So how did we get to where we are? We all have our individual thoughts as to why we are at maybe our lowest point in modern history with regards to our revenue and financial situation. Here are a few of my thoughts on the subject. During the late 70’s, 80’s and 90’s we had a program which seemed to be holding its own financially. The winning of championships, being viewed during the 80’s as owning the in-state position as the best football program with our championships and top 25 rankings. We had the Collier years and Favre years of some exceptional wins. We also saw that our defensive side was getting its fair share of notoriety being known as the Nasty Bunch. There was talk of moving up a level and becoming more prominent on the national stage as Florida State had done. So, what happened?
Keep in mind that this is not a gospel of fact but just one old man’s opinion as to what has happened. Other opinions are just as valid so let’s not get to the “attack” mode of trying to place me as a butt hurt nor lacking passion for our program poster. This is just my observations of maybe some of the reasons we are where we are. The following is taken from extensive conversations with long time fans who have lost some of the excitement which they once had.
“Who do they think they are?” was a very offensive statement by Mark May on ESPN when USM let Jeff Bower leave. His point was that we had a very solid, well respected, winning program and found that to be lacking. What played into this decision to fire Bower? In some ways, it was a perfect storm. We saw programs we once dominated in football (Louisville, Cincy) begin making national noise due to their commitment both financially and with coaching hired in growing their program. We are speaking of millions of dollars in commitment toward success. This disgruntled our fan base who felt that rather than moving forward we were treading water.
Additionally, we were trying to catch up with building a new athletic facility (coaches and teams working for two seasons out of trailers. This hurt recruiting to some degree). The fans were also pushing for enlarging the stadium anticipating that P5 teams would be more open to coming here. We were in the process to building the suites and other seating venues during Katrina which drove up cost greatly. During all this building, we were having winning but average seasons while witnesses other schools move forward with their program. Nobody was blaming lack of revenue as much as placing the blame squarely on Bower. Many loved posting that his wins against the P5 schools were done in their “down” years. And winning in the CUSA just didn’t mean much anyway. Bower’s final season had two big challenges, a lack of a healthy QB and the shortage of funding for the build out. The man offering the solution financially was also a non-fan of Bower. Mr. G took the approach to demand that Bower make changes in his offensive and defensive coordinators and Bower refused. Thus giving Mr. G the alternative to ask for Bower’s resignation. This was viewed as either positive or negative depending on your view of Coach Bower.
So now Bower is out of the picture and the build is somewhat settled. Mr. G hired a very energetic and driven coach in Fedora. Fedora was going to make “Southern Mississippi University” the flag ship university in the state of Mississippi. Despite all the positive coach speak and talk of the art of war, Fedora only continued to give us 3 more seasons of what we fired a coach over. Some of the fan base didn’t warm up to Fedora due to these average seasons and most knowing he was looking for an exit strategy from the start. Some didn’t care as they projected what could be under Fedora. And we got the what could be in his final season. All that was expected was delivered, including that exit plan. We spent more to get us there in salaries but the revenue wasn’t supporting the investment. We had moved out of some payday games in favor of wins. Additionally, the folks who were our biggest contributors were having their funds tied up in the costs of suites and perches. Their giving in the past had helped support salaries and scholarships but now we had the debt burden of the expansion gobbling up the same dollars. We didn’t see the rise in season tickets needed to support the increased salaries, nor incremental giving to the Eagle Club. In fact, some longtime supporters were moving away or reducing their support. The expansion also made the more valued tickets available along the 40 to 50-yard line as some of the previous holders had moved to suites and perches. With ticket sales beginning to decline and attendance falling the value of needing a season ticket for good seats begin to fall. This is the typical path of supply and demand. It had not helped that during this time the CUSA had lost most of its original members to better conferences. It seems that we couldn’t get a break.
And then we get what’s his name and the zero-win season. More expense to buy him out and more season ticket decline. Along comes Monken who takes three seasons to get us back to our winning ways and he exits as did Fedora. Now we are at the realization of the toll all the above have taken on our program. We must get a good coach for a value. And his assistants must come as value salaried as well. And that’s how we got to being one of the lowest salaried programs in the USA. Where can we place the blame? Most of it can be in the leadership at the AD and president level (especially president level in hiring EJ). In hindsight had we not expanded to the extent we did by maybe having suites in the place of the east side perch seats maybe we wouldn’t have the financial burden eating up potential Eagle Club funding for other areas. Would we have been better putting those funds toward the RGC? In the end, all I know is that we need some leadership that looks for ways to grow revenue, enhance the RGC, and increase what funds we will need for paying coaches.
I would be interested in other’s thoughts on how we got to being where we are today. What right or wrong moves did we make? What future moved can we make to reverse the revenue stream challenges? And what about OM and MSU’s past decision to drop us off their schedule? They did that to have a negative impact, did that work against us?
Keep in mind that this is not a gospel of fact but just one old man’s opinion as to what has happened. Other opinions are just as valid so let’s not get to the “attack” mode of trying to place me as a butt hurt nor lacking passion for our program poster. This is just my observations of maybe some of the reasons we are where we are. The following is taken from extensive conversations with long time fans who have lost some of the excitement which they once had.
“Who do they think they are?” was a very offensive statement by Mark May on ESPN when USM let Jeff Bower leave. His point was that we had a very solid, well respected, winning program and found that to be lacking. What played into this decision to fire Bower? In some ways, it was a perfect storm. We saw programs we once dominated in football (Louisville, Cincy) begin making national noise due to their commitment both financially and with coaching hired in growing their program. We are speaking of millions of dollars in commitment toward success. This disgruntled our fan base who felt that rather than moving forward we were treading water.
Additionally, we were trying to catch up with building a new athletic facility (coaches and teams working for two seasons out of trailers. This hurt recruiting to some degree). The fans were also pushing for enlarging the stadium anticipating that P5 teams would be more open to coming here. We were in the process to building the suites and other seating venues during Katrina which drove up cost greatly. During all this building, we were having winning but average seasons while witnesses other schools move forward with their program. Nobody was blaming lack of revenue as much as placing the blame squarely on Bower. Many loved posting that his wins against the P5 schools were done in their “down” years. And winning in the CUSA just didn’t mean much anyway. Bower’s final season had two big challenges, a lack of a healthy QB and the shortage of funding for the build out. The man offering the solution financially was also a non-fan of Bower. Mr. G took the approach to demand that Bower make changes in his offensive and defensive coordinators and Bower refused. Thus giving Mr. G the alternative to ask for Bower’s resignation. This was viewed as either positive or negative depending on your view of Coach Bower.
So now Bower is out of the picture and the build is somewhat settled. Mr. G hired a very energetic and driven coach in Fedora. Fedora was going to make “Southern Mississippi University” the flag ship university in the state of Mississippi. Despite all the positive coach speak and talk of the art of war, Fedora only continued to give us 3 more seasons of what we fired a coach over. Some of the fan base didn’t warm up to Fedora due to these average seasons and most knowing he was looking for an exit strategy from the start. Some didn’t care as they projected what could be under Fedora. And we got the what could be in his final season. All that was expected was delivered, including that exit plan. We spent more to get us there in salaries but the revenue wasn’t supporting the investment. We had moved out of some payday games in favor of wins. Additionally, the folks who were our biggest contributors were having their funds tied up in the costs of suites and perches. Their giving in the past had helped support salaries and scholarships but now we had the debt burden of the expansion gobbling up the same dollars. We didn’t see the rise in season tickets needed to support the increased salaries, nor incremental giving to the Eagle Club. In fact, some longtime supporters were moving away or reducing their support. The expansion also made the more valued tickets available along the 40 to 50-yard line as some of the previous holders had moved to suites and perches. With ticket sales beginning to decline and attendance falling the value of needing a season ticket for good seats begin to fall. This is the typical path of supply and demand. It had not helped that during this time the CUSA had lost most of its original members to better conferences. It seems that we couldn’t get a break.
And then we get what’s his name and the zero-win season. More expense to buy him out and more season ticket decline. Along comes Monken who takes three seasons to get us back to our winning ways and he exits as did Fedora. Now we are at the realization of the toll all the above have taken on our program. We must get a good coach for a value. And his assistants must come as value salaried as well. And that’s how we got to being one of the lowest salaried programs in the USA. Where can we place the blame? Most of it can be in the leadership at the AD and president level (especially president level in hiring EJ). In hindsight had we not expanded to the extent we did by maybe having suites in the place of the east side perch seats maybe we wouldn’t have the financial burden eating up potential Eagle Club funding for other areas. Would we have been better putting those funds toward the RGC? In the end, all I know is that we need some leadership that looks for ways to grow revenue, enhance the RGC, and increase what funds we will need for paying coaches.
I would be interested in other’s thoughts on how we got to being where we are today. What right or wrong moves did we make? What future moved can we make to reverse the revenue stream challenges? And what about OM and MSU’s past decision to drop us off their schedule? They did that to have a negative impact, did that work against us?
