(08-24-2017 10:27 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  On the admin side, that Bennett let McGillis go after successive years of stagnation tells me he's one president not happy with the status quo.

ok, now this is something new to me. i thought he left on his own accord and felt like he realized his Sadler hire was terrible and his football hire was very suspect for a while last year (and still is to a certain degree), so he split while he could - before he got fired and hurt his resume.

so, you know for a fact he was forced out / fired by Bennett or just assuming he was? certainly, we know officially he resigned, but i will be impressed with Bennett if he in fact gave him the boot.

I believe it is as simple as this: "hey Doc Bennett, you need to send that boy walkin' or my donation is goin forget the address down there on Hardy st" and so Bennett sent him packing. You just don't take 5 steps down a ladder on your own like McG did. I don't know that it matters much anyway unless he called him into his office and ripped him a new azz. In that case, I'll send more money up tomorrow morning!

If he was forced out everyone close to him is still tight lipped. Nothing is coming out of the staff that have followed him.

Haven't posted on here much but I've been around since the previous board. I know NG is a hardcore fan but his shtick was already worn out.

Anyway, good discussion in this thread. New generation of kids have no clue what we were like in the 80's or 90's. SEC brainwashing has done it's job.

It's tough to want to support athletics. I know a lot of people who packed it in after the 0-23 and AAC snub. They just can't get excited about football in this new conference. I'll admit, it's hard for me to make the trip to Hattiesburg to see us play North Texas or Charlotte...let alone lose to this teams as well.

And yes, the lack of leadership that WE need not just having a body in the seat has been sorely lacking.

BTW, McG was hired for one thing...get us in the AAC if the Big 12 expanded. When no expansion occurred, it was time for him to move on.

Same thing happened with Bennett/McGillis that happened with Bennett/Hammond- the contract of each as AD was not renewed. Technically not firings, but practically so.

(08-24-2017 10:42 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 10:27 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  On the admin side, that Bennett let McGillis go after successive years of stagnation tells me he's one president not happy with the status quo.

ok, now this is something new to me. i thought he left on his own accord and felt like he realized his Sadler hire was terrible and his football hire was very suspect for a while last year (and still is to a certain degree), so he split while he could - before he got fired and hurt his resume.

so, you know for a fact he was forced out / fired by Bennett or just assuming he was? certainly, we know officially he resigned, but i will be impressed with Bennett if he in fact gave him the boot.

I trust what I was told by the party who told it to me, but let's ignore that for a minute and just do the math on somebody in the last year of his contract moving to a small, private FCS school "to be closer to family."

More specifically, it was family in Seattle. I admittedly don't know how long it takes to fly to Seattle from Hattiesburg with transfers & potential layovers, but San Diego is on the Mexican border and getting to Seattle from there still takes 2 1/2 hours in an airplane. There may be something to be said for being in the same time zone, but the new job isn't exactly allowing him to hop in the car & drive to lunch with the in-laws every Sunday.

(08-25-2017 06:24 AM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 10:42 PM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 10:27 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  On the admin side, that Bennett let McGillis go after successive years of stagnation tells me he's one president not happy with the status quo.

ok, now this is something new to me. i thought he left on his own accord and felt like he realized his Sadler hire was terrible and his football hire was very suspect for a while last year (and still is to a certain degree), so he split while he could - before he got fired and hurt his resume.

so, you know for a fact he was forced out / fired by Bennett or just assuming he was? certainly, we know officially he resigned, but i will be impressed with Bennett if he in fact gave him the boot.

I trust what I was told by the party who told it to me, but let's ignore that for a minute and just do the math on somebody in the last year of his contract moving to a small, private FCS school "to be closer to family."

More specifically, it was family in Seattle. I admittedly don't know how long it takes to fly to Seattle from Hattiesburg with transfers & potential layovers, but San Diego is on the Mexican border and getting to Seattle from there still takes 2 1/2 hours in an airplane. There may be something to be said for being in the same time zone, but the new job isn't exactly allowing him to hop in the car & drive to lunch with the in-laws every Sunday.

Well thats good to hear that Bennet expects more and wasnt afraid to let go his first big hire.

Now id like to hear more specifics on whats meant by "stagnation".

Nothing in Bennett's background screams big time athletics other than he was at Georgia for a period when the hand picked AD to be went on a panty raid. His focus appears to be on academia as it should be, when he takes time from championing rainbows, flamingos and evil flags. It's about time for him to commission another rambling e-mail full of hope and maybe and Giblet to compose another Mission Impossible theme song. IOW, more SUNWACUSA, help the chillrens, and everyone watch a video. Tickets still available.

(08-24-2017 10:00 PM)usmstang Wrote:  Mac and RG were not the right guys for our program and all of the Presidents during that time frame had zero business sense.

I'll agree with you on RG, stang..

But when I actually talked to BM up here in Missouri during the last NIT tourney, he actually had business sense in that regard and was working on the right direction to make us more notable for the expected AAC expansion.

As for Bennett forcing out McGillis.. I'm not sure I believe that, but I do believe that when McGillis failed to get USM into the AAC, that he knew the writing was on the wall, as he was brought in primarily to build us up to that slot.

(08-24-2017 11:04 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  If he was forced out everyone close to him is still tight lipped. Nothing is coming out of the staff that have followed him.

And the loss of Marcie Lanue, who came here and left with McGillis, was a big loss. Hope we get her back someday.

I know Hammond is a controversial figure in the USM family, but it would be wise for the AD to bring him on as a fundraiser. The man knows how to talk to people and raise money. And for an athletic department desperately in need of funds, seems like a no brainer.

(08-24-2017 10:27 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 10:00 PM)usmstang Wrote:  Most recently, TV did control who was left out. However, we began losing this battle in 80 and by mid-way thru RGs tenure it was over. Mac and RG were not the right guys for our program and all of the Presidents during that time frame had zero business sense. Quite frankly, all those mentioned were simply CONTENT with knocking off an occasional $EC team (the good ones were won with Reggie or Favre under center and after that, just look at the records of those sec teams). Not bashing our program, just saying that our "leaders" weren't very good leaders and now we are paying for it. A person should not even apply for President or AD at USM that doesn't have an immediate plan for the nearly impossible task at hand. It shows that the Board of Trustees is selling some BS and our applicants don't do their homework.

I understand (didn't say I agree) why people don't show up. I've seen folks finally throw in the towel after 15, 20, 30 years or more of support/season tickets in football. They are emotionally tired and have given up because they realize that our leaders have no plan. Me, I'm a fan with a need for a tax write-off so I keep giving more to the EC and buying better tickets...I keep adding in my .02 in a constructive manner as well but I have not much faith in our leadership when I view the resumes of the University Execs.

Leadership is definitely culpable. Don't take what I've said in these last few posts as me letting them off the hook. But that we fielded a Top 25 Conference Champion in 2011 and only broke 30k in the stands 2 out of 6 games had WAY more to do with people giving up on the season after the Marshall loss than anything Bill McLelland ever did, and anybody making decisions today based upon what Aubrey Lucas did in 1983 has their own issues to sort out.

Yep we barely break 30K in the stands twice that year yet people whine that if we went to Dallas that year and played Penn State we would have brought 35K .... I am not making that up people actually believe that.

(08-25-2017 08:45 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  I know Hammond is a controversial figure in the USM family, but it would be wise for the AD to bring him on as a fundraiser. The man knows how to talk to people and raise money. And for an athletic department desperately in need of funds, seems like a no brainer.

correct when the EC director retired, hammond should have been moved to EC instead of AD

(08-25-2017 08:45 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  I know Hammond is a controversial figure in the USM family, but it would be wise for the AD to bring him on as a fundraiser. The man knows how to talk to people and raise money. And for an athletic department desperately in need of funds, seems like a no brainer.

That went out the window when the first thing Hammond did as AD was start a public poo-slinging fight with some of our biggest & oldest contributors, going as far as accusing some of nefarious activities with the previous AD. Then the state auditor came in and debunked said allegations.

Hammond is controversial because he's caustic. You can't have your head fund raiser collecting money from some people while insulting & pissing off other people. That's a zero-sum game.

(08-25-2017 09:39 AM)jebaroo Wrote:  

(08-25-2017 08:45 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  I know Hammond is a controversial figure in the USM family, but it would be wise for the AD to bring him on as a fundraiser. The man knows how to talk to people and raise money. And for an athletic department desperately in need of funds, seems like a no brainer.

correct when the EC director retired, hammond should have been moved to EC instead of AD

He was moved to ec.

(08-25-2017 09:58 AM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(08-25-2017 08:45 AM)EagNBran Wrote:  I know Hammond is a controversial figure in the USM family, but it would be wise for the AD to bring him on as a fundraiser. The man knows how to talk to people and raise money. And for an athletic department desperately in need of funds, seems like a no brainer.

That went out the window when the first thing Hammond did as AD was start a public poo-slinging fight with some of our biggest & oldest contributors, going as far as accusing some of nefarious activities with the previous AD. Then the state auditor came in and debunked said allegations.

Hammond is controversial because he's caustic. You can't have your head fund raiser collecting money from some people while insulting & pissing off other people. That's a zero-sum game.

I think what he was guilty of was a bad choice of wording. I fully think he meant we were not spending money wisely, but it did not come out like that.

(08-25-2017 07:50 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Now id like to hear more specifics on whats meant by "stagnation".

Look at the athletic budget numbers from year to year over his tenure. A list was posted here not too long ago.

(08-25-2017 09:59 AM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  I think what he was guilty of was a bad choice of wording. I fully think he meant we were not spending money wisely, but it did not come out like that.

A bad choice of wording should have never spiraled into front-page Sunday edition stories and Deadspin articles detailing the conflict between donors and the new athletic director and the allegations flying back and forth. It was clearly more than that.

It was the classic "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" scenario. He came in, identified an enemy to be rallied around, and hoped to just bomb the s*** out of everything until he molded the situation to his liking. I don't question that he thought he was doing the right thing, but you can't deal with donors in the same manner you deal with insurgents in Fallujah.

(08-25-2017 08:43 AM)CajunEagle Wrote:  

(08-24-2017 11:04 PM)Thegoldstandard Wrote:  If he was forced out everyone close to him is still tight lipped. Nothing is coming out of the staff that have followed him.

And the loss of Marcie Lanue, who came here and left with McGillis, was a big loss. Hope we get her back someday.

Anthony Martinez is leaving next week to follow Bill. The way he worked with the ncaa case will leave a big hole in the dept.

(08-25-2017 10:00 AM)HarborPointe Wrote:  

(08-25-2017 07:50 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Now id like to hear more specifics on whats meant by "stagnation".

Look at the athletic budget numbers from year to year over his tenure. A list was posted here not too long ago.

I think its fair to say eloss played a big role in causing that stagnation.