destination for many players all over the Southeast if they didn't land their dream SEC or even ACC scholarship offer.

Now, USM has a lot more competition for athletes from those same Southeast areas.

I think USM sold their soul when they fired Bower, who did a solid job...vs a fast riser, who took risk and signed a lot more JUCO and sketchy players as he was fielding a team (for a particular year, not depth for a program) so he could jump ship ASAP. Similar thing happened in basketball.

This is where AD's should have much ore impact as when Head Coaches are taking short cuts to win now and future be damn...AD's should step in because once that house of cards stops (coaches jump ship ASAP), programs collapse.

(06-22-2015 09:41 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  And some want them in the AAC

Ahead of schools like UMass... Damn straight, Skippy.

(06-23-2015 10:37 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 09:56 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Why is an article on southern miss in the AAC forum?

Between this and the Marshal crap you newbies post....smh


CUSA is in the past, let it go.

I realize that you are just being a pest to entertain yourself, but it is interesting that the "newby" has been around a lot of the posters here for about a dozen years. I think that may be a bit longer than yourself. We have video game threads for Pete sakes, one USM thread is OK, right?

I'm always amazed at the people who simply can't ignore something they're supposedly not interested in.

I agree with No Bull, Knightlight and others that USM had that "long term coach" in Jeff Bower. He was not using it as a stepping stone and it really baffles me that he was dismissed.

(06-23-2015 01:12 PM)FrancisDrake Wrote:  Holland's point was that ECU draws eyeballs across the state and into Tidewater.

I live in Tidewater and can vouch for this statement. Unscientifically, from the amount of T-Shirts worn (etc), I'd say the ECU comes in fourth here behind VA Tech, UVa and ODU. On par (or better) than UNC and definitely more support here than NC State.

(06-24-2015 07:06 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(06-22-2015 09:41 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  And some want them in the AAC

Ahead of schools like UMass... Damn straight, Skippy.

I think long term UMass has more upside than Southern Miss" sadly I think USM good days are in the past.

Definitely better times ahead for So Miss. Having played them consecutively for 30 years, there were times that our fans HATED their fans and vice versa, but there is a strong mutual respect between Southern Miss and ECU. We've endured watching each other beat the **** out of each other in the blistering heat of Hattiesburg and Greenville over the years. It was a very fun rivalry while it lasted.

I have a big soft spot for Southern Miss because even as a kid that was the game that I always was nervous about, it was so much fun.

(06-24-2015 05:56 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  One thing to remember that during much of USM's haydays going back to the 80's...they were one of only a few non-BCS type programs East of the Mississippi.

Div I-A teams like MTSU, UAB, Troy, South Alabama, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, UCF, USF, FAU, FIU, Arkansas State (believe last one is West side of the river) etc...didn't exist in Div I-A or even didn't exist period.

Very true. Especially now that South Alabama has a football team.

...considering bush league crap their administration pulled when USF was trying to get into CUSA, I can't really say that I feel bad for Southern Miss.

(06-23-2015 01:27 PM)No Bull Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 12:50 PM)paintedblue2 Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 12:28 PM)No Bull Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 12:18 PM)paintedblue2 Wrote:  

(06-23-2015 11:14 AM)oldtiger Wrote:  Agree with everything you've said. They are one of our oldest opponents having begun play in the 30s and have had an almost continual relationship with them since the 50s. They were as tough as nails many years and one of our coaches referred to their defense as "cold blooded killers" in a 100% respectful manner.

Relieve a good coach like Bower and make a couple of wrong choices and you can go from a dozen wins to a dozen losses in very quick period of time. Their fans are different from us.

IMO that was the most salient point of the article. The P5 schools have the resources to overcome mistakes and mis-management relatively quickly. Programs in G5 conferences, especially at the end of the financial spectrum closer to USM, have very little room to recover from mistakes. It takes very astute leadership to maintain a high level like USM achieved.

I forget the circumstances but the year Southern Miss went 11-2 under Fedora...didn't Southern Miss turn down a bowl game against a top 25 team to go to the Hawaii Bowl against a run of the mill MWC team? Then Fedora left. I want to say this was some sort of scandal that contributed to the Golden Eagles current slump.

USM turned down a bowl game in Dallas vs. Penn St. in order to play in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl vs. Nevada. After Ellis Johnson was fired they agreed to move their scheduled home game vs. Nebraska to Lincoln for $2M+ so they could pay for his buy out.

Fedore wanted a hawaii vacation before going to UNC.... Penn Sate was a Top 25 team.... Fedora is a pos. jmo

My opinion is part what you said in that Fedora wanted a Hawaii vacation before he left but also IN MY OPINION is that with the date of the Heart of Dixie bowl being in January that would delay him and his staff in the recruiting process for his new job at UNC. Had he/USM taken the Dallas bowl that would have put him a week or more behind in recruiting and settling in at UNC as that bowl game date was Jan 2 I believe compared to Dec 24 for the Hawaii Bowl.