I'd encourage anyone who can go to Mobile to do so. I don't know what it was like in 2005 but it has improved just in the time we have been there. It's been a lot of fun.

(12-07-2014 03:58 PM)eastisbest Wrote:  Nice school, nice location, that we're going to play them the next two years takes a lot of interest away for me. Rather se a game against someone haven't played before or at least in a while. All of which I imagine will go away once the game begins.

Think like a conference commissioner. If the game turns out to be a good one it's a point you make to ESPN when considering game assignments.

Think like an AD. By playing first in a bowl the brand awareness for the game you have to sell in September goes up.

(12-07-2014 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  Was really hoping for Boise. Oh well....

Eh just another team with a former AState head coach.

(12-07-2014 08:44 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 05:14 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Who are some of the teams of note that Arkansas State has beaten over the past few years. Don't know much at all about them and trying to get caught up.

I remember the Rockets played Arkansas State in the Glass Bowl back in the early 1990s. Toledo still played defense in those days and Arkansas State was down at that time and it was a shutout with the UT offense running up a pretty high score. I also remember the next week Arkansas State was scheduled to play a ranked Oklahoma team-----don't know how they fared the at Oklahoma the following week after being blown up by a lowly Toledo team, but I imagine it got pretty ugly. Actually Toledo had a pretty good team that year and also beat Purdue at W. Lafayette.

That might have been the year Saban was head coach here in which case TampaRocket might give us a recap of the game.

Played twice. 1990 we had just announced we were moving to I-A. That was loss #5 in a 15 game losing streak.
1992 first year in FBS, Game one in a three game streak of being shut out but it was one of my favorite days ever.

The University of Arkansas had always said they couldn't play us because they wouldn't play I-AA teams. That day we entered I-A and they played I-AA Citadel ending their policy and they lost and fired their coach one game into the season.

Now the policy is they don't play in-state schools.

(12-08-2014 01:16 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 05:23 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  Was really hoping for Boise. Oh well....

Eh just another team with a former AState head coach.

Just so you know, H2O often posts in jest. He was sardonically referring to the Potato Bowl as that is the least desirable to most of us. Not that we don't like Boise - it's just an expensive trip and except those of us who snow ski, we prefer to vacation in warmer climates in the winter. Those of us who live in Ohio are familiar with what snow looks like.

I had an option of a training program in either Boise or St. Louis nearly died when I saw the air fare for Boise but was going to go and try to sneak off the ski. Fortunately I saw that slopes wouldn't open until a week after and didn't screw up and book. Went to StL in the summer and the Cards were in town.

(12-08-2014 01:22 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 08:44 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 05:14 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Who are some of the teams of note that Arkansas State has beaten over the past few years. Don't know much at all about them and trying to get caught up.

I remember the Rockets played Arkansas State in the Glass Bowl back in the early 1990s. Toledo still played defense in those days and Arkansas State was down at that time and it was a shutout with the UT offense running up a pretty high score. I also remember the next week Arkansas State was scheduled to play a ranked Oklahoma team-----don't know how they fared the at Oklahoma the following week after being blown up by a lowly Toledo team, but I imagine it got pretty ugly. Actually Toledo had a pretty good team that year and also beat Purdue at W. Lafayette.

That might have been the year Saban was head coach here in which case TampaRocket might give us a recap of the game.

Played twice. 1990 we had just announced we were moving to I-A. That was loss #5 in a 15 game losing streak.
1992 first year in FBS, Game one in a three game streak of being shut out but it was one of my favorite days ever.

The University of Arkansas had always said they couldn't play us because they wouldn't play I-AA teams. That day we entered I-A and they played I-AA Citadel ending their policy and they lost and fired their coach one game into the season.

Now the policy is they don't play in-state schools.

I remember when former NY Giants & Univ. of Alabama Head coach Ray Perkins brought stAte to The Glass Bowl. stAte was know as the Indians in those days, if I recall correctly.

(12-08-2014 12:29 PM)Terry Wrote:  

(12-08-2014 01:22 AM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 08:44 PM)T-Town Wrote:  

(12-07-2014 05:14 PM)MotoRocket Wrote:  Who are some of the teams of note that Arkansas State has beaten over the past few years. Don't know much at all about them and trying to get caught up.

I remember the Rockets played Arkansas State in the Glass Bowl back in the early 1990s. Toledo still played defense in those days and Arkansas State was down at that time and it was a shutout with the UT offense running up a pretty high score. I also remember the next week Arkansas State was scheduled to play a ranked Oklahoma team-----don't know how they fared the at Oklahoma the following week after being blown up by a lowly Toledo team, but I imagine it got pretty ugly. Actually Toledo had a pretty good team that year and also beat Purdue at W. Lafayette.

That might have been the year Saban was head coach here in which case TampaRocket might give us a recap of the game.

Played twice. 1990 we had just announced we were moving to I-A. That was loss #5 in a 15 game losing streak.
1992 first year in FBS, Game one in a three game streak of being shut out but it was one of my favorite days ever.

The University of Arkansas had always said they couldn't play us because they wouldn't play I-AA teams. That day we entered I-A and they played I-AA Citadel ending their policy and they lost and fired their coach one game into the season.

Now the policy is they don't play in-state schools.

I remember when former NY Giants & Univ. of Alabama Head coach Ray Perkins brought stAte to The Glass Bowl. stAte was know as the Indians in those days, if I recall correctly.

You are correct.

That was a weird time at AState.

We had the craziest coaching search of all time. AD announced he was hiring Red Parker (OC at Ole Miss and former Clemson head coach as well as head coach at a number of Division II and NAIA schools) and board of trustees said wait a minute, you hired the last chump without a search, you are going to do a search.

So former head coach Larry Lacewell threw his name in the hat (he had quit over the move to I-A because he wanted to split the AD and head coach job, the president agreed but wanted him to coach, he wanted to be AD so he quit). Then former ULM head coach Pat Collins who was our OC threw his name in. One night during the search all three were at a basketball game shaking hands and campaigning.

The search turned weirder when word came out that Parker and Lacewell had combined forces and told the AD pick one of us and we will hire the other. Lacewell would run the defense and Parker the offense, and have total control of their staff, with whomever was picked as head coach having final say on recruiting.

Out of the blue Ray Perkins called and asked for the job.

He got it and in January the next year the AD got canned, Perkins demanded to be made AD and was rebuffed so he quit 11 days before signing day to be OC for the Pats.

That led to a subsequent weird search as Tommy Tuberville applied and demanded that he get a salary of X and new assistants. The assistants had just signed new contracts so AState said you can have the salary but keep the assistants or take a lower salary and hire new assistants and he walked.

Those were some hard years.

Oh and our policy of no coach as AD went out the window a couple years after we hired Joe Hollis from Ohio State, then AD was fired and he became AD.

For a long time that was our biggest press coverage ever. We fired Hollis on a Sunday and he asked to keep quiet until he told the team but he never did. Finally in the third quarter of the season finale the president ordered the SID to issue a release about the firing so the media could talk to the kids who were about to leave town for a few days.

Thanks to that we were the school who fired their coach who had just been diagnosed with cancer on Thanksgiving Day. :(

Hollis isn't our only Ohio connection.

Former AState player Harry Larche coached Toledo a couple years. He was recently named to our All-Century team as a lineman.

AState coach Frosty England was at AState for 8 years. He was mediocre when AState was NAIA (22-17-7) but when we moved to the NCAA he took off (26-5-2). After two Tangerine Bowl appearances he moved on to Toledo.

Looking at the game to be played, the Dream and Scary Terry look set to have themselves decent games and with ArkSt. giving up close to 200 on the ground per game I would not be surprised if both surpassed 100 yards. Their schedule doesn't look the strongest and they lost one more game than UT, but UT struggled to beat any team out of the conference with any sort of prowess (granted we know how injuries have been our own worst enemy all year.) That again being said, swing a few plays in our favor in both the Cincy and Mizzou games and you have completely different games. And well, take the cyclone game for what it was I guess. Our offense is poised to jump all over this arkst team when you add in a healthy woodside and ZO. Now comes the fun part, what UT defense will show up? ArkSt. ranks 25th in total yards offensively in the nation where UT is 22nd. The wolves however, do hold a 1 point per game advantage over UT. According to, everyones favorite, espn UT's strength of record received 44.7 points out of 100 whereas the wolves only received 33.1, again showing Toledo's higher quality of games. But with the amount of offense the wolves are capable of achieving, Rocket defense could yet again be exposed. All considered this appears to be slated for a shootout, but my nod goes to my midnight blue and gold. The defense, while giving up many yards and points, has shown us again and again the ability to make a stop at key times in the game.

All our coaching searches are strange:

2011: Our AD at the time was a big fan of the previous coach. We had won 6 games a couple time and made a bowl once. We were stable, but mediocre. However, fans and boosters were very frustrated and wanted a winning team. The year before we had fired our OC after an awful offensive year, and hired Hugh Freeze as OC, after the previous guy we hired jetted for Southern Cal to join Lane Kiffen a few days after signing day. Freeze comes in, offense sets school records. Defense sucks, so we finish 4-8. Boosters force AD to fire the head coach with threats of pulling donations. AD wants to do full search. Boosters and the Governor of Arkansas (Who is a major booster and ST Holder) says "No, you will hire Hugh Freeze" Freeze is hired a couple days later. Fires the entire defensive staff, and we go 10-2 with a strong defense and record breaking offense. Ole Miss fires Houston Nutt, gets rebuffed by its top candidates, hires Freeze as a backup plan. Freeze breaks down in tears practically after we beat Troy to win the conference. He knew he was gone and fans were begging him to stay.

2012. AD again wants to do the search for new head coach. We get linked to a lot of blah names. However, Hugh Freeze had other ideas. A couple days after taking the OM job, he picks up the phone and calls Gus Malzahn. Malzahn was in hot water at Auburn after Gene Chizik wanted to move to a pro style offense a year after winning a national title. Freeze tells him how much talent we had on the team, tells him to take the job, and gives him the Governor's cell phone number. Malzahn calls the Governor of Arkansas before ever calling the AD. Governor has to restrain himself from jumping up and down in celebration from his office. He has Malzahn call the AD. Malzahn calls our AD, who thinks he's calling to make a coaching suggestion, and tells him he wants the job. Shocked AD calls the President, who nearly has a wreck. Somehow the three of them manage to hide Malzahn from the fan base for a week while talking to his agent. He's hired and over 1,000 people show up at the introductory presser. Its clear early that Malzahn wants our current AD fired. We hire a new chancellor, wait for the AD to screw up. (Which he does when he fails to turn in a required report for the University because he doesn't read his own email) AD is promptly reassigned. We hire a former football player to be AD. Malzahn goes to Auburn when Chizik gets canned for letting him leave.

2013: Chancellor, President, and AD form their own search committee. After a decent bit of searching, a former Boise AD who had been helping us in our "Boise State of the South" plan, gets word that Bryan Harsin at Texas wants out and is interested in our job. We do the interview and make the hire. Harsin struggles with fans. We're not your typical college. Our fans expect you to be a High School coach here, and be out in the town, grocerty shopping and eating in restaurants with local fans, being prepared to stop and talk no huddle offense with a fan in line at Wal Mart. Harsin wanted to hide in a gated community and stay out of the public spot light. We lost to an awful Memphis team in our rivalry game, and the fans turned on him. Around game 8, Harsin figures things out a bit, realizes converting us to a Boise offense isn't working because we're not boise, and fires himself as OC. We win 4 of 5 to finish 7-5. Amazingly, Petersen leaves Boise, and Harsin goes there.

2014: We put on a full court press for Chad Morris at Clemson. While doing this we give courtesy interviews of 2nd choice candidates. Blake Anderson comes in, preaches a family atmosphere and a return to our no huddle roots. We're intrigued. While down in Clemson negotiating with Morris, things break down when the family doesn't want to leave Clemson until his daughter graduates this May. Our AD from Clemson, calls Anderson, and offers him the job. AD sends out a tweet welcoming him to Jonesboro and forgets to turn off the location app on his Twitter. The Tweet comes from the Clemson Regional Airport.

(12-08-2014 01:30 PM)JCannon21 Wrote:  Looking at the game to be played, the Dream and Scary Terry look set to have themselves decent games and with ArkSt. giving up close to 200 on the ground per game I would not be surprised if both surpassed 100 yards. Their schedule doesn't look the strongest and they lost one more game than UT, but UT struggled to beat any team out of the conference with any sort of prowess (granted we know how injuries have been our own worst enemy all year.) That again being said, swing a few plays in our favor in both the Cincy and Mizzou games and you have completely different games. And well, take the cyclone game for what it was I guess. Our offense is poised to jump all over this arkst team when you add in a healthy woodside and ZO. Now comes the fun part, what UT defense will show up? ArkSt. ranks 25th in total yards offensively in the nation where UT is 22nd. The wolves however, do hold a 1 point per game advantage over UT. According to, everyones favorite, espn UT's strength of record received 44.7 points out of 100 whereas the wolves only received 33.1, again showing Toledo's higher quality of games. But with the amount of offense the wolves are capable of achieving, Rocket defense could yet again be exposed. All considered this appears to be slated for a shootout, but my nod goes to my midnight blue and gold. The defense, while giving up many yards and points, has shown us again and again the ability to make a stop at key times in the game.

That's not our fault. The Sun Belt decided to have its worst year in about 7 or 8 seasons. Our win over Utah State was the league's best OOC win this year, which is positively frightening.

You think we've had it bad with coaches leaving us for ''greener pastures''...stAte has had it way worse. Just checked their wiki page and they've had 3 one and done coaches from 2011-2013.

*Hugh Freeze coached stAte in 2011, led them to a 10-2 record and bolted to Ole Miss before their bowl game.
*Gus Malzahn coached stAte in 2012, led them to a 10-3 record and again, bolted before their bowl game to Auburn.
*Bryce Harsin coached stAte in 2013, led them to a 7-5 record and YET AGAIN, bolted before their bowl game to Boise St.

That's insane and really sucks for a program to build any true stability, but remarkably they seem to be doing just fine. I wonder if their new head coach Blake Anderson will make it 4 in a row.

(12-08-2014 03:43 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  You think we've had it bad with coaches leaving us for ''greener pastures''...stAte has had it way worse. Just checked their wiki page and they've had 3 one and done coaches from 2011-2013.

*Hugh Freeze coached stAte in 2011, led them to a 10-2 record and bolted to Ole Miss before their bowl game.
*Gus Malzahn coached stAte in 2012, led them to a 10-3 record and again, bolted before their bowl game to Auburn.
*Bryce Harsin coached stAte in 2013, led them to a 7-5 record and YET AGAIN, bolted before their bowl game to Boise St.

That's insane and really sucks for a program to build any true stability, but remarkably they seem to be doing just fine. I wonder if their new head coach Blake Anderson will make it 4 in a row.

We put a 3 million dollar price tag on his head. He's not going anywhere.

We've made more off buyouts than we have spent on coaches salary in the last 4 years

stAte has been to the GoDaddy bowl the past 3 years. They've faced a MAC school every time...I'm gonna be honest, that would get old. They got drilled by niu in '11, squeaked by Kent St in '12, and beat Ball St. by 3 just last year.

Our Rockets have to make a statement for the MAC in this game.

(12-08-2014 03:45 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(12-08-2014 03:43 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  You think we've had it bad with coaches leaving us for ''greener pastures''...stAte has had it way worse. Just checked their wiki page and they've had 3 one and done coaches from 2011-2013.

*Hugh Freeze coached stAte in 2011, led them to a 10-2 record and bolted to Ole Miss before their bowl game.
*Gus Malzahn coached stAte in 2012, led them to a 10-3 record and again, bolted before their bowl game to Auburn.
*Bryce Harsin coached stAte in 2013, led them to a 7-5 record and YET AGAIN, bolted before their bowl game to Boise St.

That's insane and really sucks for a program to build any true stability, but remarkably they seem to be doing just fine. I wonder if their new head coach Blake Anderson will make it 4 in a row.

We put a 3 million dollar price tag on his head. He's not going anywhere.

We've made more off buyouts than we have spent on coaches salary in the last 4 years

Wow, that's incredible.

(12-08-2014 03:48 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  

(12-08-2014 03:45 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  

(12-08-2014 03:43 PM)inductchuck16 Wrote:  You think we've had it bad with coaches leaving us for ''greener pastures''...stAte has had it way worse. Just checked their wiki page and they've had 3 one and done coaches from 2011-2013.

*Hugh Freeze coached stAte in 2011, led them to a 10-2 record and bolted to Ole Miss before their bowl game.
*Gus Malzahn coached stAte in 2012, led them to a 10-3 record and again, bolted before their bowl game to Auburn.
*Bryce Harsin coached stAte in 2013, led them to a 7-5 record and YET AGAIN, bolted before their bowl game to Boise St.

That's insane and really sucks for a program to build any true stability, but remarkably they seem to be doing just fine. I wonder if their new head coach Blake Anderson will make it 4 in a row.

We put a 3 million dollar price tag on his head. He's not going anywhere.

We've made more off buyouts than we have spent on coaches salary in the last 4 years

Wow, that's incredible.

Wow, that's what we need to learn to do.

(12-08-2014 03:45 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  We put a 3 million dollar price tag on his head. He's not going anywhere.

We've made more off buyouts than we have spent on coaches salary in the last 4 years

Good job! Hats off to your AD. Besides, the way they throw money around, they probably won't miss a million here or there very much anyway. Furthermore I suspect the G5 teams can get more bang for the buck than the BIG boys can anyway so the money will be well spent.

Coaching turmoil has left our lines a mess.

An old college administrator (not affiliated with AState) predicts there will be some good coaches emerge off our roster because they have had exposure to so many coaches that they probably know more football theory than most GA's and quality control guys in the SEC.