On Monday, Jeff Bower resigned as head football coach of the University of Southern Mississippi football team. He ends his stint at USM with some impressive numbers. Here are some:
In 2006, Southern Miss had a 92% graduation rate among its football players, the only public institution recognized for over a 90 percent rate.
- Jeff Bower has been the head football coach at Southern Miss for 17 seasons
- Bower has been a part of the program as a player, graduate assistant, assistant coach and head coach totaling 28 years, almost one third of Southern Miss’ 91 year football history
- Bower is second in longevity among coaches who are coaching at their alma maters and fourth among coaches in years at the same institution
Head football coach Jeff Bower was selected the Conference USA Coach of the Decade and has earned conference coach of the year honors on three separate occasions (1997, 1999, 2003)
- C-USA Team of the Decade: Four Championships in 11 Years (1996, 1997, 1999, 2003) and the East Division Championship in 2006.
- Nine Bowl Games in 10 Years (Make that 10 now)
- Southern Miss is one of four schools in the nation to have at least 14 consecutive winning seasons
- Southern Miss is the only school in C-USA to post three undefeated league records, including an 8-0 record in 2003
- Southern Miss is ranked in the top 10 nationally for conference winning percentage since joining C-USA
You can read more about Bower at CoachBower.com
Bower, basically, was forced to resign after pressure mounted from fans and then from the Athletic Director. You know the AD felt the pressure if he will ask a coach who just went 7-5 to step down and after that coach accepted an invite to a bowl game (His tenth by the way) and even after that coach hasn’t had a losing season in 14 years. The main reason for the pressure was that USM has been under-performing with the talent they have versus the worse D-1 football conference (C-USA) in the Western Hemisphere (I’m sure USM could dominate some Slovakian leagues). I’m a fence sitter in this race and I can afford to stay there. My world view allows me to take no interest in the outcome of football games. Plus, you would be surprised at what kind of hate, evil, and stupidity that the football religion stirs in a man’s soul. By all accounts, Coach Bower is a good man and a good coach. Below is Coach Bower with USM alumni and legend Brett Favre.
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Nice picture of Brett and Coach Bower. I was wondering what your view on the situation was. I follow your blog daily. Keep it up.
I like Jeff Bower mainly because (I know this will sound cliche but…) he runs a clean program, graduates player (that’s what college is for, I don’t buy the philosophy that some players are there for just football, if that’s the case they should reevaluate their life), he has integrity (there are a couple of kids he recruited that I didn’t care for, but those kind of decisions over 17 years don’t amount to much), he wins games, he believes in perseverance and loyalty.
Ideally, I would have like for us to allow him to have at least one losing season before asking him to retire. Jeff, after all, was not setting our program on fire, he was holding the line. I’m not opposed to him leaving, I just think the standard for that decision should be a bit higher.
I think there is some delusion about what Jeff has done and not done. Mainly, that he has kept the winning tradition at USM going, he has kept the status quo. What the fans want now is someone to take us to the level of Virginia Tech, but the problem is that that is more than just about a coach. Its about money, fanbase, tv market, big wins, landing a couple of big recruits (Vick and Suggs), etc. The stats that hit me hardest about this decision are the win/losses in USM history. We’ve never had consecutive 9 or more wins seasons. Never! So, what we expect from Bower is what has never happened here. You can bet your money, that those big dollars that ousted Bower will NOT have the same standard for the next coach next year. They’ll say it is unrealistic and they are right.
How bout that University of Hawaii?
Alan
You’ve got to hand it to Hawaii and Boise State, they have taken advantage of their weak conferences with creative and explosive offenses. I hope Hawaii gets a big bowl invite.
As two alumni supporting USM from “out west” in Texas, we have always been proud of Coach Bower. His loyalty, honor, dedication and hard work were rewarded with the right to resign as head coach of our football team. Such is life to those of us espousing high ideals in life. Well, coach, I hope that things are much better for you now. What happened to you was shameful. My husband is waiting for you to show up at another university, so that he can join the “friends of _________university” group. Thank you , for all that you did for USM and its fans. We shall always remember your love for the Eagles !