(10-21-2013 08:31 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(10-19-2013 06:23 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  ....be cool....gonna take a tad bit of time (maybe we need to commit crime )

....the right people are in place....can't wait to see the bandwagon hoops people soon....they are a-lurkin'

I'm not a bandwagon hoops fan.. I just don't watch much roundball, but the last couple of years, I've enjoyed watching our boys when the game was on TV. If I can get the game on the dish, I'll probably watch. I'm the same with baseball.

However, I don't care if we're playing tiddlywinks against Bama, I'll pull for the black and gold every time.

...wasn't pointing at anyone specifically....was only referencing the people that used to say, "Hattiesburg isn't a bb town" and how 'they' are/will be speaking differently now that hoops is going to be our bread-and-butter this year.

...absolutely to the last statement

(10-21-2013 08:44 AM)stinkfist Wrote:  

(10-21-2013 08:31 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(10-19-2013 06:23 PM)stinkfist Wrote:  ....be cool....gonna take a tad bit of time (maybe we need to commit crime )

....the right people are in place....can't wait to see the bandwagon hoops people soon....they are a-lurkin'

I'm not a bandwagon hoops fan.. I just don't watch much roundball, but the last couple of years, I've enjoyed watching our boys when the game was on TV. If I can get the game on the dish, I'll probably watch. I'm the same with baseball.

However, I don't care if we're playing tiddlywinks against Bama, I'll pull for the black and gold every time.

...wasn't pointing at anyone specifically....was only referencing the people that used to say, "Hattiesburg isn't a bb town" and how 'they' are/will be speaking differently now that hoops is going to be our bread-and-butter this year.

...absolutely to the last statement

I didn't take it personally.. You won't see me at a basketball game, well any game for the foreseeable future since we just got done moving.

From an outsider with little to no knowledge of the ongoing of USM prior to '02...

Firing Jeff Bower, for whatever reason, didn't make a lick of sense to me. When y'all hired Fedora and OWNED the conference, I thought "Oh... well, it makes sense now."

When he bolted, I would have called you a damn liar had you told me USM would have a sub .500 record the following year, much less lose 18 in a row.

I'm sure this horse has been beaten to death, but what is the likelihood of ever seeing Bower return to USM? Or has that bridge been burned?

(10-19-2013 05:51 PM)EagleX Wrote:  no, it isn't a news flash, but it's apparent that this hole is much, much deeper than many of us initially suspected.

I submit to you that the streak of winning seasons was NOT the effect of excellence, but had become a primary CAUSE that sustained us. it was the thing that made us different. once it went away, we were just another small(ish) school from a southern state with a strange name and a questionable history that no one will let us forget. and then the accumulated weight of our numerous defects attached themselves to our already shuddering structure; tiny budget, apathetic student body, the educational apartheid practiced in the state that presumes itself smart enough to dole out educational missions like pieces of pie, and a fan base that has historically refused to be critical in any way of any aspect of the program because "it's mean to the kids". that last one is the dick that's has been in all of our a$$es for years, and it has to go away NOW. you can't fix it if you can't even admit where the problem is, and those people that became satisfied with being "good enough" are a cancer.

then the collapse came. we were always much closer to the edge than we ever thought, or wanted to admit. we got fat and spoiled. we all clapped politely as we won more than we lost, and battled among ourselves to determine who would be king of our anthill. I hope there is a special place reserved in the least desirable part of hell for those that would hurt the program so they can be the big kid on the block.

in an odd way, Pappy Buttermilk did us a favor. he shattered the illusion that was our success. now, I despise the pompous, weazen little SEC worshiping bastard that was always too good for us, but maybe blowing the thing up and starting from scratch with good men in charge of the rebuilding -- and monk, mcgillis, and bennett are nothing if not good, smart men -- is just what the doctor ordered.

I'm all in for the 0-whatever it takes as long as we expunge the attitude that has rotted our core; the attitude that winning every year created, the rot that began as gentle refusal to criticize "the kids", and became a glorified high school attitude that held us back. and we need to line the people who's goal is to rule the anthill up against a wall and do them with heavy automatic weapons fire.

Excellent post

I have long felt the same way about my school and their basketball program. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

(10-21-2013 12:50 PM)ECUGrad07 Wrote:  From an outsider with little to no knowledge of the ongoing of USM prior to '02...

Firing Jeff Bower, for whatever reason, didn't make a lick of sense to me. When y'all hired Fedora and OWNED the conference, I thought "Oh... well, it makes sense now."

When he bolted, I would have called you a damn liar had you told me USM would have a sub .500 record the following year, much less lose 18 in a row.

I'm sure this horse has been beaten to death, but what is the likelihood of ever seeing Bower return to USM? Or has that bridge been burned?

I think there's some chance that will happen... I mean 5-10% likelihood.

Firing Bower was not a bad idea. The bad idea was to fire Bower without keeping the next guy long enough to actually improve anything. Yeah, we brought in Fedora and won some games... but when he left, we were playing in the same conference and in the same stadium and spending the same amount of money per year. That was stupid. Once we fired Bower, we should have been 100% committed to having someone better than Bower in place until we'd accomplished whatever it was we were trying to accomplish. Instead, we followed the post-Bower plan for four years, and then tried to hire Bower 2.0, and made zero effort to keep Fedora or hire the next Fedora. And that was pure idiocy, and it came from the "good enough" mentality of the amateur AD running things at that time.