Is it even possible that we could find someone both competent and who truly has a connection to USM? People may hate on Hop on here and God knows his decision making at times vexes me, but I never doubt that he is proud to be here.

I’d love someone in leadership that cares about our school. I’d like a coach that wants to be the next head guy at Bama and will give 200% to get there.

Que the Bower mentions in 1....2....3...

(11-26-2018 02:28 PM)EagleFWB Wrote:  Que the Bower mentions in 1....2....3...

Could he be worse than this freaking dope?

Don't know the answer to that, but I'd personally rather not find out. I have no doubt his name will be mentioned hundreds of times if Gilbert leaves though.

http://nsjonline.com/article/2018/11/pir...n-gilbert/

The East Carolina Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, reportedly to approve the contract of a new athletic director.

According to several sources with knowledge of the situation, Southern Mississippi athletic director Jon Gilbert is the expected to be the choice to fill the position that has been vacant since Jeff Compher was asked to resign last March.

Gilbert has ties to ECU special consultant Dave Hart, having served under him as executive senior associate athletic director when the two were at Tennessee. They also worked together previously at Alabama.

Hart, who is leading ECU’s 13-member search committee with chancellor Cecil Staton, had set Dec. 1 as the goal for having a new AD in place. Barring any surprises as Wednesday’s Trustees meeting, where “confidential personnel and legal matters” will be discussed, he’ll beat that deadline by three days.

The timing will allow Gilbert to make an evaluation of the Pirates’ struggling football program and presumably hire his own coach once Scottie Montgomery is fired as expected following Saturday’s season finale at NC State.

Damn, this is good news!!

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

(11-27-2018 11:51 AM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

Seriously? You think Berry should be fired?

(11-27-2018 11:51 AM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

You have lofty goals..Of all the AD's I have seen, this one has done much of nothing. No major building initiatives and no major changes. It's gonna take someone at least 7 to 10 years to put in place a turnaround that we need.
I don't see a top notch AD sticking around that long. Problem with pulling someone from the inside, they may not have the street cred to execute a conference shift.
Caught in the middle...Hell, I'll take the guy or gal on inside (at USM) and swing for the fences...

(11-27-2018 12:27 PM)TTT Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 11:51 AM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

Seriously? You think Berry should be fired?

We can do better, much better. And that goes double for Otis and the lunch lady.

(11-27-2018 01:42 PM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:27 PM)TTT Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 11:51 AM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

Seriously? You think Berry should be fired?

We can do better, much better. And that goes double for Otis and the lunch lady.

Don’t talk about Ms Gloria like that now.

(11-27-2018 01:42 PM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:27 PM)TTT Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 11:51 AM)Black and Gold Battle Umbrella Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 12:59 AM)Reggie Favre Wrote:  Damn, this is good news!!

Adios, muchacha!

We need a real AD, a tough AD. One that will get rid of deadbeats Doc, Berry, McNelis, clean up the dept. bureaucracy and retool our entire athletic posture and focus.

Fat chance, huh?

Seriously? You think Berry should be fired?

We can do better, much better. And that goes double for Otis and the lunch lady.

Of course one can always do better...but firing Berry? That's absolutely ridiculous. Just imagine the precedent and expectations that would set for whoever is interviewing...knowing that the guy who was just FIRED did this:

2016: 41-20 Conference Champions, Regional Bid. T25 ranking
2017: 50-16 Conference Champion runner-up, NCAA Regional Host, T25 ranking
2018: 44-18 Conference Champions, Regional Bid, T25 ranking

^who in their right mind would want to interview for a job where the previous HC was FIRED for producing the above results!??? No one would want the job out of fear.

Obviously I'll grant you Doc and Joy but Berry? You'd have a better case for Hop. Berry has actually won some damn conference championships.

(11-27-2018 02:05 PM)TTT Wrote:  Regional Host

That, and consecutive winning seasons are what's important.

Mediocrity is the definition of Joye Lee's tenure here. How else do you explain her still having a job with 0 NCAA appearances in her 14 years here. I realize she has 2 2nd place reg season finishes and a 3rd place in the last 5 years but at the same time in the last 9 years she's had 5 finishes of 9th place or worse. I realize some people in the administration will settle for this as Joye does love USM but at what point do we get tired of settling for NIT berths every other year.

(11-27-2018 03:06 PM)usm99 Wrote:  Mediocrity is the definition of Joye Lee's tenure here. How else do you explain her still having a job with 0 NCAA appearances in her 14 years here. I realize she has 2 2nd place reg season finishes and a 3rd place in the last 5 years but at the same time in the last 9 years she's had 5 finishes of 9th place or worse. I realize some people in the administration will settle for this as Joye does love USM but at what point do we get tired of settling for NIT berths every other year.

I couldn't agree more, however its women's basketball. Nobody cares outside of the 150 fans that watch them.

That's the problem. No one cares. Until fans care, nothing will change.


There's a prevailing mindset in Hattiesburg that USM fans don't care about basketball, men's or women's. It's factually untrue. There's an idea that in the Deep South, football and baseball are all you should invest in because even good basketball teams don't get supported. Look no further than Starkville to see that's not the case.

Put a winning product on the court. I don't care if it's Men's or Women's, if they go out there and win, then they will be supported. And I don't mean schedule creampuffs and pad your record. I mean be competitive for a conference championship, go to NCAA tournaments, get ranked, etc.

(11-27-2018 04:34 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  That's the problem. No one cares. Until fans care, nothing will change.


There's a prevailing mindset in Hattiesburg that USM fans don't care about basketball, men's or women's. It's factually untrue. There's an idea that in the Deep South, football and baseball are all you should invest in because even good basketball teams don't get supported. Look no further than Starkville to see that's not the case.

Put a winning product on the court. I don't care if it's Men's or Women's, if they go out there and win, then they will be supported. And I don't mean schedule creampuffs and pad your record. I mean be competitive for a conference championship, go to NCAA tournaments, get ranked, etc.

i'm not arguing that if the women's team was winning people wouldn't show. I'm saying it's women's basketball and the product itself is unwatchable regardless of how good they are. I'd rather watch high school men's games than college, pro women's. Its boring and not entertaining. JMO. Oh and i do agree that more effort should be put into the men's program.

Gilbert can easily be replaced. Issue is we need to hire someone who will/can do a better job. If donors will give more money if Bower is AD, then hell, give him a shot. It's not like it can get worse.

(11-27-2018 03:16 PM)Footballeagle Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 03:06 PM)usm99 Wrote:  Mediocrity is the definition of Joye Lee's tenure here. How else do you explain her still having a job with 0 NCAA appearances in her 14 years here. I realize she has 2 2nd place reg season finishes and a 3rd place in the last 5 years but at the same time in the last 9 years she's had 5 finishes of 9th place or worse. I realize some people in the administration will settle for this as Joye does love USM but at what point do we get tired of settling for NIT berths every other year.

I couldn't agree more, however its women's basketball. Nobody cares outside of the 150 fans that watch them.

The least of our worries should be womens basketball or any other female sport. If womens bb made the ncaa tourney every year.....who really cares? Thats what guys talk and brag about to their buddies? Not most of us, id assume. "Hey man, our womens x team is awesome. Should see our point guard / pitcher / ????. Best player we've had in years. Check out this YouTube of her!". Nada.

Leave baseball and Berry alone. Think about how bad administration could **** that up with their hire. Focus on football and basketball as far as coaches.