Why did Jeff Bower resign from USM?

He was 'forced' out.

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He was 'forced' out.

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WTF? after 15 winning seasons?

Did they give a reason?

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diminishing support for the program

diminishing attendance at games

Bower has become content at 6-6 or 7-5 every year

He has been "lazy" towards recruiting as of late

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I know a guy who went to USM, he pretty much said the same thing, he was happy as long as he won one more game than he lost

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he was happy as long as he won one more game than he lost

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Kinda sounds like another coach, in a different sport, at a another school, who played a game at the PMAC today.

What I can tell you is this:

15 Winning Seasons at Southern Miss? They better be careful what they ask for.... they may very well get a change alright..... a change that has them looking like Duke

Probably also an AD wanting to make a name for himself as well. Gianini was the AD at ULM, now he's at USM. If this move pans out, I'd suppose he could be in the running for a BCS AD job.

Not sure what Fedora is bringing to the program though.

Jeff Bower's wallet will love the fact he got fired from USM. He was making 350k/year which is less than both coordinators at LSU.

His replacement- who has never been a head coach- will make 700k. Thats ridiculous that they underpaid him that bad. A guy like Art Briles was barely above .500 at Houston and his new job at Baylor pays 1.8 million a year.

He probably won't get a job until next year, but Jeff Bower will get hired by a school and probably a lower level BCS School or another Conference USA job.

He was not forced out. Giannini wanted to make a change, so he offered Bower a position as 'Associate Athletic Director' where he would be in charge of recruiting, players' grades, etc and serve as a mentor to Tyrone Nix (whom they originally wanted to bring in).

Bower got pissed and refused. He told them that they had to keep him as head coach or fire him. It was time for a change so they did what needed to be done. But they did not intend to fire him or get rid of him. They wanted him to be part of the program, just in a different capacity.

I am a USM graduate and have a friend in the Athletic Dept. in case anyone is wondering how I know this.

So if Fedora comes in and averages between 7 and 8 wins a year, do they fire him, as well?

USM fans are a bit delusional because they ignore the fact that from about 2000 on, LSU arose from the dead (this prevented USM from getting the Pat Surtains of the world), several schools in the South entered I-A (which diluted the talent in the region further), and other teams in their conference got better. shite, there are loads of other reasons why USM does not have the success that they had previously, and even then, many USM boosters are talking as if they had a ton of success prior to Bower. Now, if they had a tradition of 10 win seasons, then they would have something. However, they need to recognize where they are, and where they have been. The grass isn't always greener, and even if it is, you need to move with CLASS instead of the underhanded shite that they pulled on a good man and a good coach.

Yes, the Rice loss was horrific, but that's not the reason to fire someone. USM needs to realize who they are, and stop being so damned arrogant.

Exactly.

If Pat Surtain came out of Karr today, do you think that he'd choose USM over LSU? Remember, when Pat graduated from HS, LSU was in the dumps. USM benefited greatly from that, because a lot of Gulf Coast kids went there instead of bigger programs. Now, kids in the Gulf Coast have more options, with more I-A programs in the area. And heaven help them if South Alabama gets its program started...