well im sure thames f'd it up. i wished Aubrey K was still at USM. They should give our coach what he wants.Rick is right on this one

<a href='http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040822/COL0504/40822009/1173/SPORTS' target='_blank'>rick cleveland article</a>

Quote:Bower could have taken other jobs for more money. He turned down Houston and hundreds of thousands of more dollars. He turned down TCU when Dennis Franchione left. He would have made more money there, too.

But it never has been about money with Bower, who doesn't make half of what David Cutcliffe gets at Ole Miss or Sly Croom gets at State.

It's about the place.

He played quarterback at USM. He married his college sweetheart, Debbie Pawlik, who was Miss Southern Mississippi and a Golden Eagles cheerleader. His first coaching job was at USM.

Bower likes to hire USM people. Four of his assistants are USM graduates, including three who played for him. In many cases, Bower has trained young coaches on the job.

He and his staff did one of the best coaching jobs in school history last season when the Eagles recovered from losing their starting quarterback and two of their first four games to win seven of their last eight.

They finished 8-0 in Conference USA. Yes, they played poorly and lost 17-0 to Utah in the Liberty Bowl, but 10 other C-USA schools wish they could say the same.

I think this is more a subject for et ep and the Southern Miss forum on this board.

Congratulations on extending the contract with Bower, I don't have to tell you that he's a good one to hold on to.

safetyeagle Wrote:well im sure thames f'd it up. i wished Aubrey K was still at USM. They should give our coach what he wants.Rick is right on this one

<a href='http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040822/COL0504/40822009/1173/SPORTS' target='_blank'>rick cleveland article</a>

Quote:Bower could have taken other jobs for more money. He turned down Houston and hundreds of thousands of more dollars. He turned down TCU when Dennis Franchione left. He would have made more money there, too.

But it never has been about money with Bower, who doesn't make half of what David Cutcliffe gets at Ole Miss or Sly Croom gets at State.

It's about the place.

He played quarterback at USM. He married his college sweetheart, Debbie Pawlik, who was Miss Southern Mississippi and a Golden Eagles cheerleader. His first coaching job was at USM.

Bower likes to hire USM people. Four of his assistants are USM graduates, including three who played for him. In many cases, Bower has trained young coaches on the job.

He and his staff did one of the best coaching jobs in school history last season when the Eagles recovered from losing their starting quarterback and two of their first four games to win seven of their last eight.

They finished 8-0 in Conference USA. Yes, they played poorly and lost 17-0 to Utah in the Liberty Bowl, but 10 other C-USA schools wish they could say the same.

Honestly it seems like they think they can make another hire like Eustachy. I say they can't. We'll see. Thames may be cutting off his own legs with this one. Maybe he needs to concentrate on the academic side considering how he's running a tier 4 school right now.

cyc46 Wrote:I think this is more a subject for et ep and the Southern Miss forum on this board.

Actually, that's the problem. They haven't come to an agreement on the contract.

RockTheRock Wrote:

safetyeagle Wrote:well im sure thames f'd it up. i wished Aubrey K was still at USM. They should give our coach what he wants.Rick is right on this one

<a href='http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040822/COL0504/40822009/1173/SPORTS' target='_blank'>rick cleveland article</a>

Quote:Bower could have taken other jobs for more money. He turned down Houston and hundreds of thousands of more dollars. He turned down TCU when Dennis Franchione left. He would have made more money there, too.

But it never has been about money with Bower, who doesn't make half of what David Cutcliffe gets at Ole Miss or Sly Croom gets at State.

It's about the place.

He played quarterback at USM. He married his college sweetheart, Debbie Pawlik, who was Miss Southern Mississippi and a Golden Eagles cheerleader. His first coaching job was at USM.

Bower likes to hire USM people. Four of his assistants are USM graduates, including three who played for him. In many cases, Bower has trained young coaches on the job.

He and his staff did one of the best coaching jobs in school history last season when the Eagles recovered from losing their starting quarterback and two of their first four games to win seven of their last eight.

They finished 8-0 in Conference USA. Yes, they played poorly and lost 17-0 to Utah in the Liberty Bowl, but 10 other C-USA schools wish they could say the same.

Honestly it seems like they think they can make another hire like Eustachy. I say they can't. We'll see. Thames may be cutting off his own legs with this one. Maybe he needs to concentrate on the academic side considering how he's running a tier 4 school right now.

i agree, i dopnt think they could find anyone better than coach bower to be our coach

I agree that Bower is the best coach for you guys. I can't see any reason for him to have to leave. You guys have the best program in C-USA. Does the university president have his head up his a$$?

If you want one of the problems Bower has in a nutshell, go look at the Clarion-Ledger's Dandy Dozen list for this year. Listed is Archie Sims, a great LB prospect from West Jones. The coach there is a Southern Miss grad and very friendly to our coaching staff. Yet, the kid lists Memphis as one of his favorites and not Southern Miss. We're getting seriously outworked on the recruiting trail if a defensive player 30 miles up the road is interested in Memphis and not us.

I can see them considering the SEC schools, but not Memphis over us, given our track record in C-USA.

In addition, we are listed by 4 of the Dandy Dozen. MSU, coming off three terrible seasons in a row, with a new coach, and with probation staring them in the face, is listed by 9.

Also, the player from Hattiesburg does not list us in his top 5. Again, see the seriously outworked comment.l

We are getting absolutely trounced in recruiting in the state of Mississippi.

RockTheRock Wrote:We are getting absolutely trounced in recruiting in the state of Mississippi.

sure , but we get plenty out of bama & louisiana, i dont think recruiting is that big of a problem, he does recruit good athletes,
he just needs to better on QB's,RB's. & WR's

The problem with the LA and AL recruits are that they're being picked over by LSU, Bama, Auburn, etc.

Corky managed to sign 4 of the baseball dandy dozen last spring in addition to some top players from LA and TN. Why? He works the heck out the MS high schools AND the other states.

ok ill concede he doesnt recruit MS well, but that still doesnt make him a terrible coach. we have 10 straight winning seasons how many other colleges in MS have that? yeah and they got most of the blue chippers

I didn't say he was a terrible coach. He's a good coach who needs to work on in-state recruiting. Maybe some of those Nebraska/Cal/Penn State/Bama losses would be more competitive if we were getting some of the better in-state talent. Remember, I said he should be extended. I'm just saying part of the criticisms can be traced to weak in-state recruiting.