Troy is next week. There's a game before then.

First, they are coached by App State Class of 1985 Everett Withers. It's Withers' first year in San Marcos after two successful years at JMU. Withers was the interim coach at Chapel Hill when Butch got canned pre-season.

Texas State was bottoming out with the Dennis Frachione era sputtering to a 3-9 finish in 2015. The Bobcats were anemic and downright pitiful.

Withers is trying to build the program the hard way. He purged the program in the off-season and currently, only has 66 scholarship players. They've also been decimated by injuries, especially on defense.

App is favored by 31 for a reason. This is Year Zero for the Bobcats. They showed signs of life in the opening week, a 56-54 triple OT win at Ohio where they threw out gadget plays like candy, but only have an FCS win to show since then.

Withers has a solid recruiting class coming in (currently #1 in the Sun Belt on 247) so the future could be bright, but right now is a tough slog.

Taking my daughter to this one, hope Texas State can keep it interesting for at least a quarter.

App fav by 31 points as of today!

T-Dog wrote:Troy is next week. There's a game before then.

First, they are coached by App State Class of 1985 Everett Withers. It's Withers' first year in San Marcos after two successful years at JMU. Withers was the interim coach at Chapel Hill when Butch got canned pre-season.

Texas State was bottoming out with the Dennis Frachione era sputtering to a 3-9 finish in 2015. The Bobcats were anemic and downright pitiful.

Withers is trying to build the program the hard way. He purged the program in the off-season and currently, only has 66 scholarship players. They've also been decimated by injuries, especially on defense.

App is favored by 31 for a reason. This is Year Zero for the Bobcats. They showed signs of life in the opening week, a 56-54 triple OT win at Ohio where they threw out gadget plays like candy, but only have an FCS win to show since then.

Withers has a solid recruiting class coming in (currently #1 in the Sun Belt on 247) so the future could be bright, but right now is a tough slog.

Thanks T-dog, I've mentioned before that even in our 3rd year, I feel like I need a tutorial on the Sun Belt. I wasn't aware that Withers was their coach. I'll start pulling for the Bobcats (when they're not playing App)...gotta support the App family.

Don't pull too hard for Withers. If I am not mistaken, he has made it abundantly clear that App was his back up school and that his dream school of Tarheel U just did not have a spot for him in the mid 80's. Chuck, JT App, and some others might be able to back me up on this.

No need to knock Everett too hard about this. He is no different than Shawn Elliot. Shawn has publicly acknowledged his childhood dream to play for the Gamecocks. Things were different back in those days and APP and others schools like them had considerably less exposure. I never attended an APP football game before I arrived on campus in 1983, but I had attended several ACC football games. In those days you never saw APP football on TV. I am sure little had changed by the time Sean arrived some 10 years later.

Hope we take it to them in front of a prospective good large home crowd and players and fans are REVVED to the max. We need this game! and can't let it be a trap not in OUR HOUSE!

Weather at this point supposed to be nice.

I think we should give Everett a break on that statement. I betcha a lot of folks (athletes and non-athletes) went to App as their alternative choice due to the natural pecking order. Probably more so in years past then in recent years but it existed. Now what you hope is that once at App, everyone fell in love with the results and became very proud to be a Mountaineer regardless of how they ended up getting there. That last part is the key.

AtlAppMan wrote:I think we should give Everett a break on that statement. I betcha a lot of folks (athletes and non-athletes) went to App as their alternative choice due to the natural pecking order. Probably more so in years past then in recent years but it existed. Now what you hope is that once at App, everyone fell in love with the results and became very proud to be a Mountaineer regardless of how they ended up getting there. That last part is the key.

That was my problem with his comments. It wasn't that UNC was his first choice, but that he didn't really have anything positive to say about his time at App. All he had to say was "I had a great experience there, and it started me off down the road that's led me to where I am today," and he would have been fine. But he didn't.

Not the worst slight ever, but enough that I remember it.

The hell with Withers. He's coaching Texas State. I want to see us roll them with no mercy.

I haven't seen or heard his comments but I'd say that a huge percentage of our players now, and in the past, were passed over by the power 5 schools (and also G5 programs when we were FCS) and so they came to App and had great success...many moving on to the NFL as a result. I imagine he's not going to be gushing praise too much over what's now not just a conference competitor, but the top of the class in the conference...It looks good for a program to produce successful players turned succesful coaches. Obviously, he''s gonna have to get used to losing to his alma mater...

Unless I misunderstood his comments at UNC...it was he "settled" for a scholarship at App....It's almost like he was embarrassed. NEVER heard him give any props to his alma mater. Well he can settle for a huge ass whipping. Everett you might walk on to this program today...you could settle for a scholarship to Savannah State.

https://youtu.be/WWlCDG1j8KQ

https://youtu.be/RJXOSNaENNk

MDaniels84 wrote:Don't pull too hard for Withers. If I am not mistaken, he has made it abundantly clear that App was his back up school and that his dream school of Tarheel U just did not have a spot for him in the mid 80's. Chuck, JT App, and some others might be able to back me up on this.

Yeah, he not only said UNCCH was his dream school, but his entire tone was negative towards App. I think I would be a little more appreciative of the school that gave me a chance verse the one that snubbed me if I were him.

JTApps1 wrote:

MDaniels84 wrote:Don't pull too hard for Withers. If I am not mistaken, he has made it abundantly clear that App was his back up school and that his dream school of Tarheel U just did not have a spot for him in the mid 80's. Chuck, JT App, and some others might be able to back me up on this.

Yeah, he not only said UNCCH was his dream school, but his entire tone was negative towards App. I think I would be a little more appreciative of the school that gave me a chance verse the one that snubbed me if I were him.

Yeah, his comments were nothing more than a big, fat smooch on the tar hole fanny...sucking up to the ram's club, etc.

In my opinion, Capel = Withers. You can draw whatever conclusions from that, that you would like.

NattyBumppo'sRevenge wrote:In my opinion, Capel = Withers. You can draw whatever conclusions from that, that you would like.

Not really similar hires at all. Withers has a solid resume as an assistant. Capel had basically zero coaching experience when we hired him.

Whether Withers gets Capel-type results at Texas State, who knows?

EastHallApp wrote:

NattyBumppo'sRevenge wrote:In my opinion, Capel = Withers. You can draw whatever conclusions from that, that you would like.

Not really similar hires at all. Withers has a solid resume as an assistant. Capel had basically zero coaching experience when we hired him.

Whether Withers gets Capel-type results at Texas State, who knows?

LOL, I can't disagree with you and I guess I opened it up for you to draw your own conclusions from that, so I feel I need to explain. My disdain for both is equal.

For those that haven't seen...... interesting read.

http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... 0c9c1.html