Adios to the Mississippi Mudcats.........

[TilloDawg]

http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=275111&pub=1&div=Sports

<table cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td valign="top"> <font face="Tahoma" size="4">UPDATE:MudCats coaches quit</font>

<font face="Tahoma" size="2">6/19/2008 1:25:58 PM
Daily Journal</font></p> </td> <td valign="top"> <div align="center">

<table cellspacing="0" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td align="middle">

</td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"></td> </tr> </tbody> </table>​

</div> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

<font face="Tahoma" size="2">By John L. Pitts
Daily Journal
TUPELO - All three primary coaches of the Mississippi MudCats indoor pro football team resigned this morning in a dispute about their pay.

The coaches walked away with two regular-season road games remaining and the MudCats already assured of an American Indoor Football Association playoff game at BancorpSouth Arena on July 5.

Head coach Brian Brents, 27, who has led the team since its inception last season, confirmed that he and assistants Gary Patterson and Kirk Broussard submitted their resignations to majority owner Jim Waide.

Brents said Waide, a Tupelo attorney, had asked for the three coaches to "make some cuts," including a restructuring of their compensation deals, in a morning meeting.

"I knew the organization was struggling," said Brents, "but this hit me hard."

Brents and his staff guided the MudCats to a 12-4 record in its inaugural season last year, losing in the second round of the playoffs.

The team is 11-1 this season and faces a road trip to Columbus, Ga., for a game on Saturday - with a dramatically revised coaching staff and a roster that will be depleted of at least a few familiar faces.

Veteran lineman William Stewart, an AIFA All-Star last year, told the Daily Journal this morning that he was calling it a career. "I'm fed up," said Stewart, a Pontotoc native who works as an assistant football coach at South Panola High School.

"We had a great chance to win this thing," Stewart said. "I regard this as a slap in the face to all of us."

Stewart said he expected at least one other "major player" would leave the team in the wake of today's news.

Waide has called a 4 p.m. news conference at his office to discuss today's developments. Reportedly, MudCats assistant William McCarthy - the team's line coach and special teams coordinator - will serve as head coach on an interim basis.

</font></p>

 

[DowntownDawg]

....and why Tupelo keeps making a run at having a pro sports team. The whole thing has been asinine the whole time. This stuff always fails, and it makes you think Jim Waide has very little financial sense to pour a bunch of money into something like this.

 

[Todd4State]

that they can't have a minor league baseball team because the closest league that would be even halfway feasible is the South Atlantic League. I know that they had an Indepndent team about ten years ago- the Tupelo Tornado.

I do think that minor league baseball could work there if it was done right. Same thing for the coast, and I think that they were about to get a team, and then Katrina hit.</p>

 

[TilloDawg]

Tommy Jones, the team's starting QB, is the other player that's leaving. Thus, Mr Nelson will have the starting honors now unless someone is signed.

 

[Ole Miss Grad]

Actually, they might have made a little money if Todd (previous owner) wouldn't have left them with massive debts that Jim didn't even know about.

 

[2thdoc44]

about any massive debts of the former owner. He's an idiot for signing the ownership papers if not.

 

[Ole Miss Grad]

I agree, but I don't think he did.

Hell, when word got out last year that JW was going to buy the team, Todd told me the day before it was announced that it wasn't true.

The players get free housing, 3 free meals per day at local restaurants and most get $250 per game (varies, but that is standard).

I'm told that Todd and crew charged up crap all over Tupelo that Jim wasn't aware of until he gained majority interest.

Another thing I'm not sure JW was aware of.....they averaged 2500-3500 in attendance last year....though the 'announced' attendance was always more.

What most don't know, from what I could tell, is generally 25% or more of that attendance was complimentary/free tickets.

 

[615dawg]

did some business with them for about 20k - we got paid, but there was some promised future business that never happened. They fired their business manager a few weeks back. We sort of figured something was up since she was the only one that had any sense. JW is an idiot for signing on, but his lesbian daughter is sort of hot. She sends out "updates" on her fitness business to the MudCats e-mail list</p>

www.leawaide.net</p>

 

[Ole Miss Grad]

I'll just go with 'no comment'.