***Jeff Bower fired/resigns from Southern Miss***

[torsten]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

From '96-'00 USM was perceived as a really good team that no one wanted to face. It seemed that they had a chance against anyone. But they slipped down a notch . Maybe not that much, but home and opposing fans no longer have high hopes or worry too much about a big upset. USM has lost at least 5 games in 6 of the past 7 seasons. Combine that with declining attendance and you can see why they'd make a move.

 

[CapstoneGrad06]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

I just don't see them being any more competitive than they have been under Bower. I think their biggest problem has been the emergence of Troy, UCF, and South Florida over the last several years. These teams have taken up a large amount of the overlooked talent that used to make its way to Hattiesburg.

 

[It's On A Slab]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

Residents of Hattiesburg are dancing in the streets. Attendance was terrible this year! No ONE wanted to go to USM games. As a resident of the 'burg people were just tired of bland boring football. Granted USM won games, but they did it as the crowd went to sleep. Play calling here has been abysmal for years. USM is ready for new blood and excitement in their program.

Hasn't USM been in danger of losing Div. 1A status for their football program due to poor attendance?

I've seen televised games where it looked like half of M. M. Roberts (capacity: 33K) was empty.

 

[WPtider]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

One word for you: Fran. Probably won't happen but would be a perfect fit.

 

[jthomas666]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

This was a stupid move by Southern Miss.

Yep. Bower's a damn good coach.

 

[Tide&True]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

They will regret this...sort of like Ol Miss regrets letting Cut go.

 

[RIVATIDE86]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

They will regret this...sort of like Ol Miss regrets letting Cut go.

Yeah, except the got rid of a guy who gave his while professional career to them...that will lead to some bad karma. I wouldn't be surprised to see him bounce to Oxford, but I'm not sure Ole Miss is smart enough to make that move.

 

[exiledNms]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

FWIW, the Hattiesburg American quotes USM's Def. Coord. saying he resigned. Methinks he resigned to avoid being canned, but there it is. JB meets with team at 3:00, with presser at 4:00.

My sense is that the locals (who are USM types that is) applaud JB for his years of service, but most believe it's time for a change. Consecutive 7-5 records against...non-intimidating opponents, let's say.... As already noted, the program peaked around 2000 & has steadily declined since. I think this could be a good job for a young guy looking to make a mark. I'm also hearing that the PTB recognize that the pursestrings will have to be loosened.

Not to argue with anyone, but if JB is such an awesome coach, where are all of the bigtime programs looking to hire him these past dozen years? *crickets* (hint: they have not been coming to H'burg...) And this was true before his daughter's tragic passing. Just sayin'...

As to Nix, he's also well-liked around here, but it is documented that USM's defenses began their steady decline during his time as DC here. Also, he's not reputed to be a very good recruiter as DC.

Will be interesting to watch.

(BTW, H'burg's metro area population is well over 100K. Hardly a huge city, but a growing one. And absolutely not a cow pasture like Stark-Vegas or Au-barn. Not a bad place to live at all...one man's opinion to be sure, but that is my opinion.)

 

[AlistarWills]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

I think some school with a budget, is fixing to get them a durn good coach. I think Bower lands on his feet somewhere. Don't think he'll be unemployed long.

 

[TiderinMiss]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

(BTW, H'burg's metro area population is well over 100K. Hardly a huge city, but a growing one. And absolutely not a cow pasture like Stark-Vegas or Au-barn. Not a bad place to live at all...one man's opinion to be sure, but that is my opinion.)

I would live in Hattiesburg before I lived in Starkville. Ask Ben Pollard why he hasn't "moooved" to Starkville, yet.

I mean...there's a REASON they call it "Stark"ville...

 

[bamaga]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

14 consecutive winning seasons, bowls 9 of ten years, a coach that really had no desire to go anywhere else, for 500k a year. I hope they get what they deserve

 

[bamaga]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

Didn't UA fans complain about Gene Stallings coaching boring games?

got ran off because he beat the southern misses of the world 9-7. just didn't win pretty enough. CGS' problem was steve spurrier(blowing people out)! wait a minute, he resigned because of John Mark!

 

[trenda]

I didn't figure it'd take too long . . .

I think this is pure speculation on their part; but Dave Woloshin and Jeff Weinberger on WHBQ AM 560 in Memphis are reporting that USM is interested in Major Applewhite.

 

[GrayTide]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

Kim always loved Hattiesburg. Ah, the beautiful sunsets over the trailer park......

I love it, but would add that Kim and Dennis would also enjoy the early morning strolls with the sauna like humidity rising off the kudzu.

 

[MegaVars]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

One word for you: Fran. Probably won't happen but would be a perfect fit.

Look for Fran to be a door greeter at your local Wal-Mart.

 

[rpeastep]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

Yeah, I know coaches are calling their agents right now begging to get them down to Hattiesburg.

This is a bigger joke than Nebraska firing Solich

 

[RobK]

Reminds me of when East Carolina fired Steve Logan. He was very solid coach, knocked off several BCS conference teams, then had one bad year and was gone, after which the program ran aground under John Thompson.

 

[trenda]

The coach at Millsaps has been doing pretty well the past couple of years and was an assistant at USM back in the early 80's. He was also a HC at a major Div. I school (even won a conference championship).

Anyone think he gets any consideration?????

 

[BocaLance]

Re: ***Jeff Bower fired from Southern Miss***

This one I don't understand. Who do they think will do better there?

I hear Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier and Bobby Petrino are all on USM's list. :biggrin:

 

[Salty Dog @ Work]

Let me say that while I worked at USM, I had several opportunities to watch Bower at work -- recruiting, public speaking, and, of course coaching. To echo what exiled said, things have been headed south for some time. USM's defense used to be near-SEC caliber, even though its offense was SEC-circa-1960-caliber. However, Bower played the Jackie Sherrill game and fired coordinator after coordinator trying to get the O going. If you look at where USM is right now, it's not hard to argue that they are worse off than they were, say, 7 years ago.

Bower has made a living beating SEC-caliber opponents, putting winning seasons together, going to bowl games, running a clean program, recruiting the right kinds of players, and graduating those players with great regularity.

However, USM hasn't beaten a meaningful opponent since Bama 2000. USM has continued to win, but if you look at the deterioration of C-USA after the departures of Louisville, Cincinnati, TCU, and USF, you'll see just how weak the competition has been. Still, instead of being able to get to the Liberty Bowl, USM is relegated to the PapaJohns.com Bowl or the New Orleans Bowl. The once clean program has had players with repeated run-ins with the law. Marcus "convicted killer" Raines is a fullback on the team, and Antwan "rapist" Easterling is a reserve running back; these bad eggs and others like them who were recruited to help win games give the whole group a bad name. Sources at USM tell me that there has been a recent widespread cheating scandal involving football players.

It was time for Bower to go. He'd outstayed his welcome, and he let his bread-and-butter go stale.