I think I found Hopson's mentor - they must talk football a lot. I could change "Texans" to "Southern Miss", "O'Brien" to "Hopson" and "Chiefs" to "Tulane" and submit it to our AD.

Opinion

I'd be willing to make a coaching trade with the Texans.

(01-28-2020 11:10 AM)Eagleholic Wrote:  I'd be willing to make a coaching trade with the Texans.

Pretty good thread title to bring up Tony Pecoraro being back on staff

To anyone thinking *maybe* Hopson would figure it out for 2020, the answer is no. This just shows he has no desire to be competitive. Pecoraro was terrible for us the years he was here. There was celebration when he left. Just plain bad.

Yeah, I don't like the hire either. What position though? Hasn't said it's DC. I imagine next season will be Hops last. A decision will have to be made or USM will lose what little fanbase it has left.

(01-29-2020 08:33 AM)EagleFWB Wrote:  Yeah, I don't like the hire either. What position though? Hasn't said it's DC. I imagine next season will be Hops last. A decision will have to be made or USM will lose what little fanbase it has left.

Thought there might be a methodical search and a bold improvement oriented move.

Instead we get the easy hire.

He's gotta support his buddy. How many of our hires aren't from SWAC schools?

This is a nobody gives a flying F hire.

(01-29-2020 12:20 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  He's gotta support his buddy. How many of our hires aren't from SWAC schools?

just a matter of time before the whole school is swac

Seems that’s Bennett’s vision for the school, Hopson’s just doing his part.

The school as a whole has been poorly run for years and the athletic programs have suffered. The underling problem is leadership from top to bottom at the university. Having heard the Alumni meetings with the powers that be it has become clear that they have no idea what direction they want for USM. A few years ago Bennett decided that we as a university should target first generation college students and minority students more aggressively. I have no problem with that and feel like it is a niche that USM should go after. However given our limited resources what followed was the pursuit of all other students declined. The argument has been made by many that the admission scores ie ACT, GPA have risen during this period by 1-2 pts on the act and a few pts on the GPA. This is true as well but the average ACT score across the country increased by 2-3 pts so take that how you want. Also first generation college students are less likely to graduate and immediately contribute back to the university. The lack of pursuing second, third, fourth generation students is hurting the University. My son recently graduated from USM as did his wife. They are both third generation USM students with both families having countless USM graduates. Unfortunately they will probably be the last of their families to attend USM. The school has changed from what it once was the experience isn't on par with dare i say MSU, Ole Miss and students are choosing them over USM. I love this University and will always support it and complain about it as well. When i went to my son's graduation in May i was absolutely embarrassed at the poorly ran ceremony his high school graduation was better planned and put together. USM looks and feels like poor school and shows in every aspect of the school from academics to athletics. We can complain about Hopson and how bad he is and how we don't have money for anything but this is a systematic problem that starts with a poor leader.

(01-30-2020 01:02 PM)Footballeagle Wrote:  The school as a whole has been poorly run for years and the athletic programs have suffered. The underling problem is leadership from top to bottom at the university. Having heard the Alumni meetings with the powers that be it has become clear that they have no idea what direction they want for USM. A few years ago Bennett decided that we as a university should target first generation college students and minority students more aggressively. I have no problem with that and feel like it is a niche that USM should go after. However given our limited resources what followed was the pursuit of all other students declined. The argument has been made by many that the admission scores ie ACT, GPA have risen during this period by 1-2 pts on the act and a few pts on the GPA. This is true as well but the average ACT score across the country increased by 2-3 pts so take that how you want. Also first generation college students are less likely to graduate and immediately contribute back to the university. The lack of pursuing second, third, fourth generation students is hurting the University. My son recently graduated from USM as did his wife. They are both third generation USM students with both families having countless USM graduates. Unfortunately they will probably be the last of their families to attend USM. The school has changed from what it once was the experience isn't on par with dare i say MSU, Ole Miss and students are choosing them over USM. I love this University and will always support it and complain about it as well. When i went to my son's graduation in May i was absolutely embarrassed at the poorly ran ceremony his high school graduation was better planned and put together. USM looks and feels like poor school and shows in every aspect of the school from academics to athletics. We can complain about Hopson and how bad he is and how we don't have money for anything but this is a systematic problem that starts with a poor leader.

Amen!

Heck, I didn't even get a letter from USM until my dad called and chewed them out. Legacy, had my mailbox full of stuff from every SEC school in the area, but nothing from USM. That was 2008-2009. Martha had a very intentional strategy to not recruit Jackson Metro at all. She put the worst recruiter we had on the area and all that. They're just clueless.

Think I mentioned this a while back.. My daughter auditioned for their all-south band her junior year. She made principle player for her instrument and had solos at the concert. Wouldn't you think that the music dept would be all over that trying to recruit her senior year? Nope not at all. She did audition and got accepted.They offered her music and academic scholly, but nothing great. I can't count how many family members on mine and wife's side that went to USM.

Sounds like Southern Miss has been run into the ground since Aubrey Lucas retired. Sad and pathetic. No wonder the athletic programs are in this kind of shape. Its a miracle the University is afloat at all.

Removing the Athletics, poor product, and leadership aspect of it all.

Degree offering also has a huge impact on how much and what the university gets back in support of athletics and academics from their alumni base.

You can’t expect a huge academic or athletic contribution from your alumni base when you’re primarily producing teachers and musicians.

(01-31-2020 12:39 PM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  Removing the Athletics, poor product, and leadership aspect of it all.

Degree offering also has a huge impact on how much and what the university gets back in support of athletics and academics from their alumni base.

You can’t expect a huge academic or athletic contribution from your alumni base when you’re primarily producing teachers and musicians.

Very true and i left that out of my OP. Not having degrees in Law, Medicine, Engineering etc is huge problem. My son and his wife were both accounting majors and both have very good jobs so it worked out for them. It seems the bulk of donations from alumni are from the business school grads.

(01-31-2020 12:42 PM)Footballeagle Wrote:  

(01-31-2020 12:39 PM)SouthernMissSNu Wrote:  Removing the Athletics, poor product, and leadership aspect of it all.

Degree offering also has a huge impact on how much and what the university gets back in support of athletics and academics from their alumni base.

You can’t expect a huge academic or athletic contribution from your alumni base when you’re primarily producing teachers and musicians.

Very true and i left that out of my OP. Not having degrees in Law, Medicine, Engineering etc is huge problem. My son and his wife were both accounting majors and both have very good jobs so it worked out for them. It seems the bulk of donations from alumni are from the business school grads.

I’m a College of Business product, and it’s set me up very well to succeed. But, I had to cold call and put in 3-4x the work to get the opportunity for the job than my UT, Texas A&M and Tulane, and Bama counterparts had to. Unfortunately, if you want opportunities outside of the Jackson Metro Area, Pine Belt, or Mobile area (E.g. bigger financial centers, investment companies, bigger cities) you have to scrap and find them on your own. So that can further stunt any potential contribution ceiling as well.

This thread has become yet another recycling of the “woe is us” baloney we all went over 100 times during Bower’s waning years.

We do not face a single obstacle, hardship, or disadvantage today that we didn’t face while Monken was winning the division with a 9-3 record. It’s the same school with the same academic offerings, the same president, and the same finances parked in same conference. As soon as we can shed Hopson and replace him with a head coach we don’t have to water & turn toward the sun every morning, we can get this thing back on track. Keep your eyes on the ball. Yes, we have underlying issues that will forever keep us out of the P5, but the issue at hand is simply that Hopson f***ing sucks.