http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-c...hern-miss/
Good article except he didn't understand the reason for our nosedive - Ellis Johnson.
"This Year: Bowl game?
Southern Miss, on the other hand, has the most obvious line of demarcation: Before 2012, the Golden Eagles delivered 18 consecutive winning seasons and five C-USA championships, including a 12-2 triumph in 2011 that stands among the best seasons in school history. Since 2012, the Eagles have languished at the bottom of the sport by all conceivable measures, victims of an abrupt, unforeseen nosedive that still cannot be explained. Entering his third season, coach Todd Monken isn’t facing any ultimatums — the crater he inherited from his one-and-done predecessor, Ellis Johnson, is still emitting toxic fumes — but he isn’t waiting around for the homegrown talent to pay dividends, either.
When preseason camp kicked off earlier this month, Southern Miss’s depth chart featured a staggering 22 players who began their careers at other schools, at least half of whom have either cracked the starting lineup already or have a legitimate chance to do so. That number includes junior-college transfers4 as well as refugees from Michigan (RB Justice Hayes), Auburn (DE Ricky Parks and LB Anthony Swain), Oklahoma (DT Quincy Russell), Kansas (DT Andrew Bolton), Arkansas (OL Drew Peterson), Houston (WR Casey Martin), and TCU (QB Tyler Matthews) — in other words, just about any healthy, eligible body who can upgrade the talent level long enough to get Monken’s rebuilding project off the ground. “I don’t know how many [transfers] will start, but they’ll all play,” Monken said earlier this month. “Would be foolish if they didn’t play for us. To use a scholarship and not have them play, that’d be foolish.”
Again, Monken has some time if every short-term scholarship doesn’t come to full fruition. But given that six wins this fall would qualify as dramatic progress, and given a 2015 schedule that includes exceedingly winnable dates with Austin Peay, Texas State, North Texas, UT–San Antonio, Charlotte, UTEP, and Old Dominion, if it’s not right now, the outlook for two or three years from now isn’t going to look much better."
Good article except he didn't understand the reason for our nosedive - Ellis Johnson.
"This Year: Bowl game?
Southern Miss, on the other hand, has the most obvious line of demarcation: Before 2012, the Golden Eagles delivered 18 consecutive winning seasons and five C-USA championships, including a 12-2 triumph in 2011 that stands among the best seasons in school history. Since 2012, the Eagles have languished at the bottom of the sport by all conceivable measures, victims of an abrupt, unforeseen nosedive that still cannot be explained. Entering his third season, coach Todd Monken isn’t facing any ultimatums — the crater he inherited from his one-and-done predecessor, Ellis Johnson, is still emitting toxic fumes — but he isn’t waiting around for the homegrown talent to pay dividends, either.
When preseason camp kicked off earlier this month, Southern Miss’s depth chart featured a staggering 22 players who began their careers at other schools, at least half of whom have either cracked the starting lineup already or have a legitimate chance to do so. That number includes junior-college transfers4 as well as refugees from Michigan (RB Justice Hayes), Auburn (DE Ricky Parks and LB Anthony Swain), Oklahoma (DT Quincy Russell), Kansas (DT Andrew Bolton), Arkansas (OL Drew Peterson), Houston (WR Casey Martin), and TCU (QB Tyler Matthews) — in other words, just about any healthy, eligible body who can upgrade the talent level long enough to get Monken’s rebuilding project off the ground. “I don’t know how many [transfers] will start, but they’ll all play,” Monken said earlier this month. “Would be foolish if they didn’t play for us. To use a scholarship and not have them play, that’d be foolish.”
Again, Monken has some time if every short-term scholarship doesn’t come to full fruition. But given that six wins this fall would qualify as dramatic progress, and given a 2015 schedule that includes exceedingly winnable dates with Austin Peay, Texas State, North Texas, UT–San Antonio, Charlotte, UTEP, and Old Dominion, if it’s not right now, the outlook for two or three years from now isn’t going to look much better."
