South Alabama coach on USM
- Thread starter dawgstudent
- Start date
There are a lot of folks who remember when Mobile/Pensacola was one of Southern Miss’s big recruiting areas— if not the biggest.
Whoever the SEC schools didn’t take, the Eagles did— and generally competed very well.
I’d argue that Ellis Johnson didn’t cripple Southern Miss football, instead it’s South Alabama.
Whoever the SEC schools didn’t take, the Eagles did— and generally competed very well.
I’d argue that Ellis Johnson didn’t cripple Southern Miss football, instead it’s South Alabama.
ESPN has had a lot to do with it as well. USM used to compete with State and Ole Miss for a few players, and now it's not even close. State has left USM in the dust as far as facilities and resources, thanks in large part to SEC TV money.
This got them once they all became peers. But it was the Metro collapse (and MS already having 2 SEC teams in a small state with no growth) that did them in.
This is why I say that being in the Sun Belt won't work for them. There is pride in that program, they want to win. I'd drop to FCS and win, it's not like the money is much different.
If it was just about winning then they were dumb to leave CUSA for the Sun Belt.
No doubt that Southern Miss being on the outside looking in on the SEC schools hurt but they’re at the right level currently.
A lot of the schools they played in the 60s and 70s are still in the G5 and the Sun Belt is a better cultural fit for the Eagles than Conference USA (as well as the previous version of it).
They won’t go FCS. There’s not a conference out there that works for them as nearly as well as the Sun Belt— and I’ll include the Missouri Valley with that.
I get all that. Sun Belt is more stable in today's FBS.
But I'm talking about winning. If they went FCS I'm talking Southland or Southern Conference.
Frank Gore Jr is awesome but probably NFL bound after this year.
Cue Selmon with a buy game offer of $2 million?
#helpinginstateinstitutions
#browniepointsforIHLandtheGuv
Saw one of their billboards in Covington LA yesterday. So I think it has to more to do with alumni base than anything.
South Alabama’s coach played at USM too. So that’s his alma mater he’s calling out. May be trying to encourage them to get their act together.
It’s just sad they used their entire NIL fund on those billboards instead of buying their team medium Wendy’s Frosties
Or trying to get the current guy fired so he can move in.
Make them trade an IHL spot for a gameCue Selmon with a buy game offer of $2 million?
#helpinginstateinstitutions
#browniepointsforIHLandtheGuv
USM has a budget around 12 million and no NIL. The teams that used to be their peers like Memphis, Louisville and Cincinnati have all moved to better conferences and the schools in Louisiana and Alabama have become equal or better. Outside of an occasional sport like softball and football, they simply cannot compete anymore. It's really no longer fun to laugh at them. They are just a step above Delta State.
