Southern Miss fires coach

[AppStFan1]

I don’t see an extension this season unless we pummel our remaining opponents. If he comes back at less , I should say they , they will have to find a way to win 8 or 9 games in 2025 to get an extension. I’m not sure the vote would be unanimous in either scenario.

Wasn’t this the year we were supposed to win 9+ games? What changed in the front office the past month? Why are we accepting and creating a new standard that 6 wins is good enough?

I don't think any of us are saying it is fine. I just think, like him, that another strong finish to end the season might have them saying they should give one more year. For the record, if we don't go 7-4 I would be all for moving on just because of the contract situation. We did what I said before with Fox in basketball and saw how that worked out just delaying the inevitable. IMO, unless you are fine with a 2-3 year extension and a pay raise then you got to move on.

[huskie3]

I’m for another year with new DC!

[Stonewall]

I don’t see an extension this season unless we pummel our remaining opponents. If he comes back at less , I should say they , they will have to find a way to win 8 or 9 games in 2025 to get an extension. I’m not sure the vote would be unanimous in either scenario.

Wasn’t this the year we were supposed to win 9+ games? What changed in the front office the past month? Why are we accepting and creating a new standard that 6 wins is good enough?

A conference championship and in a whisper a shot at the playoff. Sure it was in an effort to raise money but the card was played. I have not spoken to anyone in the front office since the day after South Ally. However I don’t think anyone is setting a “ new standard “. I do see the difficulty in letting go a staff with a winning record in the midst of a recovery from North Carolina's worst natural disaster.

[AppStFan1]

I don’t see an extension this season unless we pummel our remaining opponents. If he comes back at less , I should say they , they will have to find a way to win 8 or 9 games in 2025 to get an extension. I’m not sure the vote would be unanimous in either scenario.

Wasn’t this the year we were supposed to win 9+ games? What changed in the front office the past month? Why are we accepting and creating a new standard that 6 wins is good enough?

A conference championship and in a whisper a shot at the playoff. Sure it was in an effort to raise money but the card was played. I have not spoken to anyone in the front office since the day after South Ally. However I don’t think anyone is setting a “ new standard “. I do see the difficulty in letting go a staff with a winning record in the midst of a recovery from North Carolina's worst natural disaster.

Once they played the card the expectation was set. I agree with you on how it looks. I am expecting to go 5-6 at this point and 6-5 is going to be hard. I won't call that impossible after last year but we are going to have to do better than lose by 10 in our best game of the year.

[Saint3333]

If you set the line at 6 today, I'd take the under.

[appst89]

If you set the line at 6 today, I'd take the under.

You're just a fan, you're not allowed to have expectations. Stay in your lane.

[Saint3333]

If you set the line at 6 today, I'd take the under.

You're just a fan, you're not allowed to have expectations. Stay in your lane. 8-)

I'm a rebel, you can only hope to contain me.

[t4pizza]

If you set the line at 6 today, I'd take the under.

Any logical person would. My problem is that I am just not logical about App State (big reason I never bet them). While I know we have looked lost, dazed and confused this entire season, I still think we win out because I just can't think otherwise. Mind you, I know that I am wrong and we will not win out, but I just can't stop myself from believing that we will.

[Bigdaddyg1]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

[Stonewall]

I have no argument with any of the above.

[Saint3333]

It's baffling that fans with the ever present hope of each offseason choose to believe the staff and the inner circles on Jack Branch that 2024 was "the year"? The people closest to the programs with access to the team on a daily basis. Shame on us!

Lesson learned by this staff, going forward: Our goal every year is to compete for and win championships. We have a lot of pieces coming back from a solid finish to 2023 and believe we can build upon that momentum. We did lose some key contributors, especially across the offensive line, and we'll be asking younger players and incoming teammates to step up to that challenge. Looking forward to seeing how we the staff and our players grow this offseason and throughout the season.

[AppStFan1]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

Coaches should never say they suck but a lot of good can be said without telling people you have a playoff team when it is nowhere close. I actually think the coaches thought this was the case and were just way off.

Your comments about portal players are very accurate. With that said my question is why would anyone think we need to get 50% of our roster or a massive influx of transfers from the portal when most have the reasons you just said and we are low on NIL? Those are the reasons why I would avoid P4 transfers overall. Stars from the lower level are the type I think we should focus on and take a modest amount to fill holes.

Shawn's big problem right now is that they missed big time from 2019-2021 in HS and the pressure to win so he felt he had to take the easier route and it has turned out to be the harder route. The best way is to scout the FCS and D2 level in the region for players that we could plant the seed of interest to see if they enter and focus more on HS players. We have positions we have not hit on a HS player since 2016 and that has to change.

Anyone who suggests we improve our NIL game needs to donate the money themselves. With the economy and inflation most of us don't have a lot of, or any, extra money. I am going to donate my extra money to help the WNC community right now before I am giving some entitled 21-year old that money to play for us and lead us to a 5-7 record.

[PhillyApp1]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

Coaches should never say they suck but a lot of good can be said without telling people you have a playoff team when it is nowhere close. I actually think the coaches thought this was the case and were just way off.

Your comments about portal players are very accurate. With that said my question is why would anyone think we need to get 50% of our roster or a massive influx of transfers from the portal when most have the reasons you just said and we are low on NIL? Those are the reasons why I would avoid P4 transfers overall. Stars from the lower level are the type I think we should focus on and take a modest amount to fill holes.

Shawn's big problem right now is that they missed big time from 2019-2021 in HS and the pressure to win so he felt he had to take the easier route and it has turned out to be the harder route. The best way is to scout the FCS and D2 level in the region for players that we could plant the seed of interest to see if they enter and focus more on HS players. We have positions we have not hit on a HS player since 2016 and that has to change.

Anyone who suggests we improve our NIL game needs to donate the money themselves. With the economy and inflation most of us don't have a lot of, or any, extra money. I am going to donate my extra money to help the WNC community right now before I am giving some entitled 21-year old that money to play for us and lead us to a 5-7 record.

JMU and several other schools have completely new rosters from TP ..... and are winning

What are they doing that we are not?

The days of growing players in time is a risky business, especially when you are already trailing competitors

[AppStFan1]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

Coaches should never say they suck but a lot of good can be said without telling people you have a playoff team when it is nowhere close. I actually think the coaches thought this was the case and were just way off.

Your comments about portal players are very accurate. With that said my question is why would anyone think we need to get 50% of our roster or a massive influx of transfers from the portal when most have the reasons you just said and we are low on NIL? Those are the reasons why I would avoid P4 transfers overall. Stars from the lower level are the type I think we should focus on and take a modest amount to fill holes.

Shawn's big problem right now is that they missed big time from 2019-2021 in HS and the pressure to win so he felt he had to take the easier route and it has turned out to be the harder route. The best way is to scout the FCS and D2 level in the region for players that we could plant the seed of interest to see if they enter and focus more on HS players. We have positions we have not hit on a HS player since 2016 and that has to change.

Anyone who suggests we improve our NIL game needs to donate the money themselves. With the economy and inflation most of us don't have a lot of, or any, extra money. I am going to donate my extra money to help the WNC community right now before I am giving some entitled 21-year old that money to play for us and lead us to a 5-7 record.

JMU and several other schools have completely new rosters from TP ..... and are winning

What are they doing that we are not?

The days of growing players in time is a risky business, especially when you are already trailing competitors

My only concern with the portal is that we are signing too many and not enough HS talent with all the very good talent that coaches are saying have been overlooked. A big reason why we have offered so many more JUCOs than normal is that more talent is going there due to getting overlooked.

It is tough to say in general but JMU could have done a better job of vetting their type of players, could have gotten better players, or better coaching. I am not sure. One example of the type of portal player they signed that I hoped we would is DL Eric O'Neill. He is from Long Island but has been really good. I wonder if we offered him?

[BambooRdApp]

JMU used the portal to the extent they did due a couple of reasons over the part several years. They moved up to FBS and have the team left the building when Cignetti went to Indiana. Given new coach came from Holy Cross, I would think he had previous relationship with the Long Island kid

[Bootsy]

So much preseason hype and buzz flew around about 2024 being the year App made the CFP.

While I believed Clark had the players to put together another good season, I didn't believe this was a "team of destiny" and I'm unsure why anyone else would either. But the messaging had to start somewhere.

[Saint3333]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

Coaches should never say they suck but a lot of good can be said without telling people you have a playoff team when it is nowhere close. I actually think the coaches thought this was the case and were just way off.

Your comments about portal players are very accurate. With that said my question is why would anyone think we need to get 50% of our roster or a massive influx of transfers from the portal when most have the reasons you just said and we are low on NIL? Those are the reasons why I would avoid P4 transfers overall. Stars from the lower level are the type I think we should focus on and take a modest amount to fill holes.

Shawn's big problem right now is that they missed big time from 2019-2021 in HS and the pressure to win so he felt he had to take the easier route and it has turned out to be the harder route. The best way is to scout the FCS and D2 level in the region for players that we could plant the seed of interest to see if they enter and focus more on HS players. We have positions we have not hit on a HS player since 2016 and that has to change.

Anyone who suggests we improve our NIL game needs to donate the money themselves. With the economy and inflation most of us don't have a lot of, or any, extra money. I am going to donate my extra money to help the WNC community right now before I am giving some entitled 21-year old that money to play for us and lead us to a 5-7 record.

JMU and several other schools have completely new rosters from TP ..... and are winning 🤔

What are they doing that we are not? 🤔

The days of growing players in time is a risky business, especially when you are already trailing competitors

JMU is 1-2 in the SBC, but yes they appear to be better at assessing talent at multiple levels than us three years in.

[MrCraig]

So many of you continue to harp on preseason comments or expectations. Do some bad programs publicly say (by coaches and AD’s) that they expect to suck and also publicly say that they don’t expect very many wins? It’s still baffling how so many envisioned a magical season especially with so many losses on the lines. I still think that most of the players in the portal are usually busts or they would have played more at their original school. I’m not lumping the whole group together but usually there is a reason why they want to leave- lazy, not that good, attitude issues, etc.

I don't think the preseason expectations were too crazy. Based on how the season ended, it was easy to believe that the team would continue to build and grow off that. Yes, we lost some big pieces, but we returned most of the biggest names from last season. Add that to a schedule that is 99th out of 134, it wasn't hard to envision a season with only 1 or 2 losses and an outside chance at the playoff.
Remember, even with the rough start last season, App finished in the top 3 in the conference in basically every offensive category and top 5 in every defensive category.

[Bigdaddyg1]

There is an art to coach speak. SC has/had a tendency to get too hyped up or caught win the moment- Sandpaper that ass, bombs over Baghdad, etc. You want a coach to think big but apparently we have folks who want to hold bold predictions as the gospel.

[Saint3333]

If we were only slightly missing those projections you may have a point.

However, we are likely mathematically eliminated from the title game before the calendar turns to November.

We are 0-3 in conference for the first time in decades if not ever.